FALL 2015

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Familiar but now more audience-friendly—the renovated Page Auditorium

All for One First-generation students—10 percent of undergraduates—are finding their voice on campus.

p.28

| The meaning of eating

p.38

An alumnus rejects his fear C. Ray Walker

p.34

“As a freshman, I saw Martha Graham and her dance company perform at Page Auditorium. I had never seen human bodies move like that,” says Rick Tigner ’70, a retired financial advisor, art collector, and Duke Alumni Band member. The experience ignited his lifelong interest in the visual and performing arts. He directed funds from his IRA to an endowment fund that benefits the Nasher Museum of Art and will give future students access to exhibits that inspire and transform.

“I hope to introduce students to art they have never seen.”

YOUR INSPIRATION IS JUST THE STARTING POINT. No matter what inspires you to give back, our expert team can help you honor the memories, people, and places that matter to you. Smart charitable planning—at any giving level—may enable you to do more than you thought possible while propelling Duke further forward. Contact us today to unleash your inner philanthropist.

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inside

FALL 2015 | VOL. 101 | NO. 4

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FORUM

6

THE QUAD Global players as teachers, student heroics, treasures in the Rubenstein

F E AT U R E S :

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SPORTS A student tests his athletic ability

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FOREVER DUKE DAA activities and connections

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CLASS NOTES

DEVIL’S OWN A place for discovery

COVER: Even as this photo celebrates individuals coming together to make the Class of 2019, it’s a reminder that each student has a part in Duke’s ever-evolving story. In this issue, we showcase the story of the first students in their families to go to college.

Photo by Duke Photography.

istockphoto

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Creative Commons By Robert J. Bliwise

From mechanical room to innovation hub

28

Not the Only One By Louise Flynn

34

Mister No It All By Christina Holder

A network of first-generation students and administrators is finding its voice

On a journey to end his fear of rejection, an alumnus earns a book’s worth of wisdom

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Food, Glorious (and Contentious) Food

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The Longest Instant By Steven Petrow ’78

At the annual Duke Magazine Forum, experts offer a menu of possibilities for our becoming more conscious eaters

Waiting a lifetime for change to happen overnight

FULLFRAME Winning look: After reuniting to meet President Obama, Blue Devil basketball champions, from left, senior Amile Jefferson, Quinn Cook, Jahlil Okafor, and Tyus Jones join with their teammates to show off their rings. Photo by Chris Hildreth

Forum

UNDERTHEGARGOYLES

T

Courtesy The Prosthetic Hand Project

his issue’s foray into the Foundry, a creative hub in what’s now called Gross Hall, uncovers some of the cool things that students shape in newly dedicated space: electric vehicles, submerged robots, prosthetic hands. The vehicles, robots, and hands may be fast-movers; they may go on to do great things in challenging environments. But what about the project-minded students?

It turns out that project-based learning, the spark for the Foundry, is an efficient way to get a boost later in life.

That’s one finding from the Gallup-Purdue Index. A joint project of Gallup, known for its public-opinion polls, and Purdue University, it’s thought to be the largest representative study of college graduates in U.S. history, with 30,000 graduates surveyed every year.

As a survey summary puts it, “When it comes Deep learning and instant impact: a to finding the secret prosthetic hand, developed through the to success”—meaning work of a student team success in lives and careers alike—“it’s not ‘where you go,’ it’s ‘how you do it’ that makes all the difference in higher education.” Yet few college graduates achieve the winning combination.

Only 14 percent of graduates, for example, strongly agree that, back in their campus contexts, they found professors who cared about their success, made them excited about learning, and encouraged

them to pursue their dreams. And just 6 percent of graduates reported that they threw themselves wholeheartedly into a campus activity outside the classroom.

As student activities go, it’s hard to think of groups demanding more wholehearted commitment than Duke Electric Vehicles, Duke Robotics, and DukeMakers. These are innovators, designers, builders, and competitors. They’re now among the Foundry’s first inhabitants.

The Gallup project points to an array of associations between those bright college years and later-life experiences and attitudes. What does it mean when college graduates consider themselves well-prepared for what they’re doing and who they became? It can be traced to college internships, active involvement in extracurricular activities, and “working on a project that took a semester or more to complete.” According to Gallup, “Feeling supported and having deep learning experience means everything when it comes to long-term outcomes for college graduates.”

“For a college student, the significance of deep engagement is profound,” Gallup’s Brandon Busteed remarked in a phone conversation. Busteed ’99 leads Gallup’s education work as executive director for education and workforce development.

Deep engagement “is not about taking part in a bunch of extracurricular activities. It’s not about taking a campus job simply for the benefit of a paycheck,” as he put it. “It is about doing something that’s long-term. You’re not just excited about academic learning. You’re finding a way to apply it.”

So maybe one thing that spins out of the Foundry is a product that’s easy to value and tough to measure—bright after-college years.

—Robert J. Bliwise, editor

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DUKE MAGAZINE FALL 2015 | Vol. 101 | No. 4 EDITOR: Robert J. Bliwise A.M. ’88 MANAGING EDITOR: Adrienne Johnson Martin ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Louise Flynn STAFF ASSISTANT: Delecia Hatcher PUBLISHER: Sterly L. Wilder ’83, associate vice president, Alumni Affairs INTERNS: Elizabeth George ’17, Madeline Taylor ’18 SPECIAL SECTIONS EDITOR: Ed Cohen DESIGN CONSULTANT: Lacey Chylack, phase5creative, inc.

PRINTER: Progress Printing OFFICERS, DUKE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION: N. Shepard Moyle ’84, president, Sterly L. Wilder ’83, secretary-treasurer EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD: Lesley Jane Seymour ’78, chair, Peter Applebome ’71, Sarah Ball ’08, James Cannon Boyce ’87, Sarah Hardesty Bray ’72, James Burnett ’98, Jerrold K. Footlick, Robbyn Footlick ’85, Devin Gordon ’98, Kerry E. Hannon ’82, John Harwood ’78, Mangesh Hattikudur ’01, Sara Lipka ’01, Valerie A. May ’77, Michael Moore ’08, Will Pearson ’01, Steven Petrow ’78, Shaun Raviv ’01, Dan Riley ’08, Jim Rosenfield ’81, Jon Scher ’84, John Seigenthaler ’78, Elizabeth Spiers ’99, Fiona Spruill ’99, Greg Veis ’03, James O. Wilson ’74, Robert J. Bliwise A.M. ’88, secretary, Clay Felker ’51, founding chair DUKE MAGAZINE Box 90572, Durham, N.C. 27708 PHONE: (919) 684-5114 FAX: (919) 681-1659 E-MAIL: dukemag@duke.edu ADDRESS CHANGES: Alumni Records, Box 90581, Durham, N.C. 27708 or bluedevil@duke.edu • © 2015 Duke University, Published five times a year by the Duke Alumni Association 4 www.dukemagazine.duke.edu

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DUKE MAGAZINE • SPECIAL ISSUE 2015

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VOLUME 101 . NO 3

Renewal time for the chapel—along with a lot more of the historic campus

After each issue, we collect reader feedback from a random sampling. Here are some of your comments from our SUMMER issue survey: DUKE

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“I think it is a very wellwritten magazine with interesting, informative articles that basically serves as my primary information source and connection to Duke.

Keep up the great job!”

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pervasive, it is hard for an old conservative white guy like me to identify with the topics and positions. It is apparent that the

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Reu ons2015 authors and editors areni blithely

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system. It is ironic that the university Travel with Duke

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all share the same liberal belief DUKE

was made possible because of the

accomplishments with what

fruits of capitalism with a minimum of

I read about other alumni.”

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SPRING 2015

Your friends. Your faculty. Your dream destinations.

is comparing my lack of

A student works for justice p.36

Weathering the rankings storm

p.24

How Duke learned to be a better neighbor p.30

Where do you want to go in 2015?

www.dukealumnitravel.com

Paris Immersion, Oct. 11-22

Columbia & Snake Rivers Journey Oct. 27-Nov. 2

Chasing the next autism breakthroughs p.42

Wai-O-Tapu geothermal pool, NZ Australia & New Zealand Oct. 28-Nov. 18 Coastal Iberia Oct. 23-31

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WINTER 2014

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“Love the work you do with

Administrators and students confront sexual assault p.20 Sean Lilly Wilson ’00 and his search for a Southern brew p.26

Duke Magazine…with the

Fighting corruption with Zephyr Teachout ’99 p.42

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team, the Duke Magazine

Retta Speaks

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The American Way

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How to Be a Teacher

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DUKE MAGAZINE • FAL L 2014

“Excellent work! I am very proud of the university, through the magazine, tackling thorny and difficult issues relating to the campus, and I admire deeply the willingness to be self-critical when it is intellectually honest to be so.”

What can you do in one day at Duke?

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FALL 2014

Travel with Duke

has kept me more in touch

Your friends. Your faculty. Your dream destinations.

with Duke than any other source by far.”

Where do you want to go in 2015?

www.dukealumnitravel.com

Born or bred?

Alumni Campus Abroad: Swiss Alps & Italian Lakes, June 19-28, 2015

Pride of South Africa, May 19-30, 2015

Galápagos, June 19-28, 2015

Exploring Iceland, July 28-August 7, 2015

A researcher explores whether biology is destiny

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SEND LETTERS TO: Box 90572, Durham, N.C. 27708 or e-mail dukemag@duke.edu.

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there was a way for everyone in the Duke community to stay connected to each other and to Duke?

Please limit letters to 300 words and include your full name, address, and class year or Duke affiliation. We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity. Owing to space constraints, we are unable to print all letters received. Published letters represent the range of responses received. For additional letters visit: www.dukemagazine.duke.edu.

The new DukeAlumni.com

Coming Fall 2014

Learn more: www.dukealumni.com/connect/

Exploring the opportunities (and limits) of MOOCs

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FALL 2015

5

Free hand: During “Think Inside the Box,� the opening of the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences, artist Gabriel Eng-Goetz creates a mural. The new underground space on West Campus includes more than 10,000 square feet of laboratories, gathering spaces, twenty-foot ceilings, and a mezzanine. Photo by Jared Lazarus

Quad

THE

NOTEWORTHY FROM AROUND CAMPUS

THEQuad

BOOKBAG Leaders as teachers

Dempsey and Matlock are the newest Rubenstein Fellows.

General Martin E. Dempsey A.M. ’84, the recently retired chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the nation’s highest-ranking military officer, has been named a 2016 Rubenstein Fellow at Duke. This spring, he will co-teach a Sanford School course on American civil-military relations with Duke political scientist Peter Feaver. Next fall, he will teach management and leadership at the Fuqua School.

In addition, he will deepen his ties to the Duke Program on American Grand Strategy, the Fuqua/Coach K Center on Leadership & Ethics (COLE), and Duke Athletics, and will speak to student and faculty groups Dempsey—who earned a master’s in English from Duke and who delivered the commencement address in 2014— earlier served as the Army’s chief of staff.

He was also commander of the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, deputy commander and acting commander of U.S. Central Command, and commanding general of the Multi-National Security Transition Command in Iraq.

This fall, another Rubenstein Fellow, former ambassador to Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union Jack Matlock ’50, returned to the Duke classrooms where his interest in Russia originated.

During the Reagan administration, he was director of European and Soviet affairs at the National Security Council.

Matlock is spending two years on campus based in the Center for Slavic, Eurasian, and East European Studies; he is teaching courses, collaborating with students and faculty members, engaging with journalists and policymakers, and delivering lectures on and off campus.

He’ll also lecture in the Duke in Russia summer program in St. Petersburg.

The Rubenstein Fellows, a university-wide initiative to bring leaders to Duke with a focus on global challenges, was established by trustee chair David M. Rubenstein ’70.

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AMES316S: Break dancers, Vocaloids, and Game THE CATALYST: The popularity of break dancing, programming vocaloid music, and playing video games creates subcultures that inform both individual identity and a larger cultural identity in East Asia. Students explore these phenomena, among others, in this course created by visiting cultural anthropology professor Dwayne Dixon A.M. ’08, Ph.D. ’14.

THE GIST: “This course is concerned with two questions: The first is how do you define East Asia? And the second is how do you define youth?” says Dixon.

By studying various sensations, from the globally successful Pokémon and college rankings in Korea to the practice of prostitution and the popularity of K-pop, students will peek into a motley world crafted by the youth in East Asia.

ASSIGNMENT LIST: Students watch films such as the awardwinning documentary The Great Happiness Space and Battle Royale, a Hunger Games-type movie released in 2003, in addition to readings from books and online blogs. This writingbased course culminates in what Dixon calls an “experimental” pedagogical platform: Scalar.

The website connects all the assignments so students can focus on synergies.

THE TWIST: This course is about more than just kids; it’s also about how adults actively participate in youth culture. “Youth is often the site of greatest panic and the site of greatest change,” says Dixon.

—Madeline Taylor

THEQuad

Students use their skills to save two lives.

An upgrade for global health

Duke students often get accolades for matters demonstrating their intellect.

Two recent incidents, however, showcase a different kind of prowess.

During the pre-orientation PWILD (more formally known as Project Wilderness Initiatives for Learning at Duke), three students saved the life of a man suffering from anaphylactic shock. While on their way to a swimming spot, seniors Jared Schwartz and Kyrstin Lulow and junior Iza Szawiola came across a man wheezing and holding his chest. The man had been stung, presumably by a yellow jacket.

One of the students ran back to the parking lot and got an Epinephrine pen from another member of their crew.

EMT-certified Szawiola administered the shot, while Lulow checked the man’s vital signs. By the time the local emergency services arrived thirty minutes later, Lulow Life savers: From left, Kristen Bailey, Kirsten Bonawitz, Rikita Patil, and Kevin Labagnara says, the man was fine, used their EMS training to revive a professor. but they performed a follow-up assessment.

Then in September, four Duke EMS students resuscitated George Grody, visiting associate professor of markets and management, who had suffered cardiac arrest during a meeting of the Duke Marketing Club (which he advises). The incident happened in the library’s Link; juniors Kevin Labagnara and Kirsten Bonawitz and senior Kristen Bailey were studying nearby. Bonawitz cut off Grody’s shirt, Labagnara began chest compressions, and Bailey ran outside to get equipment from the Duke EMS vehicle. Senior Rikita Patil, at a meeting elsewhere in the library, prepared and then used a defibrillator on Grody’s chest to restart his heart.

Grody underwent bypass surgery and is recovering.

Among other things, the recent Ebola outbreak that started in Africa and reached America was a pointed illustration of the need to address global-health challenges.

Now the university has received a $20 million grant that will help the Duke Global Health Institute educate new leaders and experts and build research capacity to deal with those issues.

The grant comes from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. (Melinda Gates ’86, M.B.A. ’87 is a Duke alumna.) The first $10 million is aimed toward endowment support of DGHI. The other half will support a challenge that will match one dollar for every dollar given. That approach means the grant actually will amount to $30 million and will allow other donors to join with the foundation’s goals. Among those goals are recruiting and supporting faculty to work across disciplines and schools, bolstering financial aid for students, and strengthening DGHI’s partnerships in places like Haiti, Kenya, and South Africa.

The gift helped the university set a fundraising record during 2014-15, for the third consecutive year. Contributions amounted to $478 million, an 8 percent increase over the previous fiscal year’s total of $442 million.

Paul Grantham

Some kind of heroes

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The Gates Foundation gift helped ensure another record-breaking year.

WHO’S COUNTING?

Duke’s ranking in the annual U.S. News & World Report list.

Number of world records established at the now-defunct Wallace Wade Stadium track.

44

Ranking of Duke among universities for lobbying expenses at the federal level. Duke spent $362,542 in 2014.

DUKE MAGAZINE

FALL 2015

9

FROMTHEPRESIDENT | Richard H. Brodhead

Building a Life at Duke

U

sually, the Freshman Convocation is held in Duke Chapel. This year, we’ve decamped to Cameron Indoor Stadium because the chapel is closed for repairs. Indeed, just about everything at Duke is closed for repairs. If you came to campus last spring or summer, you saw that Duke Chapel, the Rubenstein wing of Perkins Library, Page Auditorium, West Union, the football stadium—even the quads were closed for repairs.

Today I ask, what does it mean to have all this construction going on at your new home? For one thing, it makes you a witness to history—to the biggest building boom on campus since Duke was created.

Second, you’re the lucky ones.

We are engaged in a transformational renovation of this campus.

There has been disruption galore, but you will enjoy the fruits of our labor. The West Campus quad is green again, the renovated library is open, Page will soon be hosting great speakers and performers, the football season will kick off in the renovated Wallace Wade stadium, and there’s more to come.

Walking past a handsome new library won’t do much; you have to go inside, learn how to frame an interesting question, and seek materials that might help you to an answer. Why come to a school with great faculty if you don’t seek them out? You have to engage the opportunities around you to unlock the door to future growth.

This demolition has been accompanied by a lot of noise and inconvenience. If you want to make room for a new, improved version of yourself, you will have to tolerate some disruption—of your personal habits, of your preexisting networks, even of assumptions that once seemed certain. Disruption is not fun, but it is the opener of possibilities.

Last, construction is always a massive group effort, and if you want to build a fully empowered self at Duke, you should be thinking how this community can assist in that project. Duke has succeeded in drawing top talent in a hundred forms from across every known social boundary. From “Let’s make it be part of your education to learn Renaissance Florence to today, the places where smart, enerhow to enter into points of view different from getic people have been drawn your own and open your own point of view to together have been the places where world-changing ideas are others—and to practice this hard human skill not hatched and new human enerreleased. Today you become just on good days but even in times of challenge.” gies a citizen of just such a place.

From today, every one of you will contribute to this community, and everyone will get a But I have a third thought, and it’s my real message to growth boost from the others here with you. you. Let this construction be an image of what your work If you want to build to your full potential, you’re gohere could be. ing to have to seek out and open yourself to this human Duke exists for two purposes. We are here to push the richness, even if that means venturing outside what’s comboundaries of human understanding, and we are here to fortable. After the first diversity buzz wears off, you’ll face help talented young people develop the most knowledgeable, thoughtful, resourceful version of themselves they can inevitable temptations to fall back on communities that become. We care about physical structures because they you perceive as “like you.” And in even the healthiest communities, things can happen that pull people back from serve the real construction project this great university is the things they share. engaged in: the building of capable men and women. So I Duke is committed to being a community where everyask you to be the builder of your best self. one is respected and has an equal right to thrive. Therefore, Here are some tips for you as builders. The materials Duke requires that each of you take responsibility to build on the worksite were put there so you would use them.

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THEQuad

BOOKBAG ROOMMATES SPORTS

Under construction: Members of the Class of 2019 begin their Duke journey in Cameron at the new-student convocation.

such a community. But if frictions do arise, I hope you will find a more constructive way to engage with differences than recoiling in resentment or withdrawing in defensiveness, human as both impulses powerfully are. In this country and around the world, we see the price millions pay when differences harden into conflict and estrangement. Let’s do better than that at Duke. Let’s make it be part of your education to learn how to enter into points of view different from your own and open your own point of view to others—and to practice this hard human skill not just on good days but even in times of challenge. This will make Duke a better place and will equip you to be a constructive social contributor long after you leave Duke behind.

I was drawn to Duke by its distinctive builder’s spirit. This school always has reached for the further thing it could become, envisioning the even better form that research and education could take. That’s the spirit that has fueled Duke’s construction and I welcome you into the company of that spirit. We admire what you are already, but you didn’t come to Duke to stay the same. You came to catch sight of further possibilities and to win strength and joy from the struggle to reach them.

That construction starts today. I welcome you to Duke. n This is adapted from the president’s address at the new academic year’s opening convocation. Photography by Jon Gardiner

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THEQuad

CHATTER “Educators can’t take math, turn it into Greek, and say, ‘Mom, Dad, will you help your kid with this,’ and not expect to get a ‘wha?’ ” –HARRIS COOPER, professor of psychology and neuroscience, on how introducing new methods of learning math at schools exacerbates parental math anxiety

“I think part of the reason I like swing dancing so much is that I don’t get to lead a lot of things in life. But, on the dance floor, I get to call the shots.”

–Economics professor CURTIS TAYLOR, who’s nearly blind, on the pleasures of finding his groove

“We should shift the debate away from worrying about the age of our candidates and focus instead on their cognitive skill sets and practical wisdom.”

–MURALI DORAISWAMY, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and medicine, on the odds of a president’s cognitive abilities declining substantially while in office

“I can relate to this program.

Does well in the classroom.

Won twice in the past four years. Know[s] what it’s like for people to oppose you no matter what you try to do. When I flip on ESPN and I see a documentary about how people still ‘hate’ Christian Laettner—a guy who played for Duke twentythree years ago—I realize, well, maybe I don’t have it so bad.

Or I think this is going to be a long twenty-three years.”

–BARACK OBAMA, president of the United States, while honoring the NCAA championship-winning Blue Devils at the White House

A tempest in a graphic novel

An objection to a book’s content takes on a life of its own.

It’s probably fair to say that the selection of Alison Bechdel’s graphic memoir Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic as the Common Experience Selection for the Class of 2019 caused a “stir”— as in a “slight disturbance.”

Yet that disturbance was more off-campus than on, more in the media than among the Duke community.

It began when freshman Brian Grasso began a conversation about the book on a Duke Facebook page, saying reading the book compromised some of his moral and religious beliefs. The work, with themes of love, family, and identity, documents the author’s sexual exploration and her decision to come out as a lesbian. It includes images of sexuality. Grasso found those images pornographic. He later wrote a commentary about his objections for The Washington Post.

A handful of students made similar comments, and Grasso said about twenty students who shared his con-

cerns or offered support privately messaged him. Other freshmen defended the memoir, which is recommended and not required.

Local and national media picked up the story, and several bloggers weighed in.

On campus, Michael Schoenfeld ’84, vice president for public affairs and government relations, offered a bit of perspective.

“With a class of 1,750 new students from around the world, it would be impossible to find a single book that did not challenge someone’s way of thinking. We understand and respect that, but also hope that students will begin their time at Duke with open minds and a willingness to explore new ideas, whether they agree with them or not.”

For his part, Grasso, who wrote that he had no problem grappling with ideas he didn’t agree with, said he’d eventually read the book. A friend sent him page numbers of sexual scenes so he could avoid them.

“Fun-home-barrette.” Licensed under Fair use via Wikipedia 12

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ROOMMATES Now sharing a house near East Campus with five other students, the Texans shared a tent this summer during DukeEngage in Turkey. They volunteered at DEKAMER, an organization that rehabilitates sea turtles and focuses on conservation.

Gaby Benitez + Taylor Johnson + Aoife Gaby’s from Austin,

Texas, is a senior, and studies biology and environmental sciences and policy, with a marine science conservation leadership certificate.

Interview by Madeline Taylor Photo by Les Todd

Yin and yang: Gaby likes it

hot, Taylor likes it cold. Gaby loves the sunshine, Taylor loves the rain.

Gaby is a mediator, Taylor is type A. Gaby doesn’t like carbs, and Taylor doesn’t like vegetables. In Turkey, Gaby would eat Taylor’s vegetables, and Taylor would take Gay’s rice or carb. “It was symbiotic in that way,” says Taylor.

At their house, they have potlucks and invite twenty to thirty friends.

Campus involvement:

They both DJ at the WXDU; Gaby’s on-air name is La Sirena (“The Mermaid” in Spanish), Taylor’s on-air name is ChEYEnne, her middle name.

They both work at the East Campus Coffeehouse, and Gaby is president of the Food for Thought club, which focuses on food at Duke and sustainable eating.

Taylor’s

from San Antonio, Texas, is a senior, and studies comparative area studies with a concentration on the region of Europe and Turkey, is a history minor, and maybe, a women’s studies minor.

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THEQuad

One last visit

Shortly before he died, neurologist Oliver Sacks came to see Duke’s lemurs.

David Haring

Oliver Sacks, the renowned neurologist and best-selling au- with Sacks’ writing career, he carried on a correspondence with thor, was celebrated for being a prolific writer. And when he her for more than a year. was suffering from terminal cancer, he made no exception: He After the New Yorker piece, Yoder reached out and offered regularly wrote journals, letters, and published pieces. This Sacks another visit. His illness didn’t dampen his lively intellect past March, he wrote “Ninth Avenue Reverie,” a short essay and kindness, Yoder says. Several guests had been invited to the in The New Yorker that expresses his concern for the dwin- event to engage Sacks, but he was fascinated with the lemurs dling forests of the world—particuabove all else. “He asked queslarly those that are home to lemurs. tion after question,” Yoder says.

“I love lemurs. One has to see them, “Nothing escaped his notice.” He study them, to grasp the origin of our returned after hours to tour the primate nature.”

Lemur Center’s huge natural-habitat enclosure. Yoder told him that Several months later, he was touring Duke’s Lemur Center. he had the soul of a field biologist: The invitation came from biology “He’s such a great explorer.” professor Anne Yoder Ph.D. ’92, who Sacks’ second visit to the Lemur had hosted Sacks before. In 2007, Center made it into “My Periodic then-provost Peter Lange contacted Table,” an essay he wrote for The her about a VIP visiting the Duke New York Times in July: “...I wanted to have a little fun: a trip to Lemur Center. Sacks was known to North Carolina to see the wonderexhibit unmatched intellectual curiosity, expressing an interest in science, ful lemur research center at Duke humanity, and countless topics in beUniversity. Lemurs are close to tween. As it turns out, one of those Old friends: Sacks admires the Coquerel’s sifaka. the ancestral stock from which all topics was lemurs. Yoder was more primates arose, and I am happy to than happy to give him a tour. think that one of my own ancesThat tour lasted several hours. Sacks, she says, was fascinat- tors, 50 million years ago, was a little tree-dwelling creature not ed. “Every time we would open up a door, you could just see so dissimilar to the lemurs of today. I love their leaping vitality, his mind connecting with the animals. He was absorbed.” To their inquisitive nature.” thank him for his trip, Yoder wrote him a note. And in keeping Sacks died August 30 in New York. —Sofia Manfredi

Monkey see, monkey do math

Research suggests innate ability to understand fractions.

It seems we can use “understanding fractions” as the preface to the well-worn expression “so easy a monkey can do it.”

In a study published in Animal Cognition, Duke researchers revealed their methodology in discovering whether rhesus monkeys are able to compare ratios. They began by letting the monkeys play on a touch-screen computer for a candy reward. The monkeys received the sweets if they touched a black circle on the screen, but they didn’t get any if they touched a white diamond. Naturally, the black circle became a favorite choice.

Next the team introduced the monkeys to fractions. “We showed two arrays on the screen, each with several black circles and white diamonds,” says Caroline Drucker, who is in the neurobiology graduate training program. “The monkeys’ job was to touch the array having a greater ratio of black circles to white diamonds.”

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So, if there were three black circles and nine white diamonds on the left, and eight black circles and five white diamonds on the right, the monkey needed to touch the right side of the screen to earn candy.

The monkeys were able to learn to compare proportions.

They chose the array with the higher black-circle-white-diamond ratio about three-quarters of the time.

Not only do the results suggest that monkeys understand ratios, they also indicate that monkeys might be able to reason through analogies. And, the researchers say, that means human minds are likely to have been set up with those skills as well.

“The next step for this line of research will be to figure out how best to employ these in-born abilities when teaching proportions, percentages, and fractions to human children,” says Drucker.

Q&A OUR BUILDINGS, OURSELVES | The latest book by

Annabel Wharton, William B. Hamilton Professor of art history, is Architectural Agents: The Delusional, Abusive, Addictive Lives of Buildings.

Do buildings have human qualities?

Buildings are like humans in that they have bodies, they are born, they reach a certain maturity, they decay, and they die. But they always leave a mark, just like humans.

You write that buildings can be murderers, and there you refer to the Cloisters Museum in New York, which is named after the medieval spaces that form its core.

The Cloisters is a good example of death by museum.

The fabrics of whole buildings were removed from their original location. It’s fine to take pleasure from visiting the Cloisters. But you should recognize that your pleasure comes at a cost. The Cloisters story begins with a twelfth-century monastery in France that survived until the 1840s, when it was sold in lots. Now what the visitor experiences is a display of disembodied fragments.

You also write about Compostela in Spain, particularly a hospital established there in 1492.

The hospital became a symbol of religious and secular power, but only a relatively healthy patient survived it. Later, in the 1950s, under the Franco dictatorship, the hospital was transformed in a luxury hotel.

