Center for Leadership Formation

Teresa J. Rothausen, PhD, Executive Academic Director, Center for Leadership Formation

Seattle University’s Center for Leadership Formation (CLF) offers graduate programs for experienced leaders with a focus on expanding leadership for responsible business impact that integrates social and environmental sustainability. CLF programs are developed for experienced professionals who seek to make greater impact in their personal life, at work, and in the larger society. Participants may earn a professional graduate certificate in executive leadership, which they can then apply toward the leadership executive master of business administration degree.

The Executive Leadership Program (ELP) is an 8-month, stand-alone, graduate certificate program consisting of 20 graduate level credits. The ELP fosters deep learning about complexities of executive leadership at the individual, organizational, and societal levels. In addition to leadership, students take courses focusing on high impact teams, leading organizations within systems, ethical leadership and the commons, and they engage in a social impact applied project with peer executives. The ELP program serves as the foundation for the master’s degree program.

The learning objectives for the ELP are:

Expanded capacity in leadership skills, mindsets, and self-concept (self- and other- awareness, confidence, and intentional development of virtues and values in a process of ongoing, sustainable leadership development).
Superior acumen in executive strategic, decision-making, and implementation aspects of leadership (balancing current operations and visionary change, interrogating assumptions, and moving forward relationally, sustainably, and using technology humanely).

The Leadership Executive MBA program (LEMBA) is a 20-month master’s degree program. LEMBA degree students must complete the ELP as the first two quarters of the degree program. The next three quarters immerse students in business disciplines and principles at the executive level, including tools and practices relevant to businesses and organizations. The final quarter challenges participants to explore and elevate their positions of influence including their impact in professional and personal lives, their organizations, and society, by guiding them through dual capstone projects to execute original and personally significant projects that are of substantial strategic benefit to their organization and to society.

The LEMBA program includes the following learning objectives, in addition to the ELP objectives listed above:

Superior analytical, integrative, and implementation competence in strategic, economic, financial, and ethical decision making, and leading change through knowledge of business concepts and disciplines at the executive level.

LEMBA participants comprehend and plan for ongoing global successes by gaining a balanced emphasis on leadership formation and the core business acumen including:

Strategy Formational and Implementation of Change
Collaborative Influence
Drive for Excellence through Tapping into Passions
Results and Process Orientation
Agility, Courage, and Integrity

ELP and LEMBA generally operate on a concentrated schedule in which classes are offered one time per month for consecutive days (e.g., Thursday through Saturday or Friday and Saturday). All programs are taught in a lock-step, cohort fashion with all students progressing through the program at the same time and rate. This model helps to build strong relationships and networks among class members.

Admissions Requirements

The Admissions Committee reviews application materials and decisions are made based on the applicant’s entire portfolio. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis with deadlines of December 1, March 1 and May 15. Qualified applicants are accepted on a first-come first-served basis.

See Graduate Admissions Programs for admission materials.

Applicants who reach the final screening will be invited to participate in a group interview with the program admissions committee.