portrait of Dr. Angela McGowan-Kirsch
SUNY Fredonia Associate Professor Angela McGowan-Kirsch received an Innovations in Democracy mini-grant for a new leadership project.
The project integrates democratic leadership and civic discourse into LEAD 201: Advanced Leadership Development and established a new Democratic Leadership Project Fellowship for SUNY Fredonia student Cooper Corcoran.
Dr. McGowan-Kirsch, a faculty member in the Department of Communication, received the grant through her participation in the 2026 Innovations in Democracy cohort, a national initiative of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) and Unite America. The program brings together faculty and staff from AASCU institutions to explore nonpartisan approaches to democratic participation and translate that learning into action-oriented projects on their campuses. During the past summer, cohort members participated in virtual professional development, exchanged ideas with colleagues from institutions across the country, and received individual project coaching as they developed initiatives for the 2026–27 academic year.
McGowan-Kirsch used the work to develop a project centered on LEAD 201 and its Leadership Consulting Project, a major team assignment in which students investigate real organizational or community leadership challenges, gather and evaluate evidence, apply leadership theory, consider stakeholder perspectives, and develop practical, evidence-based recommendations.
The project asks students to consider not only what decision leaders should make, but how that decision should be made and who should be involved in making it.
“One of the things I want students to understand is that good leadership isn’t simply about arriving at the right answer,” McGowan-Kirsch said. “Leaders also must think carefully about the process they use to reach that answer: Who is affected? Whose perspective have we heard? Whose voice might be missing? When should people have a role in the decision? This project gives students an opportunity to wrestle with those questions while working on real leadership challenges.” LEAD 201 is a new Fredonia Foundations General Education course in the Humanities category and incorporates SUNY’s new Civic Discourse competency.
The $1,500 Innovations in Democracy mini-grant supports implementation of the project during Fall 2026 and funds the new Democratic Leadership Project Fellowship, which gives a SUNY Fredonia student the opportunity to work alongside McGowan-Kirsch on the initiative.
Following a competitive application and interview process, Cooper, a Music Composition major with a minor in Computer Science, was selected as the 2026 Democratic Leadership Project Fellow. Cooper, who will graduate from SUNY Fredonia in Spring 2028, is from Syracuse, NY, and attended West Genesee High School.
During the semester, Cooper will conduct scholarly research on civic discourse, democratic and participatory leadership, dialogue across differences, and collaborative decision-making. He will help translate that research into resources for LEAD 201 and serve as a coach and resource for student teams completing the Leadership Consulting Project. Rather than providing teams with solutions, Cooper will help students ask stronger questions, evaluate evidence, consider stakeholder perspectives, and develop their own conclusions.
“I’m excited to work with students as they think through real leadership challenges and consider perspectives they may not have initially recognized,” Cooper said. “I’m also looking forward to exploring the research behind civic discourse and collaborative decision-making and seeing how those ideas can be applied in the classroom and to real organizations.”
The project reflects AASCU’s broader emphasis on giving students opportunities to learn about democratic practices through experience and complements McGowan-Kirsch’s ongoing work in civic discourse, leadership education, and her role as chair of SUNY Fredonia’s American Democracy Project.
