Leadership Institute Courses (17)
Browse Pre-College courses by concentration, start date, course length, and/or program.
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Leadership and Global Health
Despite world-wide advances in technology and development, providing basic health care to people in resource-poor settings continues to pose enormous challenges. Now more than ever, the global community is focused on overcoming inequities in access to health care and poverty alleviation as a means of curbing the spread of disease and improving people’s livelihoods. Building...
Leadership and Global Development
Despite unprecedented increases in global wealth over the last fifty years, a large share of the world’s population " in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and some of the Transition Economies " still lives in abject poverty. Understanding and promoting economic, social, and political development and equality is one of the primary challenges for...
Brown Environmental Leadership Lab: Sustainable Development
BELL is a unique outdoor learning laboratory. The courses draw their curricula from many different disciplines: biology, chemistry, geology, environmental studies, leadership theory and experiential education. As students live and learn together on the shores of Narragansett Bay, they are challenged both physically and intellectually.
This program is based on the 372 acre...
BELL: Costa Rica
Brown University, in partnership with the Monteverde Institute and the Area de Conservacion Guanacaste (ACG), is excited to offer a unique international environmental leadership program in Costa Rica.
This 3-week pre-college program introduces students to the theory and practice of conservation and sustainability in Costa Rica. Students study and explore some of the most...
BELL: Hawai'i - Ecology and Culture
This March, Brown University offers outstanding high school students an opportunity to study marine science, volcanology, and culture in one of the earth’s most incredible places: the living laboratory of Hawai'i’s Big Island. The Big Island contains eleven of the world’s thirteen climate zones in just over 4,000 square miles of terrain, including dry...
BELL: New Orleans & Louisiana Gulf Coast
In partnership with The Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, Brown offers this rigorous academic program for pre-college students with interests in science, leadership, and cultural studies. Together, we will educate students about conservation, restoration, and protection efforts in Louisiana.
Almost a hundred years ago, for the purposes of navigation and flood...
Documentary Film for Social Change: Production & Theory
Documentary has long been associated with various forms of social change. How and why did this come to be an ideal? What techniques do filmmakers employ to tell their stories of social change? In an immersive learning environment drawing on experiential and theoretical learning, students will explore the relationship between documentary and advocacy by producing a short video...
Leadership in Science, Technology and Society
Scientific discoveries and emerging technologies have had a major impact on our everyday lives in the 21st century. They offer powerful tools for exploring and understanding the natural world and the universe, preventing and curing diseases, monitoring the effects of climate change, and creating ingenious ways of communicating locally and globally. Yet, developments in science...
Leadership and Conflict Resolution
Conflict is ubiquitous. We encounter it in our daily lives with friends, family-members, and colleagues; in our communities between different interest or identity groups; and at the global level between state or non-state actors. Good leadership is essential at any and all of these levels to ensure that conflicts are dealt with constructively rather than destructively, to...
Social Media and Social Change
Can Twitter save the world? Did it topple dictators in the Arab Spring? Will social media be driven more by progress or profits? And is access to all of this--basic internet access--a universal human right?
This class will investigate the possibilities of using social media for leadership in social change. We'll look at the history of social media, its uses (and,...
Human Rights: Leadership & Action
The language of human rights has become a dominant part of the global discourse over the past two decades. Almost all governments today invoke the language of human rights to justify their (in)actions in world politics, while a growing chorus of activists and non-governmental organizations lament their violation on a daily basis. Meanwhile, debates and controversies rage on...
Leadership and Global Engagement
World leaders have the same styles, skills, and setbacks as leaders in any walk of life. However, the challenges they face are often much more visible, and the impact of their effectiveness more broadly felt. In this course students will explore complex international issues including security and terrorism, immigration, HIV/AIDs, human rights and sustainable development. From...
Women and Leadership
Despite over a hundred years of political and social gains, women in the 21st century still face unique societal challenges. In this course, students will learn about the status and role of women in the world today, exploring both opportunities and barriers for women in educational settings, the workplace, and the political arena. Students will examine how gender and other...
Organize, Mobilize: Leadership for Social Change
Organize, Mobilize: Leadership for Social Change is a course designed to provide engaged students and young activists with the tools and theory needed to become successful community organizers. This course explores how grassroots movements can transform communities, cultural norms, and global systems. How are campaigns developed, initiated, and orchestrated? What factors determine...
Changing Business: Becoming a Social Entrepreneur
In this course, students will explore how social entrepreneurs and social enterprises are solving some of the most pressing social challenges in areas such as education, job creation, the arts, the environment, poverty, health care and finance and changing the world! Examples of realistic social enterprise include: how can a nonprofit create a business that can train and employ...
Identity, Diversity, and Leadership
Who am I and how does my personal background impact my life experiences, my world view, and my relationships with others? To work effectively as a leader towards social change, one must have self-knowledge and an understanding of how individual, institutional, and societal inequity manifests in society.
Through engaging readings, provocative films and interactive activities,...
Ethical Leadership: Theory into Practice
We often expect leaders to act ‘ethically’, but ethical values frequently conflict with the practical challenges and demands of leadership. Furthermore, talk of ‘leadership ethics’ can conjure up images of ‘ideal’ or ‘absolute’ values which can be difficult to embody in practice. With these challenges in mind, this course will...