Elevating Character

Leadership & Ethics Across the Curriculum

The term “Leadership & Ethics Across the Curriculum (LEAC)” describes a trend in higher education that calls for the infusion of the study of leadership and ethics into all aspects of the college academic program in ways that promote ethical inquiry and encourage students to take ethics seriously as a developed personal motivation.

At Georgia Military College, our LEAC program is one means we employ to accomplish that part of our mission that calls for the college to provide “…hope and opportunity through individual growth and education of our students to develop their intellect and character as authentic servant leaders in an environment focused on elevating civility and respect for others.”

In general, the principal goal of the Georgia Military College LEAC program is to graduate students who are more likely to know and do what is right. Other goals of the college’s LEAC program are:

• To provide students with multiple opportunities to study, discuss, and think about ethical issues they will encounter in their personal and professional lives.
• To equip students with the tools to think through ethical and leadership issues in a critical and responsible way.
• To create an environment where students practice “civil” discourse in the presence of differing views and thereby learn to speak civilly to each other, work through disagreements, and treat each other respectfully.
• To develop sensitivity in our students to the needs of others, improving life in our classrooms, on our campuses, and in our communities.

GMC Character Education

The goal of the GMC Character Education Program is to prepare our students to be leaders and valuable, participating citizens in their communities.

GMC has long recognized two equally essential components of a true quality education:

• Development of the intellect
• Elevation of character

At Georgia Military College, the first is achieved through accredited academic programs leading to either an associate’s or bachelor’s degree. The second is achieved as a consequence of implementing a deliberate and intensive character education program that occupies a position of critical importance in the college mission.

Students attending Georgia Military College are required to complete LDR 201 Critical Thinking and Character Development in Leadership as a prerequisite for graduation. The course introduces GMC students to the college’s values and character development expectations.

This 3-hour Leadership capstone course emphasizes the GMC mission to produce educated, contributing community leaders by developing critical thinking and reasoning skills and elevating the individual student’s character.