The Salem Signature

Through a unique four-year academic program, the Salem Signature, which integrates career and life preparation with study in the liberal arts, Salem enables its students to develop confidence, to become leaders, to achieve independence, and to lead successful lives.

Salem named this leadership program the Salem Signature because it signified the essence and direction of the college's vision. Our educational goal is the transformation of our students' lives, a joining of the learning world with the lived world in an integrated way. Each of the steps in this four-year program offers students a shared experience that creates the necessary conditions for effective leadership education: knowledge, experience, and reflective thought.

The First-Year Experience: Discovery of the Self and Society

The first-year learning experience for the Salem student is designed to facilitate self-discovery, as well as to enhance self-esteem and confidence. By examining cross-cultural, gender, and societal issues, the student gains an understanding of the diversity of human experience. By building her oral, thinking, and written skills, she addresses questions that arise from the learning experience. The Salem faculty member who leads the seminar serves as the student's advisor and as a model leader.

The Second-Year Experience: Discovery of the Community

The sophomore year provides the Salem student with an appreciation of the community beyond the campus -- its needs, resources, functions, and the roles of those involved in its well-being. She will participate in a minimum of 30 hours of social service plus additional hours in group discussion. Her leadership skills are fostered through the recognition of human need, participation in community action, experiencing other ways of doing and learning things, and through the observation of community leaders. She learns the value of giving back to the community some of the benefits she has received.

The Third-Year Experience: Discovery of the World of Work

The junior year offers the Salem student a journey into the world of work and career. Through credit-bearing internships and work opportunities, the student will master some of the knowledge associated with an organizational environment. Interacting in work situations, she is challenged to put into practice her personal and professional leadership skills. She will discover ways to use her campus-based learning and ways to prepare further for the professional world. She will emerge from this experience with strategies for maing her own way in a career, in society, and as a leader.

The Fourth-Year Experience: Values and Leadership for Life

This captsone course is focused around three important and interrelated issues for college seniors -- Identity, Ethics and Values, and Leadership. Students will practice presenting themselves through interviews, essays, and resumes. They will examine leadership theory with special emphasis on women's leadership. Values and ethical stances will be studied using theoretical writings, literature, and case studies. Students in this course will interview a person who is in their anticipated career in order to gather information about the core issues "from the field" as well as complete a personal statement integrating their own self-knowledge, ethical stance, and thoughts on leadership.