Courses

LDR 1200. Assessing Your Leadership Capacity. (3 Hours)

Introduces the methodologies and processes that are essential aspects of leadership: conceptualizing motivation, identifying traits, creating a vision, understanding influence, overcoming obstacles, developing character, and establishing a professional brand. Offers students an opportunity to focus on self-awareness, reflection, individual effectiveness, and self-assessment to learn how to recognize and utilize the differences between themselves and others. Students receive ongoing feedback from their peers and a chance to develop their own philosophy of leadership. The successful student should be able to answer the question, “What does it take to be a 21st-century leader?”


LDR 1990. Elective. (1-4 Hours)

Offers elective credit for courses taken at other academic institutions. May be repeated without limit.


LDR 2990. Elective. (1-4 Hours)

Offers elective credit for courses taken at other academic institutions. May be repeated without limit.


LDR 3200. Leading and Managing Change. (3 Hours)

Offers students an opportunity to develop the knowledge base necessary to lead and manage organizational change in all sectors with an emphasis on a 360-degree approach to understanding the many facets of change. Uses case studies that address various aspects of implementing change, such as: addressing the human psychology of change through innovative technology, social media, theoretical frameworks, understanding change agents, and operations. Encourages students to develop their views from both a management and nonmanagement perspective. The successful student should be able to gain knowledge and practical skills in how to connect change with strategy, anticipate resistance, assess readiness, and measure sustainability.

Prerequisite(s): LDR 1200 with a minimum grade of D- or CMN 2210 with a minimum grade of D- or HRM 2350 with a minimum grade of D- or LDR 1203 with a minimum grade of D- or LDR 1501 with a minimum grade of D- or MGT 2100 with a minimum grade of D- or MGT 2310 with a minimum grade of D-


LDR 3250. Leading Teams Locally and Virtually. (3 Hours)

Covers the skills needed to manage teams in one office, in multisite locations, internationally or virtually. Topics include effective communication strategies, how to structure teams within an intergenerational environment, and how to leverage individual strengths to lead high-performance teams. Offers students an opportunity to identify barriers, study strategic methods for overcoming obstacles, leverage technology to build virtual spaces for people and ideas, and work to develop a strategy to optimize team effectiveness through a shared process and peer coaching by participating on a cohort team. The successful student should be able to understand their role as a catalyst, visionary, and leader in the formation and success of any team.

Prerequisite(s): LDR 1200 with a minimum grade of D- or CMN 2210 with a minimum grade of D- or HRM 2350 with a minimum grade of D- or LDR 1203 with a minimum grade of D- or LDR 1501 with a minimum grade of D- or MGT 2100 with a minimum grade of D- or MGT 2310 with a minimum grade of D-


LDR 3300. Innovative Leadership. (3 Hours)

Offers students an opportunity to leverage a carefully curated mix of leadership literature, experiential exercises, and self-reflection, as well as specific feedback from the instructor and mentor, to optimize their leadership effectiveness in the real world. Provides students with continuous coaching and real-time feedback on their innovative leadership activities from their fellow peers, instructor, and assigned mentor.

Prerequisite(s): LDR 1200 with a minimum grade of D- ; LDR 3200 with a minimum grade of D-


LDR 3400. Evidence-Based Leadership and Decision Making. (3 Hours)

Examines the components of evidence-based leadership that have been tested in various settings, shown to be effective, operational, and able to be used in solving real-world dilemmas. Emphasizes using decision-making models to analyze behaviors, align organizational goals, determine consequences, and make recommendations for actions leaders can make to solve problems. Studies the relationship(s) between scientific data, academic theory, technological advances, and changes in society toward the goal of understanding ethical problems. The successful student should be able to demonstrate increased information literacy, identify strategies for decision making, and know where to seek evidence needed in order to make high-quality decisions on a wide range of issues.

Prerequisite(s): (LDR 1200 with a minimum grade of D- or CMN 2210 with a minimum grade of D- or HRM 2350 with a minimum grade of D- or LDR 1203 with a minimum grade of D- or LDR 1501 with a minimum grade of D- ); (MTH 2300 with a minimum grade of D- or MTH 2310 with a minimum grade of D- or MTH 3300 with a minimum grade of D- or ALY 2010 with a minimum grade of D- )

Attribute(s): NUpath Writing Intensive


LDR 3990. Elective. (1-4 Hours)

Offers elective credit for courses taken at other academic institutions. May be repeated without limit.


