Abstract
East Carolina University is a large national research university located in Greenville, North Carolina. The University’s Strategic Plan calls for establishing leadership education as a central tenet of the university. Following approval of the strategic plan, a number of leadership programs were developed in the many colleges, schools, and departments within the university. However, no overarching structure to ensure commonality among programs, central leadership themes, core values, the sharing of lessons learned or best practices was established. The purpose of this qualitative and quantitative study was to explore the feasibility of and current support for a Centralized Leadership Center at East Carolina University and to assess the potential positive effects of such a center. To determine the feasibility of a leadership center, this paper explored the similarities and differences among leadership programs currently established at East Carolina University. In addition, a review of leadership centers at major universities around the nation and a review of current literature describing leadership principles and themes was conducted to create potential models for a centralized center that includes level of education, potential curriculum, themes, and activities. A mixed methods research methodology was used to determine the level of support for a centralized leadership center among department heads and senior leaders at East Carolina University. Finally, recommendations for a centralized leadership center at East Carolina University based on a multidisciplinary leadership education approach were presented.|Keywords: Leadership, Leadership Education, Leadership Center, Leadership Approaches, University Leadership, East Carolina University