Communications

Aspirational Design Updates (Week of 1/27)

January 27, 2026

Dear Hamilton Community,

With the spring semester underway, we wanted to share an update on the Aspirational Design process and what we’ve learned, what bigger ideas have emerged, and how this work is continuing to unfold.

An important question is at the center of our Aspirational Design process:

What does the world need that Hamilton is uniquely positioned to do, given who we are, our strengths, and our history?

Over the past year, this question has guided design charrettes, tabling, empathy interviews, and many conversations that inspired hundreds of ideas that were shared, tested, and refined by participants. While perspectives varied, several common themes emerged. Participants consistently emphasized communication, collaboration, ethical problem solving, and creativity as essential outcomes of a Hamilton education.

The process also surfaced shared challenges:

• Limited time and space for sustained, collaborative learning
• The need to expand opportunities for hands-on, experiential learning
• Uncertainty about how to help students understand how their academic, co-curricular, and real-world learning fit together

Building on What We Do Well

One of the clearest takeaways from the Aspirational Design process so far is that this work began from a place of strength. Across the charrettes and conversations, participants consistently lifted up the quality of Hamilton’s faculty and teaching, the open curriculum, and the College’s long-standing commitment to making a Hamilton education affordable and accessible throughout every student’s four years. These are areas that aren’t in need of reinvention; they are foundational to who we are and to what makes a Hamilton education distinctive.

Just as importantly, many participants emphasized that Aspirational Design should not add more initiatives on top of already full plates. We must balance our ambitions with our capacity, seeking ways to integrate and focus our efforts so that we are not spread too thin. 

Taken together, these insights ground Aspirational Design as a process focused on building more intentionally from Hamilton’s strengths, while considering how these strengths can meet the needs of a constantly changing world beyond the Hill.

A Shared Framework

During the fall semester, President Tepper introduced a possible way of framing this work: designing Hamilton intentionally for social intelligence, which is the ability to communicate and work with others across differences and disciplines to advance ideas, solve problems, and lead with empathy and purpose. This framing leans into what research suggests are high-impact practices – collaborative, connected and team-based learning where students practice the liberal arts together and engage their communities both on and off the Hill. It reflects what students say they are seeking, what graduates and employers say they value, and what the liberal arts – and a Hamilton education, specifically – are well suited to cultivate.

From the Aspirational Design Process: Emerging Ideas

As the process continued, several broader ideas emerged. While none of these represent final decisions, they help illustrate how this framework could enhance the Hamilton experience:

• Collaborative learning intensives: Explore ways for students to have more sustained, team-based learning experiences across all four years — using options like J-term and non-traditional schedules — so they regularly work together on experiential puzzles and challenges and build skills such as communication, active listening, leveraging diversity, teamwork, and problem solving.
• Supporting faculty innovation: Create opportunities for faculty to dedicate time to experimenting, collaborating, and taking intellectual risks in their teaching, particularly at the intersection of technology, ethics, and human-centered problem solving, so that students continue to benefit from enriching and engaging learning experiences.
• Learning and leading with regional partners: Strengthen collaboration between Hamilton and the Mohawk Valley by connecting students with partners through applied, project-based learning and programming focused on leadership, collaboration, and technological fluency.
• Reinvigorating civic engagement: Build upon existing strengths (e.g., Common Ground and the Levitt Center) to develop practical tools for engaging across differences — through dialogue, art, storytelling, and games — so students are better prepared to listen, lead, and move ideas forward amid disagreement.
• Connecting learning beyond our region: Coordinate partnerships with businesses, nonprofits, public-sector organizations, and alumni across the country and around the world to expand access to applied learning experiences and help students connect their academic work to life and work after Hamilton.
• Building community: Create more spaces and opportunities, through our residence halls and common areas, for students to connect, socialize, and express their creativity.

What’s Next

Aspirational Design remains a work in progress. Last week, senior staff met to review the results of this work and the ideas that will be shared with the Board of Trustees in March. Since the campus community has played such a critical role in this effort, we are eager to give you all a first look. Our next message will include a draft report and a survey asking for your feedback on what excites you about the proposed ideas and what may be missing. We value your input as we finalize our presentation to the board.

Thank you to everyone who has participated so far. We appreciate your time and thoughtfulness, and we look forward to continuing the conversation as this work evolves.

Aspirational Design Core Team
Joe Shelley
Marisa Benincasa
Kimberly Butler ’88
Mike Klapmeyer
Lisa McFall
Miriam Merrill
Ngoni Munemo