This year is the 10th anniversary of the Illinois Leadership Center, a resource that provides formal leadership training for anyone on campus through i-programs and other workshops.

Kirstin Phelps is a program director at the ILC, who works on i-program curriculums and alumni recruitment.

“Our vision mission statement is to support students who want to learn and develop their leadership skills, provide opportunities for them to do so in a variety of contexts, and then also to support faculty and staff who might be pursuing leadership-related teaching, learning or research,” she said.

I-programs are free, day- or weeklong events that stimulate cooperative learning and encourage dialogue among students. Each program also offers complementary breakfast and lunch to student participants.

“The Illinois Leadership Center is the hub for leadership on campus,” said Courtney Kramer, junior in LAS and outreach coordinator at the ILC.

Kramer participated in the Intersect program her freshman year, an i-program focused on cooperation and teamwork in collaborative environments. This sparked her interest to work at the ILC.

“Actually, this year I worked as a facilitator for (Intersect), so it was cool seeing it on both ends,” she said.

There are five i-programs: Ignite, Imprint, Insight, Integrity and Intersect. Each emphasizes one area of leadership that the ILC focuses on. There are 16 programs offered each year, and they cater to more than 1,200 students. Over 170 volunteers participated in the 2011-12 programs last school year.

Some of the programs involve contribution from alumni, who come and talk about their post-grad leadership experiences and compare them to their involvement with the i-programs. Alumni often participate in Imprint, which focuses on change and transition within a leadership role.

In terms of outreach, representatives like Kramer from the ILC make short presentations in classes around campus to inform students of these programs and what the ILC has to offer.

Latanya Cobb, another program director at the ILC, is in charge of the center’s outreach division, and she oversees the implementation and setup of the i-programs. Cobb manages the undergraduate interns and graduate employees whose job is to put the programs together.

“Atmosphere is really important to us,” Cobb said. “For instance, one of our programs, Integrity, we really like to hold that in the ARC, and it has a long movie that goes with it, so … the ARC has a really cool theater that we can sit in.”

She and Phelps also work on the curriculum for each i-program. Phelps makes sure that the curriculums are up-to-date, relevant and inclusive to everyone.

That’s another goal of the ILC: to make sure that each program caters to any and all types of students.

“We see participation along academic level, college, gender and ethnicity at about the same rates, if not higher, than those represented across campus, which we think is a unique aspect of our programs,” Phelps said.

She said students often find niches in major-specific organizations and classes, thereby cutting themselves off from students of other majors and disciplines. With the ILC, there is always a mix of students at each event.

“It’s a really great program that gives you access to different perspectives and different people than you might normally meet,” she said.

There are different kinds of leaders, Cobb said, and not all of them are necessarily the traditional stand-at-the-front-of-the-room-and-lead types that most people might think of.

“People lead from different areas,” Cobb said. “So if you say, ‘I’m going to be the one that put the PowerPoint together,’ … then you are the team leader for that part of the organization.”

Above all, the takeaway of the ILC is its i-programs and its myriad workshops that are aimed at every type of person, whether they consider themselves leaders or not.

“You don’t have to think you’re a leader to come here,” Kramer said. “We’re open to all students, and we believe that all students can become leaders.”

The next two programs will take place in the Chicago area over winter break, and will provide students with free transportation to the event, even to those who do not live in the area. More information about i-programs and the ILC is located online at illinoisleadership.uiuc.edu.

Reema can be reached at [email protected].