 | Future Leader: Kristine Braley
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Student leadership development thrives at URILast spring, 12 URI seniors who were in their final semester of URI’s leadership minor program piled into vans, drove 14 hours to West Virginia, and set off on a two-day kayaking adventure that would take them through Class V rapids and lessons in initiative, team work, reflection, and self-awareness. Exactly the kind of lessons that URI’s Center for Student Leadership Development, hopes to instill in students.
“The program is academically rigorous, challenging, uses practical application, and theoretical skills in both the classroom and activities outside the classroom,” explained Christine Wilson, assistant director for Student Leadership.
The Center, which began in 1988 as a leadership program called “Free FLITE,” encompasses a variety of programs, workshops, the leadership minor, and an outdoor adventure leadership development program. Approximately 1,000 students participate in the Center every year.
The 18-credit interdisciplinary minor in leadership studies that began in 1998, combines academic and experiential learning. Currently, 105 students are enrolled in the minor and 400 students take leadership classes each year.
“It is a unique partnership between academic affairs and leadership affairs. There are not too many minors in leadership. It’s groundbreaking,” said Bruce Hamilton, director of the Memorial Union, Student Involvement, and Center for Student Leadership Development.
“Being part of the Center has definitely made me feel more comfortable with saying how I feel and taking a leadership role on campus. I’ve made so many friends and so many connections. It’s made me a better leader,” explained junior Kristine Braley, a pharmacy major, who is an advisory board member and peer minister of URI’s Catholic Center, was a FLITE peer leader, and works at the Women’s Center.
The benefits and successes of the Center reach out to the Rhode Island community. For example, one student advises a group to address diversity issues at Narragansett High School. Another trained more than 200 Girl Scouts in leadership. Other students organized seminars and conferences open to the local community.
In the coming years, the Center will continue to expand in its outreach, its offerings to students and its role in the community. “I want this program to not only exist, but to thrive,” said Hamilton.
By Jennifer Smith ’02
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