College is more than just achieving a higher education or enjoying one's newfound independence. It is about developing as an individual and being an essential part in something bigger than one's self. Located at Miron Student Center, the Center for Leadership and Service (CLS) is the department that oversees the overall growth of the students at Kean University. The Center seeks to build students into men and women who lead with confidence, care about the community and make differences at Kean University and abroad.
The aforementioned goals of the center are clearly evident in its many branches. The CLS consists of the Leadership Institute, Student Group Recognition and Development, Co-Curricular Transcript Program, The Cougar's Byte, Greek life and Community and Volunteer Services. Altogether, the CLS is the prime location for getting involved on campus.
The Leadership Institute is a program designed to cultivate student leaders throughout the four years of college. It is a thorough process divided into four steps that ultimately equips students with the ability to lead, network, mentor and contribute to the university and community.
The Center for Leadership and Service also deals with student group recognition and development via the Involvement Center. The Involvement Center ultimately guides students towards becoming more involved on campus.
When asked about the purpose of the Involvement Center, Jonathan Lopez, the coordinator of Student Involvement, stated, "The Involvement Center is a centralized place where students can simply get more involved."
In regards to the impact the Involvement Center has on students, Lopez mentioned, "College campuses can be very overwhelming if you do not know where you are looking or where you are going. Our goal is to provide a place where students can achieve clarity and connection to others with similar interests."
The center has recognized over 150 student groups. Being a recognized student group comes with privileges such as being able to use Kean University logos and trademarks, a personalized profile page on Cougar Link and more. Student groups include all clubs and organizations such as Greek organizations, honor societies, funded groups and more.
For more information on how to get a student group recognized, visit Student Group Resources. In addition to student group recognition, the Involvement Center also provides peer involvement advising, student group consulting, and more.
The Center for Leadership and Service also oversees the Co-Curricular Transcript Program. The Co-Curricular Transcript (CCT) is a compilation of a student's involvement and achievements on campus. It essentially serves as a record of each event a student participates in or accolade a student has earned.
Because the CCT showcases to future employers and graduate schools how involved and competent a student is, it serves as an incentive for individuals to get involved and contribute to things bigger than themselves. An official CCT can be requested and attached to resumes. For more information, email cct@kean.edu.
Another division of the Center for Leadership and Service is the Cougar's Byte. The Cougar's Byte creates and disperses a newsletter with the goal of keeping students, faculty and staff informed about events on campus. Like the rest of CLS, the Cougar's Byte promotes student involvement.
Moreover, the Cougar's Byte is staffed by students. Thus, the events and news covered in the newsletter are specifically pertinent to students all across campus. The best part is that the Cougar's Byte not only has print publications but also has online publications emailed to each student, faculty and staff member. This allows for a more connected campus and involved student body.
Greek life is another division of CLS that seeks instill in students the ability to lead, serve, and learn effectively. Joining a Greek organization is not just about becoming a part of a brotherhood/sisterhood.
The purpose of Greek life is the following: to develop leadership skills, to encourage community involvement, to create opportunities to meet new people and to promote higher academic achievement. Greek life is open to all students, and it is voluntary to join.
Opportunities to join a Greek organization come around every fall and spring semester at an event called "Meet the Greeks". At "Meet the Greeks", students learn more about Greek life and become acquainted with the different Greek organizations. For more information on Greek life, visit the Center for Leadership and Service at the Miron Student Center room 219.
Last but not least is the division of Community and Volunteer Services. Kean University and especially the CLS highly emphasize student involvement in the community. As a result, the Center for Leadership and Service create multiple opportunities to assist the community and events on campus. Some volunteer events include tutoring, blood drives and charity walks.
By serving at these events and in the community, students get more than just a satisfaction about doing something selfless. Additionally, students get an increased sense of importance in society, more awareness of individual skills and more fruitful college experience.
To sign up for community and volunteer services, visit Cougar Link. Any record of service should be manually entered at Cougar Link and will show up on the Co-Curricular Transcript when/if it's verified. All in all, community and volunteer services truly seeks to create in students a desire for helping out in the community and contributing to something bigger than themselves.
As evidenced by its multiple divisions, the Center for Leadership and Service is heavily focused on developing students as a whole. Through teaching students how to lead better, learn better and serve more, the CLS plays an instrumental role on campus and in students' lives.
The Center for Leadership and Service is located at Miron Student Center room 219. The offices are open Monday through Thursday in the summer sessions from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. In the fall and spring semesters, the offices are open Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Tuesday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, feel free to email cls@kean.edu or call (908) 737-5170.
