Minor in Leadership Development | LSU School of Leadership & Human Resource Development

Leadership Development Minor

The Leadership Development Minor is designed to equip students with the knowledge, skills, and practical experience necessary to become effective leaders in a variety of settings. Central to this program is the integration of academic coursework with practical leadership experience through an internship. The internship provides students with the opportunity to apply their classroom learning in real-world situations, taking on leadership roles and responsibilities within organizations. This hands-on experience allows students to develop critical leadership skills such as communication, problem-solving, and decision-making, while also building their confidence and professional networks. The goal of the internship is to provide students with meaningful and realistic experiences that will prepare them for success as future leaders.

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Overview of the Program

The Leadership Development Minor (LDev) is available to ANY undergraduate student at LSU. The leadership skills developed in this minor are applicable to any profession and any context including business, government, non-profits, healthcare, politics and churches.

The 6 hours of electives allow students to utilize a variety of electives from around campus to supplement the core curricula. The electives also allow them to take courses within their major curricula that are appropriate for a leadership development minor. We will collaborate with any department that has suitable elective courses so the minor will work for their students.

The LDev Internship Course

The leadership development internship provides a strong mechanism for integrating academic coursework with practical leadership experience. The overarching goal of the internship is to encourage students to obtain meaningful and realistic experiences in which they take on the roles and responsibilities of leadership. The nature of the internship can be quite varied including paid or unpaid positions with placements on-campus or off campus. The most acceptable internship positions are perhaps those that relate to a student’s major, career interests, or goals and that promise to be challenging in terms of difficulty and responsibility. Internship credit is not available for an experience that has occurred in the past or in a self-employed internship position.

Prerequisites
This course serves as the capstone for the Leadership Minor. Students are expected to apply the
knowledge, skills, and abilities gained through prior coursework. Successful completion of
LHRD 2723/2724 and LHRD 3723/3724 is required prior to taking this course. Students may be
concurrently enrolled in LHRD 4723/4724 or have successfully completed the course during past
semesters.

Course Goals
The overarching goal of the internship is to encourage students to obtain meaningful and realistic
experiences in which they take on the roles and responsibilities of leadership. The nature of the
internship can be quite varied including paid or unpaid positions with placements on-campus or off
campus. The most acceptable internship positions are those that relate to a student’s career interests or
goals and that promise to be challenging in terms of difficulty and responsibility. Internship credit is not
available for an experience that has occurred in the past or in a self-employed internship position.

Objectives
Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:
1. Articulate a functional understanding of leadership.
2. Integrate previous leadership development coursework into an authentic leadership experience.
3. Demonstrate improvement in their personal leadership knowledge and skills.
4. Demonstrate the capacity to independently manage the challenges and uncertainties associated
with leadership while leading a group of people to accomplish or create something.

Essence of the Internship
The internship experience is designed to give students an authentic leadership experience. The intent of
the internship is not to just attach the internship to a current job and call it leadership, but to actually

Required Courses

The minor consists of three components totaling 15 semester hours:

Leadership core courses – 9 hours
Leadership internship – 3 hours
Leadership electives – 3 hours

LHRD 2723 – Introduction to Leadership Development (3) An introduction to leadership and leadership development. Emphasis is placed on students understanding their personal traits, values, characteristics and developmental tasks as a foundation for leadership development.

LHRD 2724 – Introduction to Leadership Development (3) Honors An introduction to leadership and leadership development. Emphasis is placed on students understanding their personal traits, values, characteristics and developmental tasks as a foundation for leadership development.

LHRD 3723 – Leadership Concepts and Principles (3) This course is a survey course of leadership theory, concepts and research. Emphasis will be on understanding the foundational concepts of modern leadership.

LHRD 3724 – Leadership Concepts and Principles (3) Honors This course is a survey course of leadership theory, concepts and research. Emphasis will be on understanding the foundational concepts of modern leadership.

LHRD 4723 – Advanced Leadership Development (3) Prerequisite: LHRD 2723 and 3723. This advanced course focuses on developing the leadership skills students need to effectively lead organizations and communities to achieve their vision and goals.

