The Center for Inquiry, Discovery and Leadership seeks to provide a dynamic program of learning experiences that expand world perspectives and build upon Geneseo’s strong liberal arts foundation. Purpose, curiosity and possibility characterize the Center’s program, which culminates in opportunities for students to expand their boundaries and pursue ideas of consequence.

The heart of the Center’s mission is to create and foster “defining experiences” – building on Geneseo’s transformational academic and extracurricular programs – and open new avenues of learning and personal development.

The Center engages not only students, faculty and staff, but also individuals in business, industry, government and the arts who are shaping our society. To be led by a director, a board of advisers, and a board of student ambassadors, the Center will significantly enhance students’ lives, expand the capacity of the College, and enrich the broader community.

Five areas of endowment support student ambassadors, student research, student internships, student academic grants and awards, and lectureships. The Center creates a forum for the active acquisition of knowledge by bringing professional leaders from various fields to campus and enabling students, in turn, to pursue focused learning opportunities outside the classroom.

A key element of the Center’s programming focuses on student ambassadors, selected at the beginning of their junior year to serve for two years. These ambassadors are active participants in developing the Center’s program agenda and are supported through endowments provided by donors. Through this private support, student ambassadors have the opportunity to engage in learning experiences that are outside the classroom as well as their comfort zones.

Each student proposes his or her own learning experience, which is approved by the Center’s director and the board of advisers. Successful learning projects are innovative, challenging and substantive – of such magnitude to be later viewed as transformative experiences in a student’s undergraduate program.