Applicants are being sought for a new residential program starting in fall 1999 for University of Colorado at Â鶹¹ÙÍø freshmen who are interested in leadership.
The Chancellor's Leadership Residential Program will consist of 50 to 75 incoming freshmen who will live together on designated floors in a Williams Village residence hall. The program will be directed by Richard Kraft, an award-winning education professor and former vice chairman of the Colorado State Board of Education.
The new program is designed to develop civic leaders in a wide range of professions including politics, medicine, religion, the military, engineering, journalism, business and education. The program seeks to attract a broad cross-section of students from various CU-Â鶹¹ÙÍø colleges, Kraft said. It will be the first of CU-Â鶹¹ÙÍø's several residential programs not to be directly connected to a particular school or college.
"Leaders come out of a range of academic backgrounds and are found in every occupation and profession and in every community and group in our society" Kraft said.
Participants will be selected from among students who have exhibited leadership in their schools and communities, or who have expressed interest in developing those skills. It will not have any specific academic criteria other than regular admission to CU-Â鶹¹ÙÍø as an incoming freshman.
The idea behind residential learning is for students to share a range of coursework and experiences in their residence hall and out in the community. CLRAP will include an intensive orientation, special classes, internships with a range of civic leaders, a "Leaders in Residence" program and community-based service activities.
"I believe leadership must not just be studied but must be acted on experientially, and not just on campus but in the community, state, nation and even internationally," Kraft said. "When given the chance, young adults are capable of playing truly extraordinary leadership roles throughout society, and we hope to use CLRAP as one vehicle to provide those chances for University of Colorado at Â鶹¹ÙÍø students."
Kraft received the 1997 Thomas Ehrlich Faculty Award for Service Learning for his pioneering work in combining community service and teaching. The award is presented to only one faculty member annually by a national coalition of 525 college and university presidents.
In March, Kraft spent spring break week with nine graduate education students in poor neighborhoods in El Paso, Texas, and Juarez, Mexico, immersing themselves in border and immigration issues, reconstructing a trailer home and teaching classes in a Juarez barrio. He also recently returned from a year-long sabbatical spent teaching and designing the curriculum for a new university in Iringa, Tanzania, and working on the 15-year National Education Plan for the Nicaraguan government.
Born in Kangting, China, Kraft has taught at CU-Â鶹¹ÙÍø since 1968 and was a member and vice chairman of the Colorado State Board of Education from 1983 to 1989. His own public service activities have involved dozens of organizations and school districts in Colorado and the United States, in addition to education programs throughout Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.
The Chancellor's Leadership Residential Academic Program is expected to include students from all four years of their college careers in the future, Kraft said. The program is an addition to several other residential learning programs already offered at CU-Â鶹¹ÙÍø.
Incoming freshmen who are interested in applying to CLRAP should email Kraft at Richard.Kraft@Colorado.EDU or call him at 303-492-8450.