The Student Leadership Podcast

Who is Dr. Alexander McCormick and NSSE? Dr. Alexander McCormick is the Director of NSSE, the National Survey of Student Engagement, and teaches in the Educational Leadership and Policy Studies department at Indiana University. The survey is a preeminent tool that's been capturing important campus data for over a decade! Last year, it surveyed over 300,000 students from over 600 campuses in order to drive discussions and actions to improve positive student outcomes. Previous to his position at Indiana, he was a Senior Scholar at The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching where he served as director of survey research.Dr. McCormick earned his Ph.D. (education and sociology) and Master’s degree (educational administration and policy analysis) from Stanford University. His Bachelor’s degree is in French from Dartmouth College. Episode highlights What is NSSE? (1:28) The five key benchmarks of effective educational practice (4:40) Positive trends can happen in every type of school (8:30) The importance of starting dialogue (10:25) Why we don't do publish institution rankings (11:15) Interesting insights found in the survey (17:30) There's much more variation in engagement WITHIN a campus than variation in engagement ACROSS different campuses (20:00) The ratio of study to class is shrinking (26:11) Student involvement increases when everyone's invested (32:25) Making informed decisions (37:05) Items  mentioned in the show NSSE Project DEEP (Documenting Effective Educational Practices) Movie: Stand and Deliver Book: Only the Paranoid Survive Book: Motivating the Middle Subscribe to podcast in iTunes Download the complete transcript  

Who is Jonathan Naber? Jonathan Naber is the creator and founder of Illini Prosthetic Technologies, a non-profit prosthetics engineering group. Now known as Bump Nonprofit Design Studio, Jonathan and his team supply low cost prosthetics to many in the developing world. He has received the Joshua Grafton Memorial Award for Outstanding Leadership, the Lemelson-MIT honorary student prize as well as the Clinton Global Initiative. In Fall 2013, he will be attending the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine as a Marshall Scholar.  Episode Highlights The decision to start BUMP (3:50) Building the team (4:16) Product testing in Guatemala (11:06) Challenging the established industry (16:42) Regulation of prosthetics (20:12) Highlights from LeaderShape (26:42) The 3 keys to changing the world (28:07) Tactics for implementing the 3 keys (32:17) Don't talk yourself out of taking the risk! (38:03) Influential books (40:30) Items mentioned in the show BUMP  LeaderShape Book: I Dare You Book: Mountains beyond Mountains Lemelson-MIT Subscribe to podcast in iTunes Download complete transcript        

Who is Susan Komives? Dr. Susan Komives is a leading scholar on student leadership and co-author of the book Exploring Leadership: For College Students Who Want to Make a Difference. She served as a Professor in the Department of Counseling, Higher Education and Special Education at the University of Maryland. She's received numerous academic awards, contributed to defining influential models of leadership, and is just an all-round delight! Episode Highlights Susan's time in Japan (1:46) Entry into student government (3:22) Key research insights (8:55) Everybody's effective leadership capacity is enhanced when they just do THIS (10:44) Self-perception gaps between genders (14:30) Why leadership models matter (16:20) How we get the job done matters greatly (20:53) Terrible leadership books (22:22) The Exploring Leadership book (26:11) The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (32:19) Common leadership mistakes (34:30) A powerful little story (37:40) Items mentioned in the show Exploring Leadership: For College Students Who Want to Make a Difference National Clearinghouse for Leadership Programs Myers-Briggs Type Indicator StrengthsQuest Subscribe to podcast in iTunes Download complete transcript  

Who is Butch Oxendine? Butch Oxendine is the Executive Director of the American Student Government Association.  He founded the statewide leadership magazine Florida Leader in 1983 and launched the national t magazine Student Leader in 1992. Butch chats with us about his entry into student government, his publishing work and the many insights he has gleaned over the years. Episode Highlights How Butch got into student government (1:17) The Student Leader Magazine heyday  (7:25) What the ASGA provides for aspiring leaders (8:21) Insights gained through ASGA's research (12:35) The increasing number of women in student government (18:21) Unique campaign ideas (21:09) ASGA conference content (27:32) Promotion tools and techniques (32:11) Changing people's perception about student government (38:25) Items mentioned in the show Student Leader Magazine ASGA   Subscribe to podcast in iTunes Download complete transcript  

Who is Luke Rajlich? Luke Rajlich is a University of Illinois (I-L-L!) graduate most famous for being one of the creators of Farmville. Fortune Magazine named him one of the 20 smartest engineers in tech. He chats about his start from U of I on computer science-y projects to making the entrepreneurial leap to why Farmville became the most played game ever. (Even more than Monopoly, for realz). Episode Highlights How Luke got started (1:58) Luke's idea for a virtual world (8:34) The TechCrunch effect (11:07) Entering the gaming market (18:00) Shipping farmville (32:00) Setting a goal (34:35) Why Farmville exploded in popularity (35:30) Whether to enter a startup right out of school (42:40) When to make the entrepreneurial leap (48:22) Items Mentioned in the Show Farmville TechCrunch Siebel Center Subscribe to Podcast on iTunes Download transcript

Who is THON and Ryan Patrick THON is the Penn State Dance Marathon, which raised over $12 Million dollars for pediatric cancer research last year. It's the world's largest student-run philanthropy. Ryan Patrick is the Overall Chair for the 2014 THON. Episode Highlights THON's history starting from a child's story (1:30) Why not to worry so much about a $12.3 Million number (7:15) The magic of how everyone gets invested (10:00) How 3,400 committee members get organized (14:00) How organizational knowledge gets passed down - 200 pages, what?! (18:40) How Ryan ended up at the top of the world's largest student-run philanthropy (23:20) How students engage with families (27:25) Organizing the logistics of a 15,000-person event (32:15) Making the shift from doing to leading (37:15) Items Mentioned in the Show THON Four Diamonds YouTube video - The Story of THON Tipping Point Freakonomics Linchpin Subscribe to podcast in iTunes Download complete transcript

