University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
IN-1: Innovation 1

The Boreas Leadership Program trains and develops the next generation of world changers to catalyze social and environmental solutions. Boreas offers co-curricular leadership development opportunities that build on the strengths of graduate education to create effective change agents. Boreas programming is open to University of Minnesota graduate students from any discipline through the Institute on the Environment. Boreas is innovative in its explicit focus on supporting and developing aspiring change agents and leaders within university culture. The program creates unique space and opportunities for students to learn leadership skills, practice acting as a leader, and reflect on leadership generally as well as their own leadership experiences and aspirations. Boreas offers leadership skills workshops in four areas: communications and media, integrative leadership, public skills, and systems thinking and tools. The program also offers a weekly event for to meet environmental leaders in the community and to discuss leadership topics in a more informal environment. In spring of 2015, Boreas underwent a formative evaluation to better understand program needs and improve. An important finding in this evaluation is student input that they did not find programming similar to Boreas in their home departments or colleges.

Since its formation, Boreas has worked with over 250 students from 16 of the 17 academic units (colleges) on the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities campus. Boreas has offered over 70 individual workshops, with over 800 individual attendees. Boreas has brought over 35 community leaders, from non-profit executives to state commissioners, to interact with Boreas graduate students.