LHRD 4724 – Advanced Leadership Development (3) Honors Prerequisite:: LHRD 2724 and 3724. This advanced course focuses on developing the leadership skills students need to effectively lead organizations and communities to achieve their vision and goals.

LHRD 4804 – Internship (3) Prerequisite:: LHRD 4723/4724 or Concurrent Enrollment in 4723/4724. Students in this minor will be expected to engage in leading some type of organization, initiative or project to practice and demonstrate mastery of leadership skills.

The leadership internship will provide a strong mechanism for integrating academic coursework with practical leadership experience; students will be asked to engage in some type of leadership activity.

Approved Electives

The 3 hours of electives will allow students to utilize a variety of electives from around campus to supplement the core curricula. The electives will also allow them to take courses within their major curricula that are appropriate for a leadership development minor. We intend to collaborate with any department that has suitable elective courses so the minor will work for their students.

AEEE 4039 International Experience in Agricultural and Extension Education
AEEE 4504 Development of Community Programs in Agricultural Education
AGEC 3413 Agricultural Business Management Decisions
AGEC 4433 Agricultural Business Planning, Management and Policy
ANTH 1003 Introduction to Cultural and Social Anthropology
ASST 3001/3002 Air Force Leadership Studies
CMST 2010 Interpersonal Communications
CMST 2060 Public Speaking
CMST 2064 Small Group Communication
CMST 3106 Communications and Power
CMST 4100 Political Communication
CMST 4101 Communication in Organizations
CMST 4119 Nonverbal Communication
ENVS 1000 Environment and Technology: Perspectives on Environmental Problems
GEOG 1001 Human Geography: Americas and Europe
GEOG 1003 Human Geography: Africa and Asia
GEOG 4073 Urban Geography
HIST 1001 Western Civilization to 1500
HIST 1003 Western Civilization since 1500
HIST 1007 World History Since 1500
HIST 2022 Modern Europe
HIST 2023 The World Since 1960
HIST 2057 The United States from 1865 to Present
HIST 2061 African American History
HIST 4078 Asian American History
HIST 4079 Women in American History
HRE 4859 Special Topics in Business Education
ISDS 3100 Management of Information Resources / Foundations of Information Systems
KIN 3508 Organization and Administration of Athletic Training
LHRD 4301 Assessment, Career Development and Productivity
LHRD 4573 Managing the Human Resource Development Function
LHRD 4705 Education, Business and Entrepreneurship
MC 2000 Introduction to Mass Media
MC 4050 Media Management
MOT ENTR 3111 Entrepreneurship
MOT MGT 3200 Principles of Management
MOT MGT 3211 Business and Society
MOT 4113 Small Business Management ENTR 4113 Small and Family Business Management
PHIL 2000 Contemporary Moral Problems
PHIL 2018 Professional Ethics
PHIL 2020 Ethics
PHIL 4945 Political Philosophy PHIL 4946 Philosophy of Law
POLI 2057 Introduction to International Politics
POLI 2060 Introduction to Political Theory
POLI 2070 Public Policy Making: An Introduction
POLI 4036 The American Presidency
POLI 4050 Globalization and Politics
PSYC 2040 Social Psychology
PSYC 3050 Introduction to Industrial and Organizational Psychology/Personnel and Industrial
Psychology
PSYC 3140 Advanced Social Psychology
PSYC 4030 Psychology of Thinking and Decision Making
SOCL 2001 Introductory Sociology
SOCL 2501 Current Social Problems
SOCL 2511 Race Relations
SOCL 3061 Human Behavior as Social Interaction
SOCL 3601 Social Interaction
SOCL 4301 Social Organization
SOCL 4421 Political Sociology
SOCL 4431 Sociology of Education
SOCL 4441 Sociology of Religion
SOCL 4451 Sociology of Medicine
SOCL 4471 Sociology of Law
SW 3003 Skills in Working with People
WGS 3600 Women, Gender and Leadership