Student Leadership Conference

About the Conference

Each year, Student Leadership and Engagement (SLE) offers a conference that brings together student leaders from student organizations (primarily undergraduate), leadership programs, campus affiliates, and those from within the University community who are interested or passionate about student leadership. Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, the conference shifted to a virtual domain that enabled our Planning Team to broaden the scope of our conference audience to anyone in the world. 

The mission of our conference is to promote socially-responsible leadership development. That's it. We believe in our Jesuit value of being "people for and with others" and strive to create a space that brings together a community of people who are similarly called to this mission for the communities they are part of. It may be cheesy, but we are truly trying to "Change the World from Here" by connecting leaders, advancing our collective knowledge of local and global issues, and refining our skills to become more effective in achieving our respective goals. 

The conference typically draws between 200-300+ people and is guided by a different theme each year that resonates with our student population. Some of our previous themes include: 

2016: The Lens of Leadership 
2017: Breaking Barriers
2018: iBelieve
2019: Power in a Voice
2020: Putting the ACT in Activism
2021: Click Refresh! Reconnect With Your Server
2022: Postponed to 2023
2023: TBD

The conference planning team annually seeks engagement from the community through a call for programs process. The committee seeks between 10-20 different programs to offer attendees that align with the theme of the conference and our mission. 

Conference Schedule

All listed times are in Pacific Time (PT).

Frequently Asked Questions

Who attends?

This year the Student Leadership Conference will be fully virtual and open to all undergraduate and graduate students at the University of San Francisco and to members outside the USF community. We encourage students from other institutions to join us for this leadership opportunity.

The conference is paid for by the ASUSF Student Activity Fee in order to subsidize the leadership development of our students. The conference also has representation from a variety of campus organizations. Campus organizations are expected to send a minimum of two representatives as part of upholding our commitment to strengthening the quality of leadership among student organizations. 

How much does registration cost?

Registration for the conference is completely FREE!

How do I prepare for a virtual conference?

As the university became remote, the conference will be held virtually this year to promote social distancing. Since this is a virtual conference, we recommend that participants access the conference from a Desktop Computer/Laptop so they can engage better than from a mobile device/tablet. We also recommend downloading the latest version of Zoom to fully participate in the features Zoom offers and workshop facilitators may use, such as reactions and annotation. This will be the primary platform for our conference!

USF students can access their fully licensed account via usfca.zoom.us 

How many people attend?

Roughly 200 to 300 USF students attend our annual conference when it has been in person. As a virtual conference, we saw over 325 attendees last year who tuned in from all across the world representing over 20 different institutions beyond USF. 

Why are organizations required to send representatives?

First, we expect that our more visible, prominent, and resourced student organizations demonstrate socially-responsible leadership practices that uphold the values and mission of our University (i.e. Magis, Cura Personalis, People for and with Others, Ad Majorem de Gloriam, and Unity of the Heart and Mind), yet there are few opportunities for students to have hands-on experience with applying values into their day-to-day practices as leaders of their organizations. The Student Leadership Conference serves as one of the premier opportunities to share and examine best practices in socially-responsible leadership within our community. We expect this of our more prominent groups who have access to these resources to demonstrate these practices as their influence often goes beyond those who have less access to resources.

Second, the Student Leadership Conference serves as a space for campus leaders to come together to foster stronger relationships that can promote new collaborations.  Collaboration is an essential value of socially-responsible leadership that demonstrates the reality that each of us (whether as individuals or as groups) exists within a larger community that we each have a responsibility toward bettering in our mission toward social justice. Social Justice cannot be achieved if we do not have relationships the go beyond those who are part of our immediate groups and communities. Thus, by requiring each organization to send a minimum of two representatives we get closer toward that goal of building a community that is both aware of its members and feel a sense of connection and care toward them. 

Lastly, the Student Leadership Conference engages participants in a series of events that promote a stronger awareness of self in relation to others. Self-Awareness is an essential ingredient to be an effective leader who aims to be socially responsible in their leadership practice. Our annual conference offers experiences that encourage participants to examine who they are in relation to the world around them. Leadership is often thought of an individual endeavor, when in fact leadership is actually found in the space between self and others. As a department, we are committed to offering programs that promote self-awareness to better manage oneself in relation to others while in pursuit of making USF, and the world, a better place. 

If there are any other questions, please contact Student Leadership and Engagement at: sle@usfca.edu.