Blog

Dear Duke Families,

As I look out my office window, I have the privilege of seeing our students walking (and rushing) by between classes, meals, meetings and study venues. So many things are apparent on the rare occasion that I get to just pause and admire the passersby. I notice that many seem either immune to the winter chill or in denial about the need to wear warmer clothes! I notice that rarely is anyone walking alone. Students travel in pairs, groups and masses! I notice that some kind of technological device is apparently welded to their ears or their palms (hopefully talking or texting with you). But, I also notice how remarkably different they are, reflecting the substantial and wonderful diversity within the Duke student body.

Duke Students Create a New Communications Club in Italy
Duke students, Katherine Reed and Kali Shulklapper, help create a new academic club, The Umbra Voice, for journalism and communications studies at the Umbra Institute, in Italy.

One of last year's seniors (and a former DUWELL intern), Rose O'Connor, was inspired to write this blog in the spring of 2012, her last semester at Duke.  As we approach Thanksgiving time, it seems especially appropriate to consider gratitude and how to appreciate the small things in life...

In honor of National Food Day and the beginning of the Green Devil Smackdown Competition, here's a blog written in April 2012 by Julianne Chiraz ('13), who was inspired by her experiences in a Duke Food Studies course in the spring of 2012.

ALTERNATIVE FALL BREAK: OCTOBER 12th - 16th, 2012

My name is Kimberly McCrae and I recently transitioned to the Women's Center, as the Program Coordinator.  My beginning date was August 1, 2012 and things have been moving at a rapid pace ever since!  One of my first official engagements in this new chapter in my life was co-teaching a workshop with Sean Novak, a man of many talents, (Did you know he can rap?) for Project Change.  This small group of incoming Freshmen was somewhat omnipresent during their week-long experience in the program...they were EVERYWHERE!  They had a full week of immersion experiences, explicitly intended to prepare them for life here at Duke, in Durham and in the world at large.  I must say that these P-Changers were energetic, inquisitive, intelligent, bold, talkative and creative.  There are many ways to be a leader and this group held within it many great examples of leadership that I'm sure will emerge m

The students are always asking me what I do over the summer when they are not here on campus.  Indeed….what does the staff do when they are not around?  This summer, my Duke loves, I was introduced to impermanence and the power of steadfast resolve.

I was hiking and camping in Utah with friends.   For 5 days, Marty, more like a brother than colleague, would say “Sheila, all it takes is wind, water and time” when I would remark on the leveling of the mountains into oceans of sand.  These flat dessert sands interrupted by tall humanoid mountains reminded me of the power of patiently waiting.  All it took to create this unfamiliar Utah landscape was wind, water and time.

My name is Jason and I am a rising junior who is a Neuroscience major and Chemistry minor, but have always had a passion for wellness and healthy living, especially in the Duke community. This fall, I will once again be a part of the True Blue cast, though I am currently in Beirut, Lebanon with DukeEngage accomplishing some great strides in tobacco regulation and smoking cessation in the Middle East. The city here is absolutely beautiful and the food is delicious! I encourage all of you to apply to DukeEngage in the future; it’s a very enlightening, challenging, and eye-opening experience.