Programs

Courses

A variety of semester length courses are offered under the center's auspices. The center has assembled an outstanding faculty that has deep insight into what it takes to be an effective and ethical business leader in today's world. In addition, leaders from both profit and non-profit businesses bring real-life experiences and challenges to share in the classroom.

Attendance in the center’s courses is open to graduate students in UTD’s various degree programs as well as to selected undergraduates. Each student’s leadership skills will be assessed for entrance to these courses.

Courses draw upon resources across multiple disciplines within the university. Coursework includes readings of current books, periodicals, articles and case studies that deal with leadership issues facing corporate America today.

CEO Lecture Series

Periodically, area CEO’s meet with students to discuss leadership issues and challenges which they face in their demanding roles. As many as 200 students attend these events, which are open to extensive Q&A by the students. To date, the following CEO’s have participated in this program:

• K.P. Wilska, Sr. V.P. & CEO, Nokia Americas
• Angel Ruiz, President & CEO, Ericsson U.S.
• Jim Keyes, President & CEO, 7-Eleven
• Jim Parker, Former CEO, Southwest Airlines
• Hubert de Pesquidoux, President & CEO, Alcatel North America
• Patrick M. Murray, Chairman of the Board & CEO of Dresser, Inc.

Executive Seminars

The center’s executive seminar programs are designed to address the needs of top-level executives and senior managers. The format of the executive seminars enables senior management the opportunity to hone their management skills, discuss key management issues and get answers to ethical leadership questions. The learning environment also allows them to interact with their peers and develop lasting relationships that can be drawn upon for years to come. A variety of programs have been developed:

• Leadership, Ethics and Values; “Was Sarbanes Oxley Preventable?”
• Strategic Leadership; “Creating Sustaining Value”
• What Kind of Leader am I; “Understanding the Four Elements of Leadership”
• Understanding Gaps in Your Leadership Capabilities; “Focusing on the Right Things”
• Leadership and Coaching; “Leading Through Coaching”
• Emotional Intelligence; “Critical to Effective Leadership”
• Leading Virtual Teams; “Understanding the Differences”
• Leadership in Human Resources; “Ignite the Passion of HR”
• Leading Change / Change Management; “Setting the Right Framework”
• Leading a Multicultural Organization; “Assessing Your Multicultural Orientation”
• Leading the Politics of Change; “How Leaders Create Change”

These programs are offered periodically in an open enrollment format at the university or offsite locations. Length varies from one to three days. The focus, however is to provide these programs in-company to high potential, mid-level managers and senior executives. This provides the opportunity to tailor and customize the program to specific company issues and situations. In addition, the learning can be applied directly to the participants’ role, responsibilities, goals and objectives within the company. These programs can also be used as an important piece of developing a common company culture. It also is a core belief of the center that all programs should consist of follow-up activities that ensure participants are, in fact, making an effort to carry out their personal leadership development plans and making the necessary behavioral modifications.

Leadership Development Programs

Complimenting its various seminar programs, The Leadership Center at UTD has developed a twelve-month (10–15) leadership development program, delivered in-company. This program is designed to work intensively with an identified group of high potential mid-level managers. The purpose of this program is to assist companies in developing more effective future leaders.

Although each program is specifically tailored to a company’s particular needs and situation, the program generally involves two to four faculty drawn from the School of Management and the School of Social Sciences as well as outside and company leaders who bring real life leadership issues and experiences to the participants. The program consists of multiple formats and activities including seminars, workshops, individual mentoring and coaching, observation and use of 360° assessments at various stages to map progress and areas of need.

Research

The Leadership Center at UTD stimulates and funds multi-disciplinary scholarly research that advances the knowledge and understanding of effective and ethical leadership. The School of Management, the School of Behavior and Brain Science, and the School of Social Sciences will pool resources to collaborate in these projects.

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