Buildings can have varied lives. My sense is that there are very few large, handsome structures that don’t have some horrific aspects in their background. Wealth, after all,

is rarely untainted. Look at the Parthenon: The Athenians basically robbed all of the other Greek city-states in order to build it. In the heart of Istanbul, you can hang out at the old prison that’s done up as a five-star hotel. Everybody loves it. This is a former prison; horrible things happened in that setting. But if I get morally offended, I’d have to get out of the business of architectural history.

One of your chapters centers on the casinos of Las Vegas. Why would an architectural historian find them compelling?

I write about the Las Vegas casino as the offspring of a maze and a labyrinth. By maze I mean an emotional state of astonished bewilderment; the labyrinth is a place of bodily entanglement, a place meant to frustrate the escape of anyone inside it.

Nowhere is programming more predatory than in the Las Vegas casino. As I say in the book, in contrast to the terrifying labyrinth of Crete, the brilliant ornament and animation of the Las Vegas casino anesthetizes its victims. That begins with the spatial disorder of the gaming arena, where clusters of slot machines, along with a disorienting cacophony of recorded sounds, contribute to the casino’s complexity as well as to its bottom line. The outside is effectively excluded from the inside; there are no clocks, so time is basically erased.

You take a journey into the virtual world, and particularly into Second Life. Does it feel strange that you ended up being nostalgic for the virtual buildings you left behind?

To some degree nostalgia for a lost building comes from investment—the things that you invest time in, both in the process of construction and in the process of inhabiting.

That’s true of digital space as well as built space. I miss my little house in Second Life. In the digital world, a texture is what you build from, and I had textures carefully made from Jerusalem stone. I had a great coffee machine and a very nice set of cushions to recline on. I had a view of the sea, and I had stocked the sea with dolphins. It was just really nice.

Your department recently moved to the repurposed Smith Warehouse from your longtime space in the neoclassical East Duke building. Do you sense yourself being conditioned differently?

I’m really happy in the factory aesthetic, because I like modernism; I come into the office more often. These bricks that face my office—every one of them was handmade. The bricks, the columnar piers— there’s a touch that you just don’t get in modern buildings.

Even in neoclassical buildings, architects wanted a purity of line. Here you can still feel the hand of the laborer; it’s sort of a mess. That’s what’s great about it.

—Robert J. Bliwise

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PLANETDUKE

Turkey

Around the World in 36 Questions

K 47

Percent of the Class of 2015 who studied away

+300

Number of Duke administrated and approved study-away programs

69

Percent of people who don’t believe each person in the world has only one true love, according to the Pew Research Center.

28

Percent of people who do believe

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Her research took her to seven cities: Lima, Rio de Janeiro, Paris, Berlin, Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, Istanbul, and Hong Kong. Using the thirty-six questions, she interviewed some thirty strangers, digging into their family histories and political proclivities within minutes of meeting them.

“I think some of my best conversations have been very unexpected: running into a political satirist and activist at a concert in Rio de Janeiro, engaging an impassioned Wikileaks advocate at a bar in Berlin, or meeting a Turkish U2 enthusiast at an Irish pub in Istanbul.”

But finding love isn’t easy, Fernelius admits, and just creating a connection poses a series of hurdles. “Language barriers are really difficult to overcome and often exclude a lot of people from the conversation I am initiating. People have different thresholds for emotional intimacy than we do in the States, making my sense of a relationship and someone else’s sense of it very different.”

In spite of this, Fernelius found her interviewees consistently open to sharing their experiences. They wanted to talk about love and community, how they function in their lives, and what makes them difficult or thrilling. Across cultures, she found, people primarily spoke in abstract, intangible terms. “I asked one person what love looked like, and he laughed and answered, ‘It’s blue, green, red; a circle, square, triangle. Love doesn’t look like anything.’ ” No matter the native tongue, no set of vocabulary seemed fully capable of capturing love in concrete language.

Love search: Among Fernelius’ stops was Lima, Peru.

To string together these narratives, she’s experimentpersonal conversation cues—paired with eye ing with different nonfiction storytelling techcontact—can create a sense of vulnerability niques, hoping to find the right fit in the form between any two strangers, simulating falling of an audio essay. in love. “To me, it really spoke to a sort of She will reveal whether she has successfully emotional intimacy that we don’t get so much fallen in love when she releases a podcast for practice in at Duke,” Fernelius wrote in an her graduation with distinction project. e-mail message.

—Elizabeth George Courtesy Katie Fernelius

GLOBAL ED AT A GLANCE

atie Fernelius spent the summer systematically falling in love.

As a student of the Center for Documentary Studies and a global cultural studies major in the literature program, Fernelius designed an extensive final project that could combine storytelling and the delicious discomfort of unfamiliar cities and languages.

“How do we connect across difference? How do we know ourselves, and how do we know others? What does it mean to be a global citizen?” her project asks. “Essentially, I pitched this as an experimental documentary that explores these questions.”

The senior was inspired in part by the “36 questions” craze that swept a dating-averse campus early this year. The questions are from a study by psychologist Arthur Aron but were recently popularized in a playful, poignant Modern Love essay in The New York Times.

The study contends that scripted, increasingly

PAGETURNERS

Writing in Injustices: The Supreme Court’s

History of Comforting the Comfortable and Afflicting the Afflicted, Ian Millhiser J.D. ’06 takes a critical look at how the Supreme Court has shaped the law and thus the lives of ordinary Americans. Here he discusses why he wrote the book.

Shortly after the Affordable Care Act became law, my boss called me into her office and asked me to write a brief on behalf of several patient groups that supported the law against the first legal challenge seeking to kill it. I still remember what I told her: “I’ll get right on it, but do you really think it’s necessary?”

It was a naïve time in my life, a more innocent age when lawyers across the political spectrum believed that this litigation would crash and burn solely because, in the words of a leading conservative judge, it had no basis “in either the text of the Constitution or Supreme Court precedent.”

Over the course of the next two years, I became more and more involved in the defense of the law. I also watched in horror as judges—and ultimately, much of the Supreme Court—ignored well-established legal principles to embrace a thinly veiled political attack on a law that would go on to save thousands of lives. The Supreme Court came within one vote of stripping health care from millions of Americans, and it did so based on nothing I could recognize as law.

After we (mostly) won this case, I started rereading much of the constitutional history that I studied at Duke, and I discovered a dark past riddled with decisions striking down child-labor laws, standing with white supremacists, and holding that women could be sterilized against their will. I realized that a decision robbing millions of health care would not have been an anomaly. It would have been entirely consistent with the Supreme Court’s past.

So I wrote Injustices because I realized that a strong American democracy depends on a healthy fear of the justices. And I hoped to dissuade others from being as naïve as I was when I believed that law and precedents are reliable weapons against politics in the Supreme Court.

JUST PUBLISHED

Duke University: The Campus Guide, cowritten by architects Ken Friedlein ’72 and John Pearce, takes a comprehensive look at the university’s architectural history and development.

This revised edition includes the 70-plus buildings constructed since the first edition’s publication.

Jordan is diplomat in residence and an adjunct professor of political science at Southern Methodist University.

The History of Infectious Diseases at Duke University in the Twentieth Century by John D. Hamilton catalogues infectious diseases studied at Duke and the Durham VA Medical Center, incorporating the themes of medical education, public health, and the university’s history.

Red Kool-Aid Blue Kool-Aid by Leonard A. Hamilton is a professor emeritus of medicine at the School of Medicine.

Zwelling ’69, M.D. ’73 tells the story of the physician’s disenchantment during his Irrationally Yours: On Missing Socks, Pickyear on Capitol Hill working on healthup Lines, and Other Existential Puzzles is care reform in Obamacare’s infancy. a compilation of Dan Ariely’s Wall Street Zwelling is an oncologist, researcher, and medical administrator.

Journal advice columns, “Ask Ariely.”

With illustrations by The New Yorker Desert Diplomat: Inside Saudi Arabia cartoonist William Haefeli ’75, the book Following 9/11 by Robert W. Jordan ’67 explores how humans can reason through reveals the critical role of Saudi Arabia’s their most trying and trifling challenges. alliance while the lawyer served as the Ariely Ph.D. ’98 is a psychology and behavioral economics professor at Duke.

U.S. ambassador from 2001 to 2003.

Recommended Reading Contemporary fairy tales from Duke English department lecturer Christina Askounis.

The Bloody Chamber

by Angela Carter Starting with the erotically charged title story, based on the Bluebeard tale and set in France’s Gilded Age, Carter’s stories dazzle, delight, and disturb.

Kissing the Witch

by Emma Donoghue Donoghue took “all the storylines from the ultimate plot mistress, the Oral Tradition,” boldly re-imagining thirteen classic fairy tales.

Her stories treat the need for courage on the road to self-determination.

My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me: Forty New Fairy Tales

edited by Kate Bernheimer This collection demonstrates the staying power of the fairy tale and the appeal of its darker aspects to writers of wildly different sensibilities: John Updike, Aimee Bender, Neil Gaiman, Francine Prose, Jim Shepherd, Joyce Carol Oates, and many more.

The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye: Five Fairy Stories by A.S. Byatt

How could anyone resist a story that begins: “Once upon a time, when men and women hurtled through the air on metal wings, when they wore webbed feet and walked on the bottom of the sea, learning the speech of whales and the songs of the dolphins...there was a woman who was largely irrelevant, and therefore happy.

Her business was storytelling . . . .” It’s Byatt’s business, too, and the other four stories here are every bit as enchanting.

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THEQuad

A RENEWED RUBENSTEIN Good research, scholars might say, is the result of hard work and deep thinking. And so it makes sense that the renovation of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library was a result of three years of construction and the culmination of fifteen years of reimagining Perkins Library. It is, after all, a place where good research happens. That was the goal (and the realization) of the changes: to create new research space, modern classrooms, easy access to the special collections, and ample exhibit space. To accomplish that, the barriers that separated different parts of the library, caused by the attachment of three buildings, were eliminated, leaving a space easier to navigate and perhaps, more alluring to undergraduates. Let the deep thinking begin.

Photos by Mark Zupan, Duke University Libraries

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Historic moments: Below, an exhibit in the new Jerry and Bruce Chappell Family Gallery traces the history of medical visualization. Inside the renovated Mary Duke Biddle Room, right, selections from the Rubenstein Library are on display, including the double elephant folio edition of Audubon’s Birds of America, and author Virginia Woolf’s writing desk, part of the Lisa Unger Baskin Collection.

THEQuad

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THEQuad

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THEQuad

Treasured items: Top, a rare copy of America’s first book, The Whole Booke of Psalmes, 1640, commonly known as the Bay Psalm Book, is on display in the new Michael and Karen Stone Family Gallery. One of only eleven extant, it was purchased in 2014 by David M. Rubenstein ’70, chair of Duke’s board of trustees, and is on display by special arrangement.

Outside the Gothic Reading Room, left, visitors can enjoy a new permanent exhibit on Duke University’s history in the Anmadieh Family Commons. Above, the Rubenstein Library’s new Photography Gallery provides a dramatic setting to showcase the library’s collections of documentary photography.

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SPORTS

The (Un)Natural An open tryout for the Duke baseball team turns into a field of dashed dreams. | BY SHAKER SAMMAN, PHOTOS BY DONN YOUNG

I

’ve always considered myself a baseball fan. Growing up, I sat glued to the television, watching my beloved Tigers struggle their way through the AL Central division. When I was eleven, they managed to fight their way to the World Series for the first time in twenty-two years, after their star player, Magglio Ordóñez, hit a three-run homer to beat the Oakland Athletics. But as much as I felt connected to the sport, my athletic ability was honed on tennis courts, and I never felt the urge to venture onto the diamond myself.

Nevertheless, like most fans, I’ve often thought, “I could totally do that.” So, knowing that the Duke mantra celebrates learning outside the classroom, I set off to learn how an ordinary student might measure up to the varsity-athlete standard.

Each September, the baseball team holds an open tryout for brave souls who think they have what it takes to play at the Division I level. Under head coach Chris Pollard, entering his fourth year at Duke, the team has had a 90-76 record, with 31-22 last season. I knew that if I earned a spot the time commitment would be considerable: The NCAA restricts student-athletes to twenty-hour weeks during the season—including games, practices, and official team activities—but that doesn’t include travel and whatever time players put in on their own. (And I would need a lot of practice.) Still, Jack Coombs Field is the neighbor to my academic home, the Sanford School, so I figured I could make it work.

On the eve of my tryout, I couldn’t sleep. Though I try to do some jogging once in a while, I suspected I was nowhere near the physical shape needed to succeed in a high-pressure sports environment. The next morning, armed with nothing but basketball shorts and a knee brace, I ventured out to the field to join the three other players pining for a spot on the roster. I don’t own a glove, so I had to borrow one.

Pollard called us down to the dugout. In his warm, yet commanding tone, he stressed the rigors of playing for a successful team, and he warned us that no decisions would be made that afternoon. Though I’d never played baseball in my life, I’d certainly watched enough, and surely my time as a top-caliber tennis player in high school would be more than enough to prevent me from embarrassing myself.

I wasn’t worried! I could absolutely do this.

After the team trainer led us in some mild stretching—even the most basic stretches left me winded—the three other students, all pitching prospects, left for the bullpen. I was sent to my first task, a 60-yard dash. I shook off a slight leg cramp (yes, my legs cramped from movements meant to loosen them up) and got into my starting stance. I was told to break into a

full sprint the second the coach—mimicking a pitcher making a pickoff play—tipped his hat. That didn’t sound too difficult.

He gave the signal, and I lurched my pudgy body forward.

After twenty yards, I felt my leg twinge. After forty, I tasted my own sweat. Wheezing, I lunged through the finish line, feeling like I’d broken the land-speed record.

But I decided not to check my actual time.

Next up, fielding grounders. Sure, I wasn’t the fastest guy in town, but I could certainly track down ground balls, right?

Twice, I ran over slow rollers, amazed that they consistently escaped my reach. When I finally fielded a few successfully, my subsequent throws were as slow and aimless as an elderly person taking a stroll.

Back at the dugout to pick up my helmet and bat, I crossed paths with my photographer, Donn. I asked him how I was doing, and he assured me it was going well. This was exactly what I needed to hear. Maybe I looked better than I felt!

My spirits rebounded.

Right on cue, Pollard called up from the catacombs: “He’s lying to you, Shaker.”

My confidence now shaken (again), I moved on to the day’s final challenge: batting practice. I stepped into the cage and mentally called my shot—just as Ordóñez did before his at-bat ten years before. The first pitch looked to be headed on a oneway trip over the right-field wall. But it turns out the infield is a lot closer to the wall than I thought, and my blooper stopped just short of third base.

I swung at twenty pitches, making contact with seventeen.

Not bad! Fifteen even went in the right direction. But then, on my third to last swing, something went terribly wrong. A sharp pain shot through my thumb, which had started turning purple. The pros call it a “pinch,” I’m told. I turned back to Pollard, silently pleading that I be allowed to quit. He nodded solemnly.

My tryout was officially over. The other three guys—likely still showing off their fastballs—were nowhere in sight. Pollard seemed to accept, even without my having to explain it, that due to my debilitating injury, I would have to retire from the sport altogether.

On my trek home that afternoon, I ran into a few friends, but none took any interest in my valiant efforts—and I had a semi-legitimate battle scar to show off, too. That night, as I crawled into my bed, an icepack nursing my bruised thumb, I found I wasn’t even upset. For a few hours on a Tuesday afternoon, I was a baseball player. n

“I could totally do that.”

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Samman is a junior majoring in public policy. He has written for Raleigh & Company, The Classical, and The Tampa Bay Times.

Open house: The newly renovated basement of Gross Hall provides dedicated spaces for clubs and other student groups, as well as collaborative space for other projects.

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Creative Commons Embedded in old Duke’s basement of creaky machinery is the Foundry, another example of new Duke’s innovation.

BY ROBERT J. BLIWISE

G

one is the forbidden zone in the depths of that unloved edifice, the recently renovated, relabeled, and revived Gross Hall. The onetime mechanical room—all 7,600 square feet of it—hasn’t completely lost its pipes, tubes, and overall rough industrial look. Only now it’s filled with light—and pretty much whatever can be cooked up and spun out of its optics and electronics shops, machining tools, workbenches, rooms for teaching and meeting, and short- and long-term project spaces.

In grander terms, the Foundry embraces an idea that’s long been building: Students want to do cool things that put their learning to work—and, at the same time, to make a difference. One product of the Foundry is a particular student vocabulary: “human-centered design,” “social impact,” and thinking outside that ever-restrictive metaphorical “box.”

The speaker at the official opening event, in early September, was George Truskey, the Pratt School’s interim dean. He says the Foundry is intended for all student teams (and not just teams of engineering students) who need space to build something, whether for a competition or a start-up. “You can learn about energy efficiency in class or a lab,” he says. “But you don’t fully understand all the tradeoffs until you take a year building, for example, an electric vehicle or a solar-powered car.”

In its past guise, the Foundry space—with all those water chillers, air handlers, and equipment of indeterminate pedigree or purpose—was “a mess,” as the lead architect for the project, Lauren Dunn Rockart, bluntly puts it. (She’s with the Raleigh-based firm Lord Aeck Sargent.)

“It took a big leap of faith on the part of Duke’s leadership to allow this transformation to happen.”

The vision that sparked the big leap, she adds, was “to use this ‘found’ space to create a facility currently missing on campus,” a place that would be “intentionally open and transparent.” Students could tinker, explore, and learn from others, the underpinnings of a community of innovators. Rockart says many universities are starting to incorporate “maker-space” on their campuses. Stanford, for example, has its “d.school,” a “hub for innovators” that, as the website describes it in somewhat wonky language,

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Fast company: Above, the vehicle made by members of Duke Electric Vehicles takes the track; right, comic and car-lover Jay Leno interviews DEV president Charlie Kritzmacher and secondary driver Caroline Ayanian for his series “Jay Leno’s Garage.”

is geared to “students with a methodology for innovation that combines creative and analytical approaches, and requires collaboration across disciplines.”

One hard-to-miss innovation at the Foundry’s opening event was a giant robotic drink mixer, courtesy of a Foundry tenant, Duke’s branch of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. The mixer is a feat of precision engineering: three acrylic towers—which took more than 100 hours to cut—containing more than 300 multicolored LEDS that can be programmed to change color. The towers are placed around a platform that can hold up to five different drink ingredients.

The group’s impressively titled “senior adviser” is Zachary Bears, a double-major in electrical and computer engineering and computer science. He explains that an app allows the user to order three drinks at a time from any combination of the five ingredients. The student designers added a fountain at the front of the platform, “for added aesthetics.”

Bears says the IEEE has taken on “a lot of fun projects,” including, for a competition, robots that can shoot Nerf darts through a basketball hoop. Forthcoming creations will feed off the Internet of Things, which he describes as “sticking embedded systems into places where they aren’t traditionally found and connecting them via the Internet.” Dorms are one of those places: Dorm-door openers, using facial-recognition software, will allow in only approved individuals. An automated system, in sync with Google Calendar, will open window blinds to gently wake a dorm-room’s inhabitants.

A fellow inhabitant of the Foundry calls itself DukeMakers.

Can plastic be cute? If so, DukeMakers would earn cuteness credits with its plastic blue 3D-printed Duke Chapel. It’s considerably miniaturized from the original—though, unlike the original, it’s not currently enveloped in scaffolding. 3D printing is an additive manufacturing technology that constructs an 26 www.dukemagazine.duke.edu

object layer by layer, explains the group’s co-president, Adarsh Ettyreddy.

In 2014, its very first year, DukeMakers, working with other groups on campus, created a prosthetic hand for an eleven-year-old boy from Durham. The boy’s hand was underdeveloped—a palm, but no fingers. The students were able to slash the price of a customized functioning prosthetic hand from thousands of dollars to less than fifty dollars. “Our goal now is to make Duke a 3D-printed prosthetics hub,” says Ettyreddy. In their Foundry space, members will dream up prototypes, debate different designs, create 3D models with different software, work with electronics, play with sensors, and, of course, 3D print. “Our club is all about making cool things, and that spans electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, biology, and art.”

Ettyreddy, a sophomore, anticipates the serendipity of unplanned Foundry interactions—“creative collisions,” to employ the term of the moment: “What we really like is having similarly curious and productive neighbors who we might share tools, ideas, and future projects with.”

Neatly labeled piles point to the productivity of one Foundry neighbor, Duke Robotics: “bearings,” “probes,” “leads,” “alligator clips,” “miscellaneous wire,” all the banal components that go into creating underwater autonomous rovers. Like any would-be sentient being, each RoboSub has a name: Charybdis, Gamera, Scylla, fictional monsters out of ancient Greece and Japan. Will Stewart, vice president for engineering for Duke Robotics, describes them variously as a UFO-like saucer, a pseudo-jellyfish, a torpedo with wings. It’s robotic evolution, sparked by intelligent student design.

Les Todd Work space: Above, the IEEE drink mixer; right, students fine-tune a device; below, DukeMakers member Ouwen Huang with Dillon, who’s wearing his prosthetic hand.

Stewart, a junior electrical and computer engineering major, says the club will use its Foundry quarters to support student teams. They’ll configure the computer codes, design the vehicle, develop and test prototypes, and refine everything to create a competition-worthy robot—one that can operate without the thinking power of a human driver, and that can survive without giving in to water pressure.

The tryout site is a Duke pool; the national competition is in a naval test pool in San Diego. According to Stewart, “It’s basically an underwater obstacle course with various tasks to be completed, like dropping a payload into a bin, shooting a torpedo through a goal, driving the bot through a hoop, locating an ultrasonic pinger, or manipulating other objects underwater.”

Human drivers are, at least for now, part of the program for Duke Electric Vehicles, a fellow Foundry occupant. Its space has a garage door, a loading bay, a fume hood, and overhead power outlets. For the Foundry’s opening day, it had on display several trophies and some spiffy, streamlined racing vehicles decorated with Blue Devil stickers (some of them monster-sized and custom-printed). Its president, Charlie Kritzmacher, says, “By broadcasting the capabilities of electric vehicles to the world, we hope to inspire everyone from car owners to carmakers to dream of more sustainable transportation.”

Like their robot-minded peers, Kritzmacher’s group comes together around a competition; for them it’s the Shell Eco-Marathon, most recently held in Detroit. Their vehicles look like the love child of a basic road bike and an Apollo-era Atlas rocket. The competition is split into two categories, prototype and Photos courtesy Pratt School of Engineering unless noted.

urban concept. It’s further split by fuel type—gasoline, diesel, bio-fuels, battery-electric, and hydrogen. For each category and fuel subset, the team that uses the least amount of energy in completing a six-mile track wins.

A senior, Kritzmacher is majoring in mechanical engineering.

He comes across as hard-driving, with interests ranging from the environment to cars and motorcycles. That passion to perform extends to DEV’s work with computer-aided design, metal machining, composite production, and workplace safety. Thinking about an efficient vehicle, he says, involves such factors as aerodynamics, weight, and friction, all of which means employing such exotic materials as carbon-fiber reinforced polymers.

Of course, the driver makes a (non-exotic) material contribution. As a freshman, longtime driver Cynthia Bai, now a senior, found herself “having a quarter-life crisis over my major”; she joined the club to confirm that mechanical engineering was right for her. “Also they were looking for a driver who was short and skinny enough to fit into the car. So I thought, wow, that’s totally me.”

Bai has driven three Duke vehicles in the Shell competition, each of them presenting different challenges: They can be demanding in terms of turning radius and visibility. And on the track, “other drivers will make sudden moves or drive into your line, forcing you to make quick judgments without using your brake—since every time you use the brake, you’re losing efficiency.”

“Other than that,” as she puts it, “the car is pretty much just as claustrophobic and bumpy every year.” Her hard-driving tenaciousness demonstrates a basic truth preserved in the Foundry: Cool student space won’t go the distance without committed students. n DUKE MAGAZINE

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Not the O Camarderie: 1G network members, from left, senior Hector Morales, senior Janet Saldana, KellyNoel Waldorf ’14, sophomore Noor Tasnim, and senior Kathryn Henschel

Only One A burgeoning campus network lets first-generation students know they belong at Duke.

By Louise Flynn | Photography by Chris Hildreth

O

rientation Week is days away, but already skittish students are filing into the East Duke lecture hall, clutching their security blankets—backpacks, water bottles, spiral notebooks sticky from sweaty palms. Most of them met each other the day before, as they wandered the stuffy, unfamiliar corridors looking for their dorm rooms, or later that evening over dinner in the basement of Gilbert-Addoms.

Justin Clapp, director of access and outreach within the financial aid office, had welcomed the fifty-three students—participants in Duke’s two-day pre-orientation program for first-generation freshmen and their families—with words that, for many, echoed a secret concern: “You may have thought, ‘My family is not the Duke stereotype,’ ” he’d told the crowd. “But Duke isn’t the stereotype. Look around.”

Now Clapp stands at the foot of the tiered seats, his enthusiasm recharged, prodding the students to move in, clump together. He pushes up his chunky glasses, scanning the room for stragglers, a bemused smile on his face. Like his students, he’s a little rumpled in his khakis and button-down on this steamy morning, but his distinctive hair, a curly orange faux-hawk, is on point as ever.

The students introduce themselves, where they live—east L.A. to Mount Olive, North Carolina—“We’re known for our pickles,” says the student—and what brought them to Duke and the 1G program specifically. Most give sheepish, pro forma answers: to move in early, to get advice, to get away from home as fast as possible.

Clapp listens and jokes around, and when they’re through, he slaps his hands together and announces: “Now, I’m going to tell you why you’re here, because most of you didn’t really tell me the truth. And that’s okay.” The room goes still, silent, and Clapp tells it like it is: “Some of you wanted to go to Duke to make a lot of money so you can go home and help support your family. I know. You may be the greatest hope your family has ever had.…” He asks a rhetorical question: “How many people know your whole story? I mean, you can say something to them and it doesn’t shock them?”

A few students shift in their seats, look away.

“This might be the only time when you’re in a room with fifty people and they’re not going to judge you,” he says. “I’m big and bold and out there”—he lets loose a deep, guffaw that could fill a stage—“and even I make decisions about when and where to be my whole self. So I know.”

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or Clapp’s audience—all first-generation college students—stepping onto Duke’s cloistered grounds isn’t so much a rite of passage as a leap of faith. They will be the first in their families to earn a four-year college degree, and with it the hope of broader choices, a different career trajectory. Roughly 10 percent of Duke’s undergraduate population is first-generation, a diverse demographic that does not include international students. What they have in common, beyond the requisite intellectual prowess, is a certain uneasiness with the intangibles of the college experience: Navigating the opportunities and expectations of an elite school, its social codes and financial demands, can be particularly challenging for those who haven’t grown up surrounded by college-bound peers or college-educated families.

Such distinctions may be subtle, but the consequences of ig30 www.dukemagazine.duke.edu

noring them are real, says Alison Rabil, director of financial aid and assistant vice provost. Students who can’t find solid footing at Duke may underachieve, and their confidence and ambitions may start to flicker and dim.

“Let’s be clear,” says Rabil. “These students aren’t academically unprepared.” No student accepted to Duke in recent years could be. “They come here on a mission. But all of the sudden what they could handle with ease in their high school is a struggle, because the culture and expectations here are so wildly different.”

While everyone stumbles at some point in college, Rabil says she’s watched her students fall behind in ways that can be prevented: For some, a fear of “bothering their professors” holds them back. Extra fees have prevented some from enrolling in essential courses. Networking, for many, is anathema. Accustomed to being at the top of their class, they don’t know when to ask for help, or who to turn to. “You’re getting this significant scholarship and this great education,” she says. “You don’t feel like you have the right to ask for more, to ask what else is out there. And I have to say, ‘No, no, no! This is part of what it means to be at Duke.’ It’s just one of those privileges, and I guess being privi-

leged is not where you’re coming from, so it feels false.”

For the better part of a decade, Rabil and a handful of administrators have worked steadily—and often invisibly—to build pockets of support for these students by developing social and academic resources for them and by engaging sympathetic faculty members. Many of these professors and administrators were first-generation themselves, and they recognize in these students their own frustrations and uncertainties as undergraduates. Students have started to embrace the “first-gen” label as a way to connect with each other and talk about issues of class and status on campus. Admissions statistics, strategic plans, even PowerPoint presentations to the board of trustees now mention Duke’s first-generation students.

