Leadership Academic Program Development in North America: Theoretical and Contextual Challenges

The development of a new academic field of study is always met with resistance and other challenges including the need to carve a space for the program in addition to defining and designing a curriculum that is unique and different from existing traditional academic programs. The research and dialogue about leadership academic education contribute to a rich debate about program design, content, curriculum and positioning. This paper explores the different levels of the theoretical debate about the best approaches to provide leadership education in colleges and universities in North America. Although the area of program curriculum design still lacks harmonization, areas of agreement have emerged over the years.