Studies Analyze Impact of Cadet Experience on Career Leadership

Three faculty in the Leadership Studies Department—Assistant Professor John Egan, Col. Tom Clark and Instructor Lani Connolly—are conducting a multiphase qualitative study of Citadel faculty, staff and recent cadet alumni who held leadership positions on campus. These hour-long interviews of more than 40 participants form the basis for three different studies. The interviews were transcribed and coded with MAXQDA, a software tool for qualitative data analysis.

The first paper, Military College Alumni Perspectives: Attributes of On-Campus Leadership Development, was recently published in the Journal of Leadership Education. It explores which aspects of The Citadel experience recent alumni found most valuable to their careers.

The second paper, Military College Alumni Application of Leadership Competencies in the Workplace, also published in the Journal of Leadership Education, focuses on the specific leadership competencies alumni developed at The Citadel and how they apply those skills in their professional lives.

A third paper, currently in progress, examines how faculty, staff, and alumni each define and describe the concept of principled leadership.

Together, these studies contribute to the growing body of knowledge on leadership development in military institutions and classify the long-term impact of The Citadel cadet experience on students’ careers.