VOLUME 12, NO. 3     MAY 1999

Ticket to leadership

unding from the Sponsor Future Leaders Program (SFLP) and other sources is making it possible for 46 WPI undergraduates to receive free round-trip airfare to off-campus project or exchange sites. The Interdisciplinary and Global Studies Division (IGSD) selected the lucky travelers in a lottery in mid-February. All students accepted for academic work at distant residential sites between E-Term '99 and D-Term '00 were eligible for the free tickets.

Robin Bruhjell Brass, a Connecticut-based businesswoman who lectures frequently on leadership topics, provided the major portion of the funding for these tickets. Brass, who was WPI's Entrepreneur-in-Residence during B-Term '98, had become intrigued with the University's off-campus project work and also wanted to honor the memory of her brother, Charles E. Bruhjell, an entrepreneur who devoted his life to empowering others. She decided that a leadership program for students participating in the Global Perspective Program was the best way to make her contribution. Her goal is to empower students to make the most of their global experience.

IGSD Program Administrator Natalie Mello coordinates the SFLP, along with Thomas Balistrieri, director of the Student Development and Counseling Center (SDCC), and Rosalyn Eaton, the SDCC's assistant director of leadership programs.

"The purpose of SFLP is to give students the tools to become active leaders," says Mello, who notes that the IGSD hopes to expand the program to serve more students. "Participants will have one full day of leadership development and training before they leave for their respective sites. Each student will keep a journal that will serve as a personal record of what may prove to be the most rewarding experience of his or her tenure at WPI, plus the opportunity to participate in an awards competition. And they will all be encouraged to provide the IGSD and the SFLP with feedback on how to improve the program.

"The combination of leadership skills and global experience will position these students at the top when they begin preparing to move into the professional world."