LDR 4850. Strategic Decision Making (Capstone). (3 Hours)

Offers students an opportunity to examine and test leadership theory in practice. Students demonstrate their leadership knowledge gained during their undergraduate studies by completing an experiential action-oriented project. Under faculty guidance and approval, each student must present a body of work that addresses a critical leadership topic that will enhance their professional development as a 21st-century leader. Experiences can be undertaken within any industry sector or at the workplace with supervisor approval. Past projects have included research studies, case studies, new products, leadership development plans, publications, journals, magazines, media/films, training programs, etc. Requires students to deliver a presentation on their project and share a culmination of learned outcomes.

Prerequisite(s): LDR 3400 with a minimum grade of D-

Attribute(s): NUpath Capstone Experience, NUpath Integration Experience, NUpath Writing Intensive


LDR 4955. Project. (1-4 Hours)

Focuses on in-depth project in which a student conducts research or produces a product related to the student’s major field. May be repeated without limit.


LDR 4990. Elective. (1-4 Hours)

Offers elective credit for courses taken at other academic institutions. May be repeated without limit.


LDR 4995. Practicum. (1-4 Hours)

Integrates theory and practice through a structured consulting experience working with organizations or conducting an applications-oriented research study. Introduces the problem-solving consulting model. From problem identification through recommendations, offers student teams an opportunity to work with decision makers to solve organizational leadership issues or conduct practical research studies.


LDR 5100. Developing Your Leadership Capability. (2.25 Hours)

Seeks to establish the premise that leadership is a developed capability by exposing students to theories and alternative perspectives, including contemporary collaborative models. This is the foundation of the master's degree program. Offers students an opportunity to demonstrate a holistic perspective of leadership by gaining an appreciation for the self and how it relates to the greater world around them. Students take a series of leadership and professional assessments/instruments designed to increase self-awareness and to develop practice of critical reflection. From careful consideration of these perspectives, successful students then build a personal model of leadership that can be put to immediate use in work, community, or personal settings.


LDR 5110. Leading Teams Strategically in a Global Environment. (2.25 Hours)

Examines principles of building highly effective teams by analyzing the variety of interrelated practices underlying group dynamics. Offers students an opportunity to learn how teams operate, the value of diversity in teams, leadership skills that best support teams, characteristics of successful teams, stages of group development, and the challenges associated with leading virtual teams. Combines learning through case studies, interactive discussions, reflective journaling, and an experiential team-based exercise.


LDR 6100. Developing Your Leadership Capability. (3 Hours)

Seeks to establish the premise that leadership is a developed capability by exposing students to theories and alternative perspectives, including contemporary collaborative models. This is the foundation of the master's degree program. Offers students an opportunity to demonstrate a holistic perspective of leadership by gaining an appreciation for the self and how it relates to the greater world around them. Students take a series of leadership and professional assessments/instruments designed to increase self-awareness and to develop practice of critical reflection. From careful consideration of these perspectives, successful students then build a personal model of leadership that can be put to immediate use in work, community, or personal settings.


LDR 6101. Leadership Challenge Lab. (1 Hour)

Offers students an opportunity to participate in an intensive, group leadership learning experience that is challenge-based and experiential. Provides the foundation for a series of reflective, feedback-based activities that inform the development of a personalized leadership development plan, supported by peer and faculty coaching during the lab and in subsequent courses.


LDR 6110. Leading Teams Strategically in a Global Environment. (3 Hours)

Examines principles of building highly effective teams by analyzing the variety of interrelated practices underlying group dynamics. Offers students an opportunity to learn how teams operate, the value of diversity in teams, leadership skills that best support teams, characteristics of successful teams, stages of group development, and the challenges associated with leading virtual teams. Combines learning through case studies, interactive discussions, reflective journaling, and an experiential team-based exercise.


LDR 6115. Developing Strategic and Authentic Leadership Communication. (3 Hours)

Introduces students to different communication approaches to help them develop their authentic leadership voice, because today's dynamic global work environment requires leaders to have a broad set of communication skills. Offers students an opportunity to use interpersonal, technology-mediated, and intercultural communication competencies and techniques; to develop a strategic approach for leadership communication; and to define an action plan for continuous growth.


