Two lecturers – Tara Edberg and Julie Snyder-Yuly – have joined Iowa State University’s Leadership Studies Program, which is coordinated by the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics. Four faculty members and two graduate students now teach courses and provide administrative support to the program.
“With the addition of Tara and Julie, we now have four faculty who teach leadership studies courses at Iowa State,” said Dianne Bystrom, director of the Catt Center. “We appreciate the commitment of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences to growing our faculty to meet student demands for our leadership studies courses toward completion of a certificate or minor.”
During the spring 2016 semester, 260 students – an all-time high – from every undergraduate degree-granting college at Iowa State were enrolled in the leadership studies certificate or minor. After graduations and new enrollments, 193 students are participating in the program this fall.
Both Edberg and Snyder-Yuly bring teaching strengths to the Leadership Studies Program.
Edberg has expertise in global leadership, which supports the Vermeer International Leadership Program and Global Leadership Study Abroad Program. She directs the VILP, which is supported by the Vermeer Corp. of Pella, Iowa, and teaches two courses – LD ST 322, “Leadership Styles and Strategies in a Diverse Society,” and LD ST 370x, “Special Topics in Leadership Studies: Exploring Global Leadership Perspectives” – for the selected 2016-2017 VILP cohort students in the fall and spring semesters. She also teaches sections of LD ST 322 open to all ISU students and will teach LD ST 370x in the 2017 Global Leadership Study Abroad Program to Sweden.
Snyder-Yuly previously served as assistant director of the Catt Center; helped establish the university’s Leadership Studies Program; and has taught core courses in the program, including LD ST 322 and LD ST/W S 333, “Women and Leadership.” This semester, she is teaching LD ST 122, “Leading with Purpose”; LD ST 322; and LAS 151, “Dean’s Leadership Seminar,” with Beate Schmittmann, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. She will teach these courses in the spring 2017 semester as well as a communication studies course that is an elective in the Leadership Studies Program.
Originally from Minnesota, Edberg recently completed her Ph.D. in leadership studies at the University of San Diego. “As I completed my Ph.D., I was looking to teach in a program where I could continue to grow in my teaching. Iowa State seemed like a good fit,” she said. “With my background in global leadership, I was excited to join Iowa State’s Leadership Studies Program as it grows in teaching global leadership, including the Vermeer International Leadership Program and Global Leadership Study Abroad Program.”
Snyder-Yuly is currently completing her doctoral dissertation and will graduate from the University of Utah with a Ph.D. in communication studies. “I am excited to return to the Carrie Chapman Catt Center and work with the Leadership Studies Program,” she said. “It is exciting to see how much the program has grown in the last four years. Having the opportunity to teach students and see them develop and grow has been a goal of mine since starting my Ph.D. program, and it is great to have the opportunity to do that now.”
At the University of San Diego, Edberg helped coordinate and teach the leadership studies minor. Prior to USD, she served as the assistant director for leadership programs at the University of Iowa, including all curricular and co-curricular leadership programming, and taught several classes each semester. In addition to her Ph.D. in leadership studies, she earned a master’s degree in higher educational leadership from Oklahoma State University and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls.
Snyder-Yuly earned a master’s degree in interdisciplinary graduate studies in communication, sociology and industrial education from Iowa State University and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Iowa. While pursuing her Ph.D. at the University of Utah, she taught interpersonal communication and public speaking and co-facilitated graduate courses on leadership and management and leadership ethics in the Eccles College of Business. Additionally, she taught in the College of Engineering’s Communication, Leadership, Ethics and Research Program. She also completed the higher education teaching specialist designation at the University of Utah.
Edberg’s research interests include global leadership, cultural competency, study abroad, undergraduate leadership education and effective teaching methods. Her doctoral dissertation, “Curricular Instruction of Global Leadership at Colleges and Universities in the United States,” examines and assesses how undergraduate leadership programs teach global leadership. Edberg has several publications in the works and has presented on various topics at national and international conferences including “Case in Point Teaching,” “Coupling Leadership Education With Social Entrepreneurship,” “Effective Capstone Experiences for Leadership Education” and “Teaching Global Leadership Through Study Abroad.” Additionally, she is a certified leadership coach.
Snyder-Yuly’s doctoral dissertation examines microaggressions found in viral news stories, their images and reader comments related to black homeless men. Her research and teaching areas of interest are critical cultural studies, race and gender, interpersonal communication, public speaking and leadership. Snyder-Yuly is the co-author of three journal articles, a book chapter related to race and media, and an online article examining the need for social media alternatives.
Edberg and Snyder-Yuly join two continuing faculty members who teach courses in the Leadership Studies Program – Amber Manning-Ouellette, lecturer in leadership studies, and Kelly Winfrey, assistant professor of journalism. Two graduate assistants – Katie Friesen and Amy Pilcher – also support the Leadership Studies Program.
Manning-Ouellette, who is beginning her second year at Iowa State, is teaching LD ST 270, “Campus Leadership Development,” and two sections – including one online – of LD ST 322 this fall. She also is coordinating the Catt Center’s 2017 Global Leadership Study Abroad Program to Sweden, where she will teaching LD ST/W S 333.
Winfrey is beginning her third year with the Catt Center and Leadership Studies Program. She is teaching SP COM 417, “Campaign Rhetoric,” which is an elective for the leadership studies certificate, in the fall 2016 semester. She continues to serve as coordinator of research and outreach for the Catt Center.
Friesen is also starting her third year with the Leadership Studies Program while pursuing a Ph.D. in higher education at Iowa State. She teaches leadership courses for the College of Engineering. In the summer months, Friesen coordinates the recruitment and selection of members of the LAS Dean’s Leadership Seminar as well as the promotion of the Leadership Studies Program at Iowa State’s new student summer orientation.
Pilcher, who is completing her Ph.D. in higher education at Iowa State, joined the VILP staff on July 1. She is helping Edberg plan the VILP’s activities, including a visit to Vermeer facilities in the Netherlands, and the application and selection process for the 2017-2018 VILP cohort. Pilcher also serves as a graduate teaching assistant for the cohort’s leadership classes. She brings experience working in higher education for the past five years, recently serving as the program coordinator for the Benton Center in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Iowa State.