James R. Coffman Leadership Institute

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James R. Coffman Leadership Institute

The James R. Coffman Leadership Institute (CLI) serves as a launching point for continuous leadership development, professional networking, and empowerment of Kansas State University professionals. This institute offers faculty and unclassified staff a unique opportunity to refresh and enhance their leadership skills and knowledge through in-person facilitation over the course of four days.

The 2025 Event

Wednesday, Jan. 8 - Friday, Jan. 10

Though this program is traditionally offered each summer, we are excited to announce CLI will be hosted in spring 2025, with the goal of serving faculty and unclassified staff who may not be able to participate in summer programming.

Nominations for the 2025 event are closed; participants will be notified soon.

Purpose of the Institute

The three primary objectives of this institute are:

Provide opportunity for participants to refresh and develop their leadership skills in a safe yet challenging learning environment.
Provide an opportunity for networking and interdisciplinary cooperation for faculty and staff.
Infuse Kansas State University with more empowered faculty and staff leaders.

Building relationships

An essential key for leadership success in any organization is the ability to build good relationships with members of the organization. Institute participants will have the opportunity to explore and initiate collaborative projects and discuss leadership issues. They will also have the chance to strengthen current relationships and to build new ones with other professionals at Kansas State University.

Recognizing your leadership style

The James R. Coffman Leadership Institute is based on the philosophy that every individual can be a successful leader. This success depends on learning leadership skills as well as recognition of one’s leadership style. Further refining of one’s leadership style, understanding its associated strengths and challenges as well as its impact on decision-making, conflict resolution, and problem-solving preferences will be a major focus of the institute.

Institute format

Learning activities are arranged to maximize participant learning and engage all learning styles. Topics may include: inclusive leadership, conflict resolution, change management, leadership style assessment, shared leadership, and team building. Formats: workshops, panel discussions, small and large group activities, small group discussions, presentations, case studies, and self-assessments.

What to expect

Participants will have the opportunity to engage in a focused and in-depth adult learning experience aimed at leadership development. They will be offered knowledge and skill-based learning modules to engage them cognitively as well as behaviorally.

Attendees will also have the opportunity to interact with other professionals who want to make a difference at K-State. Conference activities will take place at K-State’s Manhattan campus and in the local Manhattan community. As a feature of the retreat, participants will get to experience and interact with different parts of the campus and community.

View photos from the 2023 event on Facebook.

What our participants had to say...

More than 90% of past participants reported that workshops were extremely effective to effective.

“The Coffman Leadership Institute is a great way to learn about your personal leadership abilities. It's also a lot of fun. You get to know people from all over the university and beyond.”
–Susan Wolf Berhow, K-State Foundation

“For me the best thing about the Coffman Leadership Institute was that it led me to thoughtfully consider my leadership strengths and weaknesses and just what kind of leader I want to be. It is rare that one can find time to do that in the course of completing their everyday job responsibilities.”
–Kevin Gwinner, Department of Marketing

“It was so empowering and an honor to attend.”

“My expectations were pretty high, and you managed to surpass them.”

"Overall, the Institute helped to refocus me on my work and why I am at K-State. I plan to use a renewed focus and energy in my work."

“Very effective... well organized, meaningful sessions and activities.”

“Throughout the institute I was taking notes, writing down wisdom and things to remember from the presenters and panelists. I've taken three of those nuggets of information and am trying to incorporate them into how I interact with others both personally and professionally. Overall, I think it was really a long opportunity for reflection and meditation on myself and my skills, and how I choose to use incorporate those skills into the environment that I want to foster.”

For questions, or for a list of past participants, please email leadership@ksu.edu.