President David Schmidly will be teaching a class for the first time at UNM.
The course, "Practical Lessons in Leadership," will explore the definition of leadership from many points of view.
"My perspectives on leadership are actually more practical than they are theoretical," Schmidly said.
Jacqueline Hood, chairwoman of the Department of Organizational Studies, said the class will be important to students wanting to learn how to be a leader.
"Leadership is not only theoretical, but it's based on content formed through experience," she said. "Having guest speakers come in and talk will allow for students to get that first-hand experience."
Schmidly said he will invite leaders from campus, New Mexico and maybe beyond to speak in his class. He said students' questions will be answered through the real-life experience of the leaders present.
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"This course is built around dialogue, discussion and the practical aspects of being a leader," Schmidly said.
Schmidly said his class will be free of tests, but there may be one paper.
He said his lessons are centered on the acronym POISE.
"Leaders have POISE," Schmidly said. "Leaders have purpose, and they are opportunistic, innovative, solution-orientated and always ethical."
Although Schmidly's guest speaker list has not been completed yet, he said he is committed to finding leaders with both business and nonprofit backgrounds.
Schmidly said the speakers will talk to the students about what leadership means to them and then answer questions. At the end of the semester students will have the opportunity to share their own definitions of leadership.
Ashley Fate, ASUNM president, said every student needs to understand what it takes to be a leader and that there is always room for improvement.
"I think the class is a great idea," Fate said. "The exposure to the principles of leadership is so important."
Schmidly emphasizes his class is open to all students and said he hopes the 50-seat class will be full.
"There are no prerequisites, because I want every student to hear what it is like to be a leader and to think about being a leader and why it is something that he or she would want to aspire to be," Schmidly said.
Hood said that even though the course only offers one credit hour, there is a great deal to learn from it.
"It will surely be an eye-opener for a lot of students to get to know the department and see if they are interested in majoring in it," Hood said.