All top-tier universities are courting high-achieving first-gen students—there’s now an inter-Ivy first-generation network. But twenty-six years ago, when Stephen Nowicki, vice provost and dean of undergraduate education, arrived at Duke to teach biology, socioeconomic diversity was not the priority it is today.

“We’ll all just become elite finishing schools for the rich and famous if we don’t bring in talent from wherever it is and support it,” he warns. “We become irrelevant to the future if we don’t.”

Providing that support is Clapp’s job. He understands these students’ fears and concerns because he’s first-generation, too. “I was this smart kid from this rural black family,” he says. “Growing up my mom always said, ‘I can’t wait to say, My son, the doctor from Harvard!’ She cried when I didn’t get into Harvard.”

As the former assistant director in the Office of Financial Aid, Clapp has developed a special rapport with his 400 or so first-generation and high-financial-need students. By offering

increasingly competitive financial-aid packages, the university is able to cast a wider net and draw in top students who otherwise might be scared off by sticker shock. Despite the daunting price tag, Duke is actually the seventh most affordable private university in the country, according to a recent report by ProPublica that analyzed the real cost to low-income students. While the first-generation students in this pool arrive with the same test scores, the same grade point averages, and they graduate at the same rate as their well-heeled peers, as a group they have certain vulnerabilities.

One way to safeguard against those is to bring their experiences out in the open. “Our students need to hear that we know they’re being different things in different moments,” he says.

“They feel more authentic if they don’t feel like they’re hiding.

Sometimes, when your story is found out for you, it alleviates a lot of pressure.”

Which is why in 2012 Clapp and his boss, Rabil, along with other interested administrators, launched the free pre-orientation program with a modest two-year grant. It’s a chance for students—the group hovers around fifty, about half the number

And often, things don’t add up for her first-gen kids: When she arrived at Duke seven years ago, she found they studied abroad at half the rate of their peers. They weren’t taking, or were dropping, classes that required extra fees. Some had accumulated unmanageable debts on their flex accounts. They weren’t getting needed medical care because of co-pays and prescription costs.

“They can be a quiet crowd,” she says. “When they fly under the radar, that’s when you can get a problem.”

One of her students, senior David Morris, an unflappable political science major who gives campus tours to visiting VIPs, had developed a toothache from untreated cavities. Rabil, his adviser, found out he wouldn’t go back to the dentist because he couldn’t afford to have them filled, and not only did she get the bill covered, she offered to go with him. They’re Facebook friends now.

“She’s my person,” Morris shrugs, as though he still can’t believe his good fortune. The summer before his freshman year, he attended Clapp’s first pre-orientation, and he has volunteered with the program ever since. “That’s one reason I come back every year,” he says, “to make sure the freshmen know Alison. To pay it forward, you know?”

hen KellyNoel Waldorf ’14 arrived at Duke in 2010, the pre-orientation program was not even a pipedream, and yet its origins were stealthily taking shape around her. At home in Murphy, North Carolina, her mother had been laid off from a factory job, and her father, a cabinet-maker, was considering a return to commercial fishing in New Jersey because the pay was better, even if the work was notoriously dangerous.

Waldorf had spent the summer working the register at a McDonald’s and was more than ready to lose her family worries to Shakespeare and linguistics classes.

The last thing she wanted to do was dwell on what made her feel a little different at Duke. But then the e-mails came. “At first I didn’t know what it was—‘Come to a 1G dinner!’—and then I realized, oh, I get why they’re e-mailing me, but why is that relevant?” she says, brushing away a wisp of brown hair from her glasses, amused and embarrassed for her younger self. “I guess there was some fear there. I didn’t want to out myself as poor.”

On a campus where 47 percent of students can afford to pay $60,000 per year, being low-income—and the first in your family to go to college—is not something to shout from the chapel tower. Her reaction was not unexpected, says psychologist Gary Glass, associate director for outreach and developmental programming at Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS), who along with Donna Hall, director of the Academic Resource Center (ARC), had started e-mailing friendly invitations to first-generation students in 2010. It was the first outreach of its kind at Duke.

But it was a rocky start.

A trial meeting a year earlier, advertised on fliers posted around campus, drew about as many students (six) as eager, well-meaning speakers. The memory of them all perched on chintz couches in the East Duke Parlors, painted ladies peering down on them from gilded-frames, makes Hall blush. “Not the best choice,” she says, shaking her blonde bob. “What were we thinking?”

“We got better at it,” says Glass.

Hall nods. She’s been at Duke for twenty years, and in that time

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“They feel more authentic if they don’t feel like they’re hiding.”

Clapp invites each year—to build camaraderie before the floodgates open to all freshmen. The packed schedule covers everything from how to manage financial-aid packages and how to talk to professors to how to study abroad.

Students are introduced to the Academic Resource Center, the Career Center, and counseling services. Peer advisers give pro tips: how to get free books, score free food, manage work-study, and cope with family expectations.

The parents, doting grandmas, favorite aunts who want to stay are given their own special orientation to Duke, with similar events and talks.

Basically, says Rabil, “we hit them with everything before they’re hit with everything else.”

The financial aid office has become the hub for these students because, with few exceptions, first-generation students get some form of financial aid. Rabil and Clapp may only know these students and their family situations on paper; programming is a way to connect to the person.

“I need students to know we’re nice and that we don’t breathe fire or have horns or whatever,” says Rabil, her Long Island vowels ending in a squeaky laugh. No one meeting her could miss her warmth, her crackling energy, but she’s no pushover. She refers to students as her “kids,” and at least one calls her his “Duke mom,” but she’s a straight shooter. “I like order,” she says. “I like it when things add up.”

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she’s watched the university make progress bringing in students Trailblazers: 1G administrators They opened up about include, from left, Sue with backgrounds like her own. “I didn’t know if there were any roommates and family presWasiolek ’76, M.H.A. ’78, LL.M. sures. They applied their class students like me at Williams College,” she says. “I never felt like I ’93, assistant vice president readings and newly encounquite fit in, and I was very reluctant. I don’t know that I ever told for student affairs and dean of tered theories to what they anybody I was first”— she stops and looks at Glass—“until the students; Donna Hall, director were going through. UpperEast Parlor meeting. That was my coming out.” of the Academic Resource classmen advised freshmen.

Since then she’s thought about why she didn’t tell her Duke Center; Janie Long, associate Together they groused, they colleagues that fact before then. “We slot people into categories vice provost for undergraduate strategized—how to avoid to make sense of them, to make sense of why they do what they education; and Gary Glass, spending money without othdo,” she says. “I felt that if I revealed I’m first-generation, my associate director at CAPS. er people noticing—and they colleagues might say that my impulses and judgments, my desire laughed at the unheard-of to do certain things were biased and emotional, and that might levels of wealth encountered on campus. Having had enough discount my perspective and contribution.”

Glass, first generation from a military family, went to high of the obligatory (and unaffordable) celebration dinners for school in the Panama Canal Zone. New to Duke, he was often friends, one student famously piped up, “And I can’t go to the asked where he did his undergraduate work. “I’d say, ‘Just down Cheesecake Factory every time someone has a damn birthday!”

Something had been uncorked. the road at UNC-Greensboro,’ and their response was, ‘Oh, you For the next three years Hall and Glass’ network would gather went to a state school?’ ” He pauses, his eyebrows ticking up. “At first I thought there must be some confusion; since I’d gone to school “What do you do, who do you turn to, when you have in Panama maybe the person was expressing surprise that I went to something stressful to talk about and you can’t talk to a continental U.S. school.” He your parents? They don’t understand why you’re studying laughs. Of course, that wasn’t it at all. sociology anyway, and not premed.”

As older and wiser versions of the students they hoped to recruit, Glass and Hall knew they needed to let the network grow organ- for dinner three times each semester about two-dozen students ically to make it stick. “When you’re talking about working-class from the 250-student 1G listserv. One of those students was backgrounds, grassroots is going to be far more trustworthy than Sonam Aidasani ’14, whose parents didn’t finish high school. any administratively led institutional program,” says Glass. “But They own a jewelry store on St. Thomas, where she went to we were trying to figure out how to get students to receive our a college-prep high school that didn’t have a college counselor. support and resources, so we couched it as a way to be helpful After applying to twenty-one schools—selected from the U.S. to other students.”

News & World Report rankings—she found that Duke offered That approach tapped into the students’ natural affinity for her the best financial-aid package. helping those who have traveled a similar path to Duke. The YouTube guided her through the intimidating forms. Then venue changed, too: They moved to a nondescript conference she found a better resource: Rabil spoke at one of the first dinroom with a table long enough for twenty-five kids to share the ners Aidasani attended. “I remember her telling us, if you ever have money issues or questions, call me.” take-out Hall and Glass took turns bringing in.

Family was a big topic, too. Finding friends who understood By the end of 2010, a group of 1G students started to form.

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her parents’ often-limited appreciation of her academic interests was a relief for Aidasani: “What do you do, who do you turn to, when you have something stressful to talk about and you can’t talk to your parents? They don’t understand why you’re studying sociology anyway, and not premed.”

As much as Duke is a leap up the social strata, it’s a profound step away, too—from family history and a community that can seem like a distant land while scuttling up the steps of the Allen Building. Many in the network grapple with this widening disconnect. Glass says one student, who wanted to major in linguistics, told the group about the hassle he was getting from home: “My mom said, ‘I didn’t send you to college to study stupid things.’ ” Everyone laughed. They’d heard a version of that, too.

More often, when students shared family stories, quiet smiles of recognition would ripple through the room. One woman told the story of how she found out she got into Duke. Her extended family was gathered around her when she read the acceptance letter. Through the cheers she heard her uncle say to himself in a whisper, “A Gonzales is going to Duke….”

“That’s one of the powerful things,” Glass says, a hand at his chest. “We talk about first-generation students, but really there are families coming to college for the first time.”

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whether a student has a sense of belonging on campus is academic engagement, which translates into a connection with a faculty member, administrator, or group,” he says.

Aidasani developed four first-gen mentors at Duke by her junior year. Hall and Glass, too, found a wider network of firstgen colleagues than they could have imagined. At a meeting of twelve faculty members and administrators, who were gathered to discuss work on a study of student resiliency, Hall and Glass asked how many were first-generation. “All around this long conference table,” says Hall, “every hand went up but one.”

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aldorf is long-cured of her first-gen reluctance.

Now in her second and final year working for the College Advising Corps (CAC) at Duke, she counsels students at a rural high school, nudging them toward schools that fit their strengths, encouraging them to branch out, assuring them they can do it. Many are first-generation, and when they say, “You went to Duke? Your family must be rich,” she laughs and tells them her story. Next fall she plans to start a graduate program in linguistics, but in the meantime network kismet continues to follow her: Aidasani is her roommate and fellow CAC counselor.

“I would do this for a third year if they’d let us,” says Aidasani.

“This is just the kind of work I want to do—forging close relationships with students, but for a nonprofit.”

These days Morris, the senior political science major, is less certain about his future. He’s sitting at a table beneath a parched-looking tree rooted in the Bryan Center plaza; the gray sky is starting to spit rain, but he’s unbothered. His mind is elsewhere. The pre-orientation is over, and now he can get back to thinking about the ten short months ahead. He knows he can’t take on $120,000 in debt for law school. An unpaid internship is, he says, “not even on my radar.”

“It’s just like when I was applying to college, figuring it out all over again,” he says, “not knowing if I’m doing it right.”

Morris is finding that doors, once again, seem closed to him.

“You hear these things,” he says, hesitating. “A guy says, ‘My dad’s buddy is at this big firm,’ or ‘I’ve got a job at this or that place if I want it.’ These circles are way, way over your head.”

He’s interned at great firms, too—one in Washington this past summer. But there are no sure bets in his world. “I don’t know what would make a difference—funneling opportunities down, or having a pipeline for students to access those circles. It’s just so many layers above where I am.” He pauses, weary of the jargon, the abstractions, and lets the beeps and thuds of a nearby bulldozer fill the silence.

He knows what’s really bothering him. “I don’t have anything to fall back on,” he says, finally. With Rabil and Clapp an e-mail away, professors to please and friends to see, there was no room for the old worries to creep in, until now. A sliver of daylight is beginning to open between his Duke life and his future. “I’m out there by myself again. It’s hard when people don’t get it, and it’s frustrating.” He takes a gulp from his water bottle. Checks the time. There’s only one thing to do, really. So he just says it: “I have to fall back on myself.”

But that’s not entirely true anymore and hasn’t been since he arrived on campus. His life has changed already. Believing it may take a little more time. n

n her last year at Duke, Waldorf couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that her experience of being low-income and first-generation on campus was mostly invisible. In part, she’d made it that way. (After all, she hadn’t joined the 1G network.) But she wondered why money is “such a taboo at Duke,” she says. “No one really talks about it.”

But it’s always there.

Throughout her years at Duke, Donna Hall has noticed this, too. “Universities and higher education in general have been talking about race and gender and sexuality for a long time, but we haven’t been talking about class issues,” she says. “Our country is uncomfortable talking about class. We’re built on trying to break down class, and in doing that we’ve stopped talking about it as an issue.”

With income inequality in the headlines, perhaps that will change. “There may be a kind of permission now that these issues are part of the national identity and conversation,” says Hall.

For Waldorf, the best coping mechanism was to write about it. After much trepidation and reassurances from friends, she sat down at her computer and wrote a short article about being poor at Duke for an editor friend at The Chronicle.

“At first I put down the experiences that were really challenging, but then I started to think about the positive qualities that come from this,” she says. The story, “I Came to Duke With an Empty Wallet,” appeared online and in print November 11, 2013, and quickly went viral, appearing on The Huffington Post later that week. “I woke up to a stream of e-mails and Facebook messages,” she says. Ron Lieber, the finance columnist for The New York Times, even e-mailed to say her story was relevant to a book he was writing, and he directed her to a conversation he was having on Facebook about it. “People coming up to me, even professors—it was really alarming! But so, so nice.”

Three years before, Glass and Hall had tried to bring students like Waldorf together to create this type of support, this community. A sense of belonging is essential Watch Dean Sue talk about her first-generation experience at Duke at to academic achievement, says Glass, pointing bit.ly/DeanSueFirstGen to research from the Duke Social Relationship Project study. “The single biggest predictor of DUKE MAGAZINE

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NO

NO

!

O N It All Mister On a journey to end his fear of rejection, alumnus Jia Jiang earned a book’s worth of wisdom.

BY CHRISTINA HOLDER

THERE’S A MEMORY that Jia Jiang M.B.A. ’09 can’t get out of his head. He’s six years old. He’s standing before all of his classmates. He feels alone.

It’s Christmas in Beijing, where Jiang was born and raised, and his kindergarten teacher is orchestrating a lesson on kindness. She’s filled the front of the classroom with wrapped gifts, and she tells the students to pick one to give away to a classmate. And because she wants them to learn about more than just material gifts, she asks them to deliver a compliment along with their present, a virtual teddy bear of affirmation to go along with the stuffed animal or colored pencil set they are giving away.

As his classmates’ names are called, Jiang cheers them on, confirming every compliment with enthusiastic applause.

This is a child who does not do anything halfway. He’s all in.

Pair after pair of students swap presents and sit down, collapsing with contentment. Eventually the crowd dwindles to three. The teacher prods the class to say something nice about the remaining trio.

But there is only silence. Jiang looks out at the crowd, the children bouncing and smiling. He begins to cry.

It is the first time in his life he feels rejected.

Some twenty-five years later, Jiang is weaving through a swarm of people in the Bryan Center on Duke’s campus,

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looking for someone to turn him down.

It’s April, just a few weeks after Duke won the basketball national championship, and the center is alive with students cramming for finals and shoppers stocking up on Duke gear. Jiang scans the crowd, surging and turning like a cyclone of energy. He’s here to ask outrageous favors of complete strangers, to make requests that they won’t possibly do. Or at least that’s the plan.

He approaches a student sitting near the Bryan Center box office. She’s wearing a Barcelona club shirt, a laptop nestled in her lap like a soccer ball. Jiang walks up from behind her, peers over her shoulder, and says hello. The student looks up, clasping her hands above her laptop and offering a guarded “hi.” After asking what she’s studying (cultural anthropology and global health), he dives in. “Can I be your pro bono tutor?” he asks, as casually as if he’d asked for the time of day.

“Uhhh—like tutor me?” the student says, picking up her cell phone. “Well, what I’m doing right now is I’m writing a paper.”

“Oh, I love writing papers,” Jiang says, bringing his hands together as if in prayer. “I’m really good at it.” His hands explode outward like fireworks.

“That’s okay,” she replies, sneaking glances at her computer screen. “It’s like an autobiographical kind of paper.”

Jia Jiang

On the page: Jiang’s book is a memoir and a field guide of advice about navigating fear.

Jiang sees his way in. “Autobiographical! I’ve done just that,” he says. A student sitting in a club chair twenty feet away turns to listen. “Trust me,” he says. “I spent a whole year writing one.”

Jiang is referring to his first book, Rejection Proof, published earlier this year by the Crown self-help imprint Harmony.

The book, which begins as a memoir and yields to a field guide of advice, is based

on his unusual personal journey to get comfortable with rejection. For 100 days in 2012 to 2013, Jiang videotaped himself—a smartphone hooked to a lanyard around his neck—asking strangers for the impossible. He posted the videos online as a personal journal to track the lessons he learned. But when one of the videos appeared on Reddit, the series went viral.

People across the world began leaving

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YES To the first security guard he saw:

“ Would you loan me

$100?

”

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comments on Jiang’s YouTube page about how they had been inspired by his courage. E-mail messages began filling his inbox faster than he could respond to them.

Gawker and CNN called. CBS flew him to New York for an interview.

“I tackled a human problem,” Jiang says. How do you get over the universal shame of being rejected? Get rejected, a lot. “When you hear ‘no,’ you just want to get out of there and leave as soon as possible. But if you stay engaged, that actually takes the sting away.”

Jiang got the idea from a card game called Rejection Therapy, invented by an entrepreneur named Jason Comely after his wife left him and he holed up in his apartment to avoid talking to people. The game deck includes gentle dares designed to help people ease into asking for the things they really want. “Before purchasing something, ask for a discount,” one card challenges.

If Comely dipped a toe in the rejection pool, Jiang took a polar-bear plunge. In his quest to take “no” for an answer, he put himself in a series of increasingly uncomfortable situations, sometimes with laugh-out-loud results. Could he deliver a pizza for Domino’s? (No.) Could he make an in-flight announcement? (Yes.) Could he trade places with a dog and get his hair trimmed at PetSmart? (No.) Could he persuade a complete stranger to let him play soccer in his backyard? (Yes.) Pretty much any of these situations would have terrified Jiang even two years ago, when he was working as a marketing manager for Dell in Austin, Texas. On the surface, he seemed to have it made—a six-figure salary, a home with his wife, Tracy, his first child on the way. But inside Jiang felt far from having made it. He was depressed. Growing up in China, Jiang had wanted to be an entrepreneur. When he was fourteen, Bill Gates visited Beijing, and as Jiang watched the Microsoft magnate through his TV, Jiang imagined similar success for himself. He told his family that he’d be successful enough to buy out Gates by the time he was twenty-five.

And there had been chances, brief glimmers of those entrepreneurial dreams. In

college, he had an idea to make a sneaker with retractable wheels. As he describes it in Rejection Proof, “Kids and adults could be walking one moment and gliding around with their friends the next. The world would become a giant rink, and happiness would be widespread!” He spent a weekend sketching blueprints in his dorm room and mailed copies to his favorite uncle, hoping for praise. But his uncle told Jiang to stop wasting his time, to practice his English so he could land a professional job. Jiang shoved the sketches in a drawer.

About two years later, another entrepreneur, Roger Adams, patented the shoe-skate under the brand name Heelys.

Heelys were soon everywhere, even on the feet of Shaquille O’Neal. Seeing his idea take off without him created no rink of happiness for Jiang. He grew resentful.

As Jiang approached his thirtieth birthday, Tracy couldn’t take it anymore. She told him to quit his six-figure job and to pursue building a start-up for six months.

If it didn’t work out, she assured him, he could go find another job. Yes, she was about to give birth, and yes, they were accustomed to the comforts of their suburban Texas life. But they could get used to living with less, Tracy told him, if it meant not living with regret.

And so Jiang did it. He quit Dell and came up with an idea for a mobile app called Hooplus, which would help employees stay on task by incentivizing the completion of work goals. He rented an office, hired a team of coders, and started pitching potential investors. Sunny and unflappable as ever, he felt success was inevitable. He dreamt five times that his key investor would agree to fund the project. And so when his phone vibrated while he was at a friend’s birthday party, Jiang couldn’t believe the e-mail message he saw: a short, curt “no.”

Jiang had to walk outside. “It felt incredibly impersonal and personal at the same time,” he says. “I didn’t want people to see me crying in front of them.”

He was nearly out of money, and he felt like a failure. But Tracy reminded him that she had promised him six months to become an entrepreneur. He had two left,

she told him. What was he going to do?

Jiang was tired of slamming drawers on blueprints. He was tired of letting others decide how he felt. While he searched for a new investor for his app, he set out to exorcise his demons—the fear and the shame that surfaced in his six-year-old self and had never really stopped. In his public showdown with rejection, he wanted to become as strong as steel, “to come out like a badass,” he says.

THE NEXT DAY, Jiang walked through the quiet lobby of the building where he was renting space for Hooplus and asked the first person he saw—a hulking security guard burrowed among a fortress of monitors—to loan him $100. The guard immediately said, “No,” and in the same breath asked “Why?” But Jiang didn’t hear the question. He was so nervous he practically sprinted away, relieved to be done with his first rejection attempt.

Later, when watching the video, Jiang heard the missed opportunity. “He was inviting me to explain myself,” he says.

That’s one of the more important lessons Jiang says he learned about rejection—not only did he learn to accept rejection but he learned that sometimes a “no” can become a “yes.” If you give people a reason to help you, they often do— and sometimes the motivation is nothing more than just wanting to make your day.

On Day Three, Jiang made an impulsive stop at a Krispy Kreme shop in Austin, where he asked a donut maker named Jackie if she could make five interlocking donuts like the Olympic rings. Jackie began sketching a design on the back of a receipt and disappeared into the belly of the bakery. Fifteen minutes later she emerged to present Jiang with what felt like a gold medal in his personal rejection games—a box of donuts decked in blue, yellow, black, green, and red icing, arranged in ring formation. Jackie didn’t even make Jiang pay for the donuts. “That’s my pleasure,” she said pointing to the box.

From the video, it’s not clear who reaches for whom first. But the two end

up in a hug. “Wow,” he told her then.

“Jackie, I’m a fan.”

What Jiang discovered is that people agreed to his bizarre requests more than 60 percent of the time. And when they turned him down, like the bemused groomer at PetSmart, they were apologetic about rules or regulations that prohibited them from helping. The Duke student writing the paper? Jiang eventually persuaded her, too. (“Write from the heart,” he counseled.)

There’s probably no harder-earned piece of wisdom from 100 days of rejection that Jiang could offer. After repeatedly approaching total strangers on Austin streets, he’s become serious about converting the corporate world. As a consultant, he’s taken his message to thousands of employees at Google and IBM—hoping to energize their sales success and creativity by getting them to take risks. Jiang is no longer deterred by the fear of rejection. But he’s not exactly a badass, either. He’s still putting himself out there, emotionally. Something is at risk.

You can sense that realization starting to happen on Day Ninety-Seven, as Jiang drove to a park in downtown Austin, where he was going to invite people to listen to a story. In the video, he appears distraught and momentarily tries to convince himself it’s too hot to go through with his plan. After testing the air with his hand, he sighs. “It’s perfect. The temperature is perfect. The timing is perfect. The location is perfect. Everything is perfect.”

And then: “I still want to run away.”

After ninety-six days of facing up to rejection, Jiang is still afraid. But now he lets the fear sit with him. He sets up a whiteboard announcing his public storytelling. He waits for people to pass by. He tells his story. And then the remarkable happens. Fear gives way to something entirely opposite.

“The world is such a beautiful place.

You don’t even know,” he says to a small group gathered around him as he concludes his story. “I opened myself to the world, and the world opened itself back to me.” n

Christina Holder

People agreed to Jiang’s bizarre requests more than

60% of the time.

See Jia Jiang’s rejection attempts at Duke: http://ow.ly/RAs3W

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s and Contentiou

Food, Glorious Food During Reunions Weekend this past spring, the annual Duke Magazine Forum served up a conversation, led by editor Robert J. Bliwise, among Duke experts about how we can be more adventurous, more intelligent, and more environmentally conscious eaters. Here is an edited version of that discussion.

KELLY BROWNELL is dean of the Sanford School of Public Policy and former director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University; the author of fifteen books and more than 350 scientific articles and chapters, he was named by Time magazine as a leading “warrior” in the area of nutrition and public policy.

EMILY MCGINTY ’13 is the current Duke Campus Farm Fellow, a role that includes supporting the farm’s production operations and educational programming; the farm itself sprouted from a class at Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment.

NORMAN WIRZBA is a

professor of theology and ecology at Duke’s divinity school; with research and teaching interests at the intersections of theology, philosophy, ecology, and agrarian and environmental studies, he is the author most recently of Food and Faith: A Theology of Eating.

What’s the most important thing you think about in your food choices?

BROWNELL: More and more people are caring about the story of their food. They want to know who grew it, where it came from, how far it got transported, whether it was genetically modified.

This interest in the broader story of food is really transforming the way we look at food and the systems that create it.

MCGINTY: I try to think about food at a really simple level: whether I actually know what it is I’m eating, whether I can break down the food into its component parts, which is easy when it comes to whole, raw food. But, as someone who grows food, it’s still a complex thing—knowing about seed structures, for instance, and how different crops are harvested.

38 www.dukemagazine.duke.edu

RUTH WOLEVER, a clinical health psychologist and director of research at Duke Integrative Medicine and associate professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, is coauthor of The Mindful Diet: How to Transform Your Relationship With Food for Lasting Weight Loss and Vibrant Health.

WIRZBA: When I think about food, I think about two primary things: One is health—the health of the economies, the health of the farms that grow this food—because eating is such a deep act that takes us beyond our own bodies to the bodies of all the things of this world, ranging from soil microorganisms and water, to food plants and animals, and then to human eaters. The other thing I think about is celebration: Eating ought to be a celebration of the fact that when you pick something fresh from the vine and you get this flavor explosion, it’s just amazing.

WOLEVER: I’m interested in how we make the decisions we make, why I’m eating what I’m eating, how I decide to start eating, how I decide to stop eating.

Kelly, you’ve put a focus on sodas, energy drinks, fruit drinks, flavored waters, sports drinks. What makes those drinks particularly worrisome?

BROWNELL: When you’re thinking about preventing obesity, which is a major problem not only in the U.S. but around the world—the health minister of China recently declared that obesity is now a more significant problem than hunger in that country—you have to think about the major contributors. Sugared beverages are devoid of nutrition. Even a Twinkie has at least a little nutrition, but soda really has none at all. Also, the body doesn’t seem to recognize calories very well when they get delivered in liquids. So you just don’t feel as full, and you’re likely to keep eating beyond the calories that you’ve consumed with the sugared beverages.

There is pretty good evidence that sugar acts on the brain very much like traditional substances of abuse—there’s withdrawal, craving, possibly tolerance.

Emily, it seems that Duke students are not immune to the fast-food culture. There’s a pretty popular McDonald’s right in the Bryan Center. How might we change eating habits on campus?

MCGINTY: We’ve lost a lot of the basic toolkit to understand what food is; we lack food literacy.

Food literacy can mean a lot of things. It can mean knowing what grows when and where, what things actually are in season. You’d be surprised by the number of e-mails I get asking whether the Campus Farm has tomatoes in January, or whether we grow limes or lemons.

But there’s also a kind of relational deficit in how college students experience food. Even if students are buying a lot of grab-and-go food, even if they need to be thinking about cost and convenience, can we make their engagement a little bit deeper? On one campus I just visited, they’re using touchpad technology at the point of purchase to share the story of where the food was grown.

Norman, you write, “Eating together should be an occasion in which people learn to become more attentive and more present to the world and each other.” Tell me more.

WIRZBA: The desire to have food cheaply and conveniently on our terms means that we’re destroying the world, we’re destroying agricultural communities, we’re abusing animals and agri-

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cultural workers, and we’re doing a lot of injury to our own health. Part of the problem is that we’ve stopped asking questions about the meaning and significance of the things that we’re doing.

