Selection Process

The Sullivan Leadership Award selection process attempts to determine the degree to which a student’s achievements reflect the values of the program and focuses on evaluating the communications skills essential to serving as an effective leader.

The Selection Committee is comprised of faculty from each of the university’s undergraduate colleges and staff from the student development and enrollment services offices. Each application is read minimally by two members of the Selection Committee; sometimes applications will go to a third reader as well.

Each year, applicants are assigned an  article  and a book on a theme related to the program’s objectives. The theme serves as the topic for the award competition’s writing and speaking components and provides applicants with a learning experience that is both challenging and rewarding.

Applicants for the Sullivan Award are required to apply for Early Action freshman admission (November 15 deadline). A separate Sullivan Leadership Award application, which includes a letter of application to the Sullivan Committee, a leadership essay, a leadership resume, and two letters of recommendation, is also required and must be submitted or postmarked by November 15.

Sullivan applicants who are offered Early Action freshman admission are eligible to continue in the selection process by coming to the Seattle University campus for Sullivan Leaders’ Day, usually on the second Saturday of winter quarter. On Leaders’ Day, the candidates write an essay interpreting the assigned article, attend presentations by the university’s colleges and schools, and participate in a faculty panel discussion on the year’s program theme, followed by small group discussions in which the candidates share their ideas and reactions to the theme as developed throughout the competition. As many as 350 to 400 accepted applicants participate in Leaders’ Day.

Members of the Selection Committee read the students’ interpretative essays written during Leaders’ Day and, considering the essays together with their review of the Sullivan Leadership Award applications, select 45 students to compete as finalists for the Sullivan Leadership Award.

The 45 finalist are required to return to campus on the last Friday of February for a final round of competition. The finalists are mailed a book related to the year’s theme and are asked to prepare a 5-minute oral presentation related to the book, followed by 10 minutes of questions from Committee members. That same afternoon they meet with other members of the Committee for a 15-minute interview. In the days immediately following Finalists’ Day, members of the Selection Committee meet to select the nine recipients of the Sullivan Leadership Award; the 36 other finalists are offered other Seattle University academic scholarships and the opportunity to serve as alternates should one of the original nine recipients decline the award.