The Residential Leadership Community is a theme housing leadership program in which students study leadership while living in a cohort environment. The RLC strives to incorporate the best practices from both philosophies of academia and student activities. The RLC teaches comprehensive historical and social leadership theories and strives to develop communication, time-management, organizational skills, and group skills specific to individual students' majors and career goals through academic and experiential learning. The RLC is founded on a strong sense of purpose to build leaders that are socially responsible, educated in theory, demonstrate leadership accountability, and who grasp a deep understanding of effective leadership behaviors.

Mission Statement

The mission of the Residential Leadership Community at Virginia Tech is to enhance students' leadership and interpersonal skills, enabling them to become more effective leaders in any organizational structure.

*Click to here to view a breakdown of RLC Students by their major.*

In the fall of 1995, Landrum Cross, Vice President of Student Affairs created a “Student Leadership Development Program Committee” with the purpose of studying existing curricular leadership development programs on campus. Don G. Creamer from the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies chaired the committee. With the exception of the Corps of Cadets and Military Affairs program, the committee realized no program existed for general undergraduate leadership development. The committee made the decision to create a proposal for a campus-wide leadership development program. The proposal was presented in March of 1996.

The proposal focused on strengthening four components: community responsiveness, responsible citizenship, self-responsibility, and service. The proposal recommended adding essential organizational characteristics for a student leadership development program, including:

• The combination of academic and student affairs,

• The involvement of program alumni as mentors, and

• The inclusion of experiential learning components.

The committee further recommended adding a residential living component to the program, and creating a leadership minor through the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies.

In the summer of 1997, the proposal developed by Don Creamer’s committee was reviewed by a Vision Team and given further recommendations based on comparable university programs. The team recommended extending the program opportunities to include Pamplin Scholars and general incoming freshmen.

In October 1997, the Vision Team decided to include representatives from various university programs with the goal of further developing the leadership program. At this point, the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies (CIS) became the academic home for the envisioned leadership minor.

In March of 1998, Dr. Sally Johnston became the Curriculum Coordinator for developing and guiding the first year of the introductory residential leadership course program and for coordinating the development of the Leadership Minor. The two-semester leadership course provided the academic component to what became known as the Residential Leadership Community.

The Residential Leadership Community accepted its first students in the fall of 1998. The introductory course for the Leadership Studies Minor began in the spring semester of 2000.

Since then, Dr. Sally Johnston has retired from the program, and in the spring of 2005, Dr. Denise Trudeau was hired as the Program Director to continue the growth and development of the Residential Leadership Community and the curriculum within its program.

In the Spring of 2008, the Steering Committee decided to move the program to the Agricultural and Extension Education Department beginning in the Fall of 2008. The change of department has opened new doors for the RLC and the Leadership and Social Change Minor to continue to grow.