A Founding Program Charter, established within THE University of Hamilton Center Incorporated — turning Melvin L. Burks's 23-chapter Titan of Life into a six-module, four-track university curriculum.
Download the Founding CharterFounder & Namesake
Melvin L. Burks, Founder of THE University of Hamilton Center Incorporated
Established By
Art Fuller, Chief Executive and Chief Adviser, under Article VI of the UH Founding Charter
Date
July 22, 2026
Anchor Text
Titan of Life: The Transformational Journey of Melvin L. Burks (23 chapters, with tiered discussion curriculum built into every chapter)
Purpose
Establish the Institute as UH's flagship leadership program — the first named institute operating under the University's three pillars
The Titan of Life Leadership Institute (the "Institute") is hereby established within THE University of Hamilton Center Incorporated, under the authority of Article VI of the UH Founding Charter, which authorizes UH to "establish and operate three pillars of programming" and to "enter into partnerships… and license curriculum, training, and consulting products."
The Institute is UH's first named program institute — a permanent, structured home for the curriculum already embedded in Titan of Life, rather than a single course or a single track. It draws on all three of UH's founding pillars at once: leadership development, workforce pipeline, and stigma reduction through story. Melvin L. Burks, as Founder of UH and the subject and author of Titan of Life, is the Institute's Founder and Namesake. The Institute is led operationally by a Director appointed by the Chief Executive and Chief Adviser, consistent with Article V of the UH Founding Charter.
"The ascent to President and CEO is not an end point; it is the true beginning of leadership."
The Institute exists to turn that sentence into a curriculum. Its mission is to teach Long Vision — the discipline of seeing clearly three, five, or fifty years ahead — to every population UH serves: HCI's own managers, high school students discovering the field for the first time, college and graduate students preparing to enter it, student athletes learning leadership through competition, and external professionals seeking continuing education credit.
The Institute is built on a foundation no other UH program can claim in the same way: its entire 23-chapter anchor text was written with a tiered discussion curriculum already embedded in it, chapter by chapter. The Institute's founding work is not to invent a curriculum — it is to organize one that already exists.
All 23 chapters of Titan of Life are organized into six thematic modules, sequenced to build from personal foundation to institutional leadership. This mapping is the Institute's core curricular asset.
Ch. 1–5
Where My Story Begins; Represent Life; My Closest Connections; First Life Lessons; Screen the Influence
Foundations of identity and value — family, environment, and discernment before leadership begins
Ch. 6–10
Coaching Empire; Hatching from the Cocoon; The Pits and Pivots; Hamstring and the Hustle; Metamorphosis
Transformation and discipline — leaving home, overcoming detours, building character through adversity
Ch. 11–13
The Vow; The African Vow and a Brother's Memory; Blunt Honesty
Commitment and culture — personal responsibility, identity, and workplace communication as the root of leadership
Ch. 14–17
PhD of Streetology; The Call That Changed the Path; Unplanned Pathway to CEO; The Streets That Don't Care
The pipeline in practice — entry-level work, unplanned opportunity, and the climb through an organization
Ch. 18–21
The New Citizen and the Suit of Stigma; History's Weight; Cultural Equity Champion; The Impact of Experience on the Next Generation
Naming the gap, serving the community — stigma, equity, and lived experience translated into institutional service
Ch. 22–23
The Investigation and the Implied Truth; Defining the Future with Long Vision
Truth, integrity, and Long Vision — institutional integrity under pressure, and the capstone discipline of seeing ahead
All six modules — built on the 23 chapters of Titan of Life and anchored in the four duty-bound pillars of Professional, Respectful, Fair, and Service — with reflection questions and an action step in each.
Each chapter's existing "Connecting Leadership, Life, and Learning" discussion questions are used as written — the "For Youth & Adolescents" set for high-school-level cohorts, the "For Teens & Young Adults" set for college, graduate, and professional cohorts. No new discussion content needs to be authored; the Institute's founding curricular task is sequencing and facilitation, not composition.
