At the University of Tennessee, leadership is more than a title or position, it’s a practice available to anyone at anytime. A reimagined interdisciplinary Leadership Studies Minor, delivered through a partnership between the Jones Center for Leadership and Service (JCLS) and the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences (CEHHS), is helping students connect what they’re learning in the classroom to the real challenges facing organizations, the communities they care about, and the world.
Designed to be accessible, flexible, and deeply experiential, the 12-credit-hour minor meets students where they are, both academically and personally, while empowering them to grow their leadership capacity through community-engaged learning.
“The partnership between Leadership Studies in CEHHS and the Jones Center for Leadership and Service bridges curricular and co-curricular pathways to develop leadership capacity,” says Brandon Kliewer, associate professor of civic and organizational leadership in Leadership Studies in the CEHHS. “The JCLS and Leadership Studies partnership is a scaffolded approach that helps students make progress toward specific knowledge areas, skills, and abilities that we want all Volunteers to have when they leave UT.”
At the core of the curriculum is applied learning. Students complete an introductory leadership course, followed by a coached leadership practicum. The practicum combines adaptive leadership theory and practice with 25-35 hours of community-engaged learning at a JCLS community partner organization or CEHHS partner that aligns with a students’ civic interests and career goals.
In the final core course, students develop leadership communication capacity. They will have the opportunity to facilitate a change process in a civic or organizational context. By helping organizations and communities make progress on adaptive challenges, students gain practical experience facilitating difficult conversations, managing disagreement productively, and finding shared purpose.
The program’s flexibility is one of its defining strengths. With an ever-growing list of qualifying elective courses from nearly every college across campus, students from any major can pursue the minor through qualifying courses they are already enrolled in or planning to take. Some course options also fulfill university general education requirements.
“We’re trying to create career-ready, civic-minded graduates who are prepared to make progress on the biggest civic and organizational challenges they will face after they graduate,” Kliewer says.
And it’s working. With around 160 students currently enrolled in the minor, students are gaining skills quickly. “I can tell which students have taken classes in the minor versus students who haven’t in how they understand leadership and service,” says Natalie Frankel, JCLS associate director, and an instructor in the leadership studies minor.
Instruction for the minor reflects campus-wide collaboration, with faculty and staff teaching from JCLS, CEHHS, Athletics, the Office of Sorority and Fraternity Life, and the College of Nursing. Five JCLS staff members will teach courses in fall 2026.
Students already involved with JCLS, no matter their major, have a very clear path to the minor. The Emerging Leaders program includes a course that counts as an elective, and the Leadership Knoxville Scholars Program, a program that provides opportunities to forge meaningful connections with influential figures in the Knoxville community, includes courses from the Leadership Studies program as well.
As UT continues to create an unparalleled student experience, this open-access leadership studies minor offers a holistic approach to develop students’ leadership abilities. An approach that integrates service, reflection, and learning to help students discover their strengths. In doing so, it ensures that leadership at Tennessee isn’t just taught; it’s lived through real-world, applied learning.