UA students interested in leadership opportunities can now get connected with other student leaders across the country.
The UA’s Leadership Programs launched the newest component to its services, the National Collegiate Leadership Association, earlier this month.

The new association is an addition to the National Collegiate Leadership Conference the UA hosts every spring semester where students from all over the U.S. come to campus to learn about leadership skills and practices. The association provides students the chance to gain that same experience throughout the year online and any time throughout the day.

“In our strategic planning for the conference we started to see a need for leadership development on a national level,” said Thomas Murray, senior coordinator for the Leadership Programs and National Collegiate Leadership Association. “We started the program so that any student from anywhere can sign up for it and engage in leadership development regardless of their time commitment and finances because we offer it at a very low cost.”

For a fee of $15 per year, students can sign up for the program through the association’s website and gain access to online workshops, networking options, building an e-portfolio, and joining monthly webinars hosted by professors and experts in the field of leadership. The first webinar will be hosted by Murray today at 5 p.m. on the association website where he will discuss the development of group dynamics and how to negotiate conflicts.

“It’s kind of like having the National College Leadership Conference year-round,” said Janae Phillips, who is a student assistant to the program and a family studies and human development junior. “Because it is like having that weekend during the conference where you meet everyone and exchange ideas. It’s an extension of that, but it happens all year instead of just that one weekend.”

Though the site only began taking users on Sept. 1, the association is already signing up members in Pennsylvania, Iowa and Washington, and is in negotiations with other universities to include whole classes and groups in the association.

“We only have a handful of members,” Murray said. “This year we are hoping to grow our membership. We want to have a strong UA base but then balancing that with students across the nation. I would love to see a representation of every state in our program by the end of the year.”

Phillips, who also is a member of the National Collegiate Leadership Association said she has already been involved in discussions on the website and enjoys networking with other students interested in leadership opportunities.

“It’s always good to have an outside perspective on things,” Phillips said. “Especially with the cost of travel right now it is a really easy way for students to not only connect with the UA leadership department, but being able to connect with students across the country by giving them more access to resources they may have never had before.”