Yet a degree is not an automatic pass for advancement. "More and more organizations are not so much requesting their employees to be specialists, but generalists capable of articulating a vision for their respective companies," says Dr. Sam Myatt, director of Union University's LAUNCH program. LAUNCH is designed to help students obtain the bachelor of science in organizational leadership. Named to highlight its distinctive opportunity to its students, LAUNCH stands for Leadership for Adult UNdergraduate CoHorts. "The name is appropriate for what we desire to do. We desire through our coursework to help the students set a trajectory for advancement."

Myatt's passion is to see the cohorts become learning laboratories for Union students to practice the necessary skills which they will need leading their companies. "The interest of companies sending students to us has been remarkable. I am always challenged when I see the pressing needs many of our students bring to the classroom. Through careful planning and teaching, I have seen students advance far beyond their own expectations."

Myatt stresses the need for the current workforce to not only adapt to cultural and business trends, but to lead them in new ways. "My goal for these students is that they be able not only to know what needs to be done, but how it needs to be done. In many of out first meetings, we challenge our students to examine each goal in each process."

Unique opportunities await students who enroll in the LAUNCH program. The curriculum is designed for cohorts where a true team approach does not stymie thought. Rather, it stimulates ideas which move toward problem identification and resolution. The usual road blocks for group work - lack of consensus, seemingly continuous planning with little implementation, and the overall attitude of merely pooling ideas which bear minimal significance to an actual problem - are overcome by a carefully calculated teaching system where students are urged to actively apply knowledge to various situations.

Those who enter into the degree program are entering college either for the first time or at a different station of life than when they left college previously. The format for class teaching rime and group work is carefully structured to enable students to balance the time demands for those with full-time jobs and families. A recently enrolled student commented, "Without the LAUNCH program, it would be impossible for me to continue my education. This is a great opportunity for those of us with families."

Currently, the program has an enrollment of 49 students with projections for the upcoming year of an additional 50. As a student inquires about LAUNCH, their transcripts are evaluated by Myatt to determine their eligibility for admission. Once admitted, the students are assigned membership in a particular cohort with whom they will remain throughout the duration of the degree. This stimulates useful interaction on topics such as total quality management and group leadership. The cohort works together on many projects further strengthening the students' ability to work independently and corporately.

"This is perhaps one of Union's greatest assets," comments Myatt. "We seek to train leaders who are already at work in the marketplace impacting and influencing their worlds. This degree program shares with our students not merely techniques and knowledge based upon worldly principles of operations, but also a principled way of Christian thought and action whereby they will be able to impact all those who look to them for leadership in a way which merits their greatest labors in this life. Essentially, we long for Christian leaders who are well trained in mind and heart"