What Is the Ecampus Leadership Academy?
The Leadership Academy Ecampus Experience is a year-long course created specifically for online students in the College of Agricultural Sciences and the College of Forestry. This program is built to help you grow as a leader while connecting with other Ecampus students in a supportive and engaging environment.
If you're working full time, managing family responsibilities, or returning to school after time away, this course is designed to fit your life. Through live Zoom sessions, guest speakers, and meaningful conversations, you will build your confidence, strengthen your communication skills, and develop your leadership potential in a remote setting.
The Ecampus version was developed to ensure that online students have the same opportunities for connection and leadership growth as on-campus students. It brings the interactive and proven model of the on-campus Leadership Academy to a format that works for remote learners, wherever they are.
Program Structure
The Ecampus Leadership Academy is a three-term course that students commit to for the full academic year: Fall, Winter, and Spring. Each term includes five live Zoom sessions, held every other week, where students connect, reflect, and build leadership skills alongside their cohort.
These 80-minute sessions feature interactive activities, personal reflection, and guest speakers from a range of professional backgrounds. Between meetings, students engage in guided assignments and conversations designed to help them grow as leaders and apply what they’re learning in real life.
Why Join?
Students join the Ecampus Leadership Academy because they want more than a typical online course. This experience helps you build leadership skills, connect with others, and grow in ways that feel personal and lasting. Whether you're leading a team, navigating a career change, or simply discovering your own voice, this course gives you the tools to do it with confidence.
Through interactive Zoom meetings, conversations with mentors, and peer connections, students say they leave with more clarity, courage, and community than they expected.
Who Can Join?
This course is designed specifically for Oregon State University students who are pursuing their degrees through Ecampus. It is reserved for distance learners in the College of Agricultural Sciences and the College of Forestry who want to grow as leaders and connect with others in a remote learning environment.
While we understand that on-campus students may be interested in joining via Zoom, this course is intentionally reserved for Ecampus students to provide them with a unique experience tailored to their needs. On-campus students are encouraged to explore the in-person version of the Leadership Academy, which offers the same high-impact learning in a face-to-face format.
This course is a great fit if you:
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Are a distance education student in AgSci or Forestry
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Can commit to a year-long experience across Fall, Winter, and Spring terms
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Want to engage with peers, mentors, and leadership concepts in a remote setting
“I thought that the Zoom worked well. All of my classes have been asynchronous at OSU beyond some seminars. It was nice to interact in real time with people which you don't often get as an Ecampus student.” - Sarah P, College of Agricultural Sciences, Botany and Sustainability, Spring 2024 Pilot Program
Frequently Asked Questions
Zoom meetings will be held on Thursdays of even weeks of each term (weeks 2/4/6/8/10). Please see above for a listing of those dates. The class zoom meeting time will be from 4-5:20 Pacific time.
During the zoom sessions we will spend time getting to know each other; debriefing over material; collaborating through brainstorming, discussions, and reflections; and building a unique remote community where we can grow as leaders together.
Similarly to the on-campus section of Leadership Academy, we will be bringing in mentors to meet with students, so that the students can gain insight regarding application of the course materials through their mentors’ experiences. We will also bring in a guest speaker to deliver a lecture on leadership!
On “off” weeks (when there isn’t a zoom meeting), students will have small activities to continue their engagement with class peers and materials. These activities will rotate from group and personal reflections, discussions, reading, and more.
Applications are required for the Leadership Academy, both for the online and in-person programs.
APPLY HERE for the 2024-2025 Ecampus Leadership Academy program.
After your application is received, you will be contacted by the instructor within a few days with next steps. If you are approved to participate in the program, you will be granted an override to register.
We understand that things come up unexpectedly that may cause you to miss a zoom class session. While we want the students to commit to participating in each session, we recognize that this may not be possible. Especially working with Ecampus students, these individuals may have to work, have an appointment or something already scheduled that may interfere with them attending all 5 sessions per term.
We are working on developing a grading system that allows a student to miss a lesson and make up those points by doing alternative makeup work. Alternative makeup work will be available for all sessions, though students will not necessarily be able to make up all the points if they miss more than one session.
As this course’s meetings are over zoom, we recommend every participating student have the equipment necessary to actively participate. This includes (but is not limited to) a secure internet connection, a computer/laptop/tablet with zoom installed, a camera, and a quiet place to take these meetings.
Spring 2024 was designed as a preview for the year-long Ecampus series which will be offered 2024-2025. Some content may be repeated, but we will ensure that those who wish to continue for the full 2024-2025 school year will have the opportunity to digest new content, meet with new mentors, hear from new speakers, and submit new assignments/activities. Spring 2024 content will not be directly repeated in Spring 2025, but the content may be sprinkled throughout the entire academic year.
Zoom meetings are a great tool to join people together over large distances. Participants are expected to have their camera on and participate in activities and discussions.
We recommend trying to log onto zoom a few minutes early to the class session to deal with any potential surprise updates. If you continue to not be able to get on zoom, please switch to a new device (if you are able). Lastly, if the zoom session has begun, please email the instructor. You will not be penalized for technical difficulties, however we do expect you to do as much as you can to avoid this problem.
Please contact our program instructor, Faith Vawter, if you have any questions about the Ecampus Leadership Academy experience!
We have left the credits of this course variable, so that students may register for how ever many credits they need to reach their overall desired number of credits for the term. However, the coursework will be designed as if this is a 2 credit class.