The
Merging of Talents toward
Learning, Discovery, & Engagement
Who We Are
The Department of Community and Leadership Development is a
multidisciplinary social science department that maintains
active research, instruction, and extension programs on
communities, youth and families, food systems, the environment,
leadership, education, and communications.
Within each of these areas, the faculty strive to carry out the
three-fold mission of the College of Agriculture at the
University of Kentucky: to conduct basic and applied research in
the agricultural and social sciences; to extend the knowledge of
that research base in service to the needs of the citizens and
communities of the Commonwealth; and to teach today's students
the skills they will need to be tomorrow's educators,
communicators, and leaders.
History
Formed
in 2002, CLD brought together 11 rural sociologists whose
primary appointments had previously been in the Department of
Sociology, three agriculture education faculty whose
appointments had previously been in the Department of
Agricultural Economics, and two agricultural communications and
two program and staff development tenure-track faculty who had
not previously been associated with an academic department. All
10 current sociology faculty hold joint appointments in the
Department of Sociology in the College of Arts and Sciences
(A&S) and are on the Sociology graduate faculty.
What We Do
The department is noted for its collaborative research within
its own fields of rural sociology, community and youth
development, and agricultural education, communications, and
leadership as well as with other units in the College of
Agriculture and the University of Kentucky.
Faculty make substantial contributions to undergraduate and
graduate programs in the Department, the College, and the
University of Kentucky. Moreover, the faculty are actively
involved in the planning and implementation of innovative
curricula within the College of Agriculture, preparing students
for successful, twenty-first century careers.
The Department offers a BS
degree in Community Communications and Leadership Development
(CCLD) and, along with Family Studies, a joint BS degree in
Career and Technical Education (CTE). The CCLD degree has
options in Agricultural Communications and Public Service and
Leadership while the CTE degree has options in Agricultural
Education and Family and Consumer Sciences Education. At the
graduate level, the Department offers a MS degree in Career,
Technical, and Leadership Education (CTLE) with options in
Career and Technical Education and Community and Leadership
Development.
Service programs whether extension, professional, or community
are characterized by their grounding in fundamental social
science principles and methods, their responsiveness to client
needs, and their innovative nature.
CLD is the home of the Center
for Leadership Development (CFLD), the Nonprofit Leadership
Initiative (NLI),
the Kentucky Entrepreneurial Coaches Institute
(KECI), the Center for Excellence in Teaching & Learning (CETL),
the Community Communications Interest Group (CCIG).
While it has no official ties
with CLD, the National Association of Agricultural Educators is
located on the 3rd floor of Garrigus along with the
department and the NLI.
Our Vision
The vision
of the Department of Community and Leadership Development is:
To be
recognized as a premier academic location for interdisciplinary
social science research and undergraduate and graduate education
in community, organizational (which includes the institutions of
media, education and the Cooperative Extension Service), and
leadership development; and,
To be the
source of innovative interdisciplinary social science outreach
programs that partner with community collaborators to address
contemporary issues in community, organizational and leadership
development.
Land-Grant
Values
As a
Department, we are guided by the values underlying the
land-grant philosophy.
