The University that Prepares Leaders

The Be Better initiative will position the UI as the university that creates leaders who leverage their strengths, leadership knowledge, and leadership skills to contribute to their communities now and in the future. Effective leaders are critical to many aspects of our world, including the workplace. Since 2007, conversations about the best way to support student leadership development have been a priority at the University of Iowa. 

The Be Better initiative supports educationally purposeful experiences that promote student success through undergraduate student leadership development.  It encourages UI faculty and staff to develop partnerships between academic affairs and student affairs to maximize our ability to enhance student success. Be Better will connect classroom learning with student involvement, leadership, service, employment, and multicultural experiences while promoting coordinated assessment of learning outcomes.

The Be Better initiative creates a seamless environment that not only transforms the student experience, but also makes our students more employable, competitive and marketable in the job market and to graduate schools.  There are many departments and divisions throughout the UI campus community providing meaningful, deeply engaging leadership development experiences. The versatility of the many opportunities provides the perfect opportunity for every Hawkeye to have a meaningful leadership experience through the use of specific student leadership competencies.

Benefits for students

The Be Better initiative helps undergraduate students develop as leaders, scholars, employees, and citizens. The initiative is intentionally designed to support each student's personal journey and success by helping students:

  • better articulate what is learned from their classes, their major(s), and co-curricular experiences
  • practice transferring learning across contexts
  • gain self-awareness and reflect on their learning
  • develop and improve the knowledge and skills employers are seeking from new and recent graduates

Be Better is designed to support each student's personal pathway to leadership and success!

A Shared Definition of Student Success

In 2006, the Student Success Team was formed to bring attention and action to issues that influence undergraduate student success (which was one of the pillars of focus in the UI’s Strategic Plan). SST’s mission is to develop ideas and implement initiatives that foster undergraduate achievement. About 400 faculty, staff and students currently participate.

The Vision of SST:

  • Brings together students, faculty, and staff who are committed to fostering undergraduate student achievement; emphasizes collaboration, communication, and commitment.
  • SST advances opportunities for all students and is devoted to creating an environment where every student can and will succeed.
  • SST goals and projects are driven by research and ongoing assessment in order to demonstrate results.

At its first meeting in fall 2007, the SST executive committee approved a definition of student success that guides the group’s work:

University of Iowa students succeed when they achieve personal and institutional educational goals. Successful students develop skills and knowledge, become more mature in their thinking, assume greater responsibility for their own lives and learning, develop understanding of diversity and multiculturalism, and become effective leaders.

Student success at The University of Iowa is a shared enterprise. Students succeed by active engagement in educationally purposeful activities. Faculty, staff, and students create formal and informal learning opportunities on campus and off, and policies, programs, and practices that foster student engagement.

The University measures students and institutional success in undergraduate education by examining a variety of indicators, including measures of learning, persistence, graduation, engagement, health and well being, and opportunities after graduation.

Coordinating and Aligning Student Leadership Development On Campus

Between 2007 - 2013, there were attempts to unite leadership staff across campus began with several leadership proposals being submitted but not implemented. During this time, leadership development work had been going on at the UI in various pockets across campus—committees had been formed to try to bring the various units who were doing leadership training and development together as a unified (vs. siloed) group. Since 2012, numerous proposals have been submitted to the Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education and Vice President for Student Life’s offices for review that focused primarily on using Strengths.

At the Fall 2014 SST Retreat, there were activities that focused on the following brainstorming question:

How can we maintain and enhance the Iowa undergraduate experience?

During that retreat, an idea was proposed to make the UI recognized as the Regent institution known for creating leaders.