Who is Student Maid and Kristen Hadeed? Kristen Hadeed founded the Student Maid, a business staffed by 400 students at the University of Gainesville, Florida. Episode Highlights The major boost to Kristen's business (3:40) How to get a $10,000 loan without any prior credit (6:40) The importance of self pep talks (9:10) The power of keeping it real (10:30) Why Student Maid employees stick around 10X longer than others (11:45) What's more important than money in motivating students (14:25) Values: Student Maid's secret sauce (19:15) Life with a DJ in the office (21:20) Pushing past discomfort to say what needs to be said (32:55) Items mentioned in the show The Student Maid Vishen Lakhiani of Mind Valley CAMPUSPEAK core values and (Kristen's new speaker page)! Subscribe to podcast in iTunes Download complete transcript

Who is T.J. Sullivan? T.J. Sullivan is the CEO of CAMPUSPEAK, author of the book Motivating the Middle, and publishes the outstanding blog on student leadership at www.tjsullivan.com. Episode highlights How T.J. unexpectedly became Greek (1:30) A whirlwind start to a speaking career (7:15) The birth and success of CAMPUSPEAK (11:05) The Apathy Myth (15:00) You are always wearing your letters (20:30) The benefits of thinking in thirds about your group members (27:20) The most-asked (and answered!) questions after gigs (33:20) It's supposed to be fun (40:00) Items mentioned in the show CAMPUSPEAK - rocking speaking agency! T.J.'s book - Motivating the Middle T.J.'s blog You are always wearing your letters post and a sample (of the many) emotional YouTube videos Girls gone wild post Subscribe to podcast in iTunes Download transcript

Who is Arthur Woods? Arthur Woods founded the COMPASS Fellowship for social entrepreneurship program at Georgetown University that's spread to 15 campuses, and is currently aPartner at Imperative. Episode highlights A key to keeping your organization alive over the long haul (5:35) ABC - Always Be Caring (10:30) The importance of reflection (13:00) Mentors are happy to help! (16:30) How Arthur and company measured happiness at Etsy (22:00) Great books to check out (28:00) Pushing the boundaries (32:30) Items mentioned in the show COMPASS Fellowship for social entrepreneurs (and they're HIRING a new Program Manager) PERMA happiness framework (Positive emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, Achievement) Book - The Lean Startup by Eric Ries Book - Little Bets by Peter Sims Book - The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Anchor Book - The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg Subscribe to podcast in iTunes Download complete transcript  

Who is Paul Pyrz and LeaderShape? Paul Pyrz is the President of LeaderShape, an inspiring organization that teaches college students to lead with integrity and have a healthy disregard for the impossible. Their famed 6-day LeaderShape Institute program provides a powerful experience that transforms student leaders and makes them cry (in a good way :). Episode highlights: What is LeaderShape? (7:00) It's not about technique (12:30) How LeaderShape makes people cry (16:00) Why Feedback = Love (23:40) How winning is over-rated (27:30) Don't be afraid of the mess (37:00) Items mentioned in the show LeaderShape Institute LeaderShape Alum Larry Page - co-founder of Google LeaderShape Alum Sal Khan - founder of Khan Academy LeaderShape Alum Brian Griese - football player and founder of Judi's House LeaderShape Alum Jonathan Naber - founder of Illinois Prosthetics Team DailyGood - inspiring, positive news Fast Company magazine Subscribe to podcast in iTunes Download complete transcript

Who is Ian Goldsmith and this Interlude Dance? Ian and his crew were students at the University of Northern Iowa who ended up creating and popularizing a goofy dance that stirred the spirit of the campus and people around the world, including first lady Michelle Obama. Episode highlights Story of how the Interlude Dance was created and took off (1:30) Just how rich you become when you're YouTube famous (9:55) How Ian pushed past his doubts to have some real conversations (12:32) The (unfortunate) secret to getting videos to go viral (14:40) Leadership lessons learned from campus involvement and LeaderShape (19:15) How Michelle Obama got involved in the Interlude Dance craze (28:00) Whether to shake hands, fist-bump, or hug the First Lady (31:30) Inspirational wisdom on what it takes to help the world (33:40) Items mentioned in the show The Interlude Dance instructional video The song Interlude by the band Attack Attack on iTunes LeaderShape Institute Let's Move campaign Subscribe to podcast in iTunes Download complete transcript

Who is Mawi Asgedom? Mawi Asgedom has an extraordinary, inspirational story of how we went from a refugee camp to the United States, onto Harvard and more. He's inspired over a million students with his story and practical leadership wisdom. He has been cited as one of Oprah’s 20 Most Inspirational Moments and he has just recently won a CODiE award for his extraordinary online course on student leadership. Episode highlights Keys to persevering through war-torn Ethiopia and adjusting to the United States (1:50) A scary number that almost makes students cry (13:05) The trick to getting on Oprah (16:00) The importance of "hitting the turbo button" (19:08) The exposure that's even better than Oprah (23:10) A cautionary tale about college debt (30:12) Why to cultivate a "level of insanity" (37:00) The powerful motivation of writing a letter to your shareholders (42:40) Items mentioned in the show The College Scorecard - Helpful statistics on college graduation and student loan default rates published by the U.S. Government. Mawi's (now award-winning!) online leadership course Mawi's inspirational autobiography Subscribe to podcast in iTunes