For the past decade we have been in conversation with a national community of scholars who study leadership, civic engagement and political participation among college students. Our program has been profiled in three influential books about innovative pedagogies in higher education (Educating Citizens: Preparing America’s Undergraduates for Lives of Moral and Civic Responsibility; Educating for Democracy: Preparing Undergraduates for Responsible Political Engagement; and Leadership Can Be Taught: A Bold Approach for a Complex World). We have contritubuted a chapter about adaptive leadership for a new book that will be published in December by the University Press of New England called, The New Leadership: Civic Engagement and the Revitalization of Democracy.

We have given numerous presentations at national conferences about our approach to leadership development for undergraduates. And we have collected assessment data for many years, laying the groundwork to conduct a longitudinal study of our leadership pedagogy.

For the past four years the Hart Leadership Program has worked with scholars in the Sanford School of Public Policy to embed our research service-learning pedagogy in the undergraduate curriculum in public policy studies. 

Our research activities are described below.

• Research Service Learning - In South Africa, townships struggle to curb youth violence. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, former neighbors look for ways to mend the deep, damaging rifts created by civil war. And in Durham, North Carolina, a crisis response center strives to improve its support services for victims of sexual assault. At Duke, students are using an approach called Research Service Learning (RSL) to explore these and other issues. Learn more
• Assessment - As the Hart Leadership Program continues to refine and enhance its leadership development pedagogy, we actively seek opportunities to gauge how best to help young adults succeed in a rapidly changing and competitive world. On Duke’s campus and through national partnerships, we are documenting why our approach - combining critical reflection, experiential learning, and an emphasis on field-based research - has been so successful, while learning from and collaborating with our colleagues across the country who are engaged in similar activities. We’re also sharing our ideas—through books, articles and presentations—about the challenges and rewards of integrative learning. 
• Leadership Library - From Inside the Resistance, a behind-the-scenes account of the Iraqi insurgency, to Enrique’s Journey, the harrowing story of a Mexican boy’s quest to be reunited with his mother, today’s best-selling nonfiction captures the complexities of such pressing issues as U.S. foreign policy, illegal immigration, and the on-the-ground implications of well-intended but problematic policy decisions. The Hart Leadership Program library offers these and more than 850 other book titles for loan to Duke faculty, students and staff. Themes include global health, political ethics, American government, leadership and personal development, politics in the Middle East, research methodology, and community activism. Learn more