The Program
NEW Leadership Ohio is a weeklong residential summer institute where students learn from women in politics and policymaking, as well as educators in the field of women and politics. They participate in hands-on skill building workshops and discuss their own concepts of leadership. Joining students at the institute are political women - public officials, issue advocates, activists - who serve as Faculty In Residence (FIRs). The FIRs, who share meals and activities with the students, are available throughout the program to provide advice and insights.
Through inspiring connections with political women who are role models, participants realize that leadership is about doing what you and those around you thought you never could. In the process, students break down barriers that have traditionally kept women from political life and develop a network of current political leaders and peers who share a commitment to making a difference through public leadership.
Curriculum
NEW Leadership is built on a five-part curriculum, which includes:
Eligibility
NEW Leadership Ohio selects approximately 30 college women from throughout the state to participate in the program each year. These women represent a variety of college majors, class years and standings, and economic and personal backgrounds. NEW Leadership Ohio is open to all undergraduate women attending colleges and universities in Ohio, as well as Ohio residents attending colleges and universities as undergraduates outside the state. We seek students who are interested in women, politics, and leadership and who demonstrate leadership potential, whether or not they are currently practicing leaders. There is no cost to the students who participate in the program.
+ Participating Schools
Contact us
For more information please contact
Cindy Holodnak
614-292-7731
Holodnak.1@osu.edu
NEW Leadership is designed to address the historical and contemporary underrepresentation of women in politics. While women have always been politically active, their numbers in elective and appointed office are surprisingly low. Women hold only a small number of the seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate and less than a quarter of the seats in our state legislatures.
NEW Leadership works to educate and empower college women to take on public leadership roles. A recent UCLA study showed that only 13.9 percent of first year women college students see influencing political affairs as a priority, and only 23.3 percent of those students consider it important to keep up to date with political affairs. NEW Leadership is an effort to build a new generation of women in politics and policymaking. NEW Leadership educates participants about the political process and awareness of women's historical and contemporary participation in that process.
NEW Leadership Ohio has been developed in partnership with the NEW Leadership Development Network established by the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. The John Glenn School of Public Affairs works with the Department of Women's Studies to present the program each summer.
Since 2002, NEW Leadership has been funded with gifts from Barbara Fergus, the Ohio Telecom Association, American Electric Power, the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, and three grants from the Women's Fund of Central Ohio. These contributions allow the program to remain free of charge for the participants.
Making it Possible
NEW Leadership Ohio has been developed in partnership with the NEW Leadership Development Network established by the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University.
Private funding for NEW Leadership allows the program to remain free of charge to all of the participants. Seed funding for the NEW Leadership Program was provided by a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in 2002. Since then, NEW Leadership has been funded with gifts from Barbara Fergus, the Ohio Telecom Association, American Electric Power, and three grants from the Women's Fund of Central Ohio.
The John Glenn School of Public Affairs is unique among peer institutions given its comprehensive focus on scholarship, leadership and civic engagement programs. Over 2000 alumni serve in leadership roles at local, state and national policy levels and the School's nationally recognized leadership and civic engagement programs reach over 10,000 people on an annual basis.
The Department of Women's Studies is an academic unit within the College of Humanities. It is committed to an interdisciplinary approach to the study of gender, race, class, ethnicity, and sexuality. The Department has a long history of providing students with internships in private and public spheres.
National Network
With the support of CAWP and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, NEW Leadership programs have been instituted across the country. Based on the successful model of NEW Leadership New Jersey, colleges and universities in eight other states have developed NEW Leadership programs drawing on their own students, political women, and other resources.
To learn more about the NEW Leadership Development Network click here