LDR 6120. Developing Organizational Success through Leadership Development. (3 Hours)

Focuses on developing leadership capacity, or bench strength, throughout an organization. Understanding organizational dynamics and developing leadership capacity within the organization are two critical challenges facing leaders today. Studies best practices for onboarding, developing, coaching, and mentoring leaders, as well as the systems, practices, and procedures required to develop leaders throughout an organization. Students participate in a coaching exercise, where they give and receive coaching from their peers in the program and from faculty.

Prerequisite(s): LDR 6100 with a minimum grade of C-


LDR 6135. Ethical Leadership. (3 Hours)

Considers leadership dilemmas that can arise when the individual’s values conflict with those of the organization, or when a situation requires decisions with conflicting value sets. Students use case studies, their own experiences, and current events to examine actions leaders have taken and consequences faced when confronted with ethical dilemmas. Requires work on a real-life ethical dilemma for understanding in-depth reasoning of the problem and developing an action plan for solving and preventing similar problems at the organizational and societal levels. From these exercises and discussions, students have an opportunity to develop a personal model for ethical leadership.


LDR 6140. Leadership Strategy, Design, and Practice. (3 Hours)

Offers students an opportunity to build an understanding of the core concepts of strategy making and to achieve a strategic mind-set. This involves analyzing industry dynamics, responding to competitive challenges, and assessing the impact of the future of innovation and of change. Addresses the concepts of organizational strategy as a dynamic process and strategic decision making as students implement a plan for strategy development for a real organization.

Prerequisite(s): LDR 6100 with a minimum grade of C- ; LDR 6120 with a minimum grade of C-


LDR 6145. Developing Sustainable Global Leadership. (3 Hours)

Explores changing demographics as they impact present and future organizations. Examines their best-in-class motivations to more fully appreciate the backgrounds, cultures, experiences, viewpoints, styles, and contributions of a diverse workforce. Students reflect on leadership from key ethical, legal, policy, business, political, and societal frameworks. In a global economy, leaders of best-in-class organizations understand that creating an inclusive work environment is essential for continued competitive advantage.


LDR 6150. Innovation and Organizational Transformation. (3 Hours)

Studies the framework for organizational transformation as well as the competencies required to develop and implement a holistic model of change. Offers students an opportunity to learn how to think innovatively, design a vision for change, assess the current situation in relation to the desired change, and manage the transition from the current situation to the desired future. Within this course, students serve in the role of consultants or change agents for real-life organizations, assisting managers in their endeavors for organizational transformation. From this experience and class discussions, students have an opportunity to develop a personal model for change leadership and define an innovative action plan for personal growth as change agents.

Prerequisite(s): LDR 6100 with a minimum grade of C- ; LDR 6110 with a minimum grade of C-


LDR 6190. Leadership Coaching for Purpose and Performance. (3 Hours)

Focuses on developing coaching competencies needed to advance resonant, impactful, coaching relationships that result in the coachee developing leadership expertise aligned with their vision and the achievement of specific performance goals. Emphasizes foundational coaching competencies combined with a leadership coaching model that can be used in a variety of real-world coaching scenarios. Offers a variety of experiential coaching activities and concludes with a coaching practicum, where students have an opportunity to demonstrate their coaching expertise in a recorded coaching session.


LDR 6195. Advanced Leadership Coaching: An Interdisciplinary Approach. (3 Hours)

Examines the use and impact of evidence-based theoretical models—such as positive psychology, adult learning, experiential learning, and leadership—in the practice of leadership coaching. Considers the relationship between key coaching competencies identified in the International Coaching Federation Core Competency model and existing theoretical models. Examines the use of the different coaching frameworks to integrate theoretical models and leadership competencies while conducting coaching sessions. Offers students an opportunity to practice applying the various coaching models and frameworks during their coaching sessions, thereby demonstrating the impact of their leadership coaching expertise.

Prerequisite(s): LDR 6190 with a minimum grade of C-


LDR 6323. Event Management. (3 Hours)

Examines strategies and techniques required to run successful events. Offers students an opportunity to learn how to manage logistics; the who, what, where, when, and how of running the event; how to develop checklists and manage processes to keep things running smoothly; and how to have contingency plans. Covers the basic details involved in running events— size, budget, venue, hospitality, marketing, publicity management— and working with vendors, community organizations, spectators, and celebrities.


LDR 6400. Sports Management. (3 Hours)

Provides an overview of management and administration pertaining to all levels of athletics. Focuses on basic theories of management and administration in athletic organizations. Addresses planning, scheduling, and financing aspects required to run a successful athletics program. Offers students an opportunity to learn to develop communication and management skills with an emphasis placed on decision making.


