In the Hart Leadership Program, our mission is to help students discover the power of leadership for public life. We encourage them to do this by exploring their own aspirations and ambitions and how they can be connected to our common life. When students engage in this practice, they begin to ask bigger questions, discover bolder dreams, and form deeper interests in building thriving communities, institutions, and societies.

We envision Hart offerings as tools that challenge students to:

• Engage deeply and intentionally with communities both familiar and new to them
• Listen to others, especially those with different perspectives and experiential wisdom
• Interrogate preconceived ideas (both their own and those of others) with curiosity, compassion, and courage
• Experiment with new ideas and practices boldly
• Discover their own resilience in the face of failures, challenges, and hardships
• Reflect intentionally on their experiences in order to deepen their understanding of themselves, their positionality, and their convictions
• Practice making their work visible and accountable to the communities they serve

Students in HLP learn that leadership and formal authority are not the same thing. Leadership is not handed over with a promotion or a title; it is a demanding art that requires attention, courage and experimentation. It involves more than a tool kit of skills. Leadership requires knowing one’s strengths and weaknesses, understanding complexity, asking the tough questions, and helping people deal with differences.

The Hart Leadership Program provides Duke University undergraduates with a unique opportunity to practice this art. Courses give students analytical frameworks for grappling with the problems facing our global community. Immersion experiences outside the classroom help them see how policy works in the real world. Writing and discussion opportunities challenge them to reflect critically on their experiences and make sense of them. One-on-one mentoring helps students develop the skills, confidence and motivation to translate their learning into action.

Hart students benefit from the kind of passionate teaching and boundary-crossing learning more often associated with liberal arts colleges than research universities. At the same time, they have access to the immense resources and scholarly expertise of the Sanford School of Public Policy and Duke University, and the opportunity to learn first-hand from community partners locally, nationally, and around the world.

With guidance from our innovative faculty, students identify their own passions, competencies and vision for practicing the art of leadership for public life. Through their participation in the Hart Leadership Program, students gain a deeper understanding of the concerns facing our world and a stronger commitment to make a difference.