The Institute for Leadership Advancement (ILA) is a privately funded unit within the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia. ILA is an innovative, ever-evolving certificate program that combines coursework with real-world experience to sharpen the next generation of leaders who stand out distinctly because of their unwavering commitment to make values-based, impact-driven decisions.
The ILA program is completed in one or two years (Fellows or Scholars, respectively). Both the Fellows and Scholars programs follow a model to first learn, then reflect and ultimately practice. All students apply their learning through a final service-learning project, working to benefit nonprofits and underserved communities.
ILA students and alumni continuously demonstrate the core values of responsibility, stewardship, excellence, integrity and purpose. For these reasons, recruiters target the ILA network for internships and career positions at companies and organizations such as Chick-fil-A, EY, Google, KPMG, Newell Brands, The Home Depot, Wall Street banks, Delta and UPS. To date, ILA’s leadership development programs have graduated more than 1,500 UGA students.
Undergraduate Offerings
Leadership Fellows
Open to all eligible UGA students, the yearlong Leadership Fellows program allows students to fine-tune their career planning skills and assess their personality, strengths and core values to achieve self-awareness—a key piece in identifying one’s leadership capabilities.
There are two application periods for the Leadership Fellows: Applications for Spring Fellows open September 1, and Fall Fellows open December 1.
Leonard Leadership Scholars
Open to all eligible Terry majors, the two-year Leonard Leadership Scholars program initiates a discovery process, asking students to uncover their leadership capabilities by identifying their personality, strengths and core values.
The online application is open from December 1-January 31. Thirty students are selected annually.
Additional Offerings
Leadership Dawgs
In recognizing the positive impact on a student’s leadership skills, Chick-fil-A pledged a record-setting donation to help ILA expand personalized leadership development beyond the scope of current undergraduate students at the University of Georgia. Learn more about the alumni leadership development program here.
ILA Speaker Series
ILA presents the Terry Leadership Speaker Series (TLSS), The Mason Public Leadership Lecture and the Diversity and Inclusion Leadership Speaker Series (DILS), inviting well-known executives from various organizations to share their career experiences and leadership approaches through a student-run forum. View past and upcoming speakers.
Nonprofit Partnerships with ILA
Since 2003, ILA has partnered with local nonprofits and community partners to execute Service-Learning Projects (SLPs). These three-to-six-month projects allow student leaders to deeply connect with a nonprofit and help them advance their mission in whatever way they need, through marketing, student engagement efforts, fundraising, and more. Starting in 2022, we are extending these SLPs to UGA alumni to grow ILA’s impact and strengthen Georgia’s robust nonprofit sector. If you are a nonprofit organization in Georgia and are interested in partnering with ILA in this meaningful way, we would love to hear from you! Please fill out this Nonprofit Interest Form.