Date of Degree
2024
Degree Name
Ed.D. (Doctor of Education)
Department
Department of Counseling and Higher Education (CAHE)
Director
Gudrun Nyunt
Co-Director
Quortne Hutchings
Committee Members
Xiaodan Hu
Keywords
Leadership, Generation Z, Development, Student Learning
Abstract
Colleges and universities have always helped students learn leadership skills. As Generation Z college students began to enter institutions of higher education, there had been a noted shift in how they were engaging in traditional leadership organizations. This phenomenological research examines the essence of how Generation Z thinks about and gets involved with leadership on campuses. This study interviewed eight participants from across the United States, talking about how they think about the concept of leadership and why they choose to engage. What was discovered in this research as a phenomenon noted as the “Four Commitments to Student Leadership.” These four commitments describe the ways in which students see value in joining and participating in campus leadership activities through the participants’ own works. Through this research, the findings offer ways to modify leadership programs to meet Generation Z college students where they are.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Publisher
Northern Illinois University
Rights Statement
In Copyright
Rights Statement 2
NIU theses and dissertations are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors, unless otherwise indicated.
Recommended Citation
Birch, Zachary G., "Being A Leader: Exploring Generation Z Students’ Conceptualizations of and Engagement in Leadership in College" (2024). Dissertations of Practice. 13.
https://huskiecommons.lib.niu.edu/allgraduate-disspractice/13
