The Levitt Leadership Institute (LLI) is an intensive leadership education and training program promoting transformative leadership practices and social action. Specifically, the program seeks to develop students' understandings of the relationship between mobilizing people and developing social policy. Its mission is to help students recognize, develop, and practice the kinds of leadership skills and ways of being a leader that are essential for creating personal and societal changes in the current historical moment. Applications are open to all Hamilton students regardless of concentration, career interest, or class year.
LLI runs from January 12-16 (with additional optional programming on the 17th and 18th) in person on the Hamilton College campus. This year’s participants will also have an optional opportunity to apply to participate in the College Student Activist Retreat at the Highlander Research and Education Center ( www.highlandercenter.org) in New Market TN during the first few days of spring break (13-17 March). This retreat will bring students from Clark University, Occidental, Macalester, Pitzer colleges, and California State University Fullerton learn about each other’s campuses, share challenges and joys, and think together about how to create the changes they envision on their respective campuses.
The Levitt Leadership Institute staff includes Margo Okazawa-Rey, Joel Winkelman, and other leadership experts. Margo Okazawa-Rey is Professor Emerita, San Francisco State University, and the former Jane Watson Irwin Chair and Elihu Root Chair in Women's Studies at Hamilton College, a transnational feminist social justice activist, and a founding member of the Women for Genuine Security and the Combahee River Collective. You can learn more about Prof. Okazawa-Rey's work here Joel Winkelman is an Assistant Professor of Government at Hamilton College, whose current research project explores the relationship between the work ethic and democracy in the political thought of the Progressive Era United States. He teaches courses in political theory and a course on democracy and the workplace at Hamilton. You can learn more about Prof. Winkelman’s work here.
LLI 2026 will also benefit from a special focus on leadership for transformative justice facilitated by Professor Xhercis Mendez, CSU Fullerton.
The Levitt Leadership Institute is open to all Hamilton students regardless of concentration, career interest, or class year. Students must be able to attend a mandatory orientation session in early December (students abroad in the fall may meet with Levitt staff virtually instead) and attend the in-person, full day sessions on campus January 12-16, 2026.
Please fill out the following application and upload documents as requested. Upon clicking "Apply Now", you will be prompted to create a free account with Interfolio. If you already have an Interfolio account, you should sign in. If you don't already have an Interfolio account, click on the "Sign up" button (NOT the "sign in through partner institution link).
Applications are due on November 4th. If you have any questions or concerns, please email us at levitt@hamilton.edu or set up an appointment by clicking here
