Black people’s severed relationship to land, water and air must be recovered for a thriving and joyful life, suggests artist and scholar Ashon T. Crawley. He asks, “Is there a wisdom, a thought practice, an approach to making things that lets us work against this severance, he asks, and prompt in us a way to move, think, and do otherwise?”“All my writing and my approach to art practices is about what I call otherwise possibility,” said Crawley, who has been appointed the Nannerl Keohane Distinguished Visiting Professor at… read more » about Visiting Keohane Professor to Explore A Severed Relationship to Land
Alec Damian Gallimore, the esteemed aerospace engineer and Duke University provost, recently confided that he plays a little music.“We encourage students to see the value of music in their lives, no matter what career path they pursue. I know this from experience.”Explaining further, Gallimore shared: “I spent a fair amount of time in my teenage years trying to replicate [Jimi] Hendrix’s howling guitar licks, with varying degrees of success. And I’ve enjoyed the guitar ever since.”The provost told this story during a… read more » about A Gala Concert for the Biddle Music Building
Fredric Jameson, a cultural theorist and literary critic who influenced generations of scholars and helped raise the international profile of Duke University's literature program, died Sunday. He was 90.Jameson came to Duke in 1985 and for 18 years directed Duke’s Program in Literature, which in addition to teaching traditional comparative literature also focused on critical theory -- an examination of philosophical issues connected to culture and literature."There are very few other programs that do that," Jameson said in… read more » about Duke Flags Lowered: Fredric Jameson, Influential Cultural Theorist and Literary Critic, Dies
Tristian Griffin, Asili Johnson and Johanna Kepler are the latest multi-faceted artists to join the Master of Fine Arts in Dance: Embodied Interdisciplinary Praxis Program (MFAEIP). The MFAEIP is a two-year, full-time terminal degree program dedicated to expanding dance and embodied knowledge across cultures, communities and contexts. The program endorses dance as a transformative force in society and engages students whose research centers around interdisciplinary experimentation.From Director Sarah Wilbur:… read more » about Sixth MFAEIP Cohort Joins Dance Program
Four faculty in the Trinity College of Arts & Sciences were recently recognized by the Arts & Sciences Council for outstanding achievements in undergraduate teaching.Each year, the Council’s Committee on Undergraduate Teaching selects outstanding faculty members for their commitment to their students, for engaging them deeply in research and scholarship, for their continued development as innovative teachers and mentors, and more.Members of the council — in collaboration with the dean's office — … read more » about Four Trinity Faculty Receive 2024 Undergraduate Teaching Awards
The Institute for Citizens & Scholars has named 20 new Career Enhancement Fellows for the 2024–25 academic year, including Assistant Professor of Gender, Sexuality & Feminist Studies Anna Storti and Assistant Professor of Music Sophia Enriquez.The Career Enhancement Fellowship, funded by the Mellon Foundation and administered by Citizens & Scholars, seeks to increase the presence of outstanding junior faculty committed to campus diversity and innovative research in the humanities and humanistic social sciences.… read more » about Two Trinity Faculty Named 2024 Career Enhancement Fellows
Career trajectories can take many shapes: a steep upward slope, a meandering wave, a steady sequence of steps (let’s not even mention the possibility of a downfall). Glenn Edwards’ career was shaped like a perfect full circle. The Emeritus Professor of Physics joined Duke in 1999 as the director of the Free Electron Laser Laboratory, a facility housing an accelerator-based light source — an apparatus where electrically charged particles are propelled at very high speeds to generate a tunable laser beam. He… read more » about A Full-Circle Career: Professor of Physics Glenn Edwards Retires After 25 Years at Duke
DURHAM, N.C. -- When we talk about the microbiome, most of us think of the trillions of microorganisms that live in our bodies, supporting everything from digestion to mental health.But plants have a world of microbes living on and inside them too. And evidence is beginning to emerge that these hidden residents play a key role in promoting plant health, in part by helping their immune system identify which bacteria to attack and which ones to tolerate.In a new study, researchers find that disruptions to the community of… read more » about Crop Diseases, Spoilage Can Hurt the Food Supply. Could Plant Prebiotics Help?
