Communications

Aspirational Design Updates (Week 9/15)

September 16, 2025

Dear Hamilton Community:

Thank you to everyone who participated in Aspirational Design events last week! We’re thrilled that we had more than 100 members of our campus community engage via charrette participation, prototype testing, and empathy tabling.

Your ideas and input are valued and we look forward to seeing increased participation in upcoming events.

As a reminder, our Aspirational Design process will continue throughout the fall with additional events and charrettes, each centered on a core theme. These gatherings are an opportunity to bring campus community voices directly into the work of shaping Hamilton’s future.

What Happened Last Week

• Office Hours and tabling for the Creative Campus & What If and Democracy & Imagination topics where the Core Team, Senior Staff and Charrette facilitators answered questions and received input and ideas from the campus community.
• The first focused Design Charrette on the Open Curriculum 2.0 theme was well-attended and an energetic start to our process.

 Coming Up This Week

• Design Charrette 2: Democracy & Imagination: Invited charrette participants will meet Sept. 17-18. (Learn more about the Democracy & Imagination theme.)
  Focus: How can Hamilton serve as a blueprint for how liberal arts colleges can fuel democratic renewal and civic innovation?
• Thursday, 9/18:
  12-1 p.m. Aspirational Design Tabling - share your insights thoughts.
  Locations: McEwen Courtyard, Sadove Terrace, Western Quad (near SCCT)
• Thursday, 9/18 and Monday, 9/22:
  12-1 p.m. Join us at the Employee Lunch or in Commons during lunch to review the prototypes of ideas that have been created so far.
  Locations: The Bristol Center Hub or Commons
• Design Charrette 3: Creative Campus & “What If”: Invited charrette participants will meet Sept. 19 and 22. (Learn more about the Creative Campus & What If theme.)
  Focus: Embed creativity in the DNA of Hamilton College to fuel extraordinary ideas.

To participate in any of these charrettes (or other aspirational design activities), please email email aspirationaldesign@hamilton.edu.

Questions? Visit the Aspirational Design website or email aspirationaldesign@hamilton.edu.

Thank you for being part of shaping Hamilton’s future together.

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