Spring 2006
Hart Leadership Program Approaches 20
As vice president of research programs for the Michael J. Fox Foundation,
Katie Higgins Hood T’96 draws on many talents to help forge
public/private partnerships in the quest to cure Parkinson’s
Disease. Like many alumni whose careers in business, law, and medicine
began with their Duke education, Hood considers her public policy
major a factor in her success.
But more than any particular course or instructor, Hood credits
her involvement in the Hart Leadership Program (HLP) with shaping
her personal and professional commitment to playing an active role
in addressing social problems. “The Hart Leadership Program
is one of the most inspiring things that Duke undergraduates can
be part of,” Hood wrote in response to a recent survey conducted
as part of the program’s strategic planning. “I continue
to be incredibly impressed with the faculty and staff’s dedication
and creativity, and the caliber of students the program attracts.”
As it prepares to celebrate its 20th anniversary next year, the
HLP is looking closely at the course of its future within the Terry
Sanford Institute of Public Policy, across Duke, and within national
leadership education circles. Known for its innovative pedagogy,
the HLP has attracted nearly 7,000 undergraduates to its courses
and component programs since its inception.
Results of the survey revealed
that the majority of former participants are eager to deepen their
involvement with the Hart Leadership Program and with Duke. At a
time when the HLP is determined to achieve long-term sustainability,
reconnecting with people like Hood and her peers will prove pivotal.
Survey respondents cited the demanding nature of the class discussions
and readings as impetus to examine and define their own sense of
ethical behavior, social responsibility, and capacity for leadership.
A large number cited the program’s emphasis on experiential
learning opportunities, challenging coursework, critical reflection,
and close faculty mentoring as helping them develop a sense of the
real-world impact of social problems. And many, like Hood, noted
that their involvement in the HLP has contributed directly to their
life’s path.
“We have been buoyed by the feedback we’ve received
from alumni, who tell us that the Hart Leadership Program has had
a direct and enduring impact on their personal and professional
lives,” says HLP director Alma Blount, lecturer in public
policy studies. “We’d love to be able to harness that
enthusiasm and support in a way that would help us maintain and
expand the opportunities we provide to students. First we need stable
funding for our current programs. Next, I would love to grow all
four of our experiential learning programs and add more classes.
Two of our programs – Service Opportunities in Leadership
and Hart Fellows – were funded on soft money, and that dried
up this year. Our other two programs – the Enterprising Leadership
Incubator and Leadership and the Arts in New York – can always
use additional funding as well. Students are so hungry for these
kinds of experiences, and we simply can’t keep up with demand.”
Blount notes that all four of the HLP’s experiential learning
programs are available for naming opportunities to guarantee longevity.
Unlike the top-down model of leadership that depends on one powerful
individual to effect change, Blount says she defines leadership
as the activity of getting groups to face systemic problems that
lack clear-cut answers. “Helping a group clarify its values,
and ‘learn how to learn’ as a collective is a core strategy
for dealing with complex and rapid change in organizations,”
says Blount. “To make progress on problems, the members of
the community themselves must adjust habits, behaviors, and values
that have obstructed their advancement in the past. To exercise
leadership is to raise the tough questions in such a way that the
group becomes mobilized for action.”
Blount and her colleagues are involved in a number of high-profile
initiatives, such as the new National Forum on Excellence in Higher
Education at Harvard and the Political Engagement Project through
the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. They serve
on numerous university committees, such as the provost’s working
group on ethics and the task force that studied whether the Sanford
Institute should become a school. With the Kenan Institute for Ethics,
Blount co-founded Duke’s Scholarship with a Civic Mission,
a campus-wide initiative that places students with community partners
to design field-based research projects that serve community needs
and interests. HLP faculty members consistently earn high marks
for teaching and mentoring, and the program’s courses are
always waitlisted.
As Duke prepares its own strategic plan for the next phase of growth,
Blount says she is pleased that the university’s redoubled
commitment to undergraduate education, including an increased emphasis
on inquiry-based experiential learning experiences, naturally dovetails
with the work she and her colleagues have pioneered in the Hart
Leadership Program. “Duke’s top goal is ‘Knowledge
in Service to Society’,” says Blount. “Fortunately
for us, our program has strived for that goal for 20 years. We’re
pleased to see how beautifully our mission aligns with Duke’s
at this moment.”
-Bridget Booher
The Hart Leadership Program will commemorate its 20th anniversary
in the spring of 2007 with a series of symposia and social activities.
If you would like to be notified as plans take shape later this
year, please email: hlp@pps.duke.edu
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