An 8-week facilitated program using the 'For Youth & Adolescents' discussion tier, compressing the six modules into a single semester-ready sequence. Concludes with each participant's own 'My Titan Statement.' Directly feeds Pillar 2's Tier 1 pipeline on-ramp.
A 10–12 week series using the 'For Teens & Young Adults' discussion tier across all six modules in full depth, offered for academic credit through UH's partner university MOUs. Concludes with a personal Long Vision statement, drawing directly on Module VI.
A six-session series anchored specifically in Module II (Coaching Empire and the discipline chapters), drawing on Mr. Burks's own decades of coaching alongside his corporate leadership. Includes a parallel one-session module for coaches and athletic staff. The Institute's most direct link to the Sports and Mental Health Leadership licensing product.
A workshop-length version of Modules II, III, and VI, built for HCI managers and, as UH's continuing education provider status comes online per the Integrated Strategic Plan, for external professionals seeking continuing education credit. The operating home for the Healthcare Leadership Workshops product.
The High School Track's concluding exercise: one page identifying who has invested in the student, what they stand for now, and who they will invest in next.
The College, Graduate, and Practitioner tracks' concluding exercise, built directly on Chapter 23, declaring the participant's own three-to-five-year vision and their plan to act on it.
Issued to any participant completing a full track, and, once UH's CE provider status is established, eligible to carry continuing education credit for licensed professionals in the Practitioner Track.
Melvin L. Burks. The Institute carries his name and his story as its permanent curricular foundation; no restructuring of the anchor text or six-module architecture shall occur without his review, consistent with his role as UH's Founder under the UH Founding Charter.
Appointed by the Chief Executive and Chief Adviser, responsible for facilitator training, track scheduling, and coordination with UH's other pillars and licensing partners.
Trained and, where a track is licensed externally, certified consistent with the UH Certified Facilitator model already established in UH's Licensing Portfolio Strategy.
The Institute reports through the Provost, consistent with Article V of the UH Founding Charter; it does not constitute a separate governing structure from UH itself.
The Institute is the operating home for two products already defined in UH's licensing catalog and Year One revenue plan:
Delivered through the Practitioner and Professional Track, with CEU eligibility phased in as UH's provider approvals are finalized.
Delivered through the Student Athlete Track, licensed to athletic departments and conferences under the same train-the-coach model already scoped. As the curriculum matures, the College and Graduate Leadership Track and High School Track also become licensable, university-ready packages.
The Institute does not add new commitments to Year One — it names and organizes commitments already made:
The Titan of Life Leadership Series already scheduled for Q1–Q2 launch becomes the Institute's College and Graduate Leadership Track's first cohort.
The Student Athlete Track's first partner institution launch, already planned for Q2, becomes the Institute's first externally delivered program.
The 60-Day Regional Tour's workforce workshops draw directly on Module IV, giving tour stops a ready-made, field-tested workshop rather than original content.
The High School Track's facilitator guide, already a First 90 Days deliverable, is now scoped precisely: eight weeks, six modules, the 'For Youth & Adolescents' question tier, concluding in My Titan Statement.
The Titan of Life Leadership Institute is not a new program built in Mr. Burks's honor. It is his own book, organized into the shape of a university — the last chapter's Long Vision, made permanent.
Build Roadmap
Based on this charter, the following platform modules need to be built to bring the Institute online — each grounded in curriculum that already exists.
Each book module becomes a structured course module in the platform — chapter readings, the existing tiered discussion questions, reflection prompts, and an action step. Content already exists; the build is sequencing and facilitation.
Each track wraps the six modules with its own schedule, discussion tier, and capstone — and is deliverable independently to a partner institution.
Distinct capstone exercises that close each track and produce a personal artifact the participant keeps.
A train-the-facilitator module covering the discussion-question method, tiered facilitation, and the UH Certified Facilitator standard required for licensed delivery.
Credentialing module that issues the Titan of Life Leadership Certificate and, once approved, attaches continuing education credit for licensed professionals.
Get in Touch
To learn more about UH, our books, or the Titan of Life Scholarship, please reach out to our leadership team.
Contact the Office of the Provost