Blog

These are some unprecedented times. In the past month, our students have experienced a lot to be grieving about, from a worldwide pandemic changing their everyday experience to the postponing of so many traditions and expectations on campus in an attempt to keep everyone safe. We continue to make choices on a systems level, which impact the day-to-day experiences that make the Duke community special. Our students are left to navigate the final month of the semester away from community and often feeling very alone. Students are home and surrounded by the love of family, but this is not the college experience for which they prepared. As a result, we are all grieving and longing for our world to return to some bit of normalcy.

Join us for our next "Chew on This" event, at Marketplace, featuring Tealaxation! Get ready to create your own tea blends and learn about how tea can affect our physical, mental and environmental health! In addition to tea-laxing other Student Wellness departments will be there to help you relax your way through finals!

"Chew on This" is a new collaborative event brought to you by Duke Dining and Duke Nutrition Services where we look at how the food we choose affects our physical, mental and environmental health.

Thursday, 4/25/2019

Marketplace: 9am-11am

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, well almost. First you have to get through the end of semester work, final projects and exams (and of course the holidays themselves are stressful for many of us).

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“Pasta demand wanes as health-conscious consumers see it as carb demon”. This recent headline had us shaking are heads. According to this article pasta sales are declining even in Italy! Pasta makers are busily working to change their recipes and creating “healthier” versions of their products in hopes of appealing to a more health conscious consumer.

Ever had those burning (no pun intended) questions about sex and relationships but were just too embarrassed to ask?! Well look no further!

The Sexual Health Advisory Committee (aka The SHAC) will be taking questions and responding to them via blog. 

Send your questions about sexual norms, sexual health, relationship advice, sex taboos, figuring out how to know what you like/what works for you, or anything.  Expect the unexpected, the truth and sometimes a good laugh.  We want to answer your questions and make sure you’re getting credible, honest, transparent information from professionals right here on campus.

Send your questions, concerns, comments, inquiries, suggestions, and master plans to greatsexpectations@studentaffairs.duke.edu and check out the blog to see what comes up!

With great sadness, we share that Savannah Goodman, T '18, passed away this morning, December 19th, after complications from a bone marrow transplant.  She was diagnosed with an immune deficiency disorder at Duke Hospital at age 6 and was fulfilling her lifelong dream of studying Pre-Med at Duke so that she could become a pediatric immunologist to treat children much like herself.

Dearest Students,

The election results and the end of the most divisive campaign season in recent history has had an impact on our campus. Reactions range from hurt and anger to confusion about why some are affected so negatively. Counseling and Psychological Services advocates for a campus climate that is supportive of all students’ mental health and this election’s focus on traditionally marginalized groups has exacerbated their lived experiences of racism, sexism, Islamophobia, xenophobia and other forms of oppression. Any form of oppression negatively impacts mental health and deters academic success.

Dear Duke Parents,

Although most of you aren’t as old as I am, my hope is that you might remember or be familiar with John Denver, a songwriter and performer who tragically died in a plane crash in 1997. I used to listen to John Denver’s songs all the time and I recently came across a video of him reciting a poem entitled, “Ambulance Down in the Valley.” My attention went to one particular verse:

            Better guide well the young than reclaim them when old,
            For the voice of true wisdom is calling.
            To rescue the fallen is good, but ’tis best
            To prevent other people from falling….                                 

            Better put a strong fence ’round the top of the cliff
            Than an ambulance down in the valley.

Dear Duke Families,

It is a pleasure to meet you! I am the new director for Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS), a unit on campus that supports your student on a path toward academic success. I am excited to be here given the commitment Duke has made to student wellness. Many institutions across the country are working to address mental health issues based on the fact that mental health is the number one factor in lowering retention and is a better predictor of college grade point average than ACT or SAT scores. The 97% four-year retention rate to graduation at Duke demonstrates that retention is not a significant issue on this campus; highlighting that Duke’s focus is supporting mental health services because student wellness is valued.