Kat Murphy—ePortfolio Reflective Leadership Sheet

This artifact, titled Express. was submitted for ELPS 419: Leadership in Higher

Education. The goal of this assignment was to express our view of leadership, our role in

leadership, and how our leadership philosophy has been shaped/changed by our identities and

experiences. One of the learning outcomes for this assignment was “the ability to articulate a

personal conceptualization of leadership ground in course content.” This assignment meets the

learning outcome of reflective leadership and specifically the competencies of demonstrating: an

understanding of, and ability to reflect critically on, leadership in higher education; an

appreciation for the role that reflective leadership should play in serving others; and the ability

the listen, lead, and empower others.

In creating this piece, I viewed leadership as an ongoing, multi-step process. Everyone is

a part of leadership—and leadership looks different for all of those individuals. I chose graphic

poetry as my medium to demonstrate my emerging leadership philosophy because I believe both

words and pictures are exceptionally important, and when combined send a powerful message. In

my Express project, I focus not only how I lead, but also how leadership is a group effort—it is a

process of leading and empowerment, of speaking up and stepping down. My focus on serving

and empowering others and my use of course content, specifically the focus on critical hope,

demonstrate my demonstration of the competencies of reflective leadership. As I re-enter the

student affairs profession as a full-time professional, I will think critically about how my

identities and how my relative power and authority affect my conversations with students and

how we work together for leadership on campus. While I hold some marginalized identities, I

must recognize that I will be in a position to empower others—both students and fellow staff

members.