Courses & Cohort Programs

For students interested in growing their collaborative leadership skills at a deeper level, the Wurtele Center for Collaborative Leadership offers credited courses and co-curricular cohort programs that bring together a small community of learners to develop into collaborative leaders. These programs engage students in exploring our leadership development model and offer hands-on practice, building valuable skills in teamwork, facilitation, and conflict management (among others).

Co-Curricular Cohort Programs

LEAD Scholars & LEAD Corps

The Leaders for Equity-Centered and Action-Based Design (LEAD) Scholars is a one-semester, cohort-based program comprising two, 7-week courses (IDP 134 and IDP 135). This program focuses on building leadership capacity through both examining leadership through a social justice lens and learning skills of facilitation and design for social change. The Wurtele Center for Collaborative Leadership and the Office for Equity and Inclusion have designed this program with the mission of equipping students with the skills to apply equity-centered design to address some of our greatest social inequities through the art of facilitation. A small cohort of students will explore who they are as leaders, how their social identities impact their leadership and how to develop deep and meaningful relationships with one another. They will learn and apply the processes of design and facilitation to serve as references and consultants to the greater campus community.

After completing the scholars program, students have the opportunity to apply to be a member of the LEAD Corps. Selected corps members will engage with the community as peer facilitators, consultants and trainers. They’ll learn and practice deeper facilitative leadership strategies, such as deep listening, radical collaboration, emergent strategy and liberatory design. The corps also serve as capacity builders for their peers as they offer opportunities to work in collaboration with other students to help them design and implement their own ideas. To work with the corps, please fill out the intake form and someone from the corps will be in touch.

Key Dates & How to Apply

Applications are now open for Rising Sophomores, Juniors and Seniors (members of the class of ‘ 27, ‘28, ’29). Please apply via the LEAD Scholars application form.

Important Application Dates:

  • Monday, February 23: Application opens for all
  • Monday, March 9: Come learn more about LEAD - Info Session (12:15 - 1:15 p.m., Lunch provided in the Wurtele Center classroom, RM 101)
  • Tuesday, March 24 at 11:59 p.m.: Application deadline
  • Tuesday, April 7: Students will be notified if they have been chosen for the Scholars cohort

Important Fellowship Dates:

  • Every Friday: Class meets every Friday during the fall semester from 1:20 to 4 p.m.

Questions? Please send us an email at atcohen@smith.edu or tdavis@smith.edu

“Joining the LEAD program allowed me to see the ways in which you can do social justice work in such different capacities. It was useful to me to see my peers doing work in their ways and modeling what social justice work can look like and how it can fit into your life personally.”
"Through the Corps, I’ve been able to talk to fellow Smithies about topics I never would have had the courage or tools to broach before. The Scholars program gave me language and knowledge to name systems of oppression and how they can manifest at institutions like Smith.”

Wurtele Futures Fellows

The Wurtele Futures Fellowship is a tight-knit community of ten Smith students who are committed to developing their ability to work with others to make the world a better place.

Selected Wurtele Futures Fellows become part of a year-long cohort of first-years and sophomores who gain research experience and leadership skills that prepare them to channel academic learning into collaboratively tackling complex, real-world challenges. Wurtele Futures Fellows are granted a $3,000 fellowship for the year to support their participation in the program.

2026–27 Theme: The Commons

Each year, the Wurtele Futures Fellowship centers around a specific theme, and engages the cohort in an exploratory and creative research and design project geared towards imagining and bringing about desired futures around that topic. The 2026–27 theme is The Commons. By “The Commons,” we mean resources, spaces, cultures, political structures, etc. that are not owned by one particular person but instead shared by a larger community. In a moment of rapid economic, political, and cultural change, what can we learn about the history and current state of various types of Commons, and how might we envision futures that use those resources in desired ways? 

Some topics we might consider:

  • The More-than-Human World: How might shifts in how we think about nature and the environment advance an understanding of our planet as a shared Commons?
  • Decision-Making and Organizations: What are some ways humans might organize themselves to emphasize democratic process in order to activate the Commons?
  • Creative, Intellectual and Data Commons: With rapid shifts in technology and advent of generative AI, what might emerge in terms of the creation, sharing and usage of creative work, data and intellectual property?
  • The Built Environment: What might the future of public space include?
  • Commerce: What economic and business practices and structures might activate the Commons in new ways?

Given the many directions we might take our inquiry, we’ll work together as a cohort to make some choices about how we want to focus our understanding of “The Commons” and narrow which key questions we’re most interested in pursuing together.

