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The Chronicle T H E I N D E P E N D E N T D A I LY AT D U K E U N I V E R S I T Y
THURSDAY, AUGUST 27, 2015
Licensing Office director departs
WWW.DUKECHRONICLE.COM
ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVENTH YEAR, ISSUE 7
Dorm burglaries spike during move-in
Claire Ballentine The Chronicle Rose Ritts, executive director of the Office of Licensing and Ventures, is leaving Duke after holding the position for nine years. Since Ritts began as director in 2006, the OLV has become one of the most successful technology transfer offices in the country. Under her leadership, licensing agreements—which turn innovations by Duke researchers ROSE RITTS into marketable products—made by the OLV have risen from 35 per year when she joined to more than 150 so far in 2015. She will take the role of Executive Vice President of Innovation at Thomas Jefferson University and Jefferson Health System in Philadelphia beginning Nov. 1. OLV Managing Director Barry Myers will serve as interim executive director while the University searches for a new director. “When I joined Duke, this was a new start-up,” Ritts said. “Now it has a national reputation, and I’m moving on to the next start-up.” Ritts noted that when she started as director, the OLV generated a revenue of about $3 million per year—a figure which increased to more than $37 million in 2015. She added that her team originally comprised four or five See RITTS on Page 12
Carolyn Chang | The Chronicle Few Quadrangle was one of the locations affected by several burglaries reported during upperclassmen move-in.
Adam Beyer The Chronicle A series of dormitory burglaries has prompted Duke University Police Department to increase its presence on West Campus and near on-campus residence halls. The burglaries—most of which took place during the latter part of orientation week and upperclassmen move-in— affected several residents, primarily in Few and Keohane quadrangles. DUPD’s Community Safety Report states that between last Thursday and last Saturday, four incidences of larceny were reported in Few GG and Few HH, and that last Saturday alone there were three reports of property theft in Keohane 4A.
As a result of the increased number of thefts around upperclassmen move-in— which also included reports of larceny in Edens 2C and Kilgo P—DUPD is trying to ramp up its security presence on campus, explained Chief of Police John Dailey and Dean for Residential Life Joe Gonzalez. “Periodically, we do have a rash of thefts in the residence halls, and opening and closing are the times where the communities are the most susceptible to that type of behavior,” Gonzalez said. The move-in thefts have come at a busy time for DUPD, which also charged a man with second-degree sexual assault last Friday and is still investigating an on-campus car accident that occurred Sunday, Dailey noted in an email Wednesday. Another burglary was reported Tuesday at the 1914 Lewis Street
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apartments on Central Campus, and two were reported the same day in Pegram on East Campus. Dailey noted that several police investigators are working to solve the thefts, but all cases are listed as “closed,” which the report explains means they were “reviewed and inactivated due to lack of solvability factors.” The report also says closed cases may be reactivated if new information becomes available. “Unfortunately, in situations like this it can be difficult to determine who might have been responsible,” Gonzalez said. He noted that the types of items stolen varied but that most could be considered “thefts of opportunity.” See BURGLARIES on Page 2