The Citadel’s Mission and Leader Development
The mission of The Citadel is “to educate and develop our students to become principled leaders in all walks of life by instilling the core values of The Citadel in a disciplined and intellectually challenging environment.” The Cadet Leader Development Program provides the strategic framework for how we accomplish that mission.
“The Cadet Leader Development Program provides the strategic framework for how we accomplish that mission. It describes our core values of duty, honor, and respect and positions them as the basis of a principled leader’s frame of reference.”
Glenn M. Walters, President of The Citadel
Our program describes our core values of duty, honor, and respect and positions them as the basis of a principled leader’s frame of reference. It identifies and defines seven characteristics that principled leaders manifest in all they do. It provides the structure for The Citadel’s long tradition of developing the “whole person” by putting leadership in the context of the character, academic, military and fitness pillars. It breaks the overall developmental process down into the prepare, engage, serve and lead stages that are tied to each of a cadet’s four years at The Citadel. Finally, it articulates the combination of challenge and support that must be present for growth to occur.
Preparing Future Leaders
The present members of the Corps of Cadets face a future of change, risk, and opportunity. Our state, nation and world will need them to be leaders. The Cadet Leader Development Program represents our plan—and our responsibility—to prepare them.
Through the Cadet Leadership program students learn a wide range of strategic leadership skills and techniques that this program tests in proven, diverse organizational settings.