The Hart Leadership Program is a distinctive Sanford School of Public Policy program offered to all Duke University undergraduates, including public policy students. With guidance from innovative faculty, it challenges students to practice the art of leadership in public life.

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About Hart Leadership

Founded in 1986 with a generous gift from Milledge A. Hart III and his family, HLP was the first endowed leadership program for undergraduates in the United States. Since then, thousands of Duke undergraduate students have participated in HLP courses or experiential programs.

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Our Approach

  • Courses give students analytical frameworks for grappling with the problems facing our global community.
  • Immersion experiences outside the classroom help students see how policy works in the real world.
  • Writing and discussion challenge students 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.

Sample Classes

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Immigrant Dreams, US Realities

PubPol 220 | Gunther Peck

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Women As Leaders

PUBPOL 259S | Alexandra Zagbayou

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Business and Human Rights Advocacy Lab

PUBPOL311S | Suzanne Katzenstein

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Service Opportunities in Leadership

An intensive 12-month leadership program for Duke undergraduates that combines academic study, research service-learning, mentoring and leadership training.

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Hart Fellows

Hart Fellows offers recent university graduates a 10-month fellowship with innovative organizations domestically and abroad. A competitive application process takes place each spring. Since its inception in 1995, more than 100 fellows have worked in 40 countries.

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Patman Political Engagement Project

The Patman Political Engagement Project is a leadership initiative for public policy majors interested in politics and includes coursework, support for summer internships, and mentoring.

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Preparing Public Leaders

"Through innovative teaching and thoughtful community engagement, the Hart Leadership Program has inspired generations of Sanford students to pursue worthy public purposes.” HLP Director Andrew Nurkin

2023-2024 Hart Fellows

Since 1995, 113 graduating seniors or recent Duke graduates have been awarded the Hart Fellowship. Hart Fellows partner with community organizations around the globe and throughout the US for a 10-month fellowship. The goal of the Hart Fellowship is to create a mutually beneficial, sustainable and ongoing relationship between young leaders and communities. Together, they address complex challenges in innovative ways, allowing the fellows to develop their own vision of ethical leadership.

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Sophia Chimbanda

Sophia is planning to conduct her Hart Fellowship in Durham, doing historical research to understand and share the stories that paved the way for the first-ever march for queer liberation in North Carolina, just a few blocks from East Campus.

Through delving into the archives at the Durham County Library and recording oral histories from queer activists in the Triangle, she hopes to use her fellowship to highlight “the nuances and sociocultural understandings that both fostered and inhibited communities and coalitions” in the 1970s and 1980s. 

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Ayesham Khan

Ayesham double majored in public policy and visual art. They are a passionate artist who has done extensive work in multiple media, including puppetry, theater, drag, spoken word, weaving and painting among others. During their Hart Fellowship, Ayesham plans to bring their artistic voice and storytelling experience to “advocate for the reproductive and health care rights of gender-marginalized communities.”

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Quinn Smith

A citizen of the Chickasaw Nation, Quinn has a long track record and continuing investment in advocating for the rights and interests of Indigenous communities. He will spend his Hart Fellowship working with Indigenous communities to advocate for Indigenous land guardianship, based on a philosophy and set of practices that “the flourishing of people and the land should not be considered separate pursuits,” he said. “People depend on the land, and the land should be able to rely on people." Quinn is the 2023 winner of the prestigious Terry Sanford Leadership Award.

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