LEAD

• UA Business & Community Engagement: Transforming The University of Alabama and the surrounding geographic area by cultivating relationships, contributing to Culverhouse activities, and addressing unmet needs
• Self-Awareness & Resilience: Continually self-assessing, reflecting on, and refining how their personality traits, thought processes, habits, and challenges interact with success
• Productive Teamwork & Collaboration: Propelling their teams to their highest potential by cooperatively and iteratively negotiating how to carry out collaborative roles
• Critical Thinking & Adaptability: Addressing pressing challenges by assessing the issue, evaluating the validity of information, considering blind spots, and thinking creatively to make the best decisions with the information available.
• Effective Communication: Adeptly conveying and receiving information through written, visual, oral, and/or non-verbal means.
• Tech Readiness & Agility: Delivering exemplary work products created by competently and ethically leveraging leading-edge technologies
• Ethical Reasoning: Building unassailable credibility by aligning their behavior and decision-making with their personal values and professional standards
• Leadership & Accountability: Boosting the effectiveness of their teams by valuing the unique perspectives, motivations, and strengths of their colleagues.
• Global & Cultural Engagement: Using their knowledge of complex, interdependent global systems and legacies to behave respectfully in a variety of cultural contexts
• Personal and Professional Wellness: Constructing and carrying out their plan for personal and professional fulfillment while preparing for future challenges and successes

Requirements

• All business students must satisfy the Culverhouse College of Business professional development program, UA Business LEAD, in order to stay eligible for enrollment in the College. Students must earn 250 UA Business LEAD points in Suitable each academic year, by the end of each spring semester. To earn points and complete the program, students are required to take the courses (GBA 146, GBA 246, GBA 346) in the professional development sequence. Transfer students and UA students moving into the Culverhouse College of Business, with at least 31 earned hours, may take GBA 247 instead of GBA 146 and GBA 246. It is recommended that students take one professional development course per academic year, which will typically be GBA 146 (freshmen), GBA 246 (sophomores), and GBA 346 (juniors). In these courses, students can earn up to 200 LEAD points towards their annual 250 LEAD point requirement. Seniors can earn their required LEAD points through high-impact experiences such as internships and study abroad as well as attending executive-style training sessions offered through the LEAD program. 

Benefits

In addition to honing their career-readiness competencies, LEAD students experience benefits such as:

• Creating a Suitable e-portfolio to use as a repository for projects that highlight their competency growth. Students can review this e-portfolio before interviews to remember the skill-building engagement they should share with hiring managers. They can also embed their e-portfolio URL in their LinkedIn profile and email signature to easily share with employers.
• Appearing on the Suitable leaderboard, Culverhouse digital screens, and LEAD social media, which celebrate the students who’ve taken the most initiative to improve their career readiness
• Winning LEAD SWAG like insulated cups and notebooks for participating in initiatives
• Sharing digital badges to their LinkedIn profile that highlight their completion of challenges (e.g., BamaBound, Summer Challenge, Study Abroad), passing LEAD courses, or leveling up their proficiency in LEAD competencies.

Each LEAD course is taught by top-tier faculty who make competencies come alive through personal experiences and real-world examples. According to the standards of our accrediting organization, AACSB, LEAD instructors excel at career readiness competencies.  Traditional Culverhouse students enroll in a series of three, one-credit LEAD classes, shown below. Transfer students and those who join Culverhouse after their freshman year take two equivalent courses, accelerating their professional development.

Note: GBA 300 and GBA 490 are not part of the LEAD sequence

• LEAD Events: Listen to individual speakers or panels of business leaders share insights about career journeys, companies, and fields. Topics may also include student conduct, study abroad, co-ops, wellness, and community service opportunities.
• LEAD Coaching: Come with your Culverhouse friends to 1 of 17 competency-based workshops per week led by industry experts. Sessions include time management, LinkedIn, networking, interview preparation, and salary negotiation.
• LEAD Career Sessions: Opportunities sponsored by the Culverhouse Career Center to network, eat with, or travel to visit employers.
• LEADconnect Mentorship: Connect with Culverhouse Alumni who are enthusiastic about interacting with students for quick mentoring chats.
• Experiential Opportunities: Build competencies through endeavors outside of LEAD including internships, Co-ops, study abroad, Communications Excellence Commons support, student organizations, conferences, Selma Resilience Initiative, and more

• Suitable
  • The LEAD Program’s mobile-first student engagement and success software. Students use this app on their phones or computers to record their professional development progress. Download from Google Play or the App Store.

• Career Key
  • A career well-being and career path assessment platform that helps students find the resources they need to explore and make confident decisions. Students have access to Career Key until they graduate. Students, navigate to Career Key through your GBA 146 Access Granted materials.
• VMock
  • A career acceleration platform powered by AI that acts like a personal coach for resumes; LinkedIn profiles; and in-person and virtual behavioral, technical, and case study interviews. Students have access to VMock until they graduate. “Students Sign Up/In” button.
  • For support with VMock assignments, attend a VMock workshop or Q&A session (dates are available in your GBA 146, 246, 247, or 346 course schedule). You may also email support@vmock.com for a response within 24 hours.
• LEADConnect
  • LEAD’s platform for connecting industry experts, especially Culverhouse alumni, with students for informational interviews (“flash mentoring.)” “Join LEADConnect” button.
• Career Fair Plus App
  • Allows students to access Career Fair information and share their resume with recruiters on their phones. Download from Google Play or the App Store.
• Handshake
  • The Career Center at Culverhouse’s platform for making an appointment with a career advisor. The University of Alabama’s online recruiting system that allows students 24/7 access to search jobs and apply for on-campus interviews.
• Follow us on UA Business LEAD LinkedIn and UA Business LEAD Instagram

• Career Center
• Advising
• Communications Excellence Commons
• First Generation Students
• Business Student Organizations