WILSON 700: Studies in Leadership and Civic Engagement (Winter 2025)
Dr. Kristina Llewellyn (History & Wilson College)
Offering for Winter Term 2025 on Tuesday’s 10 AM to 1 PM
Civic engagement is the participation of people in the civic life of a democracy, including formal politics, political advocacy, civil society, and community action.
It is critical for justice and for the strength of any democracy that diverse populations are engaged in civic life. This course will examine the history and current state of civic (dis)engagement with particular attention to youth.
Students will engage with local issues, agencies, and leaders to learn how to strengthen civic engagement, especially for youth, through deliberative dialogue, critical reflection, community organizing, social change strategies, and policy-making.
This course introduces graduate students of any discipline to the interdisciplinary field of civic studies and civic leadership.
More information coming soon.
If you have questions or would like to enroll, please email wilsoncollege@mcmaster.ca.
Expandable List
WILSON 700: Studies in Leadership and Civic Engagement (Winter 2024)
“Leaders as Thinkers: What does good leadership look like?”
Dr. Catherine Frost (Political Science) and Dr. Violetta Igneski (Philosophy)
Ethical leadership and civic engagement begin with a deep reflection on one’s commitments and principles, their actions in relation to others, and their impact in the world.
This course critically examines commonplace ideas and expectations that shape what we think of as good leadership, such as reason, duty, and individual responsibility. It considers the role of autonomy and relationality in leadership and covers critical skills and virtues that enable people to work collectively to solve local and global problems in an ethical way.
It also addresses illusions of leadership that drive polarization, exclusion, distrust, and breakdowns in communication.
Course Objectives
The focus of the course is on the development of skills that support thoughtful and responsible leadership, rather than on the mastery of a particular set of theories. Course readings have been selected to prompt reflection on challenges facing leadership in the contemporary era and include classical and contemporary sources on ethical decision-making and social justice.
Assignments develop leadership capacities and skills of self-reflection, critical reasoning and efficacy, collaborative problem solving and effective communication.
The course culminates in a collaborative exercise that will builds on skills and insights developed throughout the term.
The course is organized into five themes, and two weeks will be spent on each theme.
For each theme, there will be one in-class activity or simulation and one meeting with a practitioner in the field.
I. Vice, Virtue and Character
II. Principle, Duty and the Good
III. Justice and Care
IV. Fear, Courage and the Ego
V. Agency, Solidarity and Empowerment
Click the here to read the full course outline.
For more information, or if you have questions, please email wilsoncollege@mcmaster.ca.