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The Leadership Studies Program is excited to announce that Dr. Tara Widner has been named the Interim Director! Dr. Widner has been with the Leadership Studies Program since 2016. She teaches various different Leadership Studies Classes and always enjoys working with her students.

Widner’s research interests include global leadership, higher education, cultural competency, study abroad, undergraduate leadership education and effective teaching methods. Her doctoral dissertation, “Curricular Instruction of Global Leadership at Colleges and Universities in The United States,” examined how undergraduate leadership programs were teaching global leadership, which methods had proved effective through assessment, and created a model for teaching global leadership.

Originally from Minnesota, Widner moved back to Iowa from San Diego where she pursued her Ph.D. and helped coordinate and teach the leadership studies minor at the University of San Diego. Prior to her work at the University of San Diego, Widner served as the assistant director for leadership programs at The University of Iowa, including all curricular and co-curricular leadership programming, as well as teaching several classes a semester. She received her Ph.D. from the University of San Diego in leadership studies, her M.S. in higher educational leadership from Oklahoma State University, and her BS from the University of Wisconsin – River Falls.