10 Within 10 Recognition

College: College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences

Dan Gaken, ’04, was one of those high school kids who joined everything: student council, marching band. He was captain of both the golf team and the wrestling team.

When he came to CMU as part of the second class of the Leadership Institute, he already had the right attitude. And he happily realized he was surrounded by others who shared his passion.

“It was exhilarating,” he says.

Gaken fell in love with the campus and with leadership – it seemed almost fated that he would stick around to be director of CMU’s Leadership Institute.

“Everybody has the capacity to lead,” Gaken says. “As long as we’ve had people, we’ve had leadership. If there were two cavemen in a cave, one of them was making decisions, and the other one was wondering, ‘Who put him in charge?’”

His idea of leadership has changed over the years.

“When I came to campus as an 18-year old, I had a more textbook definition of leadership,” he says. “I did all the things I thought a leader should do – joined clubs, started organizations, chaired Siblings Weekend.

“My capacity to create change was still about one person,” he says. “But leadership is less about a single person than it is about empowering others. How do I create a space where others can create things that excite them?”

In addition to his leadership role at CMU, Gaken is a lead facilitator for LeaderShape, a national campus leadership program hosted at 80 college campuses. He teaches students across the country how to be ethical, visionary leaders.

That’s important to Gaken, who’s involved in myriad community organizations, from United Way to Special Olympics.

“Leadership is not about you,” he says. “It’s equipping others so they can see what they can do.”

10 years of 10 within 10 - 2023 update

Current city and state: Mount Pleasant, MI

Current job title and employer:   Director, Sarah R. Opperman Leadership Institute at Central Michigan University