Out on a Limb for Continuing Ed

Marilyn Hartman leaving program

Friday, February 2, 2001

Marilyn Hartman has worked at Duke Continuing Education since 1977, during which time she has developed programs that extend the university's resources to thousands of people in the community. Now Hartman, whose motto is "there's always something to learn," is leaving Duke after completing one last project for a multinational company that wants Duke to provide leadership education. Hartman says she then will "take up the lotus position for the month of February" as she thinks about her next move. People who know Hartman fully expect her to remain busy. Hartman says her own personal curiosity has always been her guide. Perhaps her passion for learning came from her mother, a teacher who showed her the way to teach in non-traditional ways. Hartman remembers that her mother bought place mats with world maps so her children could daydream about distant locales at the breakfast table. Hartman came to continuing education at the urging of former director Jean O'Barr. The short courses program was in its infancy, not far removed from its beginnings as a skills enhancer for women preparing to re-enter the workplace. Hartman says she was given a big empty desk and told to "just do it." Hartman recalls that she called on various faculty members to elicit their help, but if they had heard of the program at all, it was most likely as "that women's thing." She did sign up faculty to teach courses, and also pursued friends and new acquaintances to do so as well. Some of her best ideas for courses have come from chance encounters with strangers. "Marilyn is a lively conversationalist," says Gilbert, "in part because of her immense curiosity about people and the world. A chance encounter at the grocery store or a conversation at a dinner party oftentimes became the impetus for a new offering in our short courses program." Hartman likes to ask people what they do. After hearing about their day job, she queries them about what else they do. "Everyone has a story," she says. "And there are ways to tell if someone will be a good teacher." "A lot of it is in the way they respond to you," she explains. "If they use language that you can understand and if they get excited about what they're doing, then you know you have a potential teacher." The best instructors have been dynamic people "who really know how to live life," she says. Hartman's job has often involved giving these individuals the confidence to share their expertise. She has encouraged a high-level Duke administrator to teach a wine appreciation course, talked a university attorney into sharing money-saving tips in home buying, and persuaded a former National Hollerin' Contest champ to introduce people to the charms of the popular event by leading a trip to Spivey's Corner. Over the years she would do almost anything to promote the courses, including posing in the shower (in a bathing suit) for a photo that ran alongside a News & Observer feature story on the short courses program. She says the editors had asked for the shot after learning she got some of her best ideas while bathing and wrote them on the shower wall with soap crayons. The story and photo brought her more than 100 pieces of mail. "Marilyn is one of the most creative, intelligent, witty and energetic people I have ever met," says Judith Ruderman, who once directed continuing education and is now vice provost for academics and administrative services at Duke. "I worked with her for close to two decades and never failed to marvel at her dynamism. Her 'wheels' simply rotated at a speed far greater than anyone else's." Hartman has said there are not many bad course ideas, although there can be courses that fail. If all the classes fill up, she once said, then the program is too "tried and true and uninteresting. A good programmer will always go out on a limb to see if the fruit is there." Hartman has gone out on a limb more than once to shepherd new initiatives. The Duke Certificate Program in Nonprofit Management originally formed within the short courses program, but branched off on its own in 1994 when Hartman received a major, five-year grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. She says she applied for the grant after getting encouragement one day in the grocery store from the director of university development. It's the only grant application she has ever written. When the nonprofit program was launched, it was a novel idea to go directly to under-served communities. Today, with 11 sites that annually serve more than 4,000 leaders in the nonprofit sector, the program is nationally recognized for its innovative, low-cost operation and consequential impact. Four years ago, Hartman also started DELTA, Duke Executive Leadership Training Associates, which caters to companies that want to encourage innovation and strong leadership. Two years ago she broadened DELTA to include scientists and engineers. DELTA's diverse client base includes National Computer Systems of Singapore, a program of the U.S. Postal Service to better serve Hispanics, the State of Michigan, Boys and Girls Clubs of America, major corporations and developing, high-impact companies in the Triangle area. Although Hartman hasn't fully firmed up her plans after Duke (Jan. 31 was her last day), she hints of an interest in politics, and plans to put some of her leadership training skills to use as a consultant. She also hopes to pursue her interest in philanthropic issues, but probably won't do as much volunteer work as her retired husband, who volunteers as a court-appointed mediator, a Spanish translator at UNC Hospitals and is a member of seven boards of directors. Her plans also include a new home computer to facilitate her own continuing education. As her motto states, "there's always something to learn."