What is food? The immediate response from a lot of people will be, “Well, it’s fuel,” or, “It’s a commodity.”

If you think about food strictly as a commodity, the primary things that matter are cost and availability. But what if food is something much more than that? What if we were to say that food is in fact something like the expression of love? If you have the joy of being able to cook for people, you shouldn’t expect them to wolf down what you cook. And what are the stories behind a tomato or behind a hamburger? For us to eat, others have to die, right? This is serious, this is profound, this is something that ought to make us realize that we’re all in a world of gifts. We need to learn to see these gifts.

Eating together, talking with other people as we’re eating and cooking together, sharing the deep stories of food can be a way to contribute to the healing of our agricultural communities, the healing of our lands, the better treatment of our animals and our plants. The beautiful thing is that when we learn to take care of each other we actually get better food, healthier communities, healthier ecosystems, and healthier eaters.

Ruth, the assumption is that the solution to out-of-control eating is simply to clamp down on it with hyper-controlled eating. Why doesn’t that work?

WOLEVER: Diets don’t work because they’re basically this external set of rules that leave out of the picture what the individual might really be needing, what the individual might be feeling, what signals the body is sending to tell the person when they’re actually hungry.

That’s basically telling the person to ignore his or her own innate wisdom and follow some external signal instead.

Because of the way our brains are structured, we’ve learned over time to pair eating with comfort, eating with managing anxiety, eating with some behavior pattern that over

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time we did to calm ourselves in some way. We’re often doing things automatically without really recognizing what the driver is for our eating. So we may be lonely, but what we’re doing is reaching for food. Or we may be bored, and what we’re doing is reaching for food instead of actually creating a community or a relationship, or tending to what our real needs are.

I keep reading different expressions of expert opinion. One day a low-carb, high-protein diet is in; the next day, a low-carb, high-protein diet is out. Do we know whose food recommendations we’re supposed to trust?

BROWNELL: There’s a broader question, and that is related to what food really is. When I do talks, sometimes I’ll show a slide that’s an ingredient label and ask people to guess what that food is from its ingredients. This particular food item has fifty-six things on the ingredient label; sugar is about nine of the fifty-six things. Why would there be nine forms of sugar in there? So sugar doesn’t have to be listed as the first ingredient on the label: It’s complete trickery by the companies. It happened to be a chocolate Pop-Tart.

If you look at those fifty-six different things, do we know what those are doing to the body? We don’t know what they do to the brain. And so what is that chocolate Pop-Tart? Should it be regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency? Should it be considered an addictive substance? If you consider food anything you consume, a chocolate Pop-Tart qualifies. If you consider food something that nurtures body, soul, and health, then it doesn’t qualify.

On the question of seemingly ever-changing nutrition advice: You hope that would occur, because science advances, and we learn new things, and so some of the contradictory information is the result of the fact that science marches ahead. But there’s a lot more going on than just that; it’s the way the press handles information on nutrition. The press wants new news, and if there is news that comes along that’s consistent with previous advice, it’s unlikely to get reported or covered. If it’s contrary to that, it is likely to get reported, even if it’s one study, even if it’s not even a particularly well-done study. Anything that gets people’s attention gets reported, and it’s highly confusing to consumers. So omega-3 fatty acids are good, and then they’re bad. Butter is good, and then it’s bad. Eggs are good, and then they’re bad.

One thing I think would be tremendously helpful

is if there were some sources that people could count on and go to: If they have questions about any of these foods, they could go and get the most recent scientific information. Sometimes scientists are paid by the industries whose products they’re studying, and you know what you get from that.

In the past, we know that it was primarily the rich who were fat; now obesity affects the poor disproportionately. We also know the cost differential continues to rise between healthy and unhealthy eating, which means it’s a heck of a lot cheaper to eat in an unhealthy way. Can we solve an obesity crisis without solving a crisis around social inequities?

WIRZBA: We have to acknowledge that the obesity problem in our culture doesn’t just happen, that there is a kind of planning that makes this inevitable for a lot of people. Taxpayer dollars are going to subsidize these foods that are relatively inexpensive for the consumer on the front end but are very expensive on the health end, very expensive on the ecological end, because to produce all of these cheap foods, we have to have an agriculture that is really degrading. Let’s think about how we could have different kinds of policies that subsidize better food. There are some things happening to make that possible—SNAP [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly the federal Food Stamp Program] benefits that can be used in farmers’ markets.

Another step is to invigorate local, smallscale agriculture where the production of fruits and vegetables, healthy meats, humanely raised meats becomes much more available to people, especially in inner cities. We know that the presence of food deserts is a major problem for the poor, so the options to buy groceries are the 7-Eleven, the liquor store, gas stations—you’re not going to find healthy food in these places.

How do you figure out ways to create farmers’ markets? How do you get community gardens going? How do you get grocery stores back into these neighborhoods? When we say we’re spending less on food than ever, we have to ask, is that a good thing or a bad thing? A lot of this food is bad for us, and the population that has to deal with the health effects of this cheap food are on the poor side of the economic spectrum.

tion, of emotion, of thought, and behavioral urges. It all gets kind of stored together, and some kind of cue can trigger a sequence. You can train the mind to observe, through a very consistent training process, what seems to be a single event and begin to see that it has all of these tiny pieces to it. You begin to see that there are lots of different choice points. So one way of working with triggers is to build in a “pause” button, to become a more astute observer and to experience your life, in a sense, in a different way.

We know that food companies create flavors and textures that make foods stuffed with carbohydrates, fat, salt, other bad things nearly impossible to stop eating. How do we regulate that?

BROWNELL: The food companies are very interesting players. We obviously can’t get by without them, so they’re not like the tobacco companies, where you can just wish them away. Their bottom line is they need to sell as much food as they can. They may offer healthy and unhealthy versions. But people don’t overeat healthy versions of things; they do overeat unhealthy versions of things. If you give children cereals like regular cornflakes versus sugar-frosted flakes, it’s completely different how much

Talk about the triggers that fuel our eating behavior—ads, snacks in the workplace, snacks everywhere else, the association that we tend to make between watching TV and eating.

WOLEVER: Something that we might experience as a single event is actually made up of body sensa-

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they eat, in the direction you might imagine. So the companies have an interest in formulating foods in ways that thwart our natural satiety mechanisms and the natural wisdom of the body. And that means things like sugar, fat, and salt; it means texture changes; it means chemical additives that give things aromas to make us want more.

And it means putting in things that fool the brain into thinking you haven’t eaten as much as you really have.

If you were a company CEO, you would want to do those things, because you owe it to your shareholders to maximize sales of your products. So I don’t think it can

quiring restaurants to put calorie labels on their foods.

The place where he wasn’t successful was in restricting portion sizes of sodas. There is a very good public-health rationale for doing that: Sodas are a bad actor in the whole nutrition scheme, and there is very clear evidence showing that as you increase portion sizes, people consume more without realizing it. But the city got sued by the soda industry. It then went to the highest court in the state of New York, and they ruled that because the city has just limited jurisdiction—movie theaters and food carts, for example—it was arbitrary. But I suspect some other city will pass this, and then it can be tested in a different legal context.

So Emily, I’m awarding you the prerogative to direct the nutrition program for all public schools. What’s your nutrition program going to be, and how are you going to persuade these kids to become healthy eaters?

only be done by hoping that their social conscience wins out over their need to make money. You could require the companies to gradually reduce the amount of salt in things like soups in ways that adjust consumer preferences so people aren’t accustomed to as much salt. If you wait for one company to do it, and they do it and they lose market share, it’s a disincentive for any of the others to do it, and it certainly is a disincentive for that company. But if you make them all do it at the same time, we’ll all get accustomed to our soup without heaps of salt, much as we’ve become accustomed to milk that isn’t whole-fat milk. There is just no question that we can’t get to the goal line without government intervention.

Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg famously and virtuously sought to limit the size of these sugar-sweetened beverages sold in movie theaters and restaurants, by street vendors, and so forth. He got huge pushback; the initiative fizzled. How would you have advised him?

BROWNELL: For those of us that care about government’s involvement in this space, Bloomberg is a complete hero—getting rid of trans fats in restaurant foods, re-

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MCGINTY: We don’t always give kids enough credit for being excited about making food choices.

I also think we need to consider everything from the infrastructure of actual school buildings, to how well our schools are set up to prepare and store healthy foods, to the kind of training we’re giving food-service workers.

I run into that issue even here on campus. In the earliest days of the Duke Farm, we were constrained in what we could sell to the university dining halls based on what the line staff was trained to handle. Some raw, oddly shaped vegetables were unfamiliar. Not every line cook is hired and told, “Tell me ten ways to use kohlrabi.

Tell me twelve ways to use rutabaga for X thousands of meals a day.” And so the conversation too often cycles back to, “Well, it’s a lot easier to heat up corn dogs.”

WIRZBA: So much of the food we now have in the system has no flavor. I mean, you all have had the experience of picking up a piece of cantaloupe and saying, “There is no flavor here at all,” which is a shame, because if you eat a vine-ripened cantaloupe fresh from a patch, it’s incredible what you will experience. One of the reasons people don’t want to eat so many of these fruits and vegetables is that the food is picked and shipped from great distances, it’s picked weeks before it should be picked, and so the food has nothing of nutritional or taste quality that would compel a child to eat it. Changing the system by which we produce and distribute food, how long it sits in a truck or on a boat, will add a lot to persuading kids that fruits and vegetables taste good.

Norman, you refer in your book to that first human transgression as an eating-related transgression: Adam and Eve were exiled from the Garden of Eden because they ate the forbidden fruit. I know you see in that story some kind of message about eating smartly, eating with discipline, versus eating with abandon.

WIRZBA: The Adam and Eve story is really rich with lots of different elements. But it’s centered on the question of human desire.

One of the key things going on is that Adam and Eve are creatures, and by creatures we mean they’re dependent, they must receive life as a gift, and they must learn to accept responsibility for the gift by learning to take care of the gift. So these people are put in a garden and told, “You have to take care of the garden now.” And so desire is sort of enfolded within responsibility.

If you think about traditional cultures, traditional farming communities, for instance, it makes perfect sense for people to tune their expectations to the expectations of their animals, and that their desire only be appropriate insofar as it aligns with the desires of their animals or land.

It’s through the work of taking care of plants and animals and soil and other people that we learn a basic lesson: the need to restrain our desire so that we can accept responsibility.

So this first eating act, which is a violation, I think, is important because it shows how through our eating, our desires can go really crazy. We have all kinds of hungers as people—not just hunger for food but hunger for power, hunger for recognition.

And eating is just the most visible expression of these kinds of hungers. Getting our desire about food right has been a big part of not just Christian and Jewish traditions, but all of the world’s religious traditions.

We have to learn to eat properly because that’s the most immediate, the most visible, the most practical way in which we attend to this very basic human issue, which is how the desires we have can be appropriate or inappropriate. n

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F I R S T - P E R S O N

The Longest Instant Waiting a lifetime for change to happen overnight

BY STEVEN PETROW

“T

hat Was Fast,” shouted a Slate headline learned, are promiscuous; one was described as bethe day after the Supreme Court ruled ing unable to hold a job because of his “inability in June in favor of legalizing same-sex to contain his homosexual inclinations.” Most of marriage nationwide. A good friend those interviewed sat shrouded in shadows or beof mine put it another way by e-mail: hind palm fronds. Although Mr. Wallace acknowl“The marriage ruling happened overnight. I can’t edged homosexuality’s “increasing visibility,” the believe it.” Indeed, even as summer turned to fall, lesson of the hour to this ten-year-old was shame.

Two years later I was walking our family puppy this is what I’ve been hearing, repeatedly, from friends both gay and straight. I know their words past a newsstand one early summer morning and are well meaning and congratulatory, but they’re saw the Daily News headline: “Homo Bar Raided, frustrating as well, because they’re not exactly true. Queen Bees Are Stinging Mad.” New York City’s Don’t get me wrong—I’m over the moon about “finest” had raided the Stonewall Inn, triggering the the court’s ruling and what it means for so many, eponymous riot. I didn’t know at the time that the my husband and me included. But like the nov- modern gay rights movement had just taken a giant elist or actor who worked step forward for all mankind. I was just starting to diligently for years before discover my sexuality, and my takeaway from that declared an “overnight moment not only was shame, but a cancer of hopeFor much of my being sensation,” I wonder wheth- lessness about finding love. time on campus, I er some lived under a rock During my first year at Duke, in 1975, I sought during the decades-long help at Student Health after a significant bout of led a clandestine struggle of the LGBT rights depression.

I wrote in my journal: “I was down life, which made it movement. Frank Bruni today [again], and my homosexuality may be one hard to connect with nailed it in a New York Times of the reasons why. I think that at some point I column soon after the ruling: am going to commit suicide. This scares me someothers in any kind of “Same-sex marriage isn’t some thing terrible, but I don’t know what to do.” The meaningful way. overnight cause…especially Duke psychiatrist I saw wanted to hear nothing not when it’s put in its proper about my homosexuality; he suggested I keep my context, as part of a struggle “problem” to myself, prescribing me the anti-anxifor gay rights that has been ety drug Valium.

For much of my time on campus, I led a clandesplenty long, patient and painful.”

I know that struggle, with its twists, turns, and tine life, which made it hard to connect with others dead-ends, all too well. I’ve lived as an outsider, in any kind of meaningful way. Sorority formals and I’ve been called out as a “pervert” and “faggot” with my serial-girlfriends by night; hanging out in and even beaten up because of my sexual orienta- the gay bars after midnight. When “blue jeans day” tion. Looking back today, the words “that was fast” came the fall of my sophomore year, gay students are not the ones that come to mind. That I might and our supporters were urged to “come out” by check “married”—as in to my husband—on a fed- wearing denim, the typical undergrad uniform. I’d eral income tax form, didn’t seem possible in this say 90 percent of students rummaged through their lifetime, now in its fifth decade. closets to find khaki or corduroy that day—myself Growing up in New York City, I remember among them. watching a 1967 CBS documentary called The HoFast forward to the mid-1980s: I was in grad mosexuals, hosted by Mike Wallace, that described school at Berkeley when the HIV/AIDS epidemic gay men as incapable “of a lasting relationship took over front pages. President Ronald Reagan falike that of a heterosexual marriage.” Gay men, I mously refused to even say the word “AIDS,” much

44 www.dukemagazine.duke.edu

Married men: Petrow, left, and his husband, Jim Bean Bryan Regan

less fund prevention or treatment programs, and the Reverend Jerry Falwell just as infamously added: “AIDS is not just God’s punishment for homosexuals, it is God’s punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals.” As a result, gay and straight friends of mine died from HIV, including Ron DeLuca, Jeff Amory, Bill Cox, and Denise Caldwell. Not to mention three young hemophiliacs I had befriended—Ricky, Robert, and Randy Ray. Sex, love, and intimacy had become synonymous with illness, death, and hate—hardly the best foundation for a healthy relationship, much less marriage. Those days, those nights, and those decades were long ones. I felt lucky—and sometimes guilty—simply to have survived.

In 2004, I met the man who would become my “life partner” (as gay couples often were referred to then). Our first date came only a few months after Massachusetts became the first state to legalize same-sex marriage. Soon enough Jim and I moved in together, but since we couldn’t marry, we spent thousands of dollars on legal documents to protect our assets—and to protect our asses— in case one of us was hospitalized or died. If we hadn’t signed power-of-attorney and health-proxy documents and created wills and trusts, we would not have had any legal standing in the event of a catastrophe. That was not paranoia. We had seen

it happen time and again to friends.

Once same-sex marriage became legal in California, after the federal Defense of Marriage Act was shot down two years ago, Jim and I married in Marin County. Still, our marriage wasn’t recognized in our home state of North Carolina, which had banned same-sex couples from marrying. Last spring the prohibition was lifted, and the state was forced to recognize us as lawfully wed. Now we could call each other “husbands,” file joint income taxes, and speak for each other if one of us no longer could. Then just a few months ago the Supreme Court made marriage equality the law of the land once and for all.

I was two weeks shy of my fifty-eighth birthday the day that ruling was announced—a lifetime away from the boy who had watched The Homosexuals on CBS. At the end of that program, a man hidden by a potted plant reveals a wish: “A family, a home, someplace where you belong, a place where you’re loved, where you can love somebody. And God knows I need to love somebody.” Yes, indeed.

I’ve been waiting and fighting for equality and acceptance for all those years in between. As I said, I’m happy about the ruling, and I’ll celebrate with anyone who wants to raise a glass to this moment in history. Please, though, just don’t tell me it happened fast. n

Petrow ’78 is a journalist and author of five books, including Steven Petrow’s Complete Gay & Lesbian Manners: The Definitive Guide to LBGT Life. His columns on modern-day civility have appeared in The Washington Post, The New York Times, People, and Time, and in syndication.

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CRAZY SMART Virginia Woolf’s custom-designed writing desk, used by the author herself.

See it in person at the newly renovated David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, now open to the public.

We have much to celebrate, including a major new acquisition—the Lisa Unger Baskin Collection. Assembled over 45 years by a noted collector, activist, and bibliophile, it includes thousands of rare books, manuscripts, and artifacts (including Woolf’s desk) documenting over five centuries of women’s work and intellectual contributions.

That’s not just smart. That’s crazy smart.

Photo by Annie Schlecter

Keep us in your designs. Support Duke University Libraries.

library.duke.edu/crazysmart

46 www.dukemagazine.duke.edu

Forever

Duke Alumni Around the World

THE BEST MEDICINE

“They said, It’s so good you have a hobby.”

— Physician-turned-comedian Ken Jeong ’90 talking to the Los Angeles Times about his former patients’ reactions when he told them he did standup comedy on the side.

Jeong’s new comedy, Dr. Ken, based upon his life as a doctor, premiered on ABC on October 2.

Craig Sjodin/ABC via Getty Images

Online

Document Duke 360 is a yearlong photography project by Duke

Zelie Lewis

Photography and the Center for Documentary Studies to showcase diverse perspectives of Duke through the lenses of alumni, faculty, staff, and students. A new photo appears on the Duke 360 website (https://document360.duke.edu) every day until the end of 2015. To have your photo considered, post it on Instagram using #Duke360.

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ForeverDuke

GO! On Location In

Miami

Earlier this summer, a group of Blue Devils took to the high seas off the coast of Miami with shark scientist David Shiffman ’07 for a day of shark education and hands-on learning.

Alumni learned how to tag sharks and participated in discussions about shark conservation on the boat with Shiffman, an authority on the subject at the University of Miami, where he works as a researcher.

Want to attend a Duke Alumni event in Miami?

For the second year in a row, alumni are invited to attend an exclusive alumni social at Art Basel, the premier art show for modern and contemporary art from around the world. This year, Art Basel is Dec. 3-6 in Miami Beach. Interested in going? Check the Duke Alumni website for details in coming months.

DUKE IS HERE:

Southern California Number of alumni:

4,126

Young alumni (10 years out):

1,197

Local alumni events: 70 per year

It’s a tradition: Alumni rent a beach house (or gather in an alum’s) for an annual summer party complete with dancing, swimming, and beach games.

Good place to find a Blue Devil: Mauro’s Café at Fred Segal in Hollywood, where the Duke SoCal group hosts an exclusive DEMAN (Duke Entertainment, Media,

and the Arts Network) mixer open only to alumni who work in Tinseltown.

Notable Dukies: Comedians Ken Jeong ’90 and Retta Sirleaf ’92, Hollywood producer Mark Vahradian ’89, Fandango correspondent Dave Karger ’95, rapper Mike Posner ’09, actress Annabeth Gish ’93, and Chris Dusseault ’94, former field director who fought California’s Proposition 8.

Showing the flag: Last year, 226 Southern California alumni volunteered to interview prospective students.

WHERE ARE YOU? Share a photo from your city using @DukeAlumni on Instagram or Twitter and help us show Duke’s reach around the world.

Board of Directors, 2014-15 President: N. Shepard Moyle ’84 Immediate past president: Jeffrey C. Howard ’76 Secretary-Treasurer: Sterly L. Wilder ’83

Lamptey Nartey ’02, Judith Wagoner Pahren ’84, Rodney C. Pitts ’68, Eric G. Savage ’92, Aisha J. Taylor ’05, Pamela Stone Schearer ’73, John Tolsma ’95

Mark W. Scroggs M.D. ’84, School of Medicine Joan M. Stanley B.S.N. ’71, School of Nursing Susan Prosnitz J.D. ’89, School of Law

Vice Presidents: Jack W. Boyd ’85, Chris D. Brandt ’00, Palmer Peebles Garson ’79, Nikki Hurst Gibson ’80, Winston E. Henderson ’90, Amy Hepburn ’97, Mary Kristin Klein ’82, Joanne O’Connor ’92, Sara K. Oliver ’06, Lee Harris Roberts ’90, Mark E. Stalnecker ’73, Paul S. Teller ’93

Professional school representatives: Andrea Barnwell Brownlee A.M. ’99, Ph.D. ’01, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Abigail Williford Kocher ’00, M.Div. ’06, Divinity School Robin ten Kate M.B.A. ’03, Fuqua School of Business Courtney Lorenz M.E.M. ’06, Nicholas School of the Environment William Senner B.S.E. ’06, M.E.M. ’06, Pratt School of Engineering Amy Hepburn ’97, M.P.P. ’01, Sanford School of Public Policy Judith Ann Maness M.H.A.’83, Graduate Program in Health Administration Jennifer Moody Skeesick D.P.T. ’06, Graduate Program in Physical Therapy

Young alumni representatives: Andrew L. Hanna ’14, Jin-Soo D. Huh ’09, Lara L. Jones ’08, Margaret L. Skoglund ’10

Duke Magazine Editorial Advisory Board representative: Steven Petrow ’78 Directors-at-large William A. Bermont II ’97, Jonathan P. Cardona M.B.A. ’00, Pola Ayllon Changnon ’85, Mandeep Singh Dillon ’92, Jason Goode ’97, J.D. ’00, Christine Gosnell ’83, Mychal P. Harrison ’01, Ana Homayoun ’01, Edwin Howard Jr. ’63, Naakoshie 48 www.dukemagazine.duke.edu

Faculty representatives: Michelle Connolly, Associate Professor of the Practice of Economics Frederick W. Mayer, Professor of Public Policy, Political Science and Environment Honorary members: Michael Schoenfeld ’84, Suzanne J. Wasiolek ’76, M.H.A. ’78, LL.M. ’93, Gerald L. Wilson B.D. ’61, A.M. ’68

Presidents, School and College Alumni Associations: Kristin Whitesides M. Div. ’05, Divinity School Lisabeth Brynn Todd Crute M.B.A.’95, Fuqua School of Business Kristen Cappel M.E.M. ’06, Nicholas School of the Environment Jason Piche B.S.M.E. ’97, Pratt School of Engineering David Esquivel J.D. ’97, School of Law Kurt D. Newman M.D. ’78, School of Medicine Joan M. Stanley B.S.N. ’71, School of Nursing Jennifer Moody Skeesick D.P.T. ’06, Graduate Program in Physical Therapy

A (Duke Blue) Night in Paris In the City of Lights, a send-off party brings together two Duke families with a surprising connection.

Christina Holder

F

Connected: Tae Markey, left, and Melissa Gerdts on campus

reshman Melissa Gerdts was on a European cruise in celebration of her high-school graduation when she found herself in Paris for a stopover. Little did she know that the chance visit would reveal an unexpected connection with a fellow Duke family halfway around the world.

Gerdts was in Paris on July 2, the date of the Duke Send-Off party to welcome the university’s newest class.

Every year, the Duke Alumni Association holds parties throughout the U.S. and the world give new Blue Devils “I didn’t to an opportunity to meet know what other students and alumni to expect from their cities. This year, and how alumni hosted sixty-six they were parties from Atlanta to York to Paris—which going to New is where Gerdts says she react to a couldn’t leave without first stranger checking out the party. being That night, Gerdts, her there.” sister, and her parents— Carolina Pryor-Gerdts and Alexander Gerdts—arrived at the Educational Consortium on the Boulevard Raspail, where Duke students study with French students every year as part of an exchange program.

Gerdts, who took a semester of French at her Miami high school, says she was nervous. “I didn’t know what to expect and how they were going to react to a stranger being there.”

One of the first people the Gerdtses met was freshman Tae Markey and her

mother, Olga Low. Gerdts says that as soon as she began talking to Markey and Low, she recognized their accents.

She thought they were Colombian.

(Gerdts was born in Colombia and came to the U.S. when she was three.)

It turns out Low is Colombian.

Markey was born in Washington and spent her childhood in Colombia, Venezuela, and France.

And there was something even more familiar about the family than their accents.

The two mothers—Pryor-Gerdts and Low—thought they recognized each other. While chatting, they discovered they had gone to the same middle school in Bogota and were in the same group of friends long ago.

Chris O’Neill ’95, senior director of DAA’s Regional Engagement team, attended the party and says he was intrigued by the connections that unfolded in such an unlikely place.

“That connection was extraordinary but not completely surprising.

Duke has a tendency to bring together exceptional people from similar backgrounds,” O’Neill says. “The fun comes from leveraging alumni engagement to strengthen this nexus.”

It’s the kind of connection that DAA wants to foster at Duke Send-Off parties all over the world, he says.

By the end of the night, the moms had exchanged contact information, promising to stay in touch. Pryor-Gerdts invited Markey to Thanksgiving if she couldn’t make it back home to Paris. And the two Duke freshmen hit it off too.

“We already made plans to see each other once she comes to Duke,” Gerdts says. “And hopefully she’ll spend Thanksgiving with us.”

—Michael Penn and Christina Holder

DUKE MAGAZINE

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49

Chris Hildreth

How are you ForeverDuke?

Sterly Wilder ’83, associate vice president for alumni affairs, in conversation with Danielle Gray ’00 During your tenure in the White House, Newsweek called you “the most powerful staffer you’ve never heard of.” You were known as an honest diplomat who was able to build trust between Obama and his cabinet.

How did you develop your diplomacy skills?

By the time I was cabinet secretary, I had worked for President Obama and with many of the individuals who were ultimately in the cabinet for the better part of six years.

When I began working at the White House, I split my time between working on judicial nominations and working on policy issues. A lot of the role I played really called for me to act as an honest broker of often different and competing views. One of the jobs when you are the deputy director of the National Economic Council is to convene a lot of views so that you can determine what the best position is and present those options to the president. I think I was able to build those relationships and the trust that comes with it.

As the former cabinet secretary, senior adviser, and associate counsel to President Barack Obama, Gray spent more than five years inside the White House—advising the president and working on policies such as the Affordable Care Act. Prior to her tenure in the White House, Gray was the deputy director of the National Economic Council and worked as a law clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer. Gray currently is a partner at O’Melveny & Myers LLP in New York, where she specializes in policy, regulatory issues, health care, and governmental issues.

Courtesy Danielle Gray ’00 50 www.dukemagazine.duke.edu

Do you have a favorite memory from your time in the White House?

The night the Affordable Care Act passed.

I don’t think in all my years working in government and for President Obama, anything will top that. The president invited all of the staff in the White House

and the agencies that worked on the bill to the Truman balcony of the White House to celebrate its passage. I have a photo in my office of that night, and it’s one of my most treasured photos.

At Duke you were a “Reggie,” a recipient of the prestigious meritbased Reginaldo Howard Memorial scholarship— named in honor of Duke’s first African-American student-government president. How did being a Reggie impact your time at Duke?

When I think back to my first experiences with thinking about how to change a system and how to work within a bureaucracy to effect change, I really think about my experience as a Reggie. I was the president of the scholarship organization during my time at Duke and got to work with President Nan Keohane on solutions for getting more funds for the program. That experience taught me leadership. I remember thinking I really could do anything.

How did your Duke experience prepare you for your journey into law and politics?

I was always interested in thinking about how people effect change. I remember taking classes on economic inequality. I remember taking seminars on constitutional law and thinking about the role of lawyers in pursuing social change. I took an economics class with Lori Leachman. The class was on how economic policy can improve social

conditions for people. I think my coursework, for sure, stimulated an interest in thinking about public service. hat is your advice to Duke W students and alumni who would like to pursue the intersection of law and politics?

Take calculated risks. I think careers now don’t always work out neatly anymore. Sometimes something might just fall in your lap. Be open to risk-taking when you have that very solid fallback of your Duke education. Also, if you’re in the private sector, you need to think about ways you can continue to serve the community or to demonstrate expertise in public policy.

