UW-Madison Leadership Certificate

What is Required?

To be eligible for the Leadership Certificate, a student must provide documentation of a minimum of 100 hours total of experience in leadership roles, civic engagement, and work experiences and also engage in educational activities within and outside the classroom focused on leadership. These hours of education and experience are in five different “Activity Areas” across three “Content Areas.” Any single student activity could contribute hours toward both an Activity Area and a Content Area but it is important to note that there are maximum numbers of hours in every category.

The hour maximum is intended to encourage each student to have a breadth of leadership activities across experiential contexts (60 hours maximum in leadership roles, civic engagement, and work experiences) and educational contexts (60 hours maximum in academic courses or out-of-class learning). The fact that a student could not have more that 60 hours in either one of the contexts (experiential or educational) forces each student to have at least 40 hours in the other context. An example is that a student could have served in a leadership role (for which s/he can use 20 hours), worked in a tutoring role at a community agency (20 more hours), and been a House Fellow in the Residence Halls (20 more hours) for a total of 60 hours that would then have to be supplemented by 40 hours of educational activities either through classes or through out-of-class learning.

In addition, each student must complete:
three online courses (approved examples listed),
all items requested for verification of activity areas,
a capstone educational artifact,
and sign an ethics statement.

To learn more about each, click on them here or on the navigation bar!