Campus Connection

Alumni share leadership journeys with developing leaders at UWL

UWL alumnus Lore Vang knows he made a unique career change going from student affairs to law enforcement. But in that process, he refused to give up the values he had learned along the way. “I thought I could make a bigger and better impact,” he says. “It’s not about how fast I can arrest someone, it’s about creating that platform where you can share thoughts and communicate with one another and taking that literally to the streets.” Vang, ’04 and ’08, along with Donney Moroney, ’97, and Kim Cable, ’84, were invited to share their stories with the students as part of the Leadershape Institute. Leadershape is an intensive, six-day leadership development experience UWL has held over spring break for the past four years. Moroney had participated in LeaderShape at another university as well. “It’s incredible to see how much change happens at LeaderShape,” she says. “And that’s just over one week.” https://youtu.be/vPM8Ed8Kby0 The alumni were supposed to speak during LeaderShape, but in typical Wisconsin fashion, a snowstorm forced their travel to be rescheduled.

A healthy disregard for the impossible

About 60 students and six faculty or staff members participate in UWL’s annual LeaderShape Institute. It consists of several hands-on activities, in-depth conversations and the development of a vision for a better world. The goal is to help students explore what they want to do and who they want to be. “Since the Institute, I’ve found the courage to acknowledge that I need to do some work on myself,” shared a past participant. “I’ve become more authentic and my core values have been more prominent than in the past. I am a lot happier now, and I’ve even seen myself doing better in classes. I think I’ve cleared up much of the confusion about who I want to become, and that has left room in my thoughts for more important things.”