Overview: Ethical Leadership
Washington & Jefferson College is a national leader in ethical leadership education and development. Our innovative Ethical Leadership Program is a 4-year, developmentally sequenced program of education and practical experiences designed to help every W&J student become an effective, life-long practitioner of ethical leadership. We define ethical leadership in a distinctive manner, influenced by the College’s commitment to graduate people ready to make a significant contribution to society through their personal, professional and civic lives. At W&J, ethical leadership is understood as follows:
Ethical leadership happens in the context of groups and communities with shared values and purpose. It consists of those practices which are effective in realizing a group’s goal or furthering its mission, and which are guided by conscience and an informed sense of social responsibility. Ethical leadership requires uncommon integrity, complements professional readiness, supports growth, and engenders healthy relationships and inclusive cultures characterized by trust, empathy and respect.
Our Mission: Producing Leaders of Uncommon Integrity
When you graduate from Washington & Jefferson College, you will be recognized by leading employers and graduate programs for your skills, knowledge and readiness to take your place in the profession or calling of your choosing. The Ethical Leadership Program is a distinctive feature of a W&J education, and something which distinguishes our graduates from their peers. It combines an understanding of ethics in your personal life and the academic or professional path of study you choose, with opportunities to hone your skills and approach to leadership, through service, mentorship, collaboration with others in service of a shared goal, public speaking and other ways of making an impact on campus and beyond it.
The Center for Ethical Leadership, in partnership with offices and programs from across the College, connects W&J students with a rich array of sites for individual impact and influence. You will find the chance to realize and maximize your potential to practice ethical leadership in contexts including: the classrooms, laboratories and studios on our campus; sports fields and athletic training; entrepreneurial ventures and economic development; pre-professional training and work experience; and community work in local, regional, national and global contexts.
In all of this, the Ethical Leadership Program, hopes to embody the vision of W&J’s founders; people who recognized the need for well-educated, responsible professionals who are dedicated to serving others and working for the betterment of their society.
The Center for Ethical Leadership
The Center for Ethical Leadership is a new part of Washington & Jefferson College, created as part of the first commitment of the College’s new Strategic Plan Juncta Juvant. Its role is to support ethics and leadership education, and to coordinate and oversee ethical leadership development and activities, across the whole College.
The Center is charged with assisting faculty with design and development of ethics and leadership elements of the curriculum, and supporting W&J staff with trainings and professional development around ethical leadership. It oversees the Ethical Leadership Program, and provides the following programming to the W&J community.
Ethical Leadership Talks and Workshops: The CEL regularly hosts visiting speakers, and campus/community discussion panels, on a range of topics in ethics (theoretical and applied) and leadership (study and practice). These events deepen moral knowledge, engage and broaden your moral imagination, spark conversations, and provide space for discussing issues and questions which really matter to us but are too complex or sensitive to discuss productively elsewhere.
Collaborative Programming with the Center for Professional Pathways: The structure of the ELP compliments CPP’s PATH model of professional development. This reflects the fact that most W&J graduates go on to careers in the professions, and that ethical leadership skills, style and experience are an important aspect of the distinctive professional readiness which a W&J education provides. At each of the 4 EL development stages, there is one collaborative, signature program offered to support, guide and motivate you to get the most out of your time at college.
Ethical Leadership:
Every Student's Potential
Washington & Jefferson College is committed to the belief that ethical leaders are made, not born, and that every student can master the competencies and commitments needed to:
Foster Communities of Respect and Inclusion
- Recognize and articulate one’s own identity and values as a basis for ethical action.
- Cultivate empathy and cultural competence to value others and their unique perspectives and experiences.
- Take responsibility for contributing to the success and well-being of individuals and one’s community or profession.
- Practice inclusivity and collaboration in pursuit of goals and solutions that serve the common good.
Provide Leadership to Resolve Ethical Issues and Conflicts
- Recognize and respond to ethical questions or issues.
- Learn and apply conflict resolution skills to challenging situations.
- Invite and consider different perspectives in dialogue with others.
- Make decisions and take action after careful and reflective analysis.
Advocate for Ethical Values and Lead Change
- Hold oneself accountable to the ethical standards and expectations of a chosen profession.
- Advocate for the highest standards of ethics and challenge others to do likewise.
- Understand how to effect informed change where needed, and courageously act to effect that change.
- Champion creative, ethical, and authentic visions that imagine a more positive future and invite others to participate in those aspirations.
| Developmental Stage | CEL/CPP signature collaborative program |
| 1. Finding your place | EL & Purposeful Work (Spring) |
| 2. Collaboration, participation & service | Sophomore Retreat (early Fall) |
| 3. Leading Ethically | Leading Ethically in the Professions and Society Workshops (Fall and Spring) |
| 4. Reflection, self-presentation & transition. | Professional Readiness Capstone Workshops (Fall and Spring) |
Ethical Leadership Fellowship Program: The CEL supports scholarship and pedagogical development in ethical leadership through the EL Fellows program. Every year, up to 5 fellowships are available to students, faculty and staff to support research, scholarship, pedagogical innovation, and professional development in ethical leadership.
Contact:
The Center for Ethical Leadership
The Hub for Student Success, Room 102
126 E. Beau Street, Washington, PA 15301
David Holiday, Ph.D.
dholiday@washjeff.edu
724-503-1001 ext. 6896
