A Gettysburg education allows our students to connect the knowledge and skills gained through the Gettysburg Approach with real-world, experiential learning to support their personal and professional growth.
Three student Leadership Educators (LEs) from the Garthwait Leadership Center (GLC) attended the 2024 Leadership Educators Institute (LEI) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Ashton Record ’25 of Scarborough, Maine; Adelaide Nguyen ’26 of Bình Hòa, Vietnam; and Van-Anh Tran ’27 of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, were the only undergraduate students from a college or university to attend this biennial conference, held Dec. 9-11, 2024. Attending this conference is an honor that recognizes Gettysburg’s commitment to supporting leadership potential in students.
GLC Executive Director Andy Hughes said the opportunity to bring student Leadership Educators to LEI underscores Gettysburg’s position as a thought leader in leadership education. Through the GLC, which is endowed by Trustee Emeritus Robert Garthwait Jr. ’82, students and alumni realize their leadership potential and responsibility to serve.
“Very few higher education institutions have a dedicated leadership center like the GLC with an endowed leadership program and trained student Leadership Educators,” Hughes said. “Gettysburg is ahead of the curve in this space.”
LEI brings together leadership educators, scholars, and practitioners in higher education across the United States to cultivate leadership opportunities for college students. This partnership among NASPA (Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education), ACPA (College Student Educators International), and the National Clearinghouse for Leadership Programs (NCLP) connects professionals who coordinate, shape, and evaluate the leadership potential of students through leadership courses, co-curricular activities, and emerging technologies. LEI has been engaging educational leaders in this work for nearly 17 years.
“Very few higher education institutions have a dedicated leadership center like the GLC with an endowed leadership program and trained student Leadership Educators. Gettysburg is ahead of the curve in this space.”
– Garthwait Leadership Center Executive Director
Andy Hughes
Attending the LEI event gave Record, Nguyen, and Tran a dynamic experiential learning opportunity. By networking with leadership educators and participating in discussions, the students discovered practical ways to connect the knowledge and leadership development skills they gained at LEI with their academic studies and work with the GLC and other campus-based student organizations.
“The experience became empowering as I connected with others who shared a commitment to fostering equitable and ethical leadership practices in educational environments. The conference complemented my academic focus on public policy by deepening my understanding of how leadership intersects with power dynamics, interest groups, and systemic changes,” Nguyen said. “Specifically, the insights I gained have already influenced my approach as president of The Women’s Network chapter at Gettysburg College. I’m committed to fostering inclusive spaces that challenge oppressive frameworks and empower all young women to lead with authenticity and empathy.”
Tran admitted that attending LEI as an undergraduate was initially intimidating, but she soon realized she had powerful insights to contribute to the conversation because of her Gettysburg College education.
“I see the LEI as a great opportunity not only to expand my professional network, but also my research experience, out of the relationships I formed with the amazing professionals there.”
– Van-Anh Tran ’27
“I became acquainted with a presenter, Laura Vaughn, a Ph.D. candidate at Florida State University. She was presenting her research on the impact of leadership programs on international students’ acculturation in the United States, and I felt motivated to talk to her about my research project for my anthropology methods class at Gettysburg,” Tran said.
“My project studied how our programs helped both GLC Leadership Educators and program participants improve their leadership skills and community bonds across cultural differences. After the LEI, I connected with the presenter, and we discussed our research findings in a more in-depth manner,” Tran continued. “She invited me to collaborate with her on writing a chapter on student engagement and leadership as a support system for international students for a book, and I gladly agreed. We just learned that the chapter for the book, ‘International Student Experiences in the United States and Canada: A Multidisciplinary Examination of Challenges, Prospects, and Opportunities,’ just got accepted by the book’s editors.
“I see the LEI as a great opportunity not only to expand my professional network, but also my research experience, out of the relationships I formed with the amazing professionals there,” she added.
Upon meeting Gettysburg’s GLC student leaders at LEI, Dr. Dennis C. Roberts, a student affairs educator who has advocated for cultivating student leadership opportunities throughout his 41-year career in education, was quickly impressed.
“They all carried a sense of confidence as well as curiosity about leadership that I knew was special. It was honestly hard to distinguish who were staff or students because there was absolutely no hesitation to engage as peer learners,” Roberts said. “So many campuses only address international questions as a special case rather than integrated across all experiences. Gettysburg’s team, and especially the inclusion of students and those with international backgrounds, holds great promise for Gettysburg as well as offering an example of effective practice for other campuses.”
While attending LEI, GLC staff hosted presentations that further demonstrated Gettysburg’s work in leadership development. Assistant Director for Leadership Development Sam Anderson detailed Gettysburg’s work in leadership education, earning the College a Carnegie Elective Classification for Leadership for Public Purpose designation. Hughes also presented findings from leadership coaching research he’s conducted with Gettysburg young alumni.
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By Michael Vyskocil
Photos provided by Andy Hughes
Posted: 02/17/25