14 Feb 2024
by Meghan Grace, Pietro A. Sasso, Kim E. Bullington, Dawn Wiese, Kathleen Stedman, Xinyue "Coco" Liu, Anthony M. Graziani

Educating Future Leaders in Fraternities: Outcomes from Participation in a National Fraternity Emerging Leaders Program - JCAPS Vol. 6 Issue 1

A team of researchers led by Meghan Grace and Pietro Sasso identified a popular “Emerging Leaders” program in a national fraternity organization in a longitudinal study, showing its affects and providing suggestions for leadership educators who work with college students.

Campus engagement opportunities such as leadership development have potential for students to strengthen their personal skills. As such, fraternities and sororities can play an influential role in strengthening students’ leadership skills. The present study examines the efficacy of a fraternity emerging leaders program, which is an educational opportunity focused on the development of new leaders. Data were collected from participants at three time intervals. Findings suggest students develop across several leadership domains, creating a stronger appreciation of their organizational values and fraternity ritual compared to non-participants. Recommendations for practice are included to address the transfer problem of leadership application and provide future directions for emerging leader program development.