The Harry T. Wilks Leadership Institute is committed to promoting community-based learning experiences that prepare students to become engaged public leaders and informed global citizens while also enriching and giving back to the communities that surround and support Miami University. By connecting students and communities, in Southwest Ohio and around the world, the Wilks Leadership Institute advances the understanding and practice of the types of engaged leadership necessary for building a vibrant democratic society today and in the future. The Institute was established as the result of an endowment from Miami graduate and renowned philanthropist and attorney, Harry T. Wilks.

Wilks Scholars for Shaping Sustainable Communities selected for 2009-2011

Shaping Sustainable Communities, a two-year minor that will extend classroom learning about community planning and environmental sustainability into the surrounding region of Butler County, Ohio, has now accepted 20 students for the first round of the program.

Former Wilks Scholars win 2009 Charles J. Ping Student Awards

Three of the four Miami University students receiving the 2009 Charles J. Ping Award presented by Ohio Campus Compact (OCC) are being recognized for their stellar work in the Acting Locally program.

Chapter in new book on civic engagement documents Wilks model of leadership education

Former Wilks Director Nicholas V. Longo and Miami University faculty partner Marguerite S. Shaffer in American Studies have authored a chapter in a newly released book, Civic Engagement in Higher Education, edited by Barbara Jacoby (Jossey-Bass, 2009).

Brett Roeth, Scholar Leader, elected AIAS Vice President

Congratulations to Scholar Leader Brett Roeth, who has been elected as the 2009-2010 national vice president for the American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS)!

Ohio Civic Health Report

The Wilks Institute celebrates the successful release of the first-ever Ohio Civic Health Report at

"Checking our Pulse: Students Deliberate on Ohio's Civic Health"

Ohio Statehouse Atrium, Downtown Columbus
October 23, 2008, 10:30-2:30pm

Presented by the Wilks Leadership Institute, in association with the National Conference on Citizenship and Ohio Campus Compact

NEW! Click here for a pdf version of the report

NEW! Photos from the release of the Ohio Civic Health report,
"Beyond the Vote in a Battleground State"

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