Zoom Info Session

Friday, March 13
12:15-1 p.m.
Register for the link 

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Develop close relationships and build a community. 
    • Connect with a small community of students who are equally curious about this year’s topic, through playing and working together, getting outside, going on field trips, and conducting a theme-oriented project at Smith
  • Gain research and design experience.
    • Learn from Smith faculty guests to gain insights into disciplinary connections, contextual histories, and current signals of change related to the topic
    • Uncover how relevant systems are structured and what interventions might bring about change
    • Explore examples and gain inspiration from the natural world, which can shape how we can work towards flourishing for people, communities, and the planet
    • Work in teams to design and facilitate Futures Fest, a gathering at Smith that invites the community into conversations about possible futures
  • Learn and practice collaborative leadership skills.
    • Explore the joys and challenges of group life
    • Practice collaborative skills such as forming connections and building trust in a group, managing projects, making decisions, and navigating dissent and conflict
    • Work and solve problems in the company of others, sharpening your own understanding by listening seriously to others’ insights, especially those with different backgrounds and life experiences

  • A $3,000 stipend that takes the place of holding a work-study position at Smith
  • Chances to get off campus and explore other settings through retreats and occasional field trips
  • Well-tuned collaborative skills that will help you work well with others at Smith (inside and outside of the classroom) and in your career post-Smith
  • Valuable research and applied project experience that can serve as a springboard to additional opportunities at Smith and beyond

  • Each year in the spring and summer, the Wurtele Center selects a theme and selects a cohort of ten Futures Fellows for the following academic year from a pool of applicants. Five Fellows are recruited in the spring from the rising sophomore class, while five Fellows are recruited over the summer from the incoming first-year class.
  • Wurtele Futures Fellows commit to dedicating 5 to 7 hours per week to the Fellowship. This includes a weekly 90-minute meeting, as well as additional research or collaborative small-group engagements. To support this dedicated time, Fellows receive a fellowship of $3,000 for the year.
  • In addition, Fellows commit to participating in three retreats:
    • One half-day off-campus retreat in early fall
    • One weekend-long off-campus retreat during interterm
    • One half-day on-campus retreat in mid-to-late spring

Applications are now open for Rising Sophomores (members of the class of ’29 or ’29J). Please apply via the Wurtele Futures Fellows application form.

Important Application Dates:

  • Monday, March 2: Application opens for rising sophomores
  • Wednesday, April 1: Application deadline for rising sophomores
  • Monday, May 18: Application opens for incoming first-years
  • Monday, June 15: Application deadline for incoming first-years

Important Fellowship Dates:

  • Every Tuesday: We will meet every Tuesday during the fall and spring semester from 4:30 to 6 p.m., starting on Tuesday, September 8
  • Sunday, September 13, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.: Fall Futures Fellows Retreat at MacLeish Field Station
  • Friday–Sunday, January 15–17: Interterm Futures Fellows Retreat: we will leave campus at 4:30 p.m. on Friday and return by noon on Sunday
  • Friday, April 16, from 3 to 5 p.m.: Futures Fest!
  • Tuesday, April 27, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.: Spring Futures Fellows Closing Retreat & Celebratory Dinner (on campus)

Questions? Please send us an email at wurtelecenter@smith.edu. 

Academic Courses

IDP 123: Introduction to Collaborative Innovation

Spring Semester 2026

This 2-credit, S/U course introduces students to key frameworks and theoretical concepts within the domains of collaborative leadership, human centered design and entrepreneurial innovation, and critically considers these practices and their impact in the world. Students engage with guest speakers who are working within diverse fields and roles to examine and explore these concepts within a real-world context. Students engage in hands-on exercises and assignments that introduce ways of working within these domains and reflect on relationships between these domains and their own disciplinary work.

IDP 133: Critical Perspectives on Collaborative Leadership

Spring Semester 2026

Traditional conceptions of leadership set up leading and working as a team as diametrically opposed; “leaders” are often understood as those who achieve greatness through their own powers of persuasion or individual achievement, while “teams” are often framed as leaderless efforts that move forward by virtue of dispersed contributions to a project or initiative. This course challenges students to interrogate this perceived dichotomy by viewing theories and histories of leadership and collaboration through a critical lens and exploring alternative ways of imagining change-making as a collaborative leadership act. Through reading, writing, reflection and practice, the class will offer students new perspectives on how they might bring others into collaboration by intentionally creating a productive team culture and modeling processes that encourage others to step in and out of the lead. This course is especially useful as a foundation for those students whose future academic (or life!) work is likely to engage them in significant group work.

“This is a great class! No matter your personal/academic background, you are welcome in this class and will get something out of it! It will enrich how you understand yourself and the world and you will learn about many ideas and tools that you can use both in and out of the classroom in the future. Definitely take this class!”