By William Oehler, Director of Photography
Assistant Director for Leadership Development for the Garthwait Leadership Center (GLC) and the Eisenhower Institute (EI) Sam Anderson knew that he wanted to work in higher education since his undergraduate program at Goucher College. He did not expect an unplanned flight to Baltimore to take him to a small liberal arts college in rural Pennsylvania.
Anderson attended Goucher College to study Political Science. As student government president, Anderson developed an interest in higher education. His passion for activism, democracy and student organizing led him to the University of Michigan, where he got his masters in higher education.
“I didn’t expect to go into student affairs when I entered my master’s program, or even when I started my job hunt,” shared Anderson.
When Executive Director of the Eisenhower Institute Tracie Potts approached Anderson on a flight from Baltimore to Detroit, he soon found himself adding his name to the applicant pool for Gettysburg College’s Assistant Director for Leadership Development.
At the airport, Anderson had overheard conversations between college faculty who attended a higher education conference in Baltimore. Later, he struck up a conversation with the man next to him, an Orientation Administrator at Kenyon College in Ohio.
Sam Anderson (Photo Will Oehler/The Gettysburgian)
Anderson said, “….at the end of the flight, Potts came back three rows, handed me her business card and said, ‘We’re hiring an assistant director, you should apply.’”
Anderson’s position partners with the GLC and EI and signifies their collaboration in leadership for change. Anderson works on a project-by-project basis with EI, most notably the Eisenhower Leadership Conference and the Eisenhower Scholars Program.
The Scholars Program is an important scholarship available at the College and looks for those civically engaged locally, nationally and internationally. Anderson worked with this year’s Scholars during their pre-orientation process in collaboration with other campus organizations.
While Anderson coordinates works with EI, he also has his office within the GLC, a campus organization working to develop students’ leadership skills through experiential education.
Two highlights of Anderson’s work at the GLC are the Leadership Certificate and the Carnegie Classification. The former is a year-long program centered around leadership theory and practice. Students spend a semester learning the theory behind leadership and reflecting that onto their own leadership journey. The second semester works to partner with College organizations for positive change on campus.
“The why is really important in that work,” described Anderson. “We want emerging leaders on campus to be able to identify… their own mission statement for themselves as to why they’re interested in making change.”
While the Leadership Certificate focuses on internal and local change, the Carnegie Classification centers around the College as a whole. The Classification applies a title to an institution through its practice of education.
Anderson is leading a voluntary self-study team from July to December of this year. The team will gather information on the College to present their findings for a classification released next summer. The recognition of the Carnegie Classification would allow Gettysburg College to advertise a comprehensive title to its donors, applicants and potential grant candidates.
Anderson’s office is located in Plank Basement in room 118. He shared that while his office space may be occupied with GLC student staff members planning their next leadership experiences, his office is always open to all students who would like to stop in and say hello.
This article originally appeared on page 8 of the October 2023 edition of The Gettysburgian’s magazine.
