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Our Mission
The Arthur Levitt Public Policy Center is a doorway through which Hamilton students can connect with the world of public policy makers and analysts. As with other doorways, the activities of the Center work in two directions:
- The Center strives to bring the experiences of policy analysts, policy makers, and policy administrators to campus in a variety of ways to enrich the coursework of students. The Center seeks the assistance of policy experts as visiting speakers, as sources for case studies for classroom use, and as consultants for senior theses. In addition, the Center is especially interested in using advances in technology to provide new opportunities for seeking out policy expertise, through videotapes, through computerized databases, through the development of computer software, and through audio and audio/visual teleconferencing.
- The Center also works to involve Hamilton students in policy-related projects off campus that will improve their understanding of policy issues. These projects connect students with federal, state, and local agencies, and with members of the public interested in specific policy issues.
Through all these means, the Center brings the challenge of real policy issues to students in a liberal arts setting. The Center seeks to make opportunities for learning available to all Hamilton students, but will be particularly helpful to students concentrating in economics, government, philosophy, and public policy.
History of the Arthur Levitt Public Affairs Center
In 1979, Hamilton received a grant from the Pew Charitable Trust to establish an interdisciplinary program in Public Policy. The fledgling program was designed to encourage students and faculty members to use the three disciplines of economics, government, and philosophy in analyzing specific public policy issues. It thus sought to strengthen students' educational experiences and better prepare them for lives of active citizenship. Although the public policy program was a natural evolution for Hamilton -- a college with a long tradition of preparing its graduates for public service -- its very existence recognized the growing national need for post-secondary education to respond to the increasing complexities of national, state, and local public policy issues.
 A year later, in 1980, the family of the late Arthur Levitt, to honor him as a long-time New York State public servant, made a significant commitment to Hamilton to establish the Arthur Levitt Public Policy Center. Elected Comptroller six times -- the last time by the largest plurality ever recorded in a New York State election -- Mr. Levitt was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws by Hamilton College in 1979 for his "peerless reputation and efficiency in an office where corruption and confusion had been known to flourish." His retirement in 1978 ended a 24-year term that is the longest in the 175-year history of that office. His son, Arthur Levitt, Jr., received an Honorary Doctor of Laws from Hamilton in 1981, the same year in which his daughter, Laurie Levitt, graduated from the College.
The establishment of the Arthur Levitt Public Affairs Center gave substance to the study of public policy on the Hill. Fifteen years later, the Levitt Center provides a model for the study of public policy in a liberal arts curriculum. Its distinctive interdisciplinary curriculum is offered by an outstanding faculty of experts in national and international issues. In the last two years alone this group has produced a number of books and articles on political corruption, race, education, economic development, and democratization.
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