Mission
To generate, conduct, and disseminate basic and applied research for the advancement of leadership effectiveness of individuals, groups, teams, organizations, and communities.
Since its inauguration in 1987, the CLS has been continuously funded (grants, funded projects, royalties, donations) -- now totaling over $4 million and averaging about $240,000 per year. The CLS was a driver in initiating the number one scholarly journal in leadership called the Leadership Quarterly; models and methods developed in the CLS have been used in hundreds of dissertations, masters theses, and research projects around the globe; its faculty are sought after for keynote presentations and to participate on government, industry, and military initiatives focusing on enhancing leadership practices; and CLS is already a preeminent center for excellence in leadership research, promoting the reputation of Binghamton University throughout the world. In these ways, the CLS mission aligns well with the mission of BU
Vision
To advance understanding and application of leadership using interdisciplinary approaches to theory, research, and innovative methodologies.
The CLS promotes theory and research on leadership assessment, development, and evaluation at the individual, team/group, organizational, and community levels. The CLS supports a broad range of basic and applied research agendas and promotes cross-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary research.
Objectives
Research and Science - To discover and verify new knowledge about leadership.
Application and Practice - To develop and apply leadership "best practices" through assessment, education, training, and development.
Knowledge and Learning - To conserve and disseminate leadership knowledge and practice for scholars and professionals.
We strive to be a preeminent center for leadership studies, with particular emphasis on multi-level theory, research, and methods as well as new models of leadership and evaluating leadership development in longitudinal studies. We focus on the discovery and verification of new knowledge about leadership and its application to contribute to personal, team, organizational, and community development, and to conserve knowledge about leadership for scholars and practitioners. The CLS focus is to advance the science and practice of leadership and be a resource for our local, national, public, and private constituencies to help enhance the full potential of their leadership at all organizational levels.
Conclusion
The CLS has accomplished a great deal since its founding, but we do not intend to rest on our past successes. We will continue to strive to meet our goals and objectives, thereby fulfilling our mission and vision as part of BU. In particular, we plan to reduce and then completely eliminate support from the Division of Research over the next five years. This will be accomplished by total CLS self-sustainability with external funds.
