Founded in 1919, Drexel's co-operative education program was one of the first of its kind, and it continues to be among the largest and most renowned.  Drexel co-op is based on paid employment in practical, major-related positions consistent with the interests and abilities of participating students. The benefits are obvious; during their time at Drexel, students experience up to three different co-ops. Because of this, Drexel students graduate having already built a professional network, and they typically receive higher starting salaries than their counterparts from other schools.

The integration of theory and practice, which is widely supported by Drexel’s co-ops, are also found within the LeBow College of Business’ leadership development programs. At the LeBow College of Business, we have designed programs for high performing upperclassmen students that allow them to develop their interpersonal skills and leadership while actively leading, reflecting on, and applying theory.

The Undergraduate Teaching Assistant (UTA) and Peer Leader (PL) programs in the LeBow College of Business were developed over 15 years ago to provide leadership growth opportunities for its undergraduate upperclassmen and mentoring benefits for incoming freshmen students.  It is within this program that the experiential leadership development model has been applied.  It consists of four interlocking parts;

• theoretical exposure and understanding
• personal reflection
• practiced analysis
• active application

Theoretical exposure is provided using many mainstream business texts including Leadership 101 by John Maxwell, Emotional intelligence from and Kouzes and Posner’s “The Leadership Challengeâ€.  Students read and work to integrate this new learning while simultaneously engaging in their peer leadership activities. Throughout the programs, students are encouraged to strengthen their understanding of themselves.  One of the core beliefs of the programs is “The first person you lead is yourself†as stated by John Maxwell.  Personal exploration and integrity are stressed as students determine who they are and who they are becoming. The primary mode of application for these student leaders comes in the role of peer mentor. Gloria Crisp and Irene Cruz completed a critical review of literature between 1990 and 2007 which found more than 50 definitions for mentoring.  For our use, the basis of our mentoring involves relationships between high performing upper classmen with new freshmen students.

There are three specific applications, we’ll be discussing in our conference presentation; namely, new student days, international peer coaches and peer coaches for first generation domestic college students. New student days occur several days before the beginning of our fall term in September. Incoming freshmen students are invited to move onto campus early and are actively engaged in many activities to help them connect to the Drexel University campus and the LeBow College of Business. Many freshmen students and their parents are surprised to see peer mentors and faculty greeting them as they arrive on campus and unpack their cars.  We begin that connection with the new students by meeting their immediate needs of welcome and heavy lifting. As participants at these ‘move in’ day events for the past 10 years, we are convinced that ‘first impressions’ do make a difference. We have gone on to see this reciprocal approach mirrored year after year with incoming freshmen from one year becoming the peer mentors for the following year. In addition to move-in days, peer mentors actively use the weeks prior to the beginning of fall term, reaching out to their assigned incoming students through social media and emails. New student days also includes specific LeBow celebrations such as parties on the “Spirit of Philadelphia†cruise ship and ‘dance’ parties at the Philadelphia museum of Natural History.

In terms of international peer coaches, we need to begin by describing a shift in student demography which has had a significant impact on the Drexel Campus.  In the past several years, we’ve seen a tremendous growth in the number of international students, specifically from Southeast Asia.  These students often arrive on campus without the skills necessary to be immediately successful as students. Through the Drexel Learning Center, we employ successful, high achieving upper classmen to work as peer coaches for lower proficiency international students in a supplemental instruction environment. The relationships formed between the international students and their peer coaches may be viewed as a ‘sociological superglue’ as mentioned in Robert Putnam’s theory from 2000 as stated in Bowling Alone.  We found as Putnam noted, “social capital greases the wheels that allow communities to advance smoothlyâ€.  International student state that the relationships with their peer coaches go beyond tutoring to incorporate deeper connection to the university and with each other.  Students enrolled in the peer coached supplemental programs report approximately 1 grade level improvement over what would have been expected.

With regard to first generation domestic college students, Drexel employs high-achieving upperclassmen to help students adjust to the many demands of college life by mentoring them on issues such as time management, meeting deadlines, and leadership. First generation domestic students usually don’t have the language barrier issues that come with the international segment, but some just don’t have the support needed to fully succeed during the first year of college. That said, Drexel University has developed and implemented a “Peer Coach†model to help first generation domestic students develop the skills needed to achieve and lead as they move forward in their academic studies.

In her article, “Post Secondary Access and Success for First Generation College Studentsâ€, Jennifer Engle states:

“While students whose parents have a college education tend to experience college as a continuation of their academic and social experiences in high school, going to college often constitutes a “disjunction†in the lives of first-generation students and their families. As a result, first-generation students have to make much more complex academic, social, and cultural transitions to college life, especially during the crucial first year……“being a first-generation student confers its greatest liability in [the] initial adjustment to, and survival in, postsecondary education.†Thus, whether and how first-generation students can navigate these transitions, particularly during their initial adjustment to college, has an effect on whether or not they can be successful in college and persist to graduation.â€

In Drexel’s first-generation domestic college student model, students are paired with a peer coach and meet with them weekly to discuss priorities and deadlines relative to assignments. They also have additional conversations about time management strategies and how they can effectively be employed to meet competing demands. Next, first generation domestic students meet with a full-time faculty member, who helps them crystallize learning through guided activities. Lastly, students are forced to think critically about how course material impacts on leadership and how “they†can bring about change in the workplace. In the end, the goal is to mold students into effective/efficient students who can help model the way as possible future peer coaches/leaders.