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"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader." - John Quincy Adams.

Students in STEM often don't associate leadership with science and technology. This is especially true in engineering, where the focus tends to be on math, modeling, and technical problem solving. At CU, however, the College of Engineering wants students to look at leadership in a different way. Not as something students might associate only with politics or business, but as an activity and study that is integral to understanding modern society and the future of technology. CU's Engineering Leadership Program (ENLP), directed by Dr. Paul Diduch, wants to ensure that CU's engineers not only have the technical skills to succeed, but also the self-awareness, openness, and mental agility necessary for tackling the increasing complexity of our world. For Diduch, the core of leadership is "an ability to see problems with new eyes, provide direction or vision to achieve goals, and to be free enough mentally to glimpse some aspect of the future."

The Engineering Leadership Program pursues the study of leadership in the spirit of liberal education, which values free and open engagement with divergent ideas and perspectives. This approach allows ENLP to move away from a "textbook" approach to leadership and to integrate original source materials from different disciplines like philosophy, anthropology, history, literature, and social sciences.  In addition, ENLP tries to organize its classes around the Socratic seminar model, a method that  allows for the departure from usual patterns and the consideration of novel perspectives and ideas. ENLP tries to incorporate aspects of the Socratic Seminar into all of its classes, a method that involves students in class seeking a deeper understanding of complex ideas in texts through rigorous dialogue. This means small class sizes where students investigate texts in order to build a definition of leadership. 

One such student is Olivia Epstein, an ENLP senior studying Aerospace Engineering, has high praise for the program's class style saying, “it is important for everyone to be heard and permits the bandwidth to have everyone share their input … they encourage better relationships with other classmates and the professor which enhances the learning experience and makes coming to class more fun and engaging.” ENLP plans to keep this teaching style and expand their class selection with more professors slotted to come on staff in the coming semesters. 

With the completion of four ENLP classes, or three ENLP courses and one approved elective, students can achieve a certificate for engineering leadership that is recognized by companies around the world.

Complex problems such as climate transition, automation and labor displacement, intrusive surveillance and cyber security, are pressing companies to look for students with skills well beyond physics and calculus.  Engineering and technology firms want people with the awareness and soft skills to understand that tackling major problems isn't going to be simply a matter of straightforward technical problem-solving. Team work, leadership, and the ability to see and understand trade-offs are essential to ambitious projects.

Dr. Diduch pointed out that, “STEM students today are going to face a future that is increasingly threatened by problems rooted in technology itself.” Thus, ENLP hopes to prepare students with the tools to counter these problems and build more resilient companies in order to help companies protect themselves from the novel problems of the future. 

Many engineers struggle to find the time in their busy schedules to pursue humanities and their education in a non technical way, and even when they manage to squeeze a non-technical class into their day, it is often  an intro class with a hundred plus students. ENLP, in contrast, allows for small class sizes and an avenue for engineering students to get the most out of their few humanities credits. 

“The most important takeaway I have gotten was a new outlet to practice critical thinking, critical listening and expanding my understanding of myself, others, and the world,” said Epstein.  

If critical thinking and intellectual freedom are qualities you seek to grow, consider looking into ENLP and check out what the program can do for you.