LDR 6405. Sport in Society. (3 Hours)

Examines the role sports plays in society. Emphasizes improving society through sports by creating and developing community service, drug awareness, and violence prevention programs. Discusses sports within sociological, economic, and political backgrounds. Topics include ethics, organizational code of conduct, and ethical behavior within competitive athletic settings.


LDR 6410. Leadership and Organization in Sport. (3 Hours)

Introduces a set of personal, interpersonal, and team-based skills and competencies required for leadership roles in sport organizations. These skills include self-awareness, managing stress, creative problem solving, communicating effectively, gaining power and influencing others, correcting performance and motivation problems, managing conflict, and delegation. Also explores the application of these skills in various contexts within the sports industry.


LDR 6427. Gender and Diversity in Sport. (3 Hours)

Examines gender and diversity in sport. Emphasizes creating equal opportunity for participants and administrative and leadership personnel. Explores affirmative action, human resources, and recruiting tactics and strategies.


LDR 6430. Sports Law. (3 Hours)

Addresses the legal aspects of sports, recreation, and leisure services, with a focus on tort and contractual liability. Covers legal concepts of negligence and principles of risk management, legal issues related to equipment use, facility management, and accommodation for special populations. Offers sports managers an opportunity to obtain the fundamental legal knowledge necessary to operate in the increasingly complex sports environment.


LDR 6435. Fiscal Practices in Sports. (3 Hours)

Examines the financial and regulatory issues confronting sports, fitness, and recreation industry managers. Covers accounting principles, financial statements, and related concepts that help determine the viability and strength of financial decision making.


LDR 6440. Sports Marketing and Promotions. (3 Hours)

Studies marketing and promotion strategies utilized in various aspects of the sports industry. Examines marketing sports as a product and marketing of nonsports products using sports as a promotional tool.


LDR 6441. Sports Media Relations. (3 Hours)

Studies the basic knowledge and understanding of media relations in sports. Emphasizes building and managing an effective media relations program on the intercollegiate and professional level. Examines news releases, hometown features, contest management, press conferences, statistics, and publications.


LDR 6442. Athletic Fund-Raising. (3 Hours)

Examines the fundamental tools and strategies necessary to raise funds within college athletics. Emphasizes annual fund-raising through solicitations via the mail, telephone, and interpersonal meetings and major gift and capital campaign solicitations and presentations. Discusses the role of the annual fund within the scope of an athletics department.


LDR 6443. Ticket Sales and Strategies. (3 Hours)

Provides an overview of ticket sales as a revenue source in athletics. Examines sales strategies for single-game, season ticket, and group sales; ticket office operations; and building a database for ticket sales.


LDR 6445. Corporate Sponsorships. (3 Hours)

Offers students an opportunity to develop a complete understanding of how sports properties can create effective commercial partnerships with corporations through the creation and execution of sponsorship agreements and how to prepare and critically evaluate the strategic implications of sponsorship proposals.


LDR 6455. NCAA Compliance. (3 Hours)

Provides a thorough study of the governing structure, rules, and legislative process within the NCAA. Examines compliance issues within a collegiate athletic department, including drug testing, self-reporting, and student-athlete eligibility.


LDR 6460. Risk Management in Athletics. (3 Hours)

Offers students an opportunity to develop the tools to conduct a thorough risk assessment for their organization and events by identifying potential risks, estimating their frequency and severity, determining how to control them, and developing safety policies and processes for staff and event participants. Emphasizes how to conduct a safety review and risk assessment and how to run an event that complies with health, safety, and security regulations.


LDR 6465. Title IX. (3 Hours)

Examines Title IX laws governing gender equity. Emphasizes managing an athletic department within the guidelines set forth by Title IX. Examines the original Title IX legislation, subsequent regulations issued by the Office of Civil Rights, and relevant court decisions.


LDR 6470. Bystander Strategies for the Prevention of Gender-Based Violence. (3 Hours)

Offers participants an opportunity to learn about the theoretical and practice models used to understand and respond to gender-based violence. Emphasizes bystander models of prevention. This interactive course is designed for students who are interested in research and practice directed at youth. Explores topics such as battery, gender roles, teen dating violence, sexual harassment, sexual assault/rape, and homophobia as facets of men’s violence against women. Emphasizes trainer skill development for higher education, secondary education, public health, and social professionals. Offers participants an opportunity to learn how to effectively convene and facilitate public discourse about gender-based violence utilizing mentors in violence prevention curriculum with high school and college populations and to apply these concepts in service-learning opportunities.