Keep a foot in the other world.

What does it mean to you to be “Forever Duke?”

What “Forever Duke” means to me is that I’m forever grateful. In many ways I feel indebted to Duke for the opportunities it has provided me.

My closest and best friends I met at Duke. The first inkling I had that I would want to pursue a life in public service was born at Duke. Some of my happiest memories are related to Duke—many of them involve basketball. I believe that I owe it to the institution to pay it back, which is why I’m interested in helping students on campus and supporting financial-aid opportunities for lower-income students so that more students from backgrounds like the one I had can attend Duke and take advantage of it.

—Edited by Christina Holder

ClassNotes

Want to be featured in Class Notes? Check out www.dukemagazine.duke.edu for style tips and submission guidelines, or e-mail us at dukemag@duke.edu.

40s 50s

October 2014.

Betty L. Kuhl Nickinson ’48 and Edward P. Nickinson Jr. B.S.E.E. ’48 celebrated their 66th wedding anniversary in

Sheldon Westervelt B.S.C.E. ’52 has two courts at Palm Beach Atlantic University that recently achieved high-quality status. He is a sports-facility consultant in Boynton Beach, Fla.

Jean Dickinson Fielden Gibbons ’58, A.M. ’59 was honored by Virginia Tech naming a statistics program the Jean Dickinson Gibbons Graduate Program in Statistics.

W. Morris Long ’58 celebrated his 80th birthday by tandem skydiving. He has spent the past 55 years in the Virginia Beach community volunteering with the Kiwanis Club, the Virginia Beach Rescue Squad, the Judeo-Christian Outreach Center, and the Noblemen of Virginia Beach.

60s

Richard W. Stapleford ’61 translated, edited, and published Lorenzo de’ Medici at Home: The Inventory of the Palazzo Medici in

1492. He also published an article, “Botticelli and the Golden Section in the Lehmann Annunciation,” in Artibus et historia. He recently retired as professor of art history at Hunter College, City University of New York, after 47 years of teaching.

James R. Ladd ’64 was appointed to the Washington State Board of Accountancy.

Judith K. Burns Smedberg ’65 retired from her career in social work, specializing in mental health. She lives in Detroit. ’66 | 50th Reunion April 15-17, 2016 H. William Constangy LL.B. ’67 received the Order of the Long Leaf Pine from Gov. Pat McCrory and the Leaders of the Law Award from N.C. Lawyers Weekly and Elon University. He retired after 26 years as Superior Court judge and is now an arbitrator, mediator, author, and public speaker. He recently published three articles: “Enforceability of Employment Contract Covenants Not to Compete in North Carolina’s Changing Business Environment,” “Medical Practice Competition Restrictions,” and “Problems with N.C.’s Blue Pencil Rule.”

Laurie Z. Volk Zimmerman ’67 received the 2015 Seaside Prize from the Seaside Institute for her work in urban development and education. She is co-managing director of Zimmerman/Volk Associates in Clinton, N.J. James D. Archer ’68 was elected to a three-year term on the governing council of the American Library Association and to a two-year term as trustee of the Freedom to Read Foundation. He also was named the Hesburgh Libraries’ liaison to the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame.

Jonathan C. Kinney ’68 was named in the 2015 Virginia Super Lawyers for land use/zoning law. He is a shareholder with Bean, Kinney & Korman in Arlington, Va. Roger J. Porter M.D. ’68 received the 2015 Lifetime Accelerator Award by the Epilepsy Foundation for his contributions to epilepsy drug development. A pharmaceutical industry consultant, he previously served as chief scientific officer for the Epilepsy Foundation.

Joe A. Rudberg ’68 was recognized in the 2015 The Legal 500 U.S. for his work in international tax

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Nominate a Blue Devil

Do you know a Blue Devil who is making a difference at Duke and in the world?

Now is the time to nominate alumni you believe deserve a little recognition for DAA’s annual awards and to suggest people for Duke’s board of trustees.

DAA Awards | Every year, the DAA honors alumni who have made extraordinary contributions to the world, to their communities, and to Duke. Visit the DAA’s awards website to learn more about the awards and to nominate alumni

by Feb. 1, 2016.

Duke Board of Trustees | The Duke board of trustees is looking for new members who exemplify creativity, diverse leadership and experiences, and the ability to work effectively and collaboratively in groups. The most successful candidates have made a sustained commitment to Duke over many years—contributing their time and financial support. Submit nominations for the board of trustees by e-mailing Carolyn Gerber, special assistant to the president, at carolyn.gerber@duke.edu. law. He is a partner with Thompson & Knight in Dallas.

James S. Wunsch ’68 was appointed to the Rev. John P. Schlegel S.J. Distinguished Professorship of politics and government at Creighton University. He has been a faculty member there for more than 40 years, specializing in African and international politics and global poverty.

J. Anthony Manger Jr. ’69 was named in the 2015 Best Lawyers in America for health-care law.

He is the principal in the law offices of J. Anthony Manger in Mountain Lakes, N.J.

Todd V. Zimmerman ’69 received the 2015 Seaside Prize from the Seaside Institute for his work in urban development and education. He is co-managing director of Zimmerman/Volk Associates in Clinton, N.J. Leonard A. Zwelling ’69, M.D. ’73 published his first book, Red Kool-Aid Blue Kool-Aid: How Partisan Politics and Greed Undermined the Value of ObamaCare. He previously was a professor of medicine and pharmacology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. ’71 | 45th Reunion April 15-17, 2016

Building Champions

52 www.dukemagazine.duke.edu

William A. Young ’72 wrote Across the Table–An International Oil Negotiator Navigates the Choppy Waters of Global Intrigue. The book includes anecdotes from the writer’s personal negotiations all over the world. He is president of WAY Energy Consulting, which advises on negotiations in the international energy industry.

Robert D. Peltz ’73 published a law-review article, “Time Has Passed Barbetta By, Washing Away Over 100 Years of Outdated Precedent,” in the 2015 spring volume of the Tulane Law Review.

He specializes in maritime law with the Peltz Law Firm in Miami.

Joseph A. Boone ’74 published The Homoerotics of Orientalism in 2014, which was released in paperback recently. He is the Marta Sutton Weeks Fellow at the Stanford Humanities Center, where he is working on his fourth book, The Melville Effect.

Fred W. Fulton J.D. ’74 was named in the 2015 Best Lawyers in America for corporate law. He is a partner with Thompson & Knight in Dallas.

Robin C. Underdahl Gropp ’75 received the Mayborn Book Award for the memoir she cowrote, Shoot the Conductor: Too Close to Monteux, Szell, and Ormandy. She is a writer living in the Dallas/ Fort Worth area.

Karen S. Trussell Vander Molen ’75 received her M.A. in civic leadership from Lipscomb University. As part of the degree, she created the Building Entrepreneurs for Success in Tennessee program, delivering a character-development and entrepreneurial-skills curriculum to 18 inmates. ’76 | 40th Reunion April 17-19, 2015 Paige W. Stover Hague ’76 cowrote two award-winning books: Rumble! and Confusing the Enemy: The Cus D’Amato Story.

Bruce M. Freedman ’79, M.D. ’83 climbed Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in Western Europe, with his son, Michael G. Freedman ’10. Their team climbed the Voie Royale route in two days.

Twitter @theirondukes (919) 613-7575

Jeffrey B. Golden ’72 cowrote International Financial Disputes, a reference tool for lawyers on arbitration and mediation in finance. He is an honorary fellow at the London School of Economics and a member of chambers at 3 Hare Court.

James R. Schroll ’75 was named in the 2015 Virginia Super Lawyers for bankruptcy and creditor/debtor-rights law. He is a shareholder with Bean, Kinney & Korman in Arlington, Va.

The Iron Dukes is known for building champions on and off the courts and fields. To continue our trajectory of excellence in both academics and athletics, Duke must have the resources to drive our future success and enrich the lilives of Duke student-athletes as they strive to be champions in the classroom and at the highest level of athletic competition. Now is the time to make investments that will build champions.

WWW.IRONDUKES.NET

70s

Lynn A. Saville ’71 published her third monograph, Dark City: Urban America at Night, composed of photographs of American cities in twilight and dawn. She is a fine-art photographer living in New York.

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Instagram theirondukes

Amile Jefferson, Men’s Basketball, Junior

Ivars Lacis ’79 is a captain for Delta Air Lines.

He is also a defense lawyer who recently argued a murder-case appeal before the Georgia Supreme Court.

Beryl Morrow Schewe ’79 published Habits of Resilience: Learning to Live Fully in the Midst of

r.d

e nash

Odili Donald Odita, Desert Sun (detail), 2014. Acrylic on canvas. 72 x 90 inches. ŠOdili Donald Odita. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.

NASHER MUSEUM OF ART AT DUKE UNIVERSITY

2001 Campus Dr., Durham, NC 27705 I nasher.duke.edu I 919-684-5135

0

1 / u d e uke.

Loss. She is a board-certified chaplain and lives in Minneapolis.

80s

Charles A. Berardesco ’80 is serving as president of the Duke Chapel Advisory board and senior vice president and general counsel of the North American Electric Reliability Corp. in Washington.

Thomas C. Gibson ’80 was promoted to president of MCI-USA and will serve as a managing director of MCI Group. He also will maintain his role as CEO of Coulter Cos., based in McLean, Va. John H. Hickey J.D. ’80 presented at the St. Thomas School of Law symposium on punitive damages in maritime law in April. He heads the Hickey Law Firm in Miami.

Rebecca A. Hinson ’80 works with scholars to create art books for children, including a recent book, Legend of Tenochtitlan.

Andromeda Monroe J.D. ’80 became project attorney at Greenberg Traurig in its insurance regulatory and transactions practice group in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. She previously owned Monroe Law P.L. Mark G. Schwartz ’80 was named chair of the department of surgery at Virtua Health System North Campus, one of the largest health-care systems in New Jersey. He also serves as chief of the section of orthopaedics and as co-medical director of Virtua Sports Medicine.

Lessons in global giving “I had been searching for a way to both instill values about the importance of volunteerism and philanthropy in my students and show them that they are capable of significant, positive change,” says Michael Pelehach ’10.

The idea was sparked last December, when Pelehach read Adam Braun’s The Promise of a Pencil: How an Ordinary Person Can Create Extraordinary Change. Pelehach left his corporate job in Minneapolis to teach English under a Fulbright Grant in Bulgaria. His charges were twenty-six tenth-graders at Peyo Yavorov Foreign Languages High School in Silistra, a town along the Danube River surrounded by Roman ruins.

Pelehach taught lessons on global literacy rates, crowdsourcing, storytelling, and community action. Then the 27-year-old challenged his class to raise $25,000 to build a school. He split the class into teams to target fundraising, incentives, production, and marketing over the course of the month-long campaign. Media outlets in both Bulgaria and the U.S. picked up the story, and Bulgarian celebrities contributed funds and viral publicity. The campaign culminated in a charity concert, organized and performed by the students, which connected the local community while donations flowed in from all corners of the world.

The Peyo Yavorov class raised more than $28,000 in under twenty-five school days. It will go to Braun’s organization, Pencils of Promise, to erect a primary school in Ghana. The nonprofit has built more than 300 schools since 2009, supplying under-resourced communities with educational infrastructure.

Pelehach chronicled his lessons and the project’s progress in a blog: balkanonsunshine.wordpress.com. —Elizabeth George

’81 | 35th Reunion April 15-17, 2016 Robert D. Inglis ’81 received the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for reversing his position on climate change. He is a former Republican congressman for South Carolina.

Karen R. Dickinson ’82 participated in VerdeXchange, a leadership and business conference for sustainable economic growth. She is an international business lawyer and chair of the Arizona District Export Council.

Donna J. Jackson Nakazawa ’82 published Childhood Disrupted: How Your Biography Becomes Your Biology, and How You Can Heal, which illuminates the connection between childhood stress and chronic illness in adulthood. She is an award-winning science journalist.

Mark D. Arian ’83 joined Ernst & Young in New York as a principal in the tax group. He previously was executive vice president of mergers and acquisitions solutions for AON and AON Hewitt.

Valerie Schwam Rind ’83 published Gold Diggers and Deadbeat Dads: True Stories of Friends, Family, and Financial Ruin, a nonfiction collection of personal finance hardships and tips for prevention. She is a senior in-house technology lawyer with Appian Corp. in Washington.

54 www.dukemagazine.duke.edu

Michael Pelehach

Valerie A. Mosley ’82 joined the board of directors at New Profit, a national nonprofit venture philanthropy fund. She is chair of Valmo Ventures and was formerly partner and senior vice president at Wellington Management Co. John M. Owen IV ’85 received the Humboldt Research Award for his research on transnational political groups. He is a professor of politics at the University of Virginia. ’86 | 30th Reunion April 15-17, 2016 David W. Walker ’86 became the wealth director for business development at BNY Mellon Wealth Management in the Boston office. He previously was an executive director and portfolio manager with Van Kampen Investments/Morgan Stanley.

Nancy S. Freeman ’88 was named a 2015 Florida Super Lawyer. She is an estate and probate lawyer at Winderweedle, Haines, Ward & Woodman in Winter Park, Fla.

Charity S. Scribner ’88 wrote After the Red Army Faction: Gender, Culture, and Militancy, which explores female leadership in the Red Army Faction from the 1970s to the 1990s. She is an associate professor of comparative literature at the City University of New York.

Nelson C. Bellido ’89 was recognized in 2015 Florida Trend’s Florida Legal Elite, named among the 2015 Power Leaders in Law & Accounting by the South Florida Business Journal, and named a 2015 Florida Super Lawyer. He also spoke at a conference on insurance-fraud education and moderated a Hispanic National Bar Association professional-development panel.

He is managing partner in Roig Lawyers’ Miami office.

Lori A. Dumas ’89 was the first recipient of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges’ Justice Innovation Awards Innovator of the Year. She is a Philadelphia Family Court judge and the presiding judge of the WRAP court: Working to Restore Adolescents’ Power.

ADOPTIONS Mary E. Harkins ’86 and James Henick adopted Bernadette Noelle from Utah and Veronica Eve from Virginia.

BIRTHS Harry Dominick Venezia III to Harry D. Venezia Jr. ’86, M.B.A. ’92 and Jenny Venezia on June 2, 2015.

90s

Patricia M. Barr B.S.E. ’90 received a gold medal for science fiction/fantasy/horror ebook for her space opera WYNDE in the 2014 Independent Publisher Awards. She created FANgirl Blog and has worked as a transportation engineer for more than 20 years.

’91 | 25th Reunion April 15-17, 2016

WE ARE

DUKE ENVIRONMENT

NICHOLAS.DUKE.EDU/ IAMDUKEENVIRONMENT

Jeremiah R. Jacobs ’92 became the managing director of The Abernathy MacGregor Group, a financial-communications agency, in its New York office. He previously was senior vice president at FleishmanHillard.

Matthew J. Lewellen ’92 received his Ph.D. from Victoria University of Wellington School of Information Management in New Zealand.

John A. Sartor B.S.E. ’92 was appointed CEO of Paulus, Sokolowski & Sartor, an architecture and engineering firm. He previously served as the firm’s president and COO. David A. Deal Jr. B.S.E. ’93 is retiring as president and CEO of Community IT Innovators based in Washington. As the company’s founder, he has worked to develop technology that drives social change. The company is powered completely by clean energy and has been recognized by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Gregory S. Farley ’94 is coeditor of Thinking Like an Island: Navigating a Sustainable Future in Hawai’i. He is a professor of biological science and director of the Center for Leadership in Environmental Education at Chesapeake College in Wye Mills, Md. Andrew V. Kayes B.S.E. ’95, M.D. ’00 was named the Intersociety Private Practice Representative for the American College of Radiology. The first radiologist from Hawaii to hold this title, he is currently the medical director of Maui Diagnostic Imaging. ’96 | 20th Reunion April 15-17, 2016 John E. Carter J.D. ’96 has enrolled in the Ph.D. program in theological ethics at Boston College. He recently received a master’s in divinity from Wake Forest University and was ordained as a Baptist minister.

Melisa K. LaVergne Graham ’96 published a collection of poetry, Used Cow for Sale.

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Learn Without Limits “Graduate Liberal Studies has given me a world class education. I’ve been able to focus on what I want and need to study personally and professionally. Duke University is an amazing institution and GLS is truly an asset for those of us who can’t take two years away from work to pursue our academic dreams.”

Charles Duncan (MALS 2015) Investigative journalist and founder of Raleigh Public Record Graduate Liberal Studies at Duke University offers a master’s degree for part or full-time study to students who are seeking to expand their knowledge and continue their personal and professional growth. Tuition assistance available. www.liberalstudies.duke.edu

Graduate Liberal Studies

Mukund Jain B.S.E. ’96 cowrote Case in Point: Graph Analysis for Consulting and Case Interviews, a book that helps management consultants prepare for interviews.

Shari Y. Mao ’96 was named to the Best S.A. Lawyers list in S.A. Scene magazine. She is a lawyer for Jackson Walker in San Antonio.

Tamika A. Alexander ’97 was promoted to assistant residency-program director of the obstetrics and gynecology residency program at the University of Illinois-Chicago.

Erin A. Smith Ph.D. ’97 wrote What Would Jesus Read?: Popular Religious Books and Everyday Life in Twentieth-Century America, which is being published by UNC Press.

Scott M. Zoldi A.M. ’97, Ph.D. ’98 is vice president of analytic science at FICO, a leader in predictive analytics for security. Thirty-four of his patents have been granted, most of which relate to artificial intelligence and security.

MARRIAGES Deborah S. Schlosberg Rich ’90 to Joseph Herczeg on March 7, 2015. Residence: San Antonio.

BIRTHS Benjamin Hewitt to Joseph A. Jasper III ’96 and Deneen Jasper on May 22, 2015…Edgar to Vinay J. Jayaram B.S.E. ’96 and Guillemette Jayaram on April 30, 2015…Lela Jane to Elizabeth J. Osterwise Katz ’97 and S. Matthew Katz on Oct. 20, 2014…Sara to Ken Inouye B.S.E. ’98 and Aya Inouye on March 10, 2015…

Emmelynn Eunice to Maria C. Monge ’99, M.A.T. ’00 and Craig Hall on April 23, 2015.

00s

Eve Veliz-Moran M.P.P. ’00 received tenure and was promoted to associate professor of sociology at Providence College.

’01 | 15th Reunion April 15-17, 2016 Brett L. Humphrys M.B.A. ’02 became general manager of ThingMagic, a provider of UHF RFID reader engines, development platforms, and design services. Previously, he worked for its parent company, Trimble, in its global services division.

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Charlene Chen ’03 relocated to London to work as COO for BitPesa, a financial technology startup.

She previously lived in East Africa for six years.

Jennifer H. Csik Hutchens ’03, J.D. ’07 was named a shareholder of Robinson, Bradshaw & Hinson in the firm’s Charlotte office. She focuses on the field of corporate health care. ’06 | 10th Reunion April 15-17, 2016 Lorne V. Bycoff ’06 joined Merrill Lynch in the executive financial adviser program.

Aaron S. Kirschenfeld ’07 graduated from a dual degree program at UNC-CH and began a new job as reference and digital initiatives librarian at the Katherine R. Everett Law Library at the UNC-CH School of Law. He won the Dean’s Achievement Award for Best Master’s Paper at UNC-CH’s School of Information and Library Science.

Travel with Duke

Your friends. Your faculty. Your dream destinations.

Where do you want to go in 2016?

www.dukealumnitravel.com Galรกpagos, June 17-26, 2016 (Lindblad Expeditions; photo: Michael S. Nolan) Egypt, February 1-15

Nordic Magnificence, July 25-August 7

South Africa, March 12-24 Tanzania, Sept. 21-Oct. 5

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FALL 2015

57

Patrick A. Phelan ’07 will attend the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business this fall after working for 10 years in the music industry.

Vaishali Gopal LL.M. ’08 was named director of customer operations at Pramata Knowledge Solutions Pvt. Ltd. in its office in Bangalore, India.

Stephen Kehoe ’08 was named an associate judge for Maryland’s Second Judicial Circuit.

MARRIAGES Eve Veliz M.P.P. ’00 to Paul Moran Jr. on May 30, 2015. Residence: Providence, R.I.…Stephanie M. Taylor ’01 to David Robertson on Feb. 18, 2014.

Residence: New York…Heath B. Freeman ’02 to Jane Hegleman on March 28, 2015. Residence: New York…Kristen E. Blackman ’03 to Ray-

mond Hohenstein M.B.A. ’14 on May 2, 2015.

Residence: Durham…Jennifer T. Snook ’04, M.B.A. ’11, M.E.M.F. ’11 to Lisa M. Dacey M.B.A. ’11 on July 4, 2015. Residence: San Francisco…Monica J. Chaplin ’05, J.D. ’08 to Moises Starosta on Jan. 31, 2015. Residence: Miami…

Nathan W. Rennicke ’05 to Meera K. Sinha ’06 on Oct. 11, 2014. Residence: New York…

Caroline Kluczkowski ’06 to Jeremy Cook on March 7, 2015. Residence: Denver…Andrew S. Goltermann ’07 to Alison Theis ’08, B.S.N. ’12 on May 1, 2015. Residence: Santa Monica, Calif.…Aaron S. Kirschenfeld ’07 to Debra Boxill on May 16, 2015. Residence: Durham…

Alyson G. Laynas ’08 to Andrew Hoffman on Nov. 22, 2014. Residence: Downingtown, Pa.…

Russell D. Posner ’08 to Melissa A. Schneiderman ’08 on March 14, 2015. Residence: Cheshire, Conn.…Sara P. Reynolds ’08 to

Jeffrey Seremak on Nov. 1, 2014. Residence: Cary, N.C. BIRTHS Stella Marie to Carla W. Yarger Benigni B.S.E. ’00 and Scott Benigni on April 10, 2015…Avery Helene to Cassidy H. Dugan ’00 and Alexandra Dugan on Dec. 16, 2014…John William Neal VII to John W. Neal VI ’00 and Shelby K. Addison Neal B.S.E. ’06 on March 23, 2015…Eleanor Margaret to Meredith N. Barnes Driscoll ’01, M.B.A. ’13 and Sean Driscoll on March 13, 2015…Elle Carolyn to Melissa L. Link ’01 and Nick Nilarp on Aug. 10, 2014…Bryce Adam to Jenna B. Kiziah McGee ’01, J.D. ’04, LL.M. ’04 and Scott A. McGee ’03 on May 29, 2015…

Leonardo Kimball Payne V to Leonard K. Payne IV ’01 and Silvana Del Valle Rodriguez on May 12, 2015…Oliver Miles to Joshua K. Sekoski ’01 and Ashleigh Sekoski on May 4, 2015…

Rodolfo Armando Ruiz III to Rodolfo A. Ruiz II ’02 and Jennifer Ruiz on April 28, 2015…Ari Louis to Evan T. Russell ’02 and Breanna Russell on April 18, 2015…John Davis to Jennifer H. Csik Hutchens ’03, J.D. ’07 and John D. Hutchens ’03 on April 10, 2015…Walter David to Colby T. Raden ’03 and Amanda Raden on May 19, 2015…Hazel Louise to Carey D. Lowe Rongitsch ’03 and Edward Rongitsch on March 8, 2015…Nathan Matthew to Lori B. Peacock Blasdell ’04 and Stephen Blasdell on March 1, 2015…Wesley Harrison to Scott J. Frommer ’04, M.B.S. ’12 and Mary M. Kane Frommer ’05 on March 11, 2015…Isaac Nathan to Michael V. Besmer ’09 and Sherri Besmer on June 8, 2015.

10s

Michael G. Freedman ’10 climbed Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in Western Europe, with his father, Bruce M. Freedman ’79, M.D. ’83. Their team climbed the Voie Royale route in two days. ’11 | 5th Reunion April 15-17, 2016

Important Jeremiah Theus Portrait of Amarinthia Elliot from The Collection of Thomas A. Gray, Duke Alumnus Estimate: $30,000 - $50,000, Sold to the Detroit Institute of Arts for $94,400

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Daniel J. Tortora Ph.D. ’11 wrote Carolina in Crisis: Cherokees, Colonists, and Slaves in the American Southeast, 1756-1763, which is being published

by UNC Press.

BIRTHS Anna Louise to Elizabeth A. Eichling Gatewood M.Div. ’12 and Kenneth Gatewood M.Div. ’13 on May 16, 2015.

MARRIAGES Andrew E. Apple ’10 to Lauren C. Miller ’10 on Feb. 28, 2015. Residence: New Orleans…

Amelia H. Ashton J.D. ’10 to Evan Thorn on April 11, 2015. Residence: Washington…Lauren N. Weinstein J.D. ’10 to Matthew Page on May 17, 2014. Residence: Wilmington, N.C.…Joshua A. Black M.E.M. ’11 to Karen L. Dove M.E.M. ’11 on April 6, 2014. Residence: Sacramento, Calif.…Spencer C. Busby M.B.A. ’11 to Kenneth Menzel on May 30, 2015. Residence: Raleigh…Lacee Leach M.H.S. ’11 to Chris Wilkinson on April 2, 2015. Residence: Lodi, Calif.…Tabitha P. Lewis M.Div. ’11 to Stephen Ssonko on May 29, 2013. Residence: Lebanon, Pa.…Alexandra K. Costanza J.D. ’12 to Morgan E. Whitworth J.D. ’12 on May 30, 2015. Residence: Orlando, Fla.…Raymond Hohenstein M.B.A. ’14 to Kristen E. Black-

9

Emmitt Smith @EmmittSmith22

The countdown to #DukeForward in #Dallas is on.

Where will you be on Saturday? via Twitter

Branan Cooper @brananc

Ana Homayoun @anahomayoun

@DukeForward I had a great time—saw lots of friends, old and new. Really well done!

Such a great time at #dukeforward tonight with so many fun @dukeuniversity

Thanks for the @DavidCutcliffe signed football prize!

alums #foreverduke via Instagram

blu George K. Mathew @gkm1

Great @Duke stories of intellectual renewal and the power of great ideas. #DukeForward via Twitter

via Twitter

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DUKE FORWARD IS COMING TO A CITY NEAR YOU!

DENVER : NOVEMBER 16, 2015 HOUSTON : DECEMBER 9, 2015 Spring 2016 dates coming soon.

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th in mi un

Duke Forward @DukeForward

Jay Bilas hanging with @dukestudents and jazz musicians at #DukeForward in #Charlotte. Too much cool in one room. @dukeuniversity @dukealumni #pictureduke #jaybilas #jazz @sdahl41 @dacooliodude via Instagram

dukeforward.duke.edu

Duke is hitting the pavement so you can experience how Duke is moving the world forward.

Gather, discover, and celebrate the university’s future.

Download the LAYAR app and scan the photo to register and to watch a preview video about the event.

via

Jim

Ps @ #d

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rd Pamela Hawley @pamelahawley

So excited to see other

Follow us for regular campaign updates.

Lavanya Sunder ’16 on interning in Brazil Duke Student Body President

Phil Reinhart ’16 on following his passion RIPP-Engage Summer Fellow, Tanzania

Sarah Rimawi ’16 on finding her path Braxton Craven Fellow

IDEAS THAT MOVE THE WORLD FORWARD FINANCIAL AID What does a Duke education mean today?

It means access to opportunity. Just ask students Lavanya, Phil, Sarah, and Tre’.

Download the LAYAR app, scan the photo, and watch their stories come to life.

Without exceptional students like these, Duke just wouldn’t be Duke. That’s why the Duke Forward campaign aims to raise more than $420 million for endowed scholarships and fellowships by June 30, 2017. Because it means continuing to accept the best and brightest students regardless of ability to pay. It means increasing the amount of endowment income that goes to financial aid by $20 million each year. And it means unleashing the potential of thousands of students like these to make a difference in the world.

Download the Layar app to watch the videos and learn more at dukeforward.duke.edu.

Tre’ Scott ’15 on doing it all Board of Trustees Student Rep

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DUKE MAGAZINE

FALL 2015

61

man ’03 on May 2, 2015. Residence: Durham…

Devin M. Jones ’14 to Kyle R. Ulrich B.S.E. ’12, M.S. ’15 on April 25, 2015. Residence: Durham…Kaylene T. Kroemer D.P.T. ’14 to Cory Hernandez on Sept. 27, 2014. Residence: Carmel, Ind.

