August/September, 2024 Working@Duke by Working Duke

LEANORA MINAI

Connecting You to Duke’s Innovative Community

We’re thrilled to present this issue of Working@Duke, which captures the spirit of innovation and collaboration thriving at Duke. Our annual readership survey reveals that Working@Duke, now in its 18th year, continues to resonate with you. We are pleased to see sustained enjoyment for the publication, with readership remaining high and steady over the years and increasing post-pandemic. The growth highlights how Working@Duke has become a link, keeping our community connected and informed in a hybrid work environment.

Reflecting our commitment to connecting you with Duke’s bold advancements, we take a step into the future with the cover story, “Duke’s Quantum Leap in AI.” Using a prompt I wrote along with the cover story text, the front cover image was generated by DALL·E, an AI image generation tool by OpenAI. The image portrays the essence of the cover story, depicting various representations of AI-driven activities at Duke. It offers an abstract and symbolic glimpse into the future of AI-enhanced human collaboration.

In the cover story, Adjunct Professor Tony O’Driscoll, who teaches in the Fuqua School of Business and Pratt School of Engineering, introduces us to “ProfTonyAI,” a custom-built digital clone offering 24/7 office hours. The AI version of O’Driscoll, which he expects to launch this fall, would ensure students receive timely support, even when the human professor is unavailable.

The story also highlights others using generative AI in art, research and health care.

“Duke is doing what Duke does best, which is innovate in all sorts of different areas and spaces,” says Evan Levine, Senior Director for IT Services and Support in Duke’s Office of Information Technology. “There’s a lot of really cool stuff happening in the right ways, and I think we’ll learn from that and come together for bigger and better things.”

This edition of Working@Duke not only highlights AI activities at Duke but also emphasizes the value of staying connected to how colleagues are making a difference. Your feedback from the latest readership survey drives us to continuously improve and bring you stories that inspire, inform and build community.

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Duke’s Quantum Leap in AI

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The growth and accessibility in the past two years of artificial intelligence has ushered in an explosive use of AI at Duke. See how AI is being engaged in a wide range of research, teaching and operations activities at Duke.

True Blue Duke Roots

During its first century, Duke built a reputation as a world-class institution for teaching, research and patient care on the strength of its staff and faculty. Meet some colleagues whose families intertwine with Duke’s story.

12 A Special Ingredient for a Stable Retirement

Duke’s traditional pension plan for biweekly-paid staff such as Gloria Daniels provides a guaranteed monthly income. Discover how you, too, can enhance your retirement with Duke’s plans.

BRIEFLY

Chart a secure path with Financial Fitness Week

Get expert advice on retirement planning, managing personal finances, understanding Duke’s retirement benefits and other topics during Financial Fitness Week Sept. 16-19.

This year’s event for staff and faculty will feature 15 no-charge webinars with experts from Fidelity, Duke Human Resources, Duke Credit Union and more. Last year, 2,781 employees registered for Financial Fitness Week sessions.

Topics covered this year include creating a budget, money tips for young investors, life insurance, Social Security benefits and how to build emergency savings and get out of debt.

“There are so many resources out there that can help you plan for a secure financial future and for retirement,” said Johanna Zawada, Associate Director of Benefits for Duke Human Resources. “We encourage people at all ages to think about their goals, evaluate where they are and learn about the tools that are available to them.”

Recorded online versions and presentation slides will be available for registrants.

For the Financial Fitness Week schedule, visit hr.duke.edu/financialfitness

Mark

your calendar for special

Hol‘AHH’Day Farmers Market on Oct. 31

In-season fresh produce and local goods will be available at the final regular Duke Farmers Market of the season from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Oct. 10 at the Duke Medical Pavilion Greenway.

But a bonus Hol“AHH”Day Farmers Market on Oct. 31 will give the Duke community one final opportunity to gather fall fruits and vegetables – all while having a “spooktacular” time.

