Exploring the Outcomes of an Academic Leadership Program: Building a Bridge Between Learning Across Difference

Abstract

The application of leadership learning in a post-collegiate context provides an opportunity for higher education institutions to understand the long-term influence of these programs. Key findings from this Florida university suggest that former students who hold minoritized identities were able to understand the identity exploration question in more detail, whereas students with dominant identities struggled to process the question or had difficulty with application to learning across difference in their post-college lives. Finally, alumni who hold minoritized identities discussed dismantling systems of oppression and creating systemic change, whereas alumni who held more dominant identities cited a general responsibility to their community. We call for academic leadership programs to center social justice concepts in their program outcomes. By not exploring how students are engaging in social justice conversations and learning across difference, universities continue to reproduce systems of oppressive power, no matter how unintentionally these outcomes may be for academic leadership programs.