The board鈥檚 Academic and Student Affairs Committee unanimously approved a proposal to create a Center for Positive Leadership. Grounded in research from positive psychology and positive organizational scholarship, the center will promote interdisciplinary research on positive leadership and provide instructional tools on positive leadership development to individuals and university programs.

The center supports the work of the , which began in 2018 and is housed in UofL鈥檚 College of Business.

Initial funding to launch the Center for Positive Leadership came from a $100,000 gift provided by former university athletic director Vince Tyra, a repeating joint gift of $200,000 per year for 10 years from the Department of Athletics and Adidas as well as gifts of $25,000 in 2019 and 2020 from the Rechter family.

The Academic and Student Affairs Committee also submitted a recommendation for the creation of an undergraduate certificate program in sales. The certificate is a 12-credit-hour program that will provide students with competencies and credentials needed to be hired and succeed in sales. All the required courses are pre-existing, will be bundled into a certificate and appear on transcripts and will be offered at least once per year.

The next meeting of the University of Louisville Board of Trustees is Thursday, April 20, 2023, at 1 p.m., in the Jefferson Room, Grawemeyer Hall. For meeting agendas, meeting minutes and more information, see the Board of Trustees .

The 聽at the University of Louisville has launched a smartphone app, Leadership Amplifier, to help new and experienced leaders develop these skills by embedding them in their day-to-day activities.

鈥淐lassroom instruction helps people learn concepts about leadership and practice leadership skills, but even when people learn well, they may never translate that knowledge and skill into everyday application,鈥� said Ryan Quinn, associate professor of management at the UofL College of Business and academic director of PPL. 鈥淟eadership Amplifier allows leaders in training to practice those skills in their everyday activities with inspiration and advice from others in a learning community.鈥�

The Leadership Amplifier app is available for users in the U.S. in and the .

The app is a centerpiece of PPL鈥檚 efforts to increase positive leadership in the world by providing training and tools for developing leaders at every level 鈥� students, higher education instructors, executives and executive leadership coaches. PPL worked in partnership with Slingshot, a Louisville company founded by UofL College of Business alumnus David Galownia, to develop the app to support classroom education and make it available to everyone.

Leadership Amplifier is free to download with all the app鈥檚 functions for an individual or a community of up to three individuals to practice positive leadership. With a subscription, users can create a larger community.

鈥淎nyone can use the app by gathering a group of people to practice leadership, setting aside regular times to make and report on plans, then give advice and feedback to others,鈥� Quinn said. 鈥淥r they can use the app on their own by setting a regular time to make plans to practice various aspects of leadership and then reflect on those plans.鈥�

Classes offered through the program incorporate Leadership Amplifier to help participants apply the skills and concepts they learn in the classes to their everyday lives, translating those ideas into changed behavior. Instructors can use Leadership Amplifier in undergraduate or graduate classes as well, and can join a to discuss ways to use the tools for developing positive leadership.

鈥淭he Leadership Amplifier app is a great way to plan, share, analyze best practices and get feedback on your path to being a better leader,鈥� said Beth Williams, director of UofL Health Sciences Center faculty affairs, who used the app in a class taught by Quinn.

Increasing positive leadership is the fundamental goal of the , founded by the UofL College of Business to create and disseminate teaching tools for positive leadership, support research in the field and collaborate with units within the university and other organizations throughout the region and beyond. In addition to the app, PPL provides , many of them free, on the PPL website.

鈥淧ositive leadership begins when people exhibit virtues such as courage, compassion, integrity or humility with more excellence than if they had conformed to convention,鈥� Quinn said. 鈥淐onsistent, skillful virtue requires practice in a wide array of everyday activities. Leadership Amplifier can help leaders practice these skills and turn them into habits.鈥�

This is the second year the project has provided five grants of up to $5,000 each to be used for research or to develop instructional tools that focus on positive leadership. The grants are funded by a donation from the Sam and Bonnie Rechter Family Trust.

鈥淧ositive leadership begins with actions that exhibit virtue with more excellence than a person would have exhibited if she had conformed to convention,鈥� said Ryan Quinn, associate professor of management and academic director of the Project on Positive Leadership. 鈥淭hese projects each address a specific need for better understanding the characteristics and behaviors that result in positive leadership.鈥�

The 2021 Rechter Fellows and their projects:

• Brad Shuck, associate professor and program director in the Human Resource and Organizational Development Program of the UofL College of 成人直播 and Human Development, and Rajashi Ghosh, associate professor of human resource development and chair of the Department of Policy, Organization and Leadership in School of 成人直播 at Drexel University: Shuck and Ghosh will develop the Compassionate Coaching Leader Index (CCLI) by assessing how effective leaders avoid compassion fatigue, providing insights about how leader development programs could be framed around the lens of positive leadership through compassion.

• Isabel C. Botero, director of the UofL Family Business Center in the College of Business and associate professor of entrepreneurship, 闯辞肠别濒测苍听顿别补尘别谤,聽program coordinator for the Family Business Center, and Sarah Snyder, intern in the Family Business Center: The researchers will explore how family businesses engage in positive leadership and inspire family and non-family employees and increase understanding of the role that family business members have in the well-being of the community.

• Dejun (Tony) Kong, associate professor in management at the University of South Florida鈥檚 Muma College of Business: Kong will develop measures for students and practitioners to assess self-awareness, social mindfulness and a virtuous mindset in relation to ethical leadership.

• Katherine (Kat) K. Bae, PhD candidate at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan: Bae proposes that engaging in positive leadership can be energizing and beneficial for the leaders themselves. Her project will focus on the responsibility of effective leaders in motivating followers to explore the question: When and why do聽positive leadership behaviors increase leaders’ own subsequent energy and motivation?
• Lauren Locklear, PhD candidate at the University of Central Florida: Locklear鈥檚project will examine the relationship between supervisors鈥� expressed appreciation and subordinates鈥� felt appreciation and suggest a feedback intervention to reduce or eliminate the tendency for people to overestimate the extent to which others can discern their internal states, understand their expressions and comprehend their communications.

The grants are awarded for the 2021 calendar year. Instructional tools developed or research conducted through the Rechter Fellowships will be made available for distribution through the Project on Positive Leadership to help advance its mission.

Encouraging virtues in leadership is the fundamental goal of the , an interdisciplinary unit housed in the University of Louisville College of Business. The project was founded to conduct research and to create and disseminate teaching tools for positive leadership, support research within the field and collaborate with other units within our university and other organizations throughout the region and beyond who embrace similar missions.

The Project on Positive Leadership, a partnership between the University of Louisville and UofL Athletics, was created to teach virtues-based leadership skills to individuals, leaders, universities and organizations. To further this mission, the project is offering five grants of up to $5,000 to be used for research or to develop instructional tools that focus on positive leadership.

This will be the for the grants, which are funded by a donation from the Sam and Bonnie Rechter Family Trust. The grants are to be awarded for the 2021 calendar year, with awardees identified as fellows of the Project on Positive Leadership. Instructional tools developed through the Rechter Fellowships will be made available for distribution through the project to help advance its mission.

鈥淟eadership is something that touches everyone, that everyone should aspire to and that everyone should understand. We want all of UofL鈥檚 students to grow as leaders and engaged citizens,鈥� said Todd Mooradian, dean of the UofL College of Business. 鈥淭he Rechter Fellowships foster multidisciplinary approaches to exploring and teaching leadership and will advance President Neeli Bendapudi鈥檚 vision of giving all of our students the skillsets and the mindsets to impact their world in powerful ways.鈥�

Individuals both within and outside of UofL may submit proposals for the grants, which are due Oct. 15. For details and requirements, see the .