Pride in Leadership 1

Pride in Leadership: A Workshop for LGBTQ+ Student Leaders

Amanda Wesche

University of Wisconsin-La Crosse

April 5, 2020
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Abstract

Pride in Leadership is a three-hour workshop for current Pride Center student leaders. Using the

leadership identity development (LID) model and the emotionally intelligent leadership (EIL)

model, students will reflect on their LGBTQ+ identity development, recognize their own

strengths and the group’s strengths as leaders, and differentiate leadership as a skill they can use

beyond college.

Rationale

Pride in Leadership is designed for LGBTQ+ college students at the University of

Wisconsin-La Crosse (UWL) through the Pride Center. This workshop is specifically designed

for students already serving in leadership positions as a Peer Educator, co-chair of either

student organization (Rainbow Unity (RU) or Transform), the diversity organization coalition

(DOC) student representative, and the student senate representative. These students work

together throughout the academic year in educational programs for the community (training

workshops, panels, campus events) and programs specifically for the LGBTQ+ student

community (student organization meetings). Pride in Leadership, led by the Pride Center’s

graduate assistant (GA), would take place the week before the fall semester, providing time for

these students to discuss and reflect on what leadership means to them and how they want to

work together over the semester/year, and what skills they want to personally develop further.

In March of 2020, UWL closed campus due to the covid-19 pandemic, causing the Pride

Center to quickly shift to virtual student support and programming. During the 2020-2021

academic year, the Pride Center has continued this virtual support and programming while

opening the physical center with limitations. During this last year, campus program attendance

has been low, however, the Pride Center continues to maintain strong attendance and

participation from students. As the university begins returning to in-person programming, RU

and Transform will begin meeting physically along with plans for in-person programs next year.
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This transition provides a great opportunity for the Pride Center staff and student leaders to

work together as we return to in-person programming. This has been my first year as the Pride

Center’s GA, and I noticed a disconnect between the staff and student organization leaders.

Pride in Leadership would bring these students together, facilitate conversations around

leadership and activism, and encourage them to work together throughout the year as a team.

Theory to Practice: LGBTQ+ Identity Development and Leadership

Research shows that involvement in leadership and activism prompts the development

of leadership skills, resilience, and gender or sexual identity for LGBTQ+ students (Renn, 2007;

Renn & Bilodeau, 2005a; and Renn & Bilodeau, 2005b). Renn (2007) found that “using LGBT

identity as a hook to motivate student involvement could provide a point of connection and an

entry into involvement for students who might not think of themselves as leaders” (p. 326).

Students participating in Pride in Leadership are already involved with the LGBTQ+ campus

community. By using the leadership identity development (LID) model, participants would shift

from viewing themselves and others as leaders in positional roles to a view of leadership outside

of just position (Renn, 2007; and Komives et al, 2005). LID is developed in six stages:

awareness, exploration/engagement, leader identified, leadership differentiation, generativity,

and integration/synthesis (Komives et al. 2005). Participants in this workshop already

transition through the first two stages as they are aware of gender identity and/or sexuality and

are engaged in the LGBTQ+ campus community as student leaders.

Renn and Bilodeau (2005a) found that “descriptions of personal roles in the

accomplishment reflected the shift away from leadership rooted in individual positions to

leadership shared by a group responsible for meeting mutual goals” (p. 357). The goal of this

workshop is to transition students from the LID stage of identifying a leader to differentiating

leadership from a positional leader. Since participants are already recognized as leaders because

of their roles in the Pride Center, they might be in the leader-identified stage. This transition

involves “students differentiated leadership beyond the role of the positional leader and
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recognized that anyone in the group could do leadership and became aware that leadership was

also a process between and among people” (Komives et al, 2005, p. 606). This workshop makes

the LGBTQ+ identity development of student leadership central to this transition. This is

important since understanding how campus leadership prompt identity development processes

and creates leadership skills (Renn and Bilodeau, 2005b).

Program Outline: Pride Center’s Student Leadership Workshop

This three-hour-long workshop will be divided into three modules, each focusing on one

capacity of the emotionally intelligent leadership (EIL) model: consciousness of self, the

consciousness of others, and consciousness of context (Dugan, 2017).

During the first module, the consciousness of self, students will reflect on their LGBTQ+

identity development, why they came to the Pride Center, their decision to get involved as a

leader, and what they learned thus far from this position. Since people reflect in different ways,

students will be encouraged to use journaling, drawing, poetry, or other methods for this

reflection. Everyone’s coming-out story is different, and sometimes looking back can be

re-traumatizing, so students are not required to focus on any particular event, rather

encouraged to focus on what lead them to their position in the Pride Center.

In the second module, the consciousness of others, students will be put into pairs and

share one part of their self-reflection. The goal is to learn about another person and how their

story is similar and different from one’s own. After pair discussion, the GA will facilitate a group

discussion focusing on looking forward. Participants will share their hopes for their semester

and discuss how they plan to work together as a leadership team.

The final module, a consciousness of context, is about beyond the Pride Center and

college. The GA and Pride Center director will develop a list of skills student leaders are

expected to gain. Participants will be encouraged to add skills to the list. Since the goal of this

workshop is to help students transition from leader identified to leadership differentiated,

students will pick 2-3 skills they either have developed as a leader or how to develop in this
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position. After picking a couple of skills, participants will reflect and discuss how they could use

each skill outside of the Pride Center in their future career, as an activist, or in their personal

daily life.

Expected Learning Outcomes

Pride in Leadership demonstrates an overall goal of preparing LGBTQ+ student leaders for

post-college careers and activism. To accomplish this goal, the following learning outcomes will

be utilized.

● Participants will be able to explain how their involvement in the Pride Center developed

transferable skills for their post-graduate careers, activism, or other post-college

involvement.

● Participants will be able to differentiate leadership from positional leaders.

● After this workshop, students will use the three components of EIL as a reflection tool

throughout their involvement in the Pride Center in individual and group reflection with

the GA and director.

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References

Dugan, J. P. (2017). Leadership theory: Cultivating critical perspectives. San Francisco,

CA: Jossey-Bass.

Komives, S. R., Owen, J. E., Longerbeam, S. D., Mainella, F. C., & Osteen, L. (2005).

Developing a leadership identity: A grounded theory. Journal of College Student

Development, 46:6, pp. 593-611.

Renn, K. A. (2007). LGBT student leaders and queer activists: Identities of lesbian, gay,

bisexual, transgender, and queer identified college student leaders and activists. Journal

of College Student Development, 48:3, 311-330.

Renn, K. A. & Bilodeau, B. L. (2005a). Leadership identity development among lesbian,

gay, and transgender student leaders. NASPA Journal, 42(3), pp. 342-367.

Renn, K. A., & Bilodeau, B. (2005b). Queer student leaders: An exploratory case study of

identity development and LGBT student involvement at a midwestern research

university. Journal of Gay & Lesbian Issues in Education, 2:3, 49-71. DOI:

10.1300/J367v02n04_04