INMEMORIAM Clare Leyenberger Heiser ’33 of Lantana, Fla., on Oct. 2, 2014.

William H. Dameron Jr. B.S.E.E. ’35 of Columbia, S.C., on Jan. 9, 2015. He flew for Braniff Airlines before becoming a corporate pilot for Sears, Roebuck & Co. until his retirement. He is survived by his wife, Jerry; a son; a daughter; three grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

Clover M. Holly Wolf ’35 of Columbia, S.C., on March 1, 2015. She began her career as a radio talk-show host, interviewing such figures as John F. Kennedy and Helen Keller, and was one of the first women to break into the radio profession. She later taught English at Midland’s Technical College for more than a decade and was named Adjunct Instructor of the Year. She is survived by a daughter, a son, 11 grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.

Earl S. Gilbert ’37 of Sun City, Ariz., on Jan. 3, 2015. He served as a physician and medical officer in the Army Air Corps in Burma during World War II. Later he worked as a tuberculosis specialist and became director of a TB sanitarium in North Riverside, Ill. He then worked as a radiologist at Evanston Hospital, director of radiology at Highland Park Hospital, and later chief of staff at Mohave General Hospital in Arizona. He is survived by two daughters, five grandchildren, and several great-grandchildren.

Charles H. Townes A.M. ’37 of Oakland, Calif., on Jan. 27, 2015. He designed radar bombing systems at Bell Labs in New Jersey during World War II. He joined the faculty at Columbia University and in 1954 helped build the maser, an early iteration of the laser. Later, he was appointed provost and professor at MIT and named a professor-at-large at the University of California-Berkeley, where he built an interferometer. He received numerous honors for his work, including the 1964 Nobel Prize for Physics, the National Medal of Science, honorary degrees from 25 colleges and universities, and the Henry Norris Russell Lectureship for a lifetime of eminence in astronomical research.

He is survived by his wife, Frances; four daughters; six grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

Robert Greenawalt ’38 of Knoxville, Tenn., on Jan. 17, 2015. He served in the Army Air Corps during World War II before having a career in mortgage banking. He is survived by three daughters, a son, two sisters, five grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren.

Betty J. Marshall Mize ’39 of Etowah, N.C., on Jan. 2, 2014.

William H. Bane ’40 of Connellsville, Pa., on Feb. 1, 2015. He served in the Army during World War II. He then worked in the Frick District of United States Steel until his retirement in 1981. He is survived by his wife, Jane; two daughters; a son; a sister; and 10 grandchildren.

62 www.dukemagazine.duke.edu

Leffie M. Carlton Jr. ’40, M.D. ’43 of Tampa, Fla., on Jan. 17, 2015. He treated soldiers with chest wounds during World War II. He became a pioneer in thoracic surgery by helping initiate cardiovascular surgery for the West Coast of Florida and serving as chief of staff at Tampa General Hospital. He was a member of many medical boards and associations, including a stint as president of the Florida Tuberculosis and Health Association. After 43 years of medical practice, he retired in 1990 and bred Appaloosa racehorses. He is survived by three sons, and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Cliff Ratliff Jr. ’40 of Catonsville, Md., on Jan. 28, 2015. He is survived by a son, a daughter, five grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

Frances Kenner Parke ’41 of Lancaster, Pa., on Jan. 21, 2015. She worked as a reporter and later as editor for the family section of the Lancaster New Era until her retirement in 1976. She also volunteered for the Lancaster Summer Arts Festival and the Lancaster Public Library. She is survived by a daughter, a grandson, a step-granddaughter, and four great-grandchildren.

in Europe, including London, Paris, and Germany.

He later practiced law in New York, Connecticut, and South Carolina. He also was a businessman, helping his father run Worthmore Men’s Store in Charleston before opening his own store, Richard’s Men’s Wear. He formed the Local Development Corp., which helped in the revitalization of Charleston, and served as its chair for more than 20 years. He is survived by his wife, Jane; three daughters; and six grandchildren.

Elizabeth V. Clark Schmidlein ’42 of Annapolis, Md., on Jan. 14, 2015. A competitive ballroom dancer, she won amateur ballroom dance championships in New Jersey and Georgia. She continued dancing into her 80s. She is survived by a son, a daughter, a sister, three grandchildren, and a great-granddaughter.

Joseph S. Harrington ’43 of Wilmington, Del., on Dec. 26, 2014. He served in the Army during World War II and then worked in DuPont’s finance department for 36 years. He is survived by his wife, Deborah; a son; a daughter; four grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

Douglas S. Wright ’41 of Hagerstown, Md., on Jan. 23, 2015. He worked at George D. Reynolds Co. Inc. in Hagerstown before serving in the Army until 1946. For the next 55 years, he worked in the outdoor advertising business, including as chair of Advertising Inc. He is survived by three sons, four grandchildren, and several great-grandchildren.

H. John Malone ’43 of Hartford, Conn., on Jan. 23, 2015. He ran a pediatric practice in Manchester, Conn., for 47 years. He also was a member of many medical and community organizations, and he was honored with the ConnectiCare Golden Heart Award for exceptional family satisfaction from a pediatrician. He is survived by his wife, Beverly, and several children and grandchildren.

Robert Anthoine ’42 of New York, on Jan. 23, 2015. He served as a lieutenant in the Navy for four years. He then taught at Columbia Law School before becoming head of the tax department at Winthrop, Stimson, Putnam & Roberts.

He helped establish several arts foundations and served as the chair of the Aperture Foundation for more than 20 years. He is survived by his wife, Margarita; two sons; two daughters; a stepdaughter; six grandchildren; and two step-grandchildren.

Elwood M. Rich ’43, L ’45 of Riverside, Calif., on Jan. 29, 2015. After a short stint practicing civil law, he worked for the district attorney’s office in Riverside until 1952, when he was elected Municipal Court judge in the Riverside Judicial District.

He later served as a judge in Riverside Superior Court. In 1971, he founded what is now California Southern Law School in Riverside, where he served as dean until 2014. He is survived by four sons, five grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

John R. Clark Jr. M.D. ’42 of Martinsville, Va., on Feb. 4, 2015. He had a private urology practice in Martinsville for 47 years, and his research was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. He is survived by his wife, Judith; a daughter; two sons; and four grandchildren.

Frances E. Huemer ’44 of Chapel Hill, on June 4, 2014. She taught in the art departments of Smith College and New York University before joining the faculty of UNC-CH in 1959, where she was an art professor for 30 years. She is survived by several nieces and nephews.

Vera J. Kearney Jewett ’42 of Tallahassee, Fla., on Jan. 3, 2015. She worked for Polk County schools as a speech therapist for 30 years.

She is survived by a daughter, two sisters, seven grandchildren, two step-grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

Sigmundur M. Jonsson HS ’44 of Easthampton, Mass., on Jan. 10, 2015. He specialized in pulmonology and allergy and worked in a private practice in Westfield and West Springfield. He is survived by six children, a sister, and seven grandchildren.

William M. Ludwig ’42 of Advance, N.C., on Jan. 23, 2015. He served with distinction in the Navy as a gunnery officer during World War II and remained a member of the Navy Reserve for 15 years. He then served as president and operator of Chillicothe Motor Express, an interstate truck line that his father founded in 1948. He is survived by a son, William C. Ludwig ’68; a daughter; five grandchildren, including Katherine O. Ludwig Heinritz ’00; and six great-grandchildren.

W. Garland “Cotton” Loftis ’44 of Fort Collins, Colo., on Feb. 20, 2015. For his service in the Marines during World War II, he was awarded the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, and the Purple Heart. He then served on the staff of the Marine Corps Southern Headquarters until the end of the Korean War. After retiring from the Marine Corps, he worked for Allstate Insurance Co., retiring as southern zone vice president in 1986. He is survived by two children, two grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

Gerald L. Meyerson ’42, LL.B. ’43, LL.M. ’47 of Charleston, S.C., on March 9, 2015. During World War II, he was a second lieutenant and commanding officer in the Army Air Corps stationed

Ruth Conaway Riddell ’44 of Orinda, Calif., on Feb. 6, 2015. During World War II, she joined Women Accepted for Emergency Service

in Washington. In 1946, she moved to California, where she became an accomplished photographer.

She also volunteered for Planned Parenthood, Alta Bates Hospital, and the Orinda Library. She is survived by two sons, a sister, two grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

Emily J. Smith Lacks B.S.N. ’45, R.N. ’45 of Poquoson, Va., on Feb. 15, 2015. She retired as a nurse from Halifax Community Hospital. She is survived by three sons, seven grandchildren, and 13 great-grandchildren.

Edwin R. Ruskin M.D. ’45 of Boca Raton, Fla., on Feb. 9, 2015. While at Duke, he drew cartoons for the Duke ‘n’ Duchess and other campus magazines. He then served in Korea as an Army captain and physician until 1948. He wrote a teleplay, My Son, the Doctor, which aired on Kraft’s Television Theatre in 1954. He later served as a clinical associate professor of dermatology at NYU Medical School and chief of dermatology at New Rochelle Hospital. After retiring in 1991, he returned to playwriting and founded Boca Woods Show Biz Club, where he wrote and produced eight original comedies. He is survived by a daughter and a son.

Richard P. Stein Sr. ’45 of Indianapolis, on Dec. 28, 2014. He served in the Navy during the Korean War before returning to New Albany, Ind., to practice law. He was elected prosecuting attorney for Floyd County and was twice appointed U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, first by President Kennedy and later by President Johnson. Later, he became chair of the Indiana Public Service Commission, served as legal counsel for Eli Lilly & Co., and spent 15 years as senior vice president of public affairs at the Public Service Co. of Indiana. He was named a Sagamore of the Wabash five times by five governors and held membership with several service clubs. He is survived by his wife, Charlotte; three children; two grandchildren; and a great-grandchild.

Albert J. Essey ’46 of Laurinburg, N.C., on April 9, 2014. He is survived by his wife, Reba; three stepchildren; and a sister.

Alfred G. Ford ’46 of Largo, Fla., on Jan. 16, 2015. He served as a V-12 candidate in the Navy during World War II. Later, he established a law office in Jamestown, N.Y., representing the former Dow Craft Co. and Ellison Bronze Co. He also served as Jamestown justice of the peace for two terms. He is survived by three children, a sister, six grandchildren, and a great-granddaughter.

Frances A. Dettmar Hayes B.S.N. ’46 of Burlington, N.C., on Dec. 28, 2014. She served as supervisor of ob-gyn and surgery at Duke Hospital, as a surgical nurse at Sarasota Memorial Hospital, and as a public health nurse in Florida. She then spent 25 years at the Guilford County Health Department, retiring in 1986 as supervisor of adult health services. She chaired many committees, including the American Lung Association of N.C. She is survived by a son, two daughters, three siblings, and six grandchildren.

Charles E. Little Sr. ’46 of Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Oct. 19, 2013. Survivors include his wife, Marie F. Griswold Little ’46.

Mary E. Parker Tavenner A.M. ’46 of Evansville, Ill., on Jan. 20, 2015. She was a laboratory

instructor while at Duke. She later served as head of the math and science department at Mississinewa High School in Gas City, Ind., until she retired.

She was also a member of several associations and societies, including the National Education Association, the American Chemical Society, and the United Daughters of the Confederacy. She is survived by two daughters, two sons, seven grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

Mary C. Walker Campbell B.S.N. ’47 of Salisbury, N.C., on May 5, 2014. She traveled widely. She is survived by her husband, Charles; two daughters; three sons; a brother; 11 grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

Gordon V. Epstein ’47 of Montgomery, Texas, on May 9, 2013.

Janet B. Warren Graham ’47 of Eastham, Mass., on Feb. 3, 2015. She was the secretary of First Congregational Church of Holden for 20 years. She is survived by her husband, Goodwin; a daughter; a son; two grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

John H. Somerville ’47 of Charlotte, on Dec. 30, 2014. A veteran of the Navy submarine service in World War II, he later practiced law at Hinkley & Singley in Baltimore. After a stint as an assistant U.S. attorney in Maryland, he returned to the firm, which eventually merged with Whiteford Taylor & Preston. He served there as managing partner until his retirement in 2005. He was a member of the Maryland Bar Association and the American Bar Association, and he served on the boards of the Greater Baltimore Medical Center and the

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DUKE MAGAZINE

FALL 2015

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THIS IS AN ADVERTISEMENT.

Generations apart, two pediatricians share special link He studied medicine before there was a polio vaccine. She researched mother-to-child HIV transmission in the 1990s. He advocated for child-proof medication caps at a time when they were rare. She looks to iPad technology to improve medical education.

Pediatricians Glenn A. Kiser, M.D., and Kathleen A. McGann, M.D., worked decades apart, but they share a special connection.

McGann is the first recipient of the Glenn A. Kiser and Muriel Kiser Endowed Professorship in Pediatrics at Duke, named for Dr. Kiser, a 1941 graduate of the Duke University School of Medicine, and his wife.

Dr. Kathleen McGann and medical student Amy Gaultney use paper towel pieces to enhance the lung exam of 5-year-old Casey Mendiola-Tippett at Duke Children’s Hospital & Health Center.

McGann helps train medical students in her Pediatric Infectious Diseases Clinic.

2006 because she’s one of the best in her field. The Kiser estate gift has allowed her to make a greater impact as an educator and physician.

“The professorship has freed me to focus on innovative learning techniques and writing grants to fund them,” says McGann. “We ensure that the students, fellows, and residents leave Duke with the knowledge and skills they need to take the best care of children.”

Dr. Glenn and Muriel Kiser

Kiser, who passed away in 2009, created the professorship through his will and a charitable trust. He completed his residency training in pediatrics and went on to have a long and distinguished medical career. Even after his death, Kiser is still caring for kids. His gift supports McGann’s pediatric education and research initiatives at Duke.

As Vice Chair of Education, McGann splits her time between seeing patients and developing a comprehensive pediatric curriculum for the university’s medical students, fellows, and residents.

McGann is also a leading expert in pediatric infectious diseases, having treated patients with illnesses ranging from typhoid fever to HIV infection.

She was recruited to Duke from Washington University in St. Louis in

McGann has initiated new programs like Pediatric Education Day where she brings national experts to campus for a departmental presentation, along with trainee and faculty workshops. She also started an annual training night where medical students conduct their first in-person exam on the children of faculty and residents.

“It’s challenging to do your first real exam on a child,” she says. “This is a way to practice in a low-pressure environment, and the students leave brimming with enthusiasm.”

McGann is also examining the role of technology in improving patient outcomes and student and resident learning.

Curriculum Online for Resident Education is a new digital tool where residents can find learning resources and detailed information about their

clinical rotations. She’s looking to use iPads so residents can find key health information at the bedside, allowing them to spend more time with patients and enhance care.

Much like the planned gift that supports her work, McGann says working with children and trainees is an investment in the future.

“If you’re treating 2-year-olds, you have the opportunity to affect many more years of their lives,” she says. “But that’s not all. If you work with students and residents, you are also educating the next generation to care for children well into the future.”

Maximize your impact at Duke.

Planned gifts like the Kisers’ help set Duke’s trajectory for the future. You, too, can leave a legacy that benefits the people, places, and programs you love most. Duke’s Office of Gift Planning can help you achieve your personal and financial goals through a deferred gift.

Contact us today. dukeforward.duke.edu/giftplanning (919) 681-0464 giftplanning@duke.edu

YMCA. Survivors include his wife, Dorinda; two sons; two daughters; nine grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

Rachel E. Palmer Waggoner B.S.N. ’47, R.N. ’47 of Gastonia, N.C., on Jan. 29, 2015.

She was an obstetrics operating-room nurse and a nursing teacher who also served as an Army Cadet Command nurse during World War II. She was president of Gaston Medical Alliance and a member of the Well Baby Clinic, and she also worked for the Heart Association of Gaston County. Survivors include a daughter; a son; a son-in-law, Joseph C. Bosch ’73; and five grandchildren.

Margaret J. Carter Brandon ’48 of Portola Valley, Calif., on Dec. 1, 2014. She worked as a tax preparer for 10 years. She also was active in numerous organizations, including women’s auxiliaries and California Republicans for Choice, and she served on the Woodside Planning Commission for more than a decade. She visited more than 100 countries. She is survived by two children, a sister, five grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

Nancy E. Harris Roberts ’48 of Greensboro, on Feb. 3, 2015. She worked as a secretary for Chatham Manufacturing Co. in New York and for Robert Orr Advertising Agency. She also was a member of the English Speaking Union and the Greensboro Historical Museum. She later served as secretary for the founding board of Well-Spring Retirement Community. She is survived by two daughters, a sister, and three grandchildren.

Donald C. Rothey B.S.C.E. ’48 of Elizabeth, Pa., on Feb. 7, 2015. He was president of McRo Construction Inc. and a member of Carpenters Union Local No. 230. He is survived by three sons, his sister, and eight grandchildren.

Edward J. Glover Jr. ’49 of Lumberton, N.C., on Jan. 29, 2015. An Army veteran of World War II, he was an accountant for Lumberton Trading Co. He also worked for The Scottish Bank, which merged with First Union National Bank. He was on the board of directors for Glenflora Nursing Home of Lumberton and belonged to various organizations, including Friends of the Library, the Tree Commission, and the Lumberton Historic Society.

He is survived by two daughters, three grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

Arthur R. Hartzell Jr. ’49 of New York, on Dec. 13, 2014. A Navy Seabee during World War II, he later worked for Pfizer in New York for 32 years.

He was a member of the New York Traffic Club and the Princeton Club of New York. He is survived by a brother.

Gene R. Harris Jones ’49 of Elizabeth City, N.C., on Feb. 19, 2015. She was a journalist, tour guide, piano teacher, and artist who exhibited her watercolors in art shows and galleries across North Carolina and Virginia. After retiring in 1987, she taught art on Cunard Cruise Lines. She is survived by four sons, 10 grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.

William I. Millar ’49, LL.B. ’51 of Waynesville, N.C., on Dec. 20, 2014. He was a Navy veteran of the Korean War. Survivors include several children, stepchildren, and grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.

Howard F. Morris ’49 of Greenville, S.C., on Nov. 13, 2014. He made his career as a structural engineer. He is survived by his former wife, Mary; two sons; a daughter; a sister; seven grandchildren; and a niece, Meredith L. Morris Babb ’80.

William R. Paules ’49 of Charlotte, on Jan. 20, 2015. A veteran of the Navy Air Corps during World War II, he and a friend started a computer service called Data Processing of the South, which they later sold to Electronic Data Systems.

He volunteered with Habitat for Humanity in Charlotte for 25 years and took up woodworking.

He is survived by his wife, Elizabeth Wolf Paules ’48; two sons, including Richard S. Paules ’75; a sister; and seven grandchildren.

John M. Rhame Jr. B.S.M.E. ’49 of Hermitage, Tenn., on Dec. 3, 2014. After serving in the Navy as an aviation mechanic and air gunner, he remained in the Navy Reserve for several years.

He worked for DuPont, Clinton Corn, and the Rock Island Arsenal. He also was an announcer for a Sunday radio broadcast from 1951 until 2000. He is survived by a daughter, two sons, 10 grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren.

Roioli V. Feemster Schweiker ’49 of Concord, N.H., on Dec. 13, 2014. An outdoorswoman, she wrote caving, ski-touring, and canoeing guidebooks and was the first woman to climb the 100 highest mountains in New Hampshire in the winter. She also edited two family histories and was a president of the Women’s Club of Concord.

Survivors include her husband, Robert; a daughter; and a son.

Alyce Ruth Oakes Spencer-Hunt M.Ed. ’49 of Bessemer City, N.C., on March 1, 2015. She was a teacher and psychologist for 41 years in the Gaston County school system. She was also a president of Gaston County Democratic Women, and she wrote several published poems. She is survived by two daughters, a son, a sister, six grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren, and a great-great-grandchild.

Robert L. Clifford LL.B. ’50 of Chester, N.J., on Nov. 29, 2014. A Navy veteran, he began his career as a law clerk to a New Jersey state Supreme Court justice before practicing in civil and criminal trials. He then became a partner at Egan, O’Donnell, Hanley & Clifford and joined N.J. Governor William Cahill’s cabinet, serving in several positions related to banking, insurance, and agencies.

As one of the longest-tenured justices in New Jersey, he served on the state Supreme Court for more than 20 years and wrote several key opinions, including one that narrowed the scope of the death penalty. Survivors include his wife, Ruth; three sons; and several grandchildren.

Frank B. Cook M.Div. ’50 of Winston-Salem, on Oct. 22, 2014. For more than 40 years, he served the Western North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church. He is survived by his wife, Jess; a daughter, M. Evelyn Cook Middleton ’81; a son, Allen R. Cook ’83; and several grandchildren.

J. Kenneth Eason ’50 of Sanford, N.C., on March 12, 2015. A veteran of the Navy, he was a public accountant who worked for John C. Muse Co. and Sanford Furniture Co. He later worked for Carolina Trace Corp. and helped to develop Carolina Trace, Carolina Lakes, and Governors Club. He

is survived by his wife, Emily; a daughter; a son; a sister; a brother; and four grandchildren.

Thomas E. Evans ’50 of Pompano Beach, Fla., on Dec. 15, 2014. Before attending Duke, he worked at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard and served as an Air Force gunner, flying 35 combat missions in Europe. He achieved the rank of staff sergeant and earned multiple commendations. Later, he became an operations officer in the CIA, serving all over the world. In 1978, he began a second career in Florida real estate. He is survived by his wife, JoAnn; a daughter; two sons; and five grandchildren.

Donald B. Ralph ’50 of Melbourne, Fla., on Nov. 22, 2014. He served as an Air Force pilot and intelligence officer in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam, achieving the rank of colonel. He is survived by his wife, Suzanne; a daughter; two sons; a stepdaughter; two stepsons; nine grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.

Edwin S. “Buddy” Thompson ’50 of Goldsboro, N.C., on April 5, 2014. After being stationed in France and Germany with the Army during World War II, he became an office manager of the N.C. Department of Revenue in Charlotte.

He then served as manager of Elkins Motor Co. in Durham for 30 years. He served as president of the Sales and Marketing Executives of Durham and president of the Durham YMCA, each for a year, and in 1980 was honored for his volunteer service in the Durham community. He was a member of the Duke Family Association. Later, he studied carving and became an artist. He is survived by his wife, JoAnn; two daughters; two stepchildren; a brother; four grandchildren; five step-grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.

John B. Turbidy ’50 of St. Simons Island, Ga., on Jan. 12, 2015. A Navy veteran, he began his career with Lockheed Aircraft in Marietta, Ga. In 1956, he moved to New York to join McKinsey & Co., and soon became one of the firm’s earliest international consultants when it opened its London office in 1959. Over the next decade, he lived abroad in England, Belgium, and Italy, where he became a corporate executive. In 1970, he moved back to the U.S. and became founder, chair, and chief executive of Vecta Contract Inc., a furniture manufacturer. He later held leadership positions at IU International, James D. Wolfensohn Inc., and Pitcairn Financial Group. He also chaired the board of directors for the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation. He is survived by his wife, Jackie; two sons, including Trevor M. Turbidy ’90; three stepchildren; a brother; four grandchildren; and four step-grandchildren.

Robert L. Wilson ’50 of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Dec. 1, 2014. He served in the Army during World War II, attaining the rank of sergeant. In 1951, he became a special agent for the FBI, a position he held until his retirement in 1978. His job took him to several cities, including Oklahoma City, Chicago, Washington, San Juan, and Miami.

He handled the case of the first airliner hijacked to Cuba in 1967, and he investigated many subsequent hijackings in the 1970s. After retiring from the FBI, he worked as a security consultant. He is survived by his wife, Mary J. MacSpadden Wilson ’49; a daughter; a son; and two grandchildren.

Robert E. Yongue III ’50 of Athens, Ga., on Jan. 20, 2015. He served in Armed Forces Radio DUKE MAGAZINE

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stationed in Guam before beginning a career as a broadcaster for radio stations in Texas, Tennessee, and Georgia. He then had a second career in adult education at what would become Athens Technical College, where he taught electronic courses and served as industrial-relations coordinator and Quick Start program director. He also established an EMT training program in Georgia and received the EMS Special Achievement Award in 1993.

Active in the community, he was a member of the Athens Area Chamber of Commerce Industrial Development Committee, the Mayor’s Committee on the Employment of the Handicapped, and the Northeast Georgia Emergency Medical Services Advisory Council. Survivors include his wife, Michal; a daughter; a son; a brother; a grandson; and a step-granddaughter.

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Lawrence C. Bowman ’51 of Lake Ann, Mich., on Nov. 27, 2014. A veteran of the Navy, he served as a signalman aboard a U.S. tanker during World War II. He later served as city councilman in Marysville, Mich., and helped establish the Marysville Public Library, serving as president of the library’s board. He also had a career in banking and finance, working as a federal bank examiner, a loan officer, and the vice president of the Commercial & Saving Bank of Port Huron. He is survived by two daughters, five grandchildren, and a great-grandson.

Nancy E. Paddock Eberle ’51 of Richmond, Va., on Dec. 15, 2014. Active in the community, she volunteered for the Maymont Foundation and Shepherd’s Center of Richmond. She was a world traveler.

Survivors include her husband, Charles; a daughter, Julia L. Eberle ’84; and five grandchildren.

R. William Lee Jr. ’51 of Atlanta, on June 25, 2014. After serving in the Marine Corps during the Korean War, he had a 40-year career with Oxford Industries, where he was president of the men’s slacks division, group vice president for menswear, executive vice president for finance and administration, and a member of the board of directors.

He served as a member of the Textile and Apparel Advisory Committee of the U.S. Department of Commerce during the Reagan administration, director of the American Apparel Manufacturer’s Association, and director and vice president of the Men’s Fashion Association. In addition, he was involved in organizations including the Kiwanis Club of Atlanta, Georgia Cooperative Services for the Blind, and the Atlanta Business Roundtable.

He is survived by his wife, Marianne Hollingsworth Lee ’52; three daughters, including Carol E. Lee Wilkerson ’78; a son; and eight grandchildren, including Kerry L. McGregor ’10 and Kristin L. McGregor ’13.

George A. Reynolds Ph.D. ’51 of Vero Beach, Fla., on Nov. 4, 2014. He was a research chemist for Eastman Kodak for 33 years, and he was the author of more than 140 scientific publications. He is survived by his wife, M. Violet Pierce Reynolds B.S.N. ’50; a daughter; a son; two grandchildren; and two great-grandsons.

Thomas H. Edelblute Jr. B.S.M.E. ’52 of Charleston, W.V., on Nov. 24, 2014. As a Navy signalman during World War II, he saw active combat in the Battle of Iwo Jima and other Pacific Theater conflicts. As an engineer, he worked for U.S. Steel Corp. and then Kuhn Construction Co., where he served as president. He later worked for the State Department to build and renovate foreign

U.S. embassies around the globe. He was a Master Mason, president of the Contractor’s Association of West Virginia, and an officer of the Fleming Hunt Club of Amelia Courthouse in Virginia. He is survived by his wife, Margaret; two sons; a brother; and step-grandsons.

Ruth Kimmelstiel Freinkel M.D. ’52 of Eugene, Ore., on May 17, 2014. She emigrated from Germany to the U.S. at the age of seven. One of only five women in her class at the Duke medical school, she was also one of the first female dermatology residents at Harvard. She had a 34-year career with Northwestern University’s dermatology department, served as editor of the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, and published a basic science book for dermatologists in 2001. She also served as president of the Society for Investigative Dermatology and was awarded the Rothman Medal in 1994. She is survived by two daughters, a son, and three grandchildren.

Betty Brody Lourie ’52 of Syracuse, N.Y., on Dec. 9, 2014. She was a philanthropist and supporter of Syracuse Stage, serving as a trustee on the theater’s board and a member of its guild. For her patronage for the arts and community service, she was honored with the Post-Standard Achievement Award, the Hannah G. Solomon Award from the National Council of Jewish Women, and the Onondaga County Medical Society Alliance Community Service Award. She is survived by two daughters; two sons, Gerald L. Lourie M.D. ’81 and Gary M. Lourie ’78, M.D. ’82; a brother; eight grandchildren; and a great-granddaughter.

Arthur M. Osteen ’52, A.M. ’54 of Middleburg, Va., on July 14, 2014.

