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The purpose of our longitudinal study is to explore how undergraduate students evolve their leadership skills and behaviors during their four year undergraduate tenure – phase 1 complete. For the purposes of this study we selected the framework of Kouzes and Posner's (2012) identifying five behaviors of good leaders: model the way, inspire a shared vision, challenge the process, enable others to act, and encourage the heart. Data was collected through a quantitative leadership assessment and personal journals (free form plus specific questions).

The premise for this research includes the beliefs:

• Undergraduate students have a current framework for how they perceive leadership,
• Undergraduate students have a perception of their own skills and behaviors in the context of the framework modeled in their environment,
• Undergraduate student’s transition from adolescent to adult thinking and behavior permits self-exploration and formulation of new ways to consider leadership including the skills and behaviors needed to succeed as leaders,
• Undergraduate students are accountable for their own personal development.

Phase I was completed and data collected on a group of 18 students drawn from three categories:  student club leaders, self-nominated freshmen, and participants from prior career ready programs. All three groups of students were provided training and completed assessments to ascertain their understanding of leadership and how they perceived themselves. The data will be presented at the conference session and used for discussion and feedback regarding Phase II design of the study.

leadership