The psychology department and Neeley School of Business are teaming up for a new study abroad program this summer.
The new program, Enduring Lessons in Leadership, will be located in London and the Isle of Skye, Scotland.
Natasha Chapman, associate director of the Leadership Center, said she thinks going to London and Scotland will give the students a “unique way to learn about leadership.” In London, the students will learn about leaders important to the area like Winston Churchill, Ghandi and Queen Elizabeth, how they led and their impact, Chapman said.
Dianna McFarland, coordinator of psychology in leadership minor, and Greg Stephens, from the Neeley School of Business, will take up to 20 students with them from June 9 to June 19.
The class will be considered a 4,000-level contemporary topics class worth three credit hours toward the requirements for business or psychology major or minor.
McFarland said the activities while in London will include sightseeing, a scavenger hunt and other “loosely planned activities with a leadership theme.”
The experience will be more inwardly centered in Scotland, Chapman said.
“It will be a personal journey made of indoor and outdoor activities,” Chapman said. “The students will learn to bring their leadership to action and impact their communities.”
While in Scotland, the students will go to Columba 1400, a charitable organization that offers leadership development experiences, according to the organization’s Web site..
“Those strategies include the use of natural environment like the Scottish countryside, experiential learning such as feeling the force of the wind while standing at the top of a cliff with the ocean below as a metaphor of facing the ‘winds of adversity’ in life and leadership,” McFarland said.
After a day of workshops and activities, the students will meet back at an old Scottish hunting lodge, where they will be staying, and have a group discussion about what they learned and put their reflections in their journal, McFarland said.
Norman Drummond, head of Columba 1400, has come to TCU several times, McFarland said. Drummond influenced the development of leadership programs on campus, she said.
“It’s just a really neat connection,” McFarland said.
Stephens said he took 16 Next Generation Leadership students, Neeley Fellows and psychology in leadership minor students to Columba 1400 in January.
Next Generation Leadership is program through the business school where students practice leadership in a safe environment before entering the work force.
“This is a life-changing program,” Stephens said. “I have this passion for leadership, and I think it is important to share that passion with others.”
The cost of the program is $3,820 per student, but TCU will pay $950 of the cost, and will include housing, travel within the U.K., meals in Scotland and cultural activities, McFarland said.. Students will have to pay out of pocket for airfare, a passport, meals in London and tuition, which is $935 per credit hour, McFarland said.
The program is not limited to business and psychology students, but to participate, students must have a junior or senior standing and prior leadership classes.