Faye D. Evans Salley ’52 of Lexington, N.C., on Dec. 18, 2014. She taught in the Durham city and Davidson County school systems, eventually retiring as a teacher with the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County school system. She is survived by her husband, Donald; a son; a daughter; a brother; a sister; and a grandson.

Harold Simon ’52, M.D. ’55 of Palm Beach, Fla., on Jan. 8, 2015. He served as a Navy doctor and later became chief of radiology at NewtonWellesley Hospital. He also taught at Tufts Medical School as an assistant professor. He is survived by his wife, Jane; two sons; and four grandchildren.

Ronald V. Simpson ’52 of Sarasota, Fla., on Jan. 4, 2015. During the Korean War, he served in the Army in Japan. He later was a partner of Goldberg & Simpson until his retirement in 1987. He is survived by his wife, Nancy; three daughters; and seven grandchildren.

Robert R. Burch HS ’53 of Dallas, on Dec. 18, 2014. He served as a pilot in the Army during World War II and years later published a book, WWII: A Pilot’s Experience. He practiced internal medicine for 57 years, including as assistant medical director at the Clinical Research Center of New Orleans. He also taught clinical medicine at Tulane University Medical School and served as president of several associations and medical centers, including the Louisiana Heart Association, Southern Baptist Hospital, and the Orleans Parish Medical Society. He is survived by his wife, Lillie; a son; a daughter; and five grandchildren.

Ben I. Friedman HS ’53 of St. Petersburg, Fla., on Dec. 23, 2014. He served as a captain in the Air Force before joining the medical faculty of the University of Cincinnati and then the University of Tennessee. He later joined the staff of Morton Plant Hospital in Clearwater, Fla., where he worked until his retirement. He is survived by his wife, Ruth; a son; and two grandsons.

John H. Hodges A.M. ’53, Ph.D. ’55 of Boulder, Colo., on Sept. 2, 2014. He served in the Navy as a radar technician before beginning his teaching career as an assistant professor of mathematics at the University of Buffalo. He then taught mathematics at the University of Colorado until his retirement in 1995. Throughout his career he was honored with several teaching awards. He is survived by his wife, Jean; a daughter; two sons; a sister; and several grandchildren.

Donald B. Strickland Sr. ’53, J.D. ’56 of Goldsboro, N.C., on Nov. 26, 2014. He served as the chief trial judge for the Air Force and retired as a colonel after 25 years of service. After his military career, he worked with the district attorney’s office in Goldsboro and later practiced criminal law. He is survived by four children and nine grandchildren.

Ruth A. Fisher Veazey ’53 of Hendersonville, N.C., on Nov. 28, 2014. She was named homecoming queen at Duke in 1951. Survivors include a daughter; three sons, including Lee F. Veazey ’88; a brother, Edgar B. Fisher Jr. ’57, LL.B. ’61; nine grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

C. Vaughn Wilson ’53 of Black Mountain, N.C., on Oct. 23, 2014. After serving at the Air

Force Institute of Technology for two years, he had a 30-year career in international banking with Citibank of New York and Barclays Bank International.

After his retirement, he moved to Black Mountain, where he volunteered on the board of directors for the Preservation Society of Asheville and Buncombe County, as well as for Warren Wilson College’s board of the Friends of the Library. He is survived by a daughter, a son, a sister, and three grandchildren.

Robert H. Booth ’54 of Durham, on Dec. 1, 2014. He served in the Air Force before working for Aluminum Co. of America and later the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce. He then served the Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce for more than three decades, receiving the Civic Honor Award in 1998. He served as president of the Durham Rotary Club and was a founding member of the Congregation at Duke Chapel. He is survived by his daughter, Susan A. Booth VanSant ’77, M.R.E. ’83; a brother; and a granddaughter, Cameron A. VanSant ’09.

J. Brad Craig B.S.M.E. ’54 of The Villages, Fla., on Nov. 10, 2014. He worked as a sales, training, and marketing manager in the metal construction industry and taught management courses for 16 years. Later, he became a spokesman for Angel Flight and taught name-memory classes for several years. He is survived by his wife, Thirza; two sons; two daughters; seven grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

Gerald W. Fuller ’54 of Alexandria, Ky., on Nov. 25, 2014. A Navy veteran, he was a criminal tax lawyer for the Justice Department in Cincinnati, serving as deputy regional counsel through

1985. In retirement, he created the “Pep ‘N’ Sal” comic series, which was featured in local and national dog-lovers’ publications. He is survived by his wife, Evelyn; three daughters; a sister; a brother; and several grandchildren.

David A. Lerps ’54 of Kailua, Hawaii, on Oct. 21, 2014. During his 30-year military career, he served three tours in Japan, flew 312 missions in Vietnam, received 23 Air Medals, and achieved the rank of colonel. He later worked in strategic planning at the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Washington, was both a student and a teacher at the Marine Corps Command and Staff College, and served as chief of staff at the Academy of the Pacific. In retirement, he was a member of the Hawaii Wagner Society and the Hawaii Opera Theater board. He is survived by his wife, Mary; two daughters; a son; a sister; a brother; and six grandchildren.

Allen A. Max ’54 of Florham Park, N.J., on Dec. 10, 2014. He was a captain in the Army. Later, he practiced dentistry and played hundreds of golf courses in the country. He is survived by his wife, Julie; two sons; a daughter; a sister; and four grandchildren.

William J. Reid Jr. A.M. ’54 of Central, S.C., on Aug. 20, 2014. He served in the Army during World War II before serving in the S.C. National Guard and as the general’s aide. Later, he taught chemistry and physics at Jacksonville State University and eventually became chair of its science and engineering department. He also served as chair of the Alabama Academy of Physics and as president of Alabama Physics Teachers. Active in civic life, he was named Abbeville Jaycee Man of the Year and Kiwanian of the Year in Jacksonville. He is survived

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by his wife, Nancy; two daughters; a son; a brother; and eight grandchildren.

John A. Zunes M.Div. ’54 of Chapel Hill, on Oct. 25, 2014. An Army Air Corps veteran, he became an activist for peace. He served as rector in churches in Cooleemee and Rockingham and later joined the faculty of Tougaloo College. He then served as educational supervisor for the Morehead Planetarium in Chapel Hill, training Apollo astronauts in celestial navigation. For 20 years before his retirement, he taught physics at Durham Tech.

He is survived by a son; three grandchildren; and a cousin, Sarah K. Baldwin Suplee ’51.

Louis A. Aitken B.D. ’55 of Castana, Iowa, on Sept. 22, 2014. He worked as a mechanic, first in the Air Corps during World War II and later for Carbide & Carbon Chemicals. He served the

Methodist Church, both as a preacher and a financial consultant. Upon retirement, he played and sang in the bluegrass band Monona Country and was an enthusiastic outdoorsman. He is survived by his wife, Norma; two daughters; a son; a sister; and two grandchildren.

Leonard W. Burka ’55 of Chevy Chase, Md., on Oct. 28, 2014. He is survived by his wife, Frances; a son; a daughter; a brother; and two grandchildren.

Virginia L. Sego Craig B.S.N. ’55 of Greenville, S.C., on March 1, 2013.

Robert H. Dovenmuehle HS ’55 of Fayetteville, Ark., on Sept. 13, 2014. He was an associate professor of psychiatry at Duke, as well as director of Western Interstate Commission for Higher

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Education’s Mental Health Program, a psychiatry professor at the University of Missouri School of Medicine, and the clinical director for Guilford County Mental Health Center. He later owned a private practice in Greensboro and consulted for Hughes Payne until his retirement. He is survived by two sons, three daughters, six grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren.

Charles W. Estus Sr. B.D. ’55, A.M. ’60 of Yarmouth Port, Mass., on Oct. 5, 2014. He taught at Drew University, Clark University, and Assumption College, and cofounded what is now the Edward M. Kennedy Health Center. He was active in the civil rights movement and volunteered in the community as a librarian and driver. He is survived by his wife, Kathleen; a daughter; a son; a stepson; two stepdaughters; a brother; four grandchildren; and former wife, Phyllis.

Allyn J. “Doc” Fisher B.D. ’55 of Victoria, Australia, on July 5, 2014. He is survived by his partner, Marion; four daughters; eight grandchildren; and former wife, Heather.

Thomas G. Hargitt ’55 of Durham, on Dec. 10, 2014. He taught English and history for many years. Survivors include a sister.

Michael E. Keenan ’55 of Falmouth, Mass., on Sept. 9, 2014. He served as a special agent in the Army’s Counter Intelligence Corps before leading a career in advertising. He worked for Procter & Gamble and Compton Advertising and on ad campaigns for Mobil, Air France, Guinness, and Michelin, among others. He was president and CEO of TELA Interactive, eastern region chair of the American Association of Advertising Agencies, and a marketing lecturer at Rutgers University and City University of New York. He retired in 2013 as vice president of client services at U.S. International Media. He is survived by his partner, Mary Winslow; six children; 17 grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; and former wife, Jane.

Margaret A. Ford Grigg ’56 of Albemarle, N.C., on Nov. 18, 2014. She lived in Charlotte for many years before retiring to her farm in Albemarle, where she cultivated award-winning gardens and raised horses and rescue animals. She is survived by two daughters, including Anne F. Grigg Melson ’81; a son; a son-in-law, David E. Melson ’80; a sister; and nine grandchildren, including Emily F. Melson ’10.

Lucinda W. Pickens Lockwood ’56 of Anderson, S.C., on Dec. 12, 2014. In Charlotte, she worked as a patient representative for Carolinas Medical Center’s emergency department. She later moved to Anderson, where she was a member of the Junior League, Discover Anderson, and the Senior Assembly of Anderson. She is survived by two children, a sister, a brother, and six grandchildren.

Ann L. Padgett Low ’56 of Edisto Island, S.C., on June 14, 2014. She was a member and officer of various community organizations, as well as a seasoned traveler. She is survived by her husband, Joseph T. Low ’56; two daughters; two sons; 11 grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

Dan O. Via Jr. Ph.D. ’56 of Charlottesville, Ga., on Oct. 12, 2014. He taught at Wake Forest University, the University of Virginia, the University of Zimbabwe, and Harvard Divinity School. Later, he

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became professor of New Testament at Duke Divinity School. He wrote many books and articles, including The Parables. Survivors include his wife, Margaret; and two sons, including Dan F. Via ’81, M.D. ’94.

three scholarly books, and was co-master of Will Rice College. After retiring in 2001, he wrote several novels and short stories. He is survived by his wife, Andrea; a son; a daughter; a sister; and five grandchildren.

Charles E. Whitcher HS ’56 of Stanford, Calif., on Oct. 13, 2014. He served two years in the Army before joining the Stanford medical faculty as an assistant professor of anesthesia in 1961.

In 1966, he became the first clinical professor in Stanford’s anesthesiology department, and he later received the 1978 Resident Teacher of the Year Award. His research involved the study of sound distortion of stethoscopes, innovative methods of patient monitoring, development of the pulse oximeter, and the effects of occupational exposure to anesthetics. Toward the end of his career, he advocated for compassionate end-of-life care and was active in the Death with Dignity movement.

After retiring in 1990s, he served on the Stanford Campus Residential Leaseholders board of directors and was involved in community emergency preparedness. He is survived by his wife, Mary Lue; three children; two stepchildren; and eight grandchildren.

Herbert M. Johnson ’58 of Greenwich, Conn., on Nov. 25, 2014. He joined his father’s academic publishing business, then built and sold several businesses. In 1972, he started JAI Press, which he operated until his retirement. He had a post-retirement career in commercial real estate. He is survived by his wife, Dawn; five children, including Matthew G. Johnson ’87; a sister; and 15 grandchildren.

Lloyd L. Beale B.S.E.E. ’57 of Providence, R.I., on Nov. 5, 2014. He worked in property development as an electrical engineer for more than 44 years and served on the East Greenwich School Committee for eight years. He is survived by his wife, Shelley; four children, including Helen C. Beale-Holcombe ’79; a son-in-law, Randall F. Holcombe ’79; a brother; a sister; and nine grandchildren, including James L. Holcombe ’09.

Donna V. Hager Burgess R.N. ’57 of Swannanoa, N.C., on Nov. 17, 2014. Early in her career, she worked as a nurse at Duke Medical Center and Alamance Memorial Hospital. She is survived by five children and 13 grandchildren.

Joseph D. Glass Jr. ’57 of Hickory, N.C., on Dec. 12, 2014. He taught at Lenoir-Rhyne College for 47 years. He is survived by his wife, Carolyn; three children; several grandchildren; and several great-grandchildren.

George J. D’Angelo HS ’58 of Andover, Mass., on Nov. 23, 2014. He served in the Navy for three years and participated in the Battle at Okinawa. Upon moving to Erie, Pa., he became a thoracic and cardiovascular surgeon and developed a laboratory for the diagnosis of cardiovascular disease. In 1962, he led the team that performed the first open-heart surgery in northwestern Pennsylvania. Involved in the arts, he served as president of the Erie Philharmonic for six years and with his wife cofounded the D’Angelo Young Artist Competition for classical musicians. He is survived by his wife, Mary; five children; several siblings; nine grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

Fredric E. Detoro Ph.D. ’58 of San Antonio, on Oct. 14, 2014. He joined American Cyanamid in 1958 and worked there his entire career. He is survived by a daughter, two sons, five grandchildren, and a great-grandson.

Edward O. Doughtie ’58 of Strafford, Vt., on March 26, 2014. He taught in the English department at Rice University, where he also served as editor of Studies in English Literature, published

Elizabeth N. Monahan Papousek ’58 of Nashville, Tenn., on Dec. 17, 2014. She taught mathematics for five years at the University of Montana and for 41 years at Fisk University. She was also a professional photographer. She is survived by a daughter, a brother, and a sister.

Louis F. Hass ’59 of Centre Hall, Pa., on Nov. 26, 2014. He served in the Naval Air Corps during World War II as a radio gunner and seaman first class. Later, he began an academic career at the State University of New York as an assistant professor of biochemistry. He then joined the faculty of Penn State’s medical school, where he taught biochemistry and conducted research until his retirement in 1988.

In retirement, he wrote newspaper editorials and a book manuscript advocating for the protection of the Centre Hall region. He is survived by his wife, Rosalyn; two sons; a daughter; and a grandson.

James R. Maxfield M.Div. ’59 of Lakeland, Fla., on June 13, 2014. He served five churches in Kentucky before joining the National Division of the Board of Global Ministries. He then became founding pastor of Cypress Lake United Methodist Church in Fort Myers and later executive director of the Florida United Methodist Foundation and Development Fund. Eventually, he served as district superintendent of the St. Petersburg district.

He is survived by his wife, Janice; a daughter; two sisters; and a brother.

W. Stuart Collins M.D. ’60 of Winston-Salem, on Dec. 6, 2014. He served in the Air Force as a captain in the Medical Corps. He then practiced psychiatry with an emphasis on public mental health from 1968 until his retirement in 2012. He is survived by his wife, Norma; a son; a daughter; and a grandson.

Harry H. Pearson Jr. ’60 of Sea Cliff, N.Y., on Nov. 4, 2014. He founded the music magazine The Absolute Sound and is credited with inspiring improvements in CD technology and developing a philosophy and vocabulary for audiophiles, coining the phrase “high-end audio.” He is survived by a sister.

W.J. Kenneth Rockwell M.D. ’60 of Durham, on Nov. 24, 2014. He served as a lieutenant in the Navy for two years before joining the psychiatry department at Duke Medical Center.

He specialized in helping patients with eating disorders and helped build the student mental-health program Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS). He completed his career in geriatrics at John Umstead Hospital. He is survived by two daughters, M. Sybil Rockwell Robb ’91, M.H.S. ’00 and E. Marcelle Rockwell Jackson ’93; a son; and four grandchildren.

William H. Hatcher Ph.D. ’61 of Hattiesburg, Miss., on Dec. 12, 2014. He served in the Army during World War II and became part of General Eisenhower’s Honor Guard. He was then a political science professor at Virginia Tech, Truman University, and finally the University of Southern Mississippi, where he chaired the political science department. He is survived by two daughters, two stepsons, seven grandchildren, and 19 great-grandchildren.

Richard A. Hawse ’61 of Orange Park, Fla., on Dec. 9, 2014. He served in the Navy as an oral surgeon for more than 20 years, retiring as a commander in 1992. He is survived by his wife, Diana; a stepdaughter; and a stepson.

Harry C. Slusser III ’61 of Kure Beach, N.C., on Dec. 3, 2014. He worked for 34 years in the textile industry, including in management positions with Burlington Industries and Fieldcrest Cannon, until his retirement in 1995. He is survived by his wife, Bettie; a son, John S. Slusser B.S.E. ’81; a daughter; a sister; three grandchildren; and a great-granddaughter.

Edmund M. Cameron Jr. ’62 of Durham, on Nov. 23, 2014. He was an outdoorsman with a passion for fishing. He is survived by his wife, Marguerite; a son; a daughter, Marguerite H. Cameron Bateman ’84; two sisters, including Martha Erwin Uzzle ’55; four grandchildren; and several nieces and nephews, including William Schiffli Jr. ’76.

Beverly H. Brooks Jordan B.S.N. ’62 of Smithfield, N.C., on Sept. 14, 2014. She was a member of several local service and social groups.

She is survived by her husband, Lyndon K. Jordan Jr. ’57, M.D. ’61; three sons, including Patrick B. Jordan ’92, M.B.A. ’02 and Lyndon K. Jordan III ’86, M.D.’93; a daughter-inlaw, Laurie A. O’Daniel Jordan HS ’95; a sister; and four grandchildren.

Patrick J. Logue M.D. ’62 of Belleair, Fla., on Dec. 17, 2014. He served in the Army in Germany. Later, he began his medical career on the staff of Morton Plant Hospital in Clearwater, Fla., where he practiced for 35 years. He was a member of Duke’s Founders’ Society and president of the Davison Club for medical alumni. He is survived by his wife, Joyce; seven children; two siblings; and 11 grandchildren.

H. Oliver Williamson HS ’62 of Mount Pleasant, S.C., on Nov. 3, 2014. He served in the Navy as a coxswain. In 1962, he joined the faculty of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at the Medical University of South Carolina, where he became a professor and later director of the reproductive endocrinology division and its fellowship program. He served as president of the S.C. ObGyn Society, the North American Ob-Gyn Society, and the Bayard Carter Ob-Gyn Society. He earned several teaching awards and lectured widely. He is survived by a brother, a sister, and several nieces and nephews.

W. George Pullen B.D. ’63 of Rome, Ga., on Jan. 31, 2014. He served for several years as a Methodist minister in the South Georgia Conference and became involved in the civil rights movement. He was a charter faculty member of Floyd Junior College (now Georgia Highlands College), DUKE MAGAZINE

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where he served as chair of the divisions of social science and extended learning. He retired in 1997 as professor emeritus of history. He then served the Rome City Commission for 23 years, including a stint as chair. He later chaired the Floyd County Democratic Party and was named Floyd County Democrat of the Year in 2013. He also launched and owned Pullen’s Ordinary Bicycles. He is survived by his wife, Ann; a son, a daughter; a stepson, a sister; and eight grandchildren.

June E. Gehrig Banks B.S.N. ’64 of Monterey, Calif., on Nov. 3, 2014. She worked as an ob-gyn nurse and as a Lamaze childbirth instructor.

She later relocated to California, where she became a docent at Point Lobos State Park and a guide for the Monterey Bay Aquarium. She is survived by a son, a daughter, two sisters, and four grandchildren.

Julian Katz HS ’65 of Philadelphia, on Nov. 5, 2014. He joined the Navy and rose to the rank of lieutenant commander. He started a private gastroenterology practice in Philadelphia and later became a clinical professor at the Medical College of Pennsylvania and Drexel University, where he contributed to the early understanding of lactose intolerance. He also served as president of the Philadelphia County Medical Society and the Pennsylvania Society of Gastroenterology. He is survived by his wife, Sheila Moriber Katz M.D. ’66; a son; a daughter; and six grandchildren.

Rebecca E. Crews Pickett ’65 of Decatur, Ga., on Aug. 14, 2014. She was a master gardener and president of the Georgia Master Gardeners Association in 2000. She is survived by her husband, Jeffrey; a daughter; a son; and six grandchildren.

W. Lyman Dillon LL.B. ’67 of Ponte Vedra, Fla., on Nov. 29, 2014. He served in the Army before becoming a lawyer and eventual partner with Hansell, Post, Brandon & Dorsey. He stayed with the firm when it merged with Jones Day in 1989, practicing until he retired in 1998. He is survived by his wife, Sandy; a son, Justin E. Dillon ’96; two stepdaughters; two sisters; a brother; and seven grandchildren.

Alfred J. Goetze Ph.D. ’67 of Raleigh, on Dec. 9, 2014. He was a professor at N.C. State University for more than 50 years. He is survived by two nieces.

Frederick A. Berger ’68 of Franklin, N.C., on Oct. 18, 2014. As the only pediatrician in Franklin from 1975 to 1996, he routinely made house calls. In addition to his practice, he served as the physician for the Lyndon B. Johnson Job Corps Civilian Conservation Center for many years. He was involved in several medical boards and societies, including as chief of staff and secretary at Angel Medical Center, which named its women and children’s nursery after him in 2005. He was a founding member of a theater company, the Overlook Players, and a synagogue. He is survived by his wife, Lee; three daughters, including Jennifer M. Berger Brown ’98; a brother; and six grandchildren.

Richard W.O. Lethander Ph.D. ’68 of Fishers, Ind., on Oct. 28, 2014. An economics professor, he taught at the University of Massachusetts, Lake Erie College, Auburn University, Brewton Parker College, and Tennessee Wesleyan College.

He also worked for the CIA, B.F. Goodrich, Eaton Corp., Sherwin Williams, and Leonard Peterson & Co. While living in Cleveland, he served as pres-

ident of the Cleveland Business Economist Club.

He is survived by his wife, Barbara Sommerschield Lethander M.Ed. ’66; three children; a brother; and eight grandchildren.

Barbara M. Kuck Teasdale ’68 of Ridgefield, Conn., on Nov. 23, 2014. She worked as a computer programmer and trainer for the American Can Co. in Greenwich, Conn., for 14 years. She also was president of the Ridgefield Thrift Shop.

Survivors include her husband, Richard; a brother, William M. Kuck B.S.E. ’73; a sister, Kathie D. Kuck ’70; and a sister-in-law, Anne S. Emmenegger Kuck ’74.

David K. Buckley M.D. ’71 of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Dec. 12, 2014. He ran a private psychiatric practice in Fort Lauderdale. He is survived by two sons, his mother, and seven siblings.

Clarence Garner Sr. M.Div. ’71 of Eagle Springs, N.C., on Dec. 10, 2014. He served as an ordained minister with the North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church for more than 30 years. He is survived by his wife, Elgie; three children; a brother; seven grandsons; and six great-grandchildren.

Sivalingam Siva HS ’71 of Gastonia, N.C., on Nov. 30, 2014. After coming to Duke from Malaysia on a student visa, he became a naturalized U.S. citizen. In the mid-1970s, he was one of only five neurosurgeons on staff at the University of California­-Davis-Sacramento Medical Center.

He then became a neurosurgical instructor and opened the first neurosurgery practice in Gaston County. He served the Gastonia community for 25 years until his retirement in 2002. He came out of retirement briefly to work with the Neuroscience & Spine Center of the Carolinas and volunteer with the Gaston County Health Department. He is survived by his wife, Ann; four children; a brother; a sister; and five grandchildren.

Theodore J. Badger Jr. M.H.A. ’72 of Houston, on Nov. 11, 2014. He worked in healthcare administration for 40 years, including 28 years as the CEO of Beauregard Memorial Hospital. He was a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives and served in a variety of leadership positions on boards at local, state, and national levels.

He is survived by his wife, Evelyn; 10 children; his mother; a brother; and 34 grandchildren.

Michael J. Batutis A.M. ’72 of Lancaster, Pa., on Nov. 1, 2014. He served in the Army during the Vietnam War and later worked as chief demographer for New York State’s economic development department. Later, working for the Census Bureau, he oversaw the accuracy of census counts and wrote several publications and articles on national population estimates. He retired as branch chief of the population estimates division in 2009. He is survived by his wife, Judy; a son; a brother; and a grandson.

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J. Joel Carter M.Div. ’72 of Anchorage, Alaska, on Dec. 1, 2014. He served as a Methodist minister for 20 years in North Carolina. In 1991, he moved to Alaska, where he worked as a licensed professional counselor until 2007. He cofounded Dayspring Retreat Center and the first teen runaway shelter in the area. He is survived by his partner, Angela; two daughters; two stepdaughters; a sister; and four grandchildren.

Judith A. Roy Dobeck M.S. ’72 of Panama City, Fla., on Sept. 7, 2014. A physical therapist, she taught in the physical therapist assistant program at Becker College. She then developed and directed a similar program at Gulf Coast Community College until her retirement in 2004. She is survived by her husband, Gerry; a sister; and two brothers.

Walter A. Record III ’74 of Huntsville, Ala., on Nov. 24, 2014. He worked as a lawyer for Huntsville for more than 30 years, retiring as chief prosecutor. Survivors include three sisters, a niece, and five nephews.

Richard J. Welch ’74 of Los Angeles, on Oct. 6, 2014. He was managing partner of Riordan & McKinzie and later of Bingham McCutchen’s Los Angeles office. He received numerous honors and awards in the legal field and chaired several civic and philanthropic organizations. He is survived by his wife, Tawny Little; a son; two stepsons; and two sisters.

Brent L. Riley B.H.S. ’75 of Mishawaka, Ind., on Dec. 1, 2014. He worked as a business director of marketing at Miles/Bayer in Elkhart, Ind., for 20 years. Later, he became a pathologist assistant for Healthcare Connections. He is survived by a daughter, a son, a sister, and three grandchildren.

Carolyn C. Engle Smith ’75 of St. Petersburg, Fla., on Dec. 13, 2014. A licensed mental-health counselor, she worked for Suncoast Hospice beginning in 1996. She is survived by her husband, William; two sons; three brothers, including Russell W. Engle ’66; and two grandsons.

Robert L. Wishon Jr. M.B.A. ’76 of Cary, N.C., on Dec. 20, 2014. He served in the Air Force during the Vietnam War. After beginning his career in accounting, he started his own tax and accounting practice in 1980. He is survived by his wife, Rachel; a son; a sister; and two grandchildren.

technology for IBM, MAPICS, and QAD. Survivors include his wife, Deborah, and a son.

Deborah L. Johnson Robson ’82 of Richmond, Va., on Sept. 10, 2014. She worked for Robinson’s Department Store, served as assistant director of admissions at Occidental College, and became the director of admissions at the Mayfield School in Pasadena, Calif. In 1999, she joined the Steward School in Richmond as a tutor, eventually becoming the director of admissions and then associate head of school for community advancement. She is survived by her husband, Kenneth; two sons; her parents; and a sister.

Khairia F. Omran HS ’83 of Rocklin, Calif., on May 17, 2013.

Vicki H. Fedde M.B.A. ’85 of Delanson, N.Y., on Nov. 14, 2014. She is survived by her husband, Gerhard.

Diane M. Coucoulas Calleson ’86 of Durham, on Aug. 15, 2014. She taught middleschool sciences for several years before beginning a nearly 15-year career as a clinical associate professor at the UNC-CH Gillings School of Global Public Health. She is survived by her husband, Gerald T. Calleson ’85; her parents; and a sister.

David T. Rasmussen Ph.D. ’86 of Edwardsville, Ill., on Aug. 7, 2014. A physical anthropologist, he specialized in paleontology and behavioral ecology. He served as a visiting professor at Rice University, an assistant professor at UCLA, and later as a full professor at Washington University in St. Louis. During his career he published more than 85 scholarly articles and conducted field research in Egypt, Mali, and Ethiopia, among other countries. He is survived by his parents, two sisters, and a brother.

Sally M. Rice Jones ’77 of Austin, Texas, on Nov. 7, 2014. She worked in the book- and periodicals-publishing industry. She is survived by her husband, Henry W. Jones III ’76; several children; her mother; and a sister.

Elanna R. Platt Kaplan ’88 of New Port Richey, Fla., on Dec. 2, 2014. She was involved in the profoundly gifted-student community as a homeschool teacher. She also documented her experiences with cancer in a book, Something Extraordinary. She is survived by her husband, Todd M. Kaplan M.D. ’89; four sons; her parents; a brother; and a sister.

