MSU Leadership Fellows Certificate
Introduction
The Leadership Fellows Certificate is an interdisciplinary program available to all Montana State University undergraduates, from all areas of study.
The Leadership Fellows certificate is a 16 credit curriculum of study which provides students with the essential tools needed to discover and develop their potential as positive leaders and empowered followers. The program is designed to develop in students the "universal behaviors of highly effective leaders", including skills in self awareness, communication, influence, and learning agility. In addition the program fosters critical and creative thinking and problem solving, capacities for dialogue, and local and global citizenship. The Leadership Fellows teaches under the Human Leadership Development (HLD) rubric. It is open and available to all undergraduate students across campus.
Its leadership courses uses three programmatic pillars to guide its courses, these are:
Pillar I. Leader as Individual
Pillar II. Leader in Community
Pillar III. Leading Globally
The certificate has a maximum capacity of 100 undergraduate students. To receive a certificate, students must declare with the approval of the Leadership Fellows Director. Students are required to take and receive a C- or above in HLD 121US (Leadership Foundations, 3 credits) and HLD 499 (Leadership Capstone, 1 credit - formerly HLD 302). The certificate also requires 6 elective credits of HLD coursework and 6 additional credits approved by the Leadership Fellows director, from student's major/minor or other leadership-related courses.
Leadership Foundations (HLD121US) also meets MSU's Core University Seminar requirement. Students usually take Leadership Capstone (HLD 499) during their junior or senior year. Seniors are given priority. Leadership Capstone students synthesize their leadership learning in a final research or creative project. Students must successfully pass all their leadership coursework with a grade of C- or better to earn the Leadership Fellows Certificate. Although not required for the certificate, the Leadership Fellows program encourages all declaring students to pursue leadership "practicums". These can be in the form of internships, on or off-campus employment, and extracurriculars (e.g. leadership roles in ASMSU clubs, fraternities, student senate, as orientation leaders, etc). The MSU Leadership Institute is an additional not-for-credit resource, that can be joined in addition to the certificate, for learning and practicing leadership on campus. All required and elective leadership courses are seminar based with class sizes ranging from 12-18 students.
To learn more about the certificate and program, please see the Leadership Fellows website. We also encourage you to reach out directly to the Leadership Fellows director, Elizabeth Williamson at elizabeth.roberts@montana.edu.
Leadership Fellows ~ HLD Course List
Required for the Certificate
HLD 121US, Leadership Foundations (3 credits, offered each Fall/Spring semesters)
This CORE-approved, US seminar course provides students with the opportunity to develop essential understandings of leading and following through readings, exposure to various media, and experiential learning. This course is offered in person and online. This is an introductory and required course for students who wish to obtain a Leadership Fellows Certificate. However, any student in any field of study is welcome to take the course.
HLD 499, Leadership Capstone (1 credit, offered each Fall/Spring semesters)
The Leadership Capstone is for students who wish to complete the requirements for the Leadership Fellows Certificate. This course is offered in person and online. HLD 121US, Leadership Foundations, is a prerequisite for HLD 302, and students need to have passed HLD 121US with a letter grade of “C-” or better to get permission to register for Leadership Capstone. Capstone projects allow students to reflect on and extend leadership scholarship within their particular field of study. Subsumed into a capstone project are self-leadership skills including time management; planning and execution; self-sufficiency; goal setting; and critical writing.
Leadership Elective Offerings
HLD 206, Leading Adaptively in a Complex World (3 credits, offered Fall semesters)
Leading Adaptively in a Complex World is rooted in the concept that leadership is an action one takes to effect change. Based on this perspective, leadership is exercised by mobilizing people to address challenging situations (described as adaptive challenges) occurring in complex social environments. Thus, individuals who practice leadership need to be adaptive in the actions they take. This is accomplished by effectively diagnosing the social dynamics occurring within each adaptive challenge before strategically intervening. This face-to-face, web-enhanced, discussion-based seminar emphasizes the methods and principles for engaging in this process.