LDR 6480. The Business of eSports. (3 Hours)

Introduces students to the basic concepts and evolution of the eSports industry. Investigates and explores the use of technology and social media platforms through sports. Explores the current state of this evolving sports enterprise, including trends relating to organizations that have entered this digital space to expand their global portfolios. Incorporates industry trends with appropriate readings that offer students an opportunity to understand this emerging sports industry segment.


LDR 6615. Academic Advising for Student-Athletes. (3 Hours)

Offers an overview of the foundations of academic advising and life-skill training as an essential component of student-athlete success and retention programs on higher education campuses. Topics include definitions and concepts for developmental advising; literature and research on the key concepts of academic advising; exploration of the various models and delivery systems for academic advising; skills for effective advising; advising diverse populations; and training, development, evaluation, assessment, and reward systems for advisers and advising programs.


LDR 6890. The Capstone: Demonstrating Leadership in Action 1. (2 Hours)

Offers students a culminating experience with several opportunities to further increase their impact and effectiveness as leaders and to demonstrate their leadership expertise, knowledge, and capability. Students work in teams, with a designated sponsor, on a leadership-in-action project. Requires students to critically reflect on the experiences they have gained through the leadership program, relate those experiences to their personal experiences, refine their personal leadership models, and provide the respective sponsor with a recommended solution to the problem that has been identified.


LDR 6895. The Capstone: Demonstrating Leadership in Action 2. (2 Hours)

Continues LDR 6890. Offers students a culminating experience with several opportunities to further increase their impact and effectiveness as leaders and to demonstrate their leadership expertise, knowledge, and capability. Students work in teams, with a designated sponsor, on a leadership-in-action project. Requires students to critically reflect on the experiences they have gained through the leadership program, relate those experiences to their personal experiences, refine their personal leadership models, and provide the respective sponsor with a recommended solution to the problem that has been identified.

Prerequisite(s): LDR 6890 with a minimum grade of C-


LDR 6961. Internship. (1-4 Hours)

Offers students an opportunity, while under the supervision of a sports professional and utilizing relationships with local college, professional, and amateur organizations, to work on a term basis in specific sports-related assignments. Students share their experiences through a discussion board forum as well as deliver a final paper and develop a Web portfolio. The Web portfolio highlights the student’s skills, knowledge, development, quality of writing, and critical thinking by showcasing a comprehensive collection of work samples and artifacts from the student’s experiences in the sports leadership program. May be repeated without limit.


LDR 6962. Elective. (1-4 Hours)

Offers elective credit for courses taken at other academic institutions. May be repeated without limit.


LDR 6980. Capstone. (1-4 Hours)

Offers students an opportunity to complete their academic experience with an in-depth, sports leadership internship. Students share their experiences through a discussion board forum as well as deliver a final paper and develop a Web portfolio. The Web portfolio highlights the student’s skills, knowledge, development, quality of writing, and critical thinking by showcasing a comprehensive collection of work samples and artifacts from the student’s experiences in the sports leadership program. By selecting an assignment of academic and professional interest, students are offered an opportunity to deepen their knowledge of a particular area of sports leadership through the senior project option. Intended for students already employed in the sports field.


LDR 6983. Topics. (1-4 Hours)

Covers special topics in leadership studies. May be repeated without limit.


LDR 6995. Project. (1-6 Hours)

Focuses on an in-depth project in which a student conducts research or produces a product related to the student’s major field. May be repeated without limit.


LDR 7962. Elective. (1-4 Hours)

Offers elective credit for courses taken at other academic institutions.


LDR 7980. The Capstone: Demonstrating Leadership in Action. (4 Hours)

Offers students a culminating experience with several opportunities to further increase their impact and effectiveness as leaders and to demonstrate their leadership expertise, knowledge, and capability. Real-life options for the capstone experience include a leadership in action project, an Experiential Network project, and a consulting case study. Students critically reflect on the experiences they have gained through the leadership program; relate those experiences to their personal experiences; and refine their personal leadership models.

Prerequisite(s): LDR 6100 with a minimum grade of C- ; LDR 6120 with a minimum grade of C- ; LDR 6140 with a minimum grade of C-