Hundreds of students gathered to watch the 2024 presidential debate. Photos courtesy of Associate Professor Alexander Kirshner and undergraduate Neel Mehra.On Tuesday, September 10, as millions of Americans tuned in to watch the first presidential debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, students from across Duke gathered at the Devil’s Krafthouse for a viewing party of their own. “This election is crucial for our country. And it is often divisive. We wanted to bring our… read more » about The 2024 President Debate Watch Party
In late August, visual artist Natalie Robinson took a short break from the mural she was creating in the lobby of Duke University’s Mary Biddle Duke Music Building.Just days from completion, Robinson’s work honors the namesake of the Mary Duke Biddle Music Building and the legendary jazz artist, Mary Lou Williams, Duke’s first artist-in-residence.The brightly colored mural in the pale brick Georgian building was commissioned by a committee of Duke Music Department faculty members to highlight the 50th anniversary of… read more » about A Mural to Celebrate 50 Years of Biddle Music
Sarah Soucek’s interest in human rights and the prison abolition movement was spurred by several visits to a youth correctional center for girls near Bard College, a private liberal arts campus in Red Hook, New York, where she earned her undergraduate degree.Soucek accompanied a professor to teach art classes at the juvenile facility. In addition to providing the young people with resources, they also created a platform for them to sell their work after they were released from custody.“That was just really… read more » about The Power of Film in Human Rights Work
Gonzalez-Acosta at the 2023 American Medical Education Conference. (Photo courtesy of Gonzalez-Acosta) “I’ve always loved the arts,” Alejandra Gonzalez-Acosta confesses. The senior dabbled in a bit of everything growing up, from singing and dancing to acting and drawing, but decided to take her passion a bit more seriously in high school — and did she ever. With seven theater productions and seven semesters of art classes under her belt, Gonzalez-Acosta wanted to bring those… read more » about Canvas of Care: Visual Arts Enhancing Healthcare
The Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) has recognized Ryan Donovan, assistant professor of Theater Studies, and Esther Kim Lee, Frances Hill Fox Professor of Theater Studies, with their 2024 Outstanding Book Award. The ATHES Outstanding Book Award recognizes books that demonstrate complex and critical engagement with dramatic texts, performances, histories, theories, practices and/or pedagogies. A maximum of five awards are given per year. Donovan, who is vice president and… read more » about Lee and Donovan Receive Outstanding Book Awards
Ingrid Daubechies, James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of Mathematics and Electrical and Computer Engineering, was awarded the Royal Society’s Bakerian Medal and Lecture for her outstanding work on wavelets and image compression and her exceptional contributions to a wide spectrum of physical, technological, and mathematical applications. Started in 1774, the Bakerian Medal and Lecture is one of 25 medals and awards given this year by the Royal Society. It is accompanied by a £10,000 prize.Sir Adrian Smith, President… read more » about Ingrid Daubechies Awarded Medal From Royal Society
Duke class of 2026 students Luna Abadia, Dylan Cawley and Henry Stephens IV have received the Voyager Scholarship. Also referred to as the Obama-Chesky Scholarship for Public Service, the program offers funding and leadership training to students committed to serving their communities.From Portland, Ore., Luna Abadia is a public policy major interested in emerging tech policy, political economics and climate mobility. She has served as an intern for the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of East… read more » about Three Duke Students Awarded the Voyager Scholarship
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Richard Alan White, a longtime botany professor who led Trinity College of Arts and Sciences at Duke for more than a decade and became a national leader in undergraduate education, died Aug. 10 of congestive heart failure at home with family. He was 88.A native of Philadelphia, White became interested in plant life visiting the historic Bartram’s Garden near John Bartram High School, which he attended. He received a B.S. and M.S. degree from Temple University and earned his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 1962.He… read more » about Duke Flags Lowered: Richard White, Former Trinity College Dean, Dies at Age 88