When Simon Hart, UWC-USA’s new Director of the Bartos Institute, left his home in Northern Wisconsin at the age of 15 for a year abroad in Mexico, the culture shock could hardly have been more profound. In Wisconsin he grew up in a community that lived off the land with few luxuries and a deep appreciation for the lakes and boreal forests where his family lived. In Mexico he lived with a wealthy family and found himself in an urban community with new values and cultural expectations. He also found over the course of his year in Mexico that he was very adaptable.
And that ability to adapt informs both his experiences since then and his understanding of his work at UWC-USA.
At Carleton College, Simon studied cultural anthropology, with a focus on Latin American and Environmental studies, and later worked in Costa Rica developing farm-based education programs. One project in particular helped visitors to Costa Rica recognize the value of agrarian culture, rainforest ecology, and traditional ways of life. He saw this work as a way of bridging gaps between people with economic privilege and local communities whose lives and knowledge are deeply connected to the land.
He sought out work in his early professional and educational life at the School for International Training, Concordia Language Villages, and Where There be Dragons, that focused on programs where experiential education helps participants create a sense of shared humanity.
Simon is excited by his new challenges at UWC-USA. He sees the Bartos Institute as an embodiment of the UWC-USA mission or, “the mission praxis” as he calls it. “It creates the physical and temporal space for students to practice the values and skills expressed in the school’s mission and guiding principles,” Simon said. “I want to continue to encourage that Constructive Engagement of Conflict (CEC) skills are integrated into the entire student experience and that the culture of CEC and the values and principles of our work flourish.”
Simon is fully aware that, since its founding over 25 years ago, the program has long been a core feature of the UWC-USA experience. “I am inheriting an incredible body of work,” Simon said. “I want students to see peacebuilding and sustainability as lifelong practices—ones that begin with self-discovery and grow through joy, connection, and engagement with the world.”