The Hollingsworth Center for Ethical Leadership was selected as a 2019 Promising Practice in Character Education award from the Character.org organization in Washington DC.
The award recognizes the Individual Leadership Development Plan (ILDP) and the intentional ethical leadership development courses in the School of Military Science (SOMS) curriculum. The ILDP models an intentional approach to ethical education and development across multiple semesters within a multi-year program of study.
The Corps of Cadets provides hands-on leadership experience to roughly 2400 cadets. Of those, roughly 55% will not pursue a commission in the military. The Hollingsworth Center for Ethical Leadership focuses on these students, preparing them for ethical leadership challenges after graduation.
The ILDP is a dynamic student-generated portfolio that begins in the fall semester of a student’s junior year and is continually developed throughout the student’s remaining 3 semesters. Each semester, students engage in a one-hour intentional ethical leadership development course through the School of Military Science.
As students matriculate through the program of study, they build on their previous learning and complete additional items in their ILDP. At the completion of their 4-semester journey, graduating students are able to use the items in their ILDP as supporting documentation in job interviews, resumes, and in the development of their overall leadership philosophy.
Texas A&M University was one of two universities selected for the Promising Practice award this year which highlights what’s going well in communities across the United States and the world.