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MLDP Ventures Off Campus

  • MLDP participants in conversation with staff at the Hanover Co-op during the fall term in 2016. Photo by May Nguyen ’18.

  • Hanover Co-op staff share with MLDP participants about new programs that have resulted from teamwork. Photo by Faith Rotich ’18.

  • MLDP participants during an off-campus session at LISTEN, a local non-profit. Photo by May Nguyen ’18.

  • MLDP participants visit with production staff at the Northern Stage in White River Junction during an off-campus session. Photo by May Nguyen ’18.

The Rockefeller Center’s Management and Leadership Development Program (MLDP) is a one-term program designed for sophomores, juniors, and seniors looking to make significant progress in their leadership and management development. Featuring weekly sessions led by expert guest speakers, MLDP employs experiential teaching techniques to engage students through hands-on learning of core management and leadership skills that employers have indicated are most important to them. Participants are encouraged to begin to immediately implement these skills in their leadership roles in campus organizations, internships, and academic team projects.

Recently, the scope of MLDP has expanded to include an off-campus session to a local business or non-profit organization. Although participants can explore many concepts in the MLDP sessions concerning leadership and management skills, it is additionally beneficial for participants to see what leadership and management look like in different organizations. With a choice between a nonprofit and a for-profit organization, the MLDP off-campus experience is purposed to extricate participants from the classroom environment and into a workplace where the concepts of MLDP are realized through the daily activities of the organization.

Through a presentation, tour, experiential activity, and often a meal with key stakeholders, students examine how the mission and values of the organization are espoused through the organization's everyday practices. In addition to being able to describe the mission and values of the organization, the MLDP participants also use case studies to analyze the decision-making models of various organizations.

Student Program Assistant Arati Gangadharan ’18 enjoyed facilitating the off-campus sessions as they demonstrated that leadership is applicable in all domains, not just in a corporate setting. Gangadharan assisted in the organization of the off-campus session in 2016, at LISTEN, a local non-profit, where she noted how students could speak to community members and see how “strong leadership correlates with community values.”

MLDP participants have also visited the Hanover Co-op, an experience which received a lot of positive feedback from both students and employees. “The Co-op team taught me that the more people are personally invested in a team’s mission; the more likely they will work together,” said Kaina Chen ’18. Weiling Huang ’19 agreed, “I learned from listening to staff how the importance of creating a culture of personal responsibility and accountability helped facilitate the creation of new programs.”

Visit our website for information on how to enroll in the Management and Leadership Development Program.

-Written by Rachel Favors ’18 Rockefeller Center Student Program Assistant for Communications.