HLD 221, Thinking, Writing & Speaking for Leadership (3 credits, offered Spring semesters)
A critical and creative practice is a constant flow of divergent and convergent action: We cast outwards, expressing, testing and experiencing; we observe the impact of our actions on the world and then we synthesize, formulating notions of truth, quality, beauty, and success. These formulations of meaning influence others’ thoughts and actions, thereby creating feedback loops of understanding for the real-world practice of leadership. This is the work of change makers in an interconnected and ever-changing society. This leadership writing course leans into critical and creative processes to practice a more conscious way of leadership. The work-shopping process is an open forum for growing your leadership practice and writing abilities. We focus on giving and receiving feedback, collaborating to make win-for-all solutions, and gaining a critical, whole-systems view of the world.
HLD 292, Independent Study (1-6 credits, available Fall/Spring semesters, approved for certificate pending Leadership Fellows Director approval)
Offered fall and spring semesters, work collaboratively with the Leadership Fellows Director or Leadership Fellows Faculty to develop a student-driven leadership project.
HLD 293, Study Abroad (1-3 credits, in development, availability will be instructor dependent)
HLD 298, Internships (1-6 credits, available Fall/Spring semesters, approved for certificate pending Leadership Fellows Director approval)
Each fall and spring semesters, leadership-based internships are available. Connect with a community member organization to propose your own internship program or apply with the the Leadership Fellows Director to be a part of existing Leadership Fellows intern opportunities.
HLD 346, The Leader's Way (3 credits, offered Spring semesters)
Using the teaching assistant class model, this course prepares emerging leaders to actively engage at both organizational and global levels. Interpersonal communication as a process and within a systems approach is the focus of this leader development class. The course encourages awareness, development, and application of deep listening, an essential interpersonal communication skill and behavior for all 21st century leaders. Within contexts of mediation, facilitation and teaching, students are provided a variety of project-based, in-class experiential activities, and out-of-class assignments in the form of written, auditory, and visual formats from literature, science, learning theory, classical texts, communication practice, and the arts. “Weekly experiments” enhance students’ own deep listening abilities while increasing understandings of processes utilizing a systems approach.
HLD 347D, Global Leadership & Culture (3 credits, offered Spring semesters)
Global Leadership & Culture examines what it means to be a culturally aware and humble leader. This course will invite students to 1) critically examine the practice of extra-cultural leadership; 2) critically examine one’s own culture and identity; and 3) study specific concepts related to global leadership and cultural humility to inform future contributions. This face-to-face, web-enhanced, discussion-based seminar emphasizes the methods and principles for engaging in leadership with a global lens.
HLD 491, Being a Leader (3 credits, in development, will be offered beginning Fall 2026)
Being a leader is for juniors, seniors and graduate students only. It is a uniquely designed course created using ontological and phenomenological methods to generate leadership behaviors that are tied to students' individual natural forms of self expression. The course uses philosophical lens to generate individual-based discoveries tied to personal and professional leadership challenges. Each student is required to attend lectures, work in small breakout groups, pursue and document a personal leadership challenge, as well as sit for a final assessment exam.
HLD 498, Internships (1-6 credits, available Fall/Spring semesters, approved for certificate pending Leadership Fellows Director approval)
Each fall and spring semesters, leadership-based internships are available. Connect with a community member organization to propose your own internship program or apply with the the Leadership Fellows Director to be a part of existing Leadership Fellows intern opportunities.
| HLD 121US | Leadership Foundations | 3 |
| HLD 499 | Leadership Capstone | 1 |
| Directed Leadership Electives - Choose 6 credits from the following: | 6 | |
| Leading Adaptively in a Complex World | ||
| Thinking, Writing and Speaking for Leadership | ||
| Special Topics | ||
| Independent Study | ||
| Internship | ||
| The Leader's Way: Deep Listening, Systems & Processes | ||
| Special Topics | ||
| Special Topics | ||
| Internship | ||
| Electives - Choose 6 credits from general coursework (must be approved by director) | 6 | |
| Total Credits | 16 | |