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Buccino Leadership Institute
Leadership Students in the Classroom

About the Buccino Leadership Institute

At the Buccino Leadership Institute, we invest in individuals who aren’t just great themselves, but who inspire greatness in others. As an institution, we have a rich legacy of leaders like Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first American born saint, who defied tradition and forged a way for those who followed behind.

Here, we develop leaders who aren’t afraid to speak truth to power and who serve before they are asked to be served. Their confidence is recognizable and their vision contagious.

That’s what it means to be a Seton Hall leader.

A Four-Year Journey

The Buccino Leadership Institute’s curriculum spans each student’s college career, giving them a competitive edge after graduation.

  • Year 1: Leading Oneself
  • Year 2: Leading Others
  • Year 3: Leading in the Discipline I
  • Year 4: Leading in the Discipline II

An Interdisciplinary Experience

One of the unique aspects of the Buccino Leadership Institute is that we’re interdisciplinary. While most collegiate leadership programs reside only in the business school, we believe it’s important to grow leaders in all disciplines and industries. To do this, we come together once a week during your first two years to learn about leadership through an interdisciplinary lens.

Using an interdisciplinary approach, students not only learn about the universal truths as they pertain to leadership, but they’re exposed to the challenges facing leaders in other fields and how they’ve overcome them. This makes students better equipped to lead themselves and others after they graduate, no matter what profession they choose.

Learning by Doing

At the Buccino Leadership Institute, we believe in experiential learning. You don’t become an excellent driver by only studying the driver’s manual. You have to get out there and drive. To become a great leader, you have to practice leading. You have to experience leadership. Throughout your four years, you will have numerous opportunities to lead and to get feedback on how to lead more effectively.

Interdisciplinary Team Projects

One of the ways that we give students experiential learning in leadership is through our Interdisciplinary Team (IDT) projects. These are semester-long projects that take place in the Spring semester of your freshman and sophomore year. They are completely student-run. IDTs are comprised of 10 to 11 (students representing every college/school at the university) and one faculty member.

In their sophomore year, students get to pitch original project ideas to the Institute and the top ideas are selected by fellow students. Students with winning ideas then get to “hire” their team in a leadership draft and execute their plan to turn their idea into a reality. One team this year took their idea and turned it into a business, winning over $5,000 in a competition for young entrepreneurs.

In these IDTs, students pick the project. Students select their leader. Students “hire” their teams. Students make mistakes and learn from those mistakes. Students present the results of their project to university and community leaders. In other words, students learn how to lead.

Student-Led Initiatives

Beyond the IDTs in the freshman and sophomore years, students can participate in and lead the following Institute-wide initiatives.

  • Seton Hall Undergraduate Leaders Podcast – we produce a weekly podcast featuring leaders from a variety of industries. We have students who direct, engineer, select guests, interview, research, market, and distribute this podcast.
  • Student Council – students represent their school/college cohort and class in this body designed to improve all aspects of the Institute and the student leadership experience.
  • Diversity and Inclusion – students work to promote an enriching and supportive climate that allows all members of our family to thrive and succeed.
  • Development – students design, execute, market, and distribute Institute swag.

  • Strategic Communications– a team of interdisciplinary students collects, edits, and publishes content for our website and social media platforms (Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn).

Feedback

Feedback is a defining feature of our program. Throughout your four years in the Institute, you will receive constructive feedback from a variety of sources that is designed to make you a more effective leader. You’ll receive feedback from the Executive Director, your Associate Director, other faculty, peers, and even your own personal leadership coach.

You’ll also take the leading professional assessments in the field (e.g. Eqi-2.0 emotional intelligence assessment, DISC behavioral assessment, and the Strengths Finder assessment) to make you more self-aware of your strengths and weaknesses.

Finally, you’ll receive feedback from audio/visual recordings that show how you look and sound in a boardroom-like setting, during presentations, and when pitching your personal brand.