Andrew Nurkin

Andrew Nurkin is a Hart Associate Professor of the Practice and Director of the Hart Leadership Program. His areas of expertise include experiential education, dialogue facilitation, civic engagement, social sector leadership, the role of libraries in the 21st century, and cultural policy. At Sanford, he teaches courses on arts policy and community-based leadership models.

Prior to his appointment at Duke, Andrew served as the Deputy Director for Enrichment and Civic Engagement at the Free Library of Philadelphia, where he led public programs in the humanities, arts, and civic engagement for one of the largest public library systems in the country. He previously served as Executive Director of Princeton AlumniCorps, an independent, national nonprofit that builds civic leadership skills among alumni across generations, and on the staff of the Pace Center for Civic Engagement at Princeton University. At Princeton, he co-led the development of the Prison Teaching Initiative, which provides credit-bearing post-secondary courses to incarcerated students in New Jersey. Earlier in his career, Andrew worked as an organizer on national campaigns for LGBTQ+ rights and economic justice.

In addition to his career as a civic practitioner, organizer, and educator, Andrew is a widely-published poet. He earned his MFA in poetry from Vermont College of Fine Arts, a Master of Divinity from Yale Divinity School, and an undergraduate degree in English from Duke University. He has served as a trustee of Duke University and on the boards of the Petey Greene Program, Mighty Writers, and DukeEngage. He currently serves on the Durham Cultural Advisory Board and as an advisor to Kallion Leadership.