This program was launched in 1990 in order to offer students the experience, skills, and knowledge to prepare them for leadership roles in public service. Following a competitive application process, students complete the 15-credit course of study that culminates in a Certificate in Advanced Leadership Studies.
The mission of the certificate program in advanced leadership studies at the American University School of Public Affairs is to empower students by providing the requisite leadership knowledge, skills and experiences needed to lead creative and generous lives in public affairs, with intelligence and compassion.
Year One
In my first year with the leadership program I worked on research with the public health and policy group to create an action project to better the D.C. community. We researched mental health disparities; what they are, who they effect, and how we can change them. We then fundraised several hundred dollars for Active Minds, a local non-profit that assists teens with mental health issues. Below I've linked some parts of our project for a closer look!
Year Two
In my second year with the leadership program I worked on independent research focused on educational censorship in K-12 schools. From there I partnered with the Project on Civil Discourse, founded by Professor Lara Schwartz, to create a dialogue series focused on engaging the AU community in conversations about censorship. Linked below is my final presentation!
Years Three and Four
In my final year with the leadership program I took two courses; the Internship Course, and the Capstone Course. TheInternship Course allowedmyself and my peers to come together and learn about each other's internship experiences so that we could get feedback and a broader understanding of the work we were completing. I chose to do my internship with the Department of Homeland Security, which you can find out more about by navigating the menu.
The Capstone Class was focused on creating our own final project that revolved around leadership. I combined two courses I had taken this semester to create a hybrid Capstone Project which centered around two questions. First, I tried to find out “how does the rapid spread of information through targeted algorithms contribute to alt-right radicalization among the youth on Instagram?” Then, once determining based on experiments that young males were targeted by the alt-right more than females were by Social Media Algorithms I aimed to answer, "how do targeted algorithms recommendation of alt-right content among young boys on Instagram influence the user’s potential future leadership ideology?”