Craig S. McKay ’80 of Gainesville, Ga., on Nov. 4, 2014. He worked in manufacturing and

Michael L. Towns HS ’93 of Waco, Texas, on Dec. 7, 2014. He worked as a bench technologist

in clinical microbiology before joining the Emory University School of Medicine pathology department as an instructor in clinical microbiology.

He then entered private practice as a consultant in infectious diseases and clinical biology at the Harbin Clinic in Rome, Ga. Later, he served as vice president of medical affairs for Becton Dickinson Diagnostic Systems and as a clinical assistant professor of pathology at the University of Maryland Medical Center. Survivors include his mother, two sisters, and a brother.

Jon D. Hayden M.T.S. ’94 of Burleson, Texas, on March 13, 2014. He served as a protocol specialist in the Army and later as a civil-service employee for the Department of Defense at U.S. Southern Command in Miami. He is survived by his wife, Johanna; a daughter; a son; his parents; and a sister.

Avery K. Ellis M.B.A. ’99 of Buffalo, N.Y., on Nov. 7, 2014. He was a cardiologist and a professor of medicine and physiology at University of Buffalo Medical School. He was also an administrator responsible for the budget at the VA Medical Center. He is survived by his wife, Nitza; two sons; his mother; a brother; and a sister.

LeRoy Savage Jr. M.B.A. ’00 of Chicago, on Dec. 25, 2014. He was the project program management consultant for mergers and acquisitions at Dell Inc. He is survived by his wife, Iris V. Savage M.Div. ’00; two sons; his parents; a sister; and two brothers.

Michael J. Davidson HS ’01 of Brookline, Mass., on Jan. 20, 2015. He was an assistant professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School and the director of endovascular cardiac surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He is survived by his wife, Terri J. Halperin M.D. ’01; a son; two daughters; his parents; and a sister.

Michelle L. Salisbury M.P.P. ’07 of East Greenbush, N.Y., on Nov. 9, 2014. She began her career as a project manager for The Cadmus Group in Boston. In 2007, she was selected as a Carey Fellow for the New York State Division of Budget. Later, she became a senior project manager for the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. She is survived by her husband, Jon Orris; her mother; a brother; and a grandfather.

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FALL 2015

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DEVIL’S OWN

In this simple, verdant may pea lives the opportunity for learning and lessons in stewardship.

It’s growing in the

Charlotte Brody Discovery Garden,

a sustainable, organic food garden within the Sarah P. Duke Gardens.

Brody, a master gardener and columnist from Kinston, North Carolina, dreamed of establishing a place where children could learn and experience the joys of gardening.

Her daughters, Marilyn Brody Lane, Marsha Brody Shiff, and Hynda Brody Dalton, along with her grandson Daniel S. Shiff ’85 M.B.A. ’89, donated funds to build the garden, which opened to the public in the fall of 2012.

Besides programming for children, teens, and adults, the discovery garden offers a water garden, bee houses, composting, and a chicken coop. And there’s a bounty of vegetables, fruits, and herbs used in the programs and donated to local hunger-relief organizations. Photo by Lindsey Fleetwood

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SANFORDPolicy Prepared exclusively for Sanford

Alumni

Where the rubber meets the road

POLIS, the new Center for Politics, Leadership, Innovation, and Service, was inspired by a desire to realize Terry Sanford’s vision of public policy solving the issues of the day.

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thrown by an unlikely assailant.

In a talk at Duke’s Sanford School of Public Policy, Eric Mlyn, executive director of DukeEngage, worried that programs like his may actually be perpetuating an unhealthy idea.

“My worry,” he said, “is that we’re teaching this generation of students that the solution to the education problem in the United States is tutoring children.”

Mlyn meant that volunteerism alone is not enough to address the great issues of the day, that we also need good public policies. And good public policy depends on healthy politics.

For many Sanford faculty members listening that day, Mlyn’s talk crystallized a thought that had been in their minds for some time: Today’s dysfunctional politics is turning off a generation, and politics will be in even greater trouble if the next generation turns away from it.

True to the legacy of Terry Sanford, the North Carolina governor, Duke president, and U.S. senator who held a deep belief in the power of politics to improve the lives of people, the Sanford faculty decided to do something about it.

In December 2013, Alma Blount, director of the school’s Hart Leadership Program, and Frederick “Fritz” Mayer, associate dean for strategy and innovation, issued an open invitation to discuss the issue over lunch. To their surprise, more than twenty of their colleagues showed up to that first meeting, and they kept meeting, every other week through the spring of 2014.

T WAS A BUCKET OF COLD WATER

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Working for the city

School launches government innovation with a course by Dan Ariely.

London calling

The global policy and governance program tests a new site.

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he Sanford School’s one-of-a-kind Geneva Program on global policy and governance is expanding.

This past summer the school piloted an additional site for the highly selective program for graduate and professional students—in London.

Three students from Duke and one from Princeton served internships as part of a new track on global social innovation, a partnership between Sanford and Duke’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Initiative.

The four London students flew to Geneva to connect with the program’s other sixty students (in one of the other three tracks of the program: global health, energy and environment, and humanitarian action) and to take part in a one-week intensive course on global social innovation.

The London experiment was deemed a success and likely will be offered again next summer, says Frederick “Fritz” Mayer, the school’s associate dean for strategy and innovation. Mayer founded the Geneva Program fifteen years ago.

Alexa Sutton, who is starting her fourth year of a Ph.D. through the university program in ecology at the Nicholas School of the Environment, interned in London with the European Nature Trust, a small family foundation, she says, that experiments with innovative ways of supporting both local livelihoods and local ecologies in Europe.

“The London program’s been a really incredible opportunity to work with some really leading-edge organizations in social change,” Sutton says. “My cohort’s been amazing—we’ve got a very broad diversity of interests, and we’re all constantly learning from each other.”

74 www.dukemagazine.duke.edu

A water company has customers who don’t pay their bills. A month goes by, then another, and another. The late fees accumulate.

“This is your last warning,” the water company writes. “If you don’t pay your balance and late fees, we’ll have no choice but to shut off your service.”

Nothing.

Eventually the utility sends out a service technician to turn off the water.

The customer rushes down to the utility office and pays the balance and the penalties. The utility sends the technician out a second time to restore service.

This is one of those situations where everybody loses. The customer, usually poor, ends up paying steep penalties. The utility company has to make two unnecessary service calls.

It’s the kind of phenomenon that fascinates Dan Ariely Ph.D. ’98, best-selling author, professor in the Sanford School, and James B. Duke Professor of behavioral economics. In fact, Ariely is teaching a new course this fall built around solving just such intractable problems.

Fifty graduate students from Sanford and the One Durham Pratt School of Engineering are enrolled.

Teams of students in the yearlong “Behaviorleader said al Economics for Municipal Policy” course will the workshop have the opportunity to consult with North Carwas “the most olina municipalities on problems like the one involving the water utility. The problem is based meaningful in reality: Durham’s own water company sought help for the dilemma from Ariely’s irreverently interaction titled Center for Advanced Hindsight.

I have ever The course is part of a broader program Sanis launching on local government policy inhad with Duke ford novation. The plan is to continue to partner with University.” local governments under varied innovation-related themes. The main components of the program are a course for students, client-based projects where students design and test novel solutions, and skills-building workshops and training for local governments. Next up for the program: design thinking.

Ariely says the first semester of the municipalities course will focus on social-science research and behavioral economics. In the second semester, teams of students will get to apply what they’ve learned by working directly with the municipalities on what he calls “behavioral interventions.”

The behavioral economist, whose books include Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions and The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty, is an iconoclast in the economics field. That’s because he studies how people actually behave in the marketplace, as opposed to assuming logical behavior, a tenet of economic theory.

As part of Ariely’s course, Sanford held its first Local Government Policy Innovation workshop in September with seventy local officials from thirty North Carolina cities, counties, and town governments attending. Participants are now submitting proposals for student projects. The response was enthusiastic; one Durham leader said the workshop was “the most meaningful interaction I have ever had with Duke University.”

Ariely is curious to see what problems the municipalities bring to class.

It’s likely that, as with unpaid water bills—which the center is still working on—the problems facing local governments will not be unique to central North Carolina. He hopes municipalities everywhere can employ solutions that emerge from the class. n

Into the halls of power

Participants in the Duke in DC program meet movers and shakers.

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alumni, such as Paul Teller ’93, chief of staff to Texas Senator Ted Cruz; State Department public diplomacy officer Michael Alpern ’00; American Enterprise Institute scholar Dan Blumenthal J.D. ’00; CNN senior political reporter Nia-Malika Henderson ’96; GOP pollster Neil Newhouse ’74; Karishma Merchant ’07, education aide to Virginia Senator Tim Kaine; U.S. Representative Dan Lipinski Ph.D. ’98 of Illinois; and Danny Werfel M.P.P. ’95, former acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service.

With the guidance of Sanford’s Office of Career Services, students have arranged internships with the offices of congress-

Lisa Kukla

s he sat on a plane taking him home to Las Vegas, Michael Harris looked out the window and saw a familiar building.

As the U.S. Capitol passed beneath him, he thought, “I have found my calling in life.”

The Sanford public policy major had finished his junior year at Duke and was returning home after participating in Sanford’s Duke in DC program. He’d spent many eventful hours during his internship in the office of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.

“The program taught me things I couldn’t learn in a classroom,” Harris says.

Capitol engagement: Students Michelle Nguyen P.P.S. ’15, Camille Peeples P.P.S. ’15, and Lucas Metropulos P.P.S. ’15 during their spring 2014 Duke in DC stint.

The undergraduate program, begun in 2013, is an integral part of the university’s growing presence in the nation’s capital.

During their semester, participants serve as interns by day and take a full load of four classes on politics and policymaking after work hours. The program is run by full-time Sanford faculty, including director Kristin Goss M.P.P. ’96, associate professor of public policy and political science.

Besides the classes and internships, the program includes field trips to the White House and other halls of power. There are guest lectures and receptions with elected officials, campaign managers, lobbyists, regulators, consultants, and other movers and shakers. These VIPs are often Duke

men and senators, the Children’s Defense Fund, the Senate Republican Conference, the Brennan Center for Justice, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Federal Trade Commission, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, among other organizations.

Current Sanford senior Alex Elliott interned last spring with U.S. Representative—and former Sanford professor— David E. Price of North Carolina’s Fourth Congressional District, which covers parts of the Triangle. Elliott’s responsibilities included everything from researching policy and producing memos for legislative staff members to giving tours of the Capitol to constituents and the occasional diplomat.

Last year Max Fischer-Zernin ’15 interned with Facebook’s global policy team, which monitors the political landscape in countries where the social network is active and works to reconcile a country’s privacy and personal communications policies with Facebook’s service.

During Fischer-Zernin’s time with Facebook, a country’s communications ministry (he declines to specify which country) wanted to make Facebook liable for content posted on its platform. The company successfully argued that just as a phone company can’t be held liable for conversations over its lines, Facebook shouldn’t be held responsible for content that users post on their profiles.

After graduating, Fischer-Zernin interned this past summer with Mozilla, maker of the Firefox Web browser. He planned to begin law school at New York University this fall with a focus on innovation law.

Though relatively new, the Duke in DC program is leaving a lasting impression on students and influencing their career trajectories.

In Harris’ case, it did both. After his experience, Harris focused his study at Duke on foreign policy. Earlier this year, the 2014 graduate joined now-Minority Leader Reid’s office as a staff assistant. He hopes one day to become an adviser on foreign-policy issues.

Seeing the human side of interactions among senators, clerks, and others was one of his favorite parts of the experience, he says. His internship coincided with an especially historic period for Congress.

The refusal by Tea Party Republicans to raise the federal debt ceiling led to a partial government shutdown. There was also the shooting rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, which reignited debate over gun control.

One of his most poignant memories, he says, is of watching the gun-control debate with other students. Then some families of the murdered children came into the chamber to witness the vote.

“We watched as measure after measure was defeated and the families next to me started crying. Boxes of tissues were being passed around in the Senate chamber,” he says. “It was a particularly emotional experience for me and one I’ll never forget.” n

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P LIS ...continued from page 73

Different people took turns leading the effort, among them Mlyn, David Schanzer, Sanford professor of the practice and a former congressional staffer, and Bob Korstad, professor of public policy and history.

“I think what drove us was a shared recognition that this was too big an issue to ignore,” Mayer says.

“If our politics is broken, all the great policy analysis in the world won’t make a difference.”

The discussions included a few universal ideas.

Among them is the notion that today’s students are still idealists; they want to change the world as much as previous generations. Indeed, some surveys show millennials are more motivated to make a difference than previous generations. Yet, increasingly, they are actively distancing themselves from all things political.

For many, the ultimate hero is the social entrepreneur, creator of ventures like micro-lending banks or TOMS shoes, which donates a pair of shoes to needy people for every pair bought. While the group sees those efforts as valuable, they also believe a healthy democracy requires informed and inspired young people engaged in political life, as citizens, advocates, policy experts, organizers, journalists, teachers, and political candidates.

After a little more than a year of brainstorming and discussion involving faculty members and students inside Sanford and out, the Sanford School decided to embark on what could be the school’s most ambitious effort ever: the Center for Politics, Leadership, Innovation, and Service, known as POLIS. Says Sanford Dean Kelly Brownell: “I see POLIS as a signature initiative of the Sanford School. It is a testament to our faculty’s eagerness to engage with one of the most pressing issues of our time in innovative ways.” The center is being launched with financial support from the 2013 gift from trustee David M. Rubenstein ’70 that funds efforts to enhance the school’s engagement with the policy world.

Mayer will direct POLIS in its first years.“I can’t wait to get started,” he says. “Of course our goals are ambitious, perhaps even ‘outrageous,’ to quote Terry Sanford. But there is much already happening at Duke to build on, and enormous talent and energy and entrepreneurial spirit in the Duke community to tap into.”

Landy Elliott ’04, former director of the Duke in Washington office, returned to Durham earlier

76 www.dukemagazine.duke.edu

this year to serve as associate director. “There are so many exciting ideas for POLIS that the real—and fun—challenge is in deciding what to focus on first,” she says.

In addition to creating the basics, like a website that will serve as a clearinghouse for politics-related activities across campus, Elliott says the new center is pursuing research and programming opportunities to “inspire students and faculty to jump in, get involved, and imagine politics at its best.”

Next year, POLIS will focus on the election, eschewing the usual horse-race coverage of who’s winning and losing to address problems with the way the race is run. Among the likely issues POLIS will examine: the implications of money in politics, the nature of media coverage, deepening political polarization, and distrust of political institutions.

On the student-engagement side, some of POLIS’s initial efforts will focus on building an “onramp” to politics and political life. A curriculum developed in partnership with the Hart Leadership Program likely will include a gateway course, a summer politics-related internship experience, and a capstone seminar the following fall. “Duke Embark,” developed by Sanford’s career services office, will take undergraduates to Washington in October to meet people with careers in the political and policy realms, and plans to connect current students with alumni who can be career mentors are underway.

“Student learning and experiences will be at the heart of POLIS. I love the emphasis on leadership, innovation, and service,” says Blount.

Diego Quezada ’15, who served on the school’s board of visitors and the POLIS planning committee while a student, knows that POLIS faces a tough audience.

“Politics is a dirty word

Elliott says the new center is pursuing research and programming opportunities to “inspire students and faculty to jump in, get involved, and imagine politics at its best.”

S

to students,” he says flatly. Sanford students care about solving problems, he says, but they think they can only solve them through social innovation.

Quezada, who now works for the Hart Leadership Program, offers a quote to students who underestimate the importance of politics, culled from a favorite book, Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life, by former Yale professor William Deresiewicz: “You might not be interested in politics, but politics is interested in you.”

Still, Elliott knows POLIS will need to be creative and relevant to capture student attention. “We have to make it something that’s cool, that’s fun to be a part of, but that also inspires them to get off the sidelines and participate in making things better,” she says.

“Think that voting booths are outdated and stuck in the last century? Apply to our ‘democracy lab’ to work with faculty and practitioners to cook up a new design. Tired of hearing only stories about partisan rancor and polarization during the campaigns? Come attend a POLIS storytelling competition about building coalitions and reaching across the aisle.”

If turning students on to politics is going to be a challenge for POLIS, the center’s other goal, to improve the dysfunctional politics of our times, is even more ambitious. “If it were easy, someone would have fixed it already,” acknowledges Mayer.

As a start, Mayer and Elliott imagine POLIS as a place that celebrates and models civil discourse.

Bringing together people with different views and ideologies to discover the source of their disagreement and to find common ground will be a major purpose of the new center.

Or, as Michael Schoenfeld ’84, Duke’s vice president for public affairs and government relations, and Sanford public policy alumnus, calls it, “a demilitarized zone.”

“Are we going to fundamentally change the system? Probably not,” he says. “Are we going to make the system better? Yes.”

Donna Grethen/Illustration Source

Mayer says POLIS differs in significant ways from politics programs at other universities, such as the venerable Institute of Politics at Harvard and Chicago’s new Institute of Politics, founded by David Axelrod, former political adviser to President Bill Clinton and campaign adviser to Barack Obama.

Both are great places, says Mayer, but they tend to be largely extracurricular and not integrated with the research and teaching of faculty. POLIS will strive to do both.

And one advantage POLIS enjoys is that no other U.S. university has as large an undergraduate program in public policy as Duke. Sanford graduates some 200 public policy majors a year, Mayer says.

“We have such extraordinary students. Our dream is that they will be the leaders who invent a new and healthier politics for the twenty-first century.”

The associate dean says POLIS represents a realization of the ambitions held for the school by thenDuke President Sanford and the founding director of the public policy program, Joel Fleishman.

Fleishman and Sanford’s vision was for the school to be more than a technical training place for policy analysts. They wanted faculty members and students to be engaged in the issues of the times.

After his political career was over, Sanford returned to Duke to teach. “It was such a great treat for us,” Mayer says, “and in his own gentle way he was constantly nudging us to be more engaged, to identify the major problems of the day, and be oriented toward problem-solving in the world.”

With the creation of POLIS, that gentle nudge becomes a full-time commitment. n

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Another chance to flourish Becoming a Felsman Fellow was life-changing for alumnus Hardy Vieux.

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that with a master’s degree in public policy and a law degree from the University of Michigan.

As fellows, Vieux and Doggett focused on the problems of safeguarding and educating children in the camp. The Felsman Fellows website provides links to their blog posts, reports, pictures, and video.

Several of Vieux’s thoughtful posts also appear on the Huffington Post website.

In one post, he describes in vivid detail the plight of two single mothers. One lives in a tiny cave-like apartment with no windows, running water, or protection from the elements. The other lives in a converted storeroom with five children.

Vieux describes their situations to make a point.

He writes that he was shocked when he learned shortly after arriving in Jordan that the government had passed a new rule: Aid agencies were required to make Jordanians beneficiaries of 30 percent of all projects aimed at helping the Syrian refugees.

The requirement struck Vieux as selfish and unfair—until he spent more time in the field. That’s when he discovered that the Jordanians were suffering as badly or worse than the nearly 600,000 Syrian refugees the Jordanian government had allowed into the country.

The situation reminded him of when he volunteered with a medical relief organization in Haiti years earlier. The medical organization had begun charging nominal fees for its service.

They didn’t do it to be cruel to the impoverThe requirement struck Vieux as selfish and unfair—until he spent more time in the field. ished Haitians, he said.

They did it because if ’13 spent half of last year working with Save the Children at they didn’t charge, the Haitians would wait for free medical Za’atari refugee camp in Amman, Jordan. The camp was for care to be provided by foreign aid organizations, which would families fleeing the civil war in neighboring Syria. end up putting local health-care workers out of business. “In The plight of refugees resonates for Vieux. He was born in addressing one problem, we ran the risk of creating another,” New York to newly arrived Haitian immigrants who were largeVieux writes. ly uneducated and spoke little English. His parents were so When Vieux was in high school, he was accepted into an experimental initiative of the Catholic Church, the Bishop’s Leaddoubtful about their ability to provide for him, they sent him ership Program. The two-year program aimed to create leaders back to Haiti to be raised by his paternal grandmother for a few for the African-American community. Vieux says the rigorous years. His first words were spoken in Creole and French. curriculum of readings, meetings, retreats, and other enrichFrom such unlikely beginnings, he earned his bachelor’s degree with a major in public policy from Duke, then followed ment experiences dramatically changed the direction of his life. ardy Vieux ’93 has never been in anything resembling a rut.

As a young lawyer, he chose to enlist in the Navy’s Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps, where he handled criminal appellate defense in cases that sometimes involved homicide. Later, in private practice, he would provide legal assistance on a pro bono basis to an Army soldier facing court-martial for blowing the whistle on abuses at the infamous Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. He also began serving as a volunteer attorney for refugees seeking asylum in the United States. And he was a human-rights observer at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, during pretrial proceedings involving prisoners alleged to have plotted the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In 2010, the D.C. Bar recognized his efforts by naming him Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year.

Vieux also became a go-to source for commentary on military justice issues for NPR, CNN, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times, among other news outlets.

On top of all that, he served on the Duke board of trustees from 1999 to 2013. He is a past president of the Duke Alumni Association, and he remains a member of Sanford’s board of visitors.

And yet, a year or two ago, he was longing for change. He says he simply found trial work less satisfying to him professionally than it once had been. He wanted to take more of a leadership role in human rights and development efforts.

Along came Duke, with an offer he could hardly refuse. He was selected as one of the university’s first Felsman Fellows, an initiative of the new J. Kirk Felsman Program on Children in Adversity. The program pairs a public policy scholar with a documentary filmmaker or photographer, both of them with connections to Duke. The pair spend up to ten months in the field working with a humanitarian organization. The goal is to generate reports and imagery that raise awareness of issues affecting vulnerable children and, ideally, that lead to solutions.

Vieux and visual artist and educator Laura Doggett M.F.A.

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Hadeel Qunaibi

In his Felsman Fellows blog, he speculates that something like the bishop’s program is needed to develop leaders for the post-conflict societies in both Syria and Jordan. This past summer, he returned to Jordan to float the idea to potential supporters.

After completing his fieldwork in Jordan, Vieux returned to Washington last fall to start his new job, far removed from the world of corporate and criminal law. He is legal director for Human Rights First, an international advocacy group formerly known as the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights.

If he wanted a change, he found it. The refugee representation team he heads includes nearly thirty lawyers, legal assistants, and social workers who provide legal and other assistance to people who are in the United States, he says, “lawfully or unlawfully and can’t return to their home country for fear of persecution.” Vieux oversees everything about the team—policy, operations, budget, personnel, fundraising.

Much of the group’s work involves recruiting and mentoring

Field work: Vieux lawyers at the nation’s top law firms connects with Syrian who have an interest in doing pro children on the way to bono work on behalf of indigent refugees. But Vieux and his staff still take school at the Za’atari Refugee Camp on cases themselves from time to time. in Jordan.

One that the boss himself is handling involves a fourteen-year-old deaf and mute Salvadoran boy who lost his hearing when he was a year old, Vieux says.

“People just put him in a classroom in El Salvador and shouted at him, as if that was going to do the trick,” the Sanford alumnus says. “He never was given the chance to flourish.”

With help from a dedicated ESL (English as a second language) teacher, Vieux says, the youth is finally, slowly learning sign language. Vieux is telling the story during a phone interview, but the excitement in his voice comes across loud and clear.

It’s the excitement of happy empathy, of someone who, against long odds, was himself given a chance to flourish. n

DUKE MAGAZINE

SPECIAL SECTION FALL 2015

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Q&A: Matt Cullinan M.P.P. ’90

has enjoyed a long and successful career as an academic administrator, first at the University of Notre Dame, where he earned his bachelor’s and doctorate in history, later at Wake Forest University. He joined the Sanford board of visitors in 2006 and became chair earlier this year.

The board of visitors provides advice and support to the school regarding curriculum, programs, development, external relations, and other matters.

Board members also serve as mentors to students, sponsor interns, host events for students, and assist in enabling fellowships for graduate interns.

Cullinan not only earned his master’s degree at Sanford; it’s where he met his wife, Ann Reilly M.P.P. ’90.

When you talk with other Sanford alumni, what are they most passionate about in regard to Sanford, and what are their concerns?

On the passionate side, I think folks focus on the deep quality of the education they’ve gotten at Sanford, both undergraduate and graduate. There’s a real sense of a strong educational environment, a core set of committed faculty and a community devoted to change through well-thought-out public policy.

Alumni embrace the idea of its importance in the world. So those are the sorts of things that come through strongly.

The education is rigorous and demanding academically, but it’s also focused on key issues that people are going to want to work on in the world.

I don’t sense any particular concerns aside from wondering if the school is thinking big enough, something I believe Duke graduates in general ask as well. I think people are still ambitious.

They want Sanford to be the best.

Can you give us a very brief State of the Union as you see it in regard to the Sanford School? Where does it stand compared with other public policy schools and institutes?

Sanford certainly is among the handful of very best schools. Its offerings are well regarded, and our alumni continue to be very successful. I think one of the issues that Duke has been wrestling with is how do you tie a big university with lots going on more firmly together.

The university sees public policy as one of those areas where it can cut across

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different disciplinary boundaries and really make an impact.

The other factor is that the school has just come through a pretty significant time of transition. Standing up Sanford as a school took extraordinary energy and effort. Added to that, the generation that helped build the school is getting to the point in their careers where they’re thinking about whether they go to emeritus status or what they might do next. So the key issues are how to sustain a vibrant community and continue to build a first-rate school during a period of change. I think the dean, Kelly Brownell, has done that well.

You earned your master’s of public policy twenty-five years ago. What have proven to be the most important lessons from your study at Sanford?

The first lesson that comes to mind is the ability to break down a set of issues analytically and come to understand them in more meaningful ways than may appear on the surface. With that is this sense of how do you meld the quantitative, the qualitative, and human dynamics to be able to problem-solve in an organization. I’ve found that very valuable over time in my work in higher education because those are big, complicated organizations with lots of competing factions. We learned that set of skills through a combination of really great teachers, like Charlie Clotfelter, Sunny Ladd, Fritz Mayer, and Dick Stubbing.

They helped us develop a set of tools that were not specific to any one policy area per se, but were general enough in

character that you could apply them in a lot of different settings.

Second was the rigor of being able to put down ideas, recommendations, analysis, and arguments in very concise ways. The two-page policy memo drove everybody crazy when we were working on them. I found memo writing to be one of the great disciplines in my life, to be able to be concise and to the point and get everything in that needed to be in and nothing more.

What’s your message to Sanford alumni from the board of visitors?

The first message is that if you haven’t been keeping up, you need to know what Sanford is up to, its success, the constant drive to improve, and its desire to engage the issues of the day.

The other is that we really want you to be connected. This is a place that makes a difference. And it makes a difference because it’s able to engage people at a particular point in their lives, to have an impact on them, which in turn allows them to have an even greater impact on the broader society and world.

The other thing is, Sanford is a real community. It’s a place where people are deeply connected and have a passion about the important challenges of the day. It also is a place that values not simply the intellectual enterprise but the ability to act on those ideas in concrete ways. That was a spirit bequeathed by Terry Sanford, our founder, and people like Joel Fleishman, who really made the school possible. And that’s still very much alive and vibrant at Sanford. n

“As a freshman, I saw Martha Graham and her dance company perform at Page Auditorium. I had never seen human bodies move like that,” says Rick Tigner ’70, a retired financial advisor, art collector, and Duke Alumni Band member. The experience ignited his lifelong interest in the visual and performing arts. He directed funds from his IRA to an endowment fund that benefits the Nasher Museum of Art and will give future students access to exhibits that inspire and transform.

“I hope to introduce students to art they have never seen.”

YOUR INSPIRATION IS JUST THE STARTING POINT. No matter what inspires you to give back, our expert team can help you honor the memories, people, and places that matter to you. Smart charitable planning—at any giving level—may enable you to do more than you thought possible while propelling Duke further forward. Contact us today to unleash your inner philanthropist.

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DUKE MAGAZINE • FALL 2015

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M AG A Z I N E

FALL 2015

Familiar but now more audience-friendly—the renovated Page Auditorium

All for One First-generation students—10 percent of undergraduates—are finding their voice on campus.

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| The meaning of eating

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An alumnus rejects his fear C. Ray Walker

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