In recognition of his innovative work in leadership education and community engagement, Jason Headrick, assistant professor of leadership and community development at Texas Tech’s Davis College, has been honored with two prestigious national awards from the Association of Leadership Educators.
The accolades — the Early Career Leadership & Service Award and the Outstanding Program Non-Credit Award — were presented earlier this month at the group’s 35th annual conference in San Diego. Headrick received the honors for his role in developing the Civic Leadership Academy, an effort that empowers Davis College students to foster meaningful community change through leadership and service.
Launched in 2021 with funding from the Helen Jones Foundation, the academy was designed to connect Davis College students with local nonprofits, municipal departments, and service organizations throughout Lubbock and the surrounding South Plains region. It employs a multidisciplinary, service-learning approach aimed at cultivating civic responsibility and leadership capacity among young adults.
“The Civic Leadership Academy has the capacity to change individual lives and have real community impact,” Headrick said. “We want to help college students from the Plains region and beyond realize their potential to enact change and impact their communities, beginning with themselves.”
Today, the program partners with organizations such as Lubbock Parks & Recreation, Plainview Main Street Program, East Lubbock Art House, Lubbock Impact, Volunteer Center of Lubbock, Los Hermanos Familia, and OpenDoor, allowing students to work on real-world projects while sharpening their leadership skills. The Civic Leadership Academy experience is currently being turned into civic leadership curriculum and will now be a undergraduate course for students to take to learn more about being a civic leader and more about community development.
A Kentucky native, Headrick holds a doctorate in human sciences–leadership studies from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. His academic work focuses on the intersections of rural development, civic leadership, and leadership education theory, which he teaches at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. In addition to this month’s awards, Headrick was named a 2024 E. Kika De La Garza Education Fellow, a competitive national program administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The conference also highlighted other standout contributions from the Davis College community. Taylor Limbaugh, an agricultural communications and leadership master’s candidate from La Grange, Texas was honored with an Association of Leadership Educators Founders’ Student Scholar Award. The honor recognizes the importance of student involvement in growing the discipline of ALE. Limbaugh’s presentation at the meeting was titled, “Leveraging Volunteerism and Leader Development from the Lens of College Students.
Additionally, Kristy Kinlicheenie, a distance education doctoral candidate within the Department of Agricultural Education & Communications was able to attend and present her graduate student work titled, “Rising Beyond Burnout: Exploring Leader-Follower Interaction in the Agricultural & Natural Resources Industry.” Kinlicheenie is a an Assistant in Extension & 4-H within the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension (Navajo Nation Extension).
CONTACT: Scott Burris, Chair, Department of Agricultural Education & Communications, Texas Tech University at (806) 834-8689 or scott.burris@ttu.edu
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