Visitors are encouraged to dress up in Halloween costumes when attending the Oct. 31 market, and prizes will be awarded during a costume contest. Organizers for LIVE FOR LIFE, Duke’s employee wellness program, promise “tricks and treats,” including Halloween-themed games and activities. Trick or treating will be available at vendor stands, and a photo booth will be available.

“It will be a smashing good time,” said Brian Zelanko, Health Promotion Manager at LIVE FOR LIFE.

For more information, visit hr.duke.edu/farmersmarket

Get an influenza vaccination to protect yourself and others

During the last flu season, North Carolina saw 315 deaths associated with influenza. You can protect yourself and others against severe outcomes by getting vaccinated against the flu virus.

Starting Sept. 19, flu vaccinations for 2024-25 will be available through Duke Employee Occupational Health & Wellness (EOHW) clinics at Duke South, Duke Regional Hospital and at the Wake County EOHW clinic on the Duke Raleigh Hospital campus. Pop-up clinics will also offer vaccinations at locations around Duke.

While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends flu vaccination as long as influenza viruses are circulating, September and October remain the best times for most people to get vaccinated.

Updated 2024-25 flu vaccines will protect against an H1N1, H3N2 and B/Victoria lineage virus. The composition of this season’s vaccine compared to last has been updated with a new influenza A(H3N2) virus.

“The flu can begin circulating as early as October, and it takes about two weeks for the vaccine to become effective,” said Duke Employee Occupational Health & Wellness Executive Director Dr. Carol Epling. “As soon as the vaccine is available, the experts recommend that people take it.”

Getting a flu vaccine is a condition of employment for Duke University Health System, Duke University School of Medicine and Duke University School of Nursing employees.

Visit flu.duke.edu

Duke Run/Walk Club starts fall season on Aug. 12

The fall season of the Duke Run/Walk Club begins Aug. 12 with options to train at multiple levels and a variety of environments.

LIVE FOR LIFE Fitness Specialist Lauren Olimpo said the twice-weekly meetings through Oct. 30 offer a chance to “join forces with fellow Duke employees” to reach fitness goals.

Anyone from beginner walkers to advanced runners can participate in the free club that meets each Monday and Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. Beginner through intermediate walkers and runners use the East Campus Loop and meet across the street from the Duke Human Resources building at 705 Broad St. Advanced walkers and runners use the Al Buehler Trail on West Campus and meet in the trail parking lot off of NC 751/Cameron Boulevard.

In-person, remote and hybrid options are available. Everyone who participates will receive a weekly email with tips, motivation and a training plan.

"Whether you're sprinting, strolling or mixing it up, LIVE FOR LIFE at Duke's dynamic Run/Walk Club group provides the camaraderie and coaching you need to smash your health goals,” Olimpo said.

For more information, visit hr.duke.edu/runwalk

Apply for the Duke Citizens Police Academy

If you’ve ever wanted to learn what it’s like to make a traffic stop or investigate a crime, the Duke Citizens Police Academy is your opportunity to experience what it’s like to be a police officer.

The fall session of the twiceyearly six-week program begins Oct. 2. Applications are open throughout the year, and Duke Citizens Police Academy Director Daryl Mount recommends submitting an application as early as possible.

The 15-person class meets Wednesday evenings and explores topics such as de-escalation, investigations, domestic violence and building searches – with a mix of both lectures and field work.

“It's not quite as aggressive as it would be for recruits that are going through a real academy,” Mount said, “but it gives a little taste of what it feels like to go through an actual police academy.”

To apply, visit police.duke.edu/academy

Duke’s Quantum Leap in AI

Dustin Tart can measure improvement in treatment of one of the deadliest conditions at Duke University Hospital by a single time marker: Before Sepsis Watch and After Sepsis Watch.

Before Sepsis Watch, an artificial intelligence tool created at Duke Institute for Health Innovation and implemented at Duke University Health System to track and treat the life-threatening response to infection, Tart saw firsthand as a Nursing Program Manager how tiny changes signaling a turn toward sepsis were missed, and treatment was delayed.

“We didn’t really have a standardization around sepsis care,” Tart said. “It was kind of sporadic.”

Sepsis is sometimes colloquially called “blood poisoning,” and occurs when an existing infection triggers a chain reaction that can rapidly lead to organ failure and death. It is the No. 1 cause of death in hospitals, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The problem is that many initial symptoms, such as fever and elevated heart rate, mimic other illnesses that even the most experienced clinicians might miss.

“When you’re talking about sepsis, it’s subtle,” said Armando Bedoya, a Duke Assistant Professor of Medicine in Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine who was instrumental in the development of Sepsis Watch, along with Dr. Cara O’Brien. This is why the idea of developing a deep learning model to provide Duke with an early warning system seemed like an intriguing solution.

Sepsis Watch was trained by inputting data from 42,000 patient encounters with 32 million data points. The artificial intelligence deep learning system helps synthesize all that information and compares it with 86 real-time variables from current patients every five minutes, flagging who might be susceptible to sepsis.

Critical Care Registered Nurse James Arnold works with Sepsis Watch in Duke University Hospital to monitor patients at risk of contracting sepsis. Photo by Travis Stanley.

After Sepsis Watch was introduced in 2018, deaths attributed to sepsis dropped 27%, and use of the AI tool has expanded from the emergency department to the entire Duke University Hospital.

“A lot of people develop AI models, but not many are integrating them into clinical practice to improve clinical outcomes,” said Suresh Balu, Associate Dean for Innovation and Partnership at Duke School of Medicine and Director for DIHI. “That is a huge differentiator for us at Duke.”

Sepsis Watch was one of Duke’s earliest successful forays into artificial intelligence use, but the growth and accessibility in the past two years of generative AI – through software such as ChatGPT – has ushered in an explosive use of AI at Duke.

AI is used by a researcher who thinks it can help find a cure for a rare pediatric cancer, by the Nasher Museum of Art to curate an exhibition, and by a Duke faculty member who hopes an AI version of himself will allow for 24/7 office hours.

And that’s just skimming the surface of use across Duke, which hosted its first AI summit in April about the wide range of research, teaching and operations activities engaging AI at Duke.

“It’s moving quickly toward being a pretty basic skill set,” said Evan Levine, Senior Director for IT Services and Support in Duke’s Office of Information Technology. “We’re going to want to make sure people know how to use it correctly, to know where the pitfalls are.”

A n A rtistic U se of AI

When the Nasher Museum of Art had a hole in its exhibition schedule last year, Chief Curator Marshall Price joked they should ask ChatGPT to plan something to fill it. But the curatorial staff didn’t laugh off the suggestion. What if they really did? they wondered.

That’s how the Nasher’s “Act as if you are a curator: an AI-generated exhibition” came to be. The exhibition opened in September 2023 and ran through February 2024. Creating it wasn’t as simple as asking the chatbot to conjure an exhibition from the 14,000 objects in the Nasher’s collection. That first query yielded an answer that included works of art “not even in our collection, let alone a real artwork,” said Julia McHugh, a Curator and Director of Academic Initiatives.

With help from Mark Olson, Associate Professor of the Practice of Art, Art History & Visual Studies at Duke, a custom interface was built that included the Nasher’s full public-facing catalogue. Even then, AI made some interesting choices under the theme it selected for itself, “Dreams of Tomorrow: Utopian and Dystopian Visions.”

“Some things we had never seen before – literally, our curatorial staff had never laid eyes on because they were in deep storage,” McHugh said. “And some things were seemingly kind of random.”

Among the more interesting pieces were two preparatory sketches by artist Peter Reginato, which McHugh hypothesized as an interpretation of “dreams for a future sculpture” to fit the exhibition theme.

More recently in a separate project, the Rubenstein Arts Center featured the exhibition “Rethinking the Past,” the first to use AI to simulate and reconstruct Etruscan and Roman landscapes in 1,300 years of human history.

Duke Professor of Classical Studies, Art, Art History and Visual Studies Maurizio Forte led the exhibition design, which he said had a basis in scientific and paleoenvironmental data collected through archeological analysis. The AI portion of generating images took seconds instead of months with traditional methods, Forte said. An international research team spent months validating its scientific accuracy.

AI created ethereal and dreamlike landscape portraits filled with depictions of lush vegetation.

“It’s like you are bringing your camera into a time machine,” Forte said, “and as soon as you shoot it, you see something that makes you say, ‘Oh!’ It’s magic.”

Curatorial Assistant Julianne Miao, left, and Julia McHugh, Director of Academic Initiatives and Curator of Arts of the Americas, look over ChatGPT’s instructions for placing works of art in the Nasher Museum of Art’s AI-generated exhibition. Photo by Cornell Watson.

C uring the R arest D iseases

The computer screen in Pranam Chatterjee’s lab in the Pratt School of Engineering is filled with neon-green squiggles, thick sections of fusilli-pasta-like springs and narrow lines that curl in every direction. It’s a digital model of a protein in the cell of a rare pediatric cancer called alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, or ARMS.

Chatterjee, an Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering, describes it by the very technical term, “spaghetti monster.” He and his lab are trying to design something that will attach to the irregular shape, and they’ve used generative AI to help.

“No one can touch this protein,” Chatterjee said. “And that’s why this cancer is not cured. But as you can see, our binder is centered right inside that protein. So, it is able to hit it and kind of embed itself within that protein.”

Hitting the protein with a binder created with the help of a generative AI algorithm means that protein can be destroyed. If the protein is destroyed, the cell will die.

Chatterjee is fairly certain that AI is going to help cure this cancer.

Chatterjee’s lab has trained its custom-built generative AI by feeding it billions of points of data specifically related to protein in cells, so that when they write complex algorithms asking AI ambitious questions, they’re confident in the answers.

“That is literally the hardest protein on the planet to bind to and to destroy,” Chatterjee said. “If we can get to that protein, I think we can do anything – and this would prove to us that our technology makes a difference.”

Chatterjee and his lab collaborators are using AI to examine some of the rarest and most difficult diseases: ARMS and Ewing

Sarcoma, two rare pediatric cancers; Huntington’s Disease, a fatal neurodegenerative disease; and Alexander Disease, a rare neurological disorder. They develop models for binding to the proteins, and then test them in the lab – a rare one-stop shop.

“Those are our favorite targets because they're just hard,” Chatterjee said. “Generative AI is probably one of the coolest ways to design drugs for them.”

24/7 O ffice Hours

Tony O’Driscoll did some quick math recently to illustrate a problem. About 420 students took the Duke Adjunct Professor’s classes in both the Fuqua School of Business and Pratt School of Engineering in Spring 2024. It was very common for most of them to ask for at least 15 minutes of his time outside of class.

He offered 90 minutes of office hours per week over the 14-week semester.

That meant 21 available office hours – but a demand for 105 hours. It didn’t add up.

“Could I create a digital copy, or clone of myself?” he asked.

O’Driscoll is working on it but inputting your life’s work and knowledge – 100-plus articles, two books, more than 30 podcasts, 23 webinars and 20-plus keynote speeches that he was sad to learn totaled just 15 megabytes of JSON files – into a custom-built generative AI system and debugging it takes time.

One lesson he learned quickly is that he needed to divide “ProfTonyAI,” as he’s dubbed the creation, into three versions of himself: One with specific knowledge based on the class and can serve as a “study buddy” for students; another that answers broader questions about theory and research; and a final one that provides mentorship and career guidance.

“Funnily enough, I’m more pleased with the Conversational Mentor Tony than with the Study Buddy Tony,” O’Driscoll said. “Generative AI is a little better at being a bit more freeform and conversational.”

Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering Pranam Chatterjee, left, and graduate student Sophia Vincoff discuss a digital illustration that shows their AI-generated binder attaching to an irregularly shaped protein in the cell of a rare pediatric cancer.

Photo by Travis Stanley.

Duke Adjunct Professor Tony O’Driscoll has gone through several iterations to create an AI version of himself – ProfTonyAI – that will offer 24/7 office hours this fall. Photo by Travis Stanley.

After about a year of working on it, he plans to launch ProfTonyAI this fall.

“If this technology allows a student to get access to meaningful and useful content at their ‘moment of need,’ then I think it adds value,” O’Driscoll said. “That teachable moment could be at 3 in the morning when I'm asleep. My digital version doesn't sleep.”

A C opilot for Y our O ffice W ork

In every presentation Steve Toback gives on artificial intelligence – and he gives them often because it’s one of his passions – he includes a quote that has been attributed to various people across the internet: “AI won’t take your job. Someone using AI will.”

The underlying message from Toback, a Duke Media Architect and Senior Producer for Academic Media Production in the Office of Information Technology (OIT), is that everyone needs to learn how to use AI responsibly and ethically.

Using Microsoft Copilot is one way. All staff, faculty and students have access to Copilot (formerly Bing Chat) at no charge by using their NetID to log into the platform. Using a Duke login ensures that any data entered remains secure and is not publicly shared.

Microsoft Copilot might be most useful with basic tasks: Summarizing long emails or web pages, finding just the right formula for a difficult Excel task, creating an illustration for a Zoom presentation.

But receiving the best support requires giving Copilot (and other generative AI applications like ChatGPT) clear instructions or questions, Toback said.

“The better-formed your question is, the better response you’re going to get,” Toback said. “Prompt engineering is everything.”

Prompt engineering means giving the chatbot parameters and expectations for the information you’re seeking, and includes starting by giving it a role with the prompt, “Act as if you are…”

But even if the best prompt is provided, AI answers are only as good as your own knowledge of a subject – because generative AI answers are often not correct. It’s still not an expert on everything but will answer as if it is.

“Broad-use generative tools are kind of good at a lot of things,” said Levine, OIT’s Senior Director for IT Services and Support.

Advancements in AI are evolving quickly with potential for transformative change.

“Duke is doing what Duke does best, which is innovate in all sorts of different areas and spaces,” Levine said. “There's a lot of really cool stuff happening in the right ways, and I think we’ll learn from that and come together for bigger and better things.”

By Jodie Valade

Generative AI can create illustrations from prompts. Steve Toback, Duke Media Architect and Senior Producer, used Big Image Creator (DALL E) to create the above image for a presentation with the prompt: “Create an image of an accountant from Charles Dickens’ time working at a desk with a quill pen in a dingy, candle-lit office on a snowy winter’s day.”

Courtesy of Steve Toback.

In 2022, after 10 years in Boston, Elizabeth Van Itallie was ready for a change. That made the opportunity to join the Duke Human Vaccine Institute as a Bioinformatician something she couldn’t pass up.

For Elizabeth, 35, Duke represented something that was both new and deeply familiar.

In 1958, her grandfather, William Evans Scott, joined Duke’s History Department faculty, remaining until 1993. He and his wife Marian, raised four children – including Elizabeth’s mother, Jane – in a house in Trinity Park.

Growing up in New Jersey, Elizabeth visited her grandparents in Durham often, creating childhood memories of walking loops around East Campus and feeding ducks at Sarah P. Duke Gardens.

“I always felt a connection to Duke and Durham and had a sense of it being a really interesting place,” Elizabeth said.

Elizabeth’s grandfather died in 1997 and her grandmother passed away in 2011, leaving her with few links to Durham when she moved to the city in 2022. But her generational bonds to the community helped her feel rooted.

“I came here at a time when I needed a new anchor,” Elizabeth said. “I’m grateful to find myself in a place where I had a connection and that very quickly felt like home.”

During its first century, Duke has built a reputation as a world-class institution for teaching, research and patient care on the strength of its creative and dedicated staff and faculty. Now employing about 47,132 people, it’s not uncommon to find families whose contributions to Duke’s workforce span multiple generations.

Meet some colleagues whose families intertwine with Duke’s story.

True Blue Duke

Four Generations

As an Orange High School senior in 1985, Phyllis Holt drove from Hillsborough to Durham each afternoon to work part-time as a clerk in the billing department of Duke’s Private Diagnostic Clinic.

After graduation, she transitioned to full-time, beginning a Duke career that continues to this day.

“Duke had great benefits and a family environment,” said Phyllis, now a Duke Health Technology Solutions (DHTS) Security Analyst.

Her family’s connection to Duke spans four generations.

Phyllis’ grandmother, Nancy Dillard, joined Duke University’s financial office in 1964. Phyllis remembers, as a child, occasionally accompanying her grandmother to work on the Allen Building’s third floor, clacking away on an adding machine, trying to tally checks like her grandmother.

“I never got the same total twice,” Phyllis said.

Two years after Phyllis joined Duke’s staff, her mother, Louise Dillard, began a 29-year career as a full-time staff assistant in a handful of medical departments. In addition to having several aunts work at Duke, Phyllis’ sister, Emily, and brother, Linwood, landed at Duke, too. Briefly, all three siblings worked for DHTS in the same Research Triangle Park office.

In 2020, Phyllis’ daughter Haley, now a Patient Account Associate at the Patient Revenue Management Organization, started her Duke career.

Elizabeth Van Itallie, third from left, on a visit to Duke during the 1990s to see her grandfather, former Duke History Department Professor William Evans Scott, far left. Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Van Itallie.

Louise Dillard, third from left, is surrounded by family members during her 2016 retirement celebration. Among fellow Duke employees pictured are daughter Emily Plummer, far left, daughter Phyllis Holt, second from left, granddaughter Haley Holt, second from right, and son Linwood Dillard, far right. Photo courtesy of Phyllis Holt.

Elizabeth Van Itallie

Duke Roots

Contributions to Duke’s workforce span generations

“We’ve been blessed,” Phyllis said. “I’m very thankful because Duke has helped our family through a lot.”

Grandmother, Mother, Daughter

Bailey Thompson first worked at Duke as an 18-year-old Certified Nursing Assistant in the Duke University Hospital Birthing Center. Later, she became a Float Pool Clinical Nurse and is using the Employee Tuition Assistance Program to pursue a bachelor’s degree in nursing.

Duke is where Bailey is charting her future and connecting with her past.

“I meet people all the time who say they worked with my mom or my grandmother,” she said. “It definitely makes me feel like I’m part of a family here.”

Bailey’s grandmother, Barbara Turner, was a nurse in the Birthing Center for just shy of 30 years before retiring in 2008. Bailey’s mother, Heather Turner, joined the Duke staff in 1997, eventually becoming a nurse in the Birthing Center and working alongside Barbara – her mother – for several years.

“I saw what my mom did and how she was so happy at Duke,” Heather said. “I wanted to help people and take care of patients like she did.”

As a kid, Bailey was a regular visitor to the Birthing Center’s nurses’ station, occasionally being dropped off by her grandmother before her night shift and driven home by her mother after her day shift ended. Later, Bailey and her mother were coworkers on the same unit for around two years. Bailey’s Float Pool duties now have her circulating between Duke University Hospital and Duke Regional Hospital.

“I’m proud that my mom and grandmother worked here,” Bailey said. “I’m proud to be part of Duke.”

Family Harmony

When asked how many of his family members have worked in Facilities Management’s Sanitation & Recycling Department, Senior Sanitation Equipment Operator Larry Dunkins can quickly rattle off a dozen or so names.

His mom, Dorothy Dunkins, has been a Senior Recycler for more than 25 years. His father, George O’Neal, retired as a Lead Recycler years ago.

Larry has so many siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins and other relatives who have passed through the department, the iron ‘D’ on their uniforms could stand as much for Dunkins as it does Duke.

“I think we wanted to come to a place where we could find camaraderie and be around family,” said Larry, who won a Duke Presidential Award in 2022 for outstanding service. “Working with family makes things a lot smoother. You enjoy coming to work.”

Larry joined Duke’s staff 21 years ago, following in his mother’s footsteps. She followed her aunts, Recyclers Mary Royster and Sarah Hall, to Duke. Dorothy has worked with her aunts since they were laborers on tobacco fields back home in Granville County.

“We’ve been working together all our lives,” Dorothy said. “When we found better opportunities, we tried to bring the others on board.”

Through the years, as members of the Dunkins family found spots with Duke, the benefits, the energy of campus and the fun of sharing Duke as a workplace has led them to stay.

“Our job is a small part of Duke, but a very important part of Duke,” Dorothy said. “And Duke has been important to our family.” 

By Stephen Schramm

Larry Dunkins and his mother, Dorothy Dunkins, have worked alongside each other for nearly two decades. Photo by Travis Stanley.

Heather Turner, left, spent nearly two years working alongside daughter and fellow Duke nurse Bailey Thompson, right. Photo courtesy of Heather Turner.

More Than Words

Toastmasters Clubs offer opportunities to grow as a speaker and leader

Born in Kenya, Mercy Njenga’s first languages were Kikuyu and Swahili. She learned English in grade school, but after moving to the United States as an adult, she wanted to become more confident communicating in American English, a dialect with slight-but-meaningful differences from the version she had been taught.

“I reached a point in my life when I decided it was time to work on my communication skills,” said Njenga, the Director of Fringe Benefits Accounting for Duke Financial Services.

Last year, Njenga joined the Duke Toastmasters Club, one of two chapters of Toastmasters International affiliated with Duke.

Founded in 1924, Toastmasters International is a global network of more than 14,200 clubs devoted to sharpening speaking skills in a welcoming and fun environment. During regular meetings, club members take turns filling different procedural roles and giving both prepared and extemporaneous speeches. Afterward, they receive constructive and supportive assessments.

The Duke Toastmasters Club meets virtually at 7 a.m. on the second and fourth Wednesday of each month, and the Blue Devils Toastmasters Club meets virtually at noon on the first and third Fridays of each month. Both clubs are open to the public but draw most members from the Duke and Durham community. Membership is $10 per month.

While members such as Njenga come to Toastmasters for help with public speaking, the benefits of Toastmasters go deeper.

All Toastmasters members have access to 11 Pathways Learning Experience Programs. Covering topics such as Presentation Mastery, Persuasive Influence, Engaging Humor

and Effective Coaching, the Pathways combine self-paced online lessons and speaking challenges – such as writing and delivering a specific talk during a meeting – to build skills in specific areas of communication.

Linda-Marie Miller, a Durham resident who isn’t affiliated with Duke but has been a Duke Toastmasters Club member since 2019, became an inspirational speaker after retiring from a health care research firm. She was first runner-up in the 2020 World Championship of Public Speaking. Currently working through the Pathway for Engaging Humor, Miller said the lessons available through Toastmasters have helped her build skills she uses to craft compelling talks.

“There is more educational impact and benefit from the 11 Pathways programs in Toastmasters than I’ve seen in some highpriced programs in corporate America,” said Miller, who gave a talk about the value of Toastmasters at a recent meeting of the Duke Toastmasters Club. “You can learn so much.”

Stacie White, Duke Regional Hospital’s Interim Director of Case Management, joined the Blue Devil Toastmasters Club earlier this year so she could communicate better with team members and hospital leaders.

She has begun working through the Leadership Development Pathway, completing the first handful of online learning modules about writing speeches with purpose and managing time while talking.

“There are so many more layers to Toastmasters than you realize,” White said. “You get to hone skills that you didn’t think you’d be developing.”

By Stephen Schramm

Duke Financial Services Director of Fringe Benefits Accounting Mercy Njenga, left, is a member of the Duke Toastmasters Club. Photo courtesy of Mercy Njenga.

A Car Nearly as Old as Duke

Bill Bass inherited a nearly century-old Model A from his father and is reigniting his love for the Ford in his dad’s honor

Not long after James B. Duke designated a gift in 1924 that transformed Trinity College into Duke University, a Model A painted the color Bonnie Gray and nicknamed “Cranky” was built.

One of about 5 million classic Ford cars built between 1928 and 1931, this particular version lived its entire life in North Carolina. It was found in the 1970s on a rural farm and had suffered a dent in its front bumper but remained mostly unscathed mechanically.

Bill Bass’ father, Ashley Bass, and grandfather, William Bass, bought the car in 1977 for about $4,000 – more than 10 times its original sale price in 1929 – and spent about the same figure renovating it to its original glory.

Bill Bass, now a Performance Improvement Coach at Duke University Hospital, was about 5 years old at the time.

“I kind of grew up with this car,” Bass said. “This is my brother, if you will. Not having a sibling, I kind of fought for attention with the car.”

For years, Bass watched as the vehicle went to car shows and won awards. The car moved away to Charlotte as he continued living in the Raleigh area, but when Bass got married in 1998, he thought it might be cool to use the car in his wedding.

And that’s when the love affair with Cranky truly began. Ashley Bass signed the Model A over to Bill Bass in 2001, and the Ford became more than a hobby.

Owning a nearly 100-year-old car requires specialized knowledge, Bass has learned. It’s a stick-shift without power steering. There are no anti-lock brakes, and going over 55 mph is a treacherous endeavor. The oil must be changed every 500 miles.

“The biggest thing is you drive very defensively,” Bass said. “You're always looking for what the other driver’s about to do. Because they see me and they're like, ‘Oh, wow!’ And when you see something that makes you say, ‘Oh, wow,’ you usually turn towards it.”

Once, he saw a van following him near his home in Apex and thought he was being tailed by the FBI. It turned out to be a fellow Model A owner who wanted to invite him to be a part of the Model A Restorers Club.

During an outing with the local TarWheel A’s earlier in 2024 in the small community of Pittsboro, he parked Cranky next to a brick wall with some fellow Model A’s. Through a little editing magic that removed a Tesla and added some sepia tones, the photo he took looks like it could have been snapped in the 1920s.

Remembering the past has helped keep Bass close to his father, who died last year.

“Sort of as a memorial to him,” Bass said. “It’s kind of like stepping back into his shoes, trying to fill the void that he left.”

Like the Model A, it’s a lasting tribute. 

By Jodie Valade

Bill Bass, a Performance Improvement Coach at Duke University Hospital, took his Model A nicknamed “Cranky” to visit the Duke Chapel earlier this year. The car was built in 1929. Photos by Travis Stanley.

A Special Ingredient for a Stable Retirement

Duke’s traditional defined benefit pension plan for biweekly paid staff provides a guaranteed monthly income

For more than two decades, community members across campus came to the George and George-Frank Wall Center for Student Life on East Campus for lunch on Thursdays to savor a signature dish: fried chicken by Gloria Daniels.

“You’ve got to season the chicken and get it fried just right,” said Daniels, Lead Production Worker for Duke Dining. “You’ve got to put the love in it.”

Daniels, 64, retired in July after nearly 44 years as a full-time Duke employee. She still puts love into everything she cooks, but the crowd she now pleases is her family. On the first Sunday of each month, she hosts her two sons and five grandchildren for a dinner of favorites such as tender beef short ribs, crispy air-fried chicken wings or chicken and dumplings with sides of candied yams, yeast rolls and macaroni and cheese.

“I’m not going to sit around and do nothing because I can’t do that,” Daniels said. “I love cooking.”

Duke’s Employees’ Retirement Plan allows Daniels to focus on family and menu planning rather than financial concerns. Available to biweekly paid employees such as Daniels, the Employees’ Retirement Plan is a traditional pension plan that provides biweekly paid team members a guaranteed monthly income at retirement. The amount of the monthly payment is

determined by a formula based on age, pay and years of service.

Unlike the Faculty and Staff Retirement Plan, a 403(b) plan for faculty and monthly paid staff that’s funded by voluntary and Duke contributions, the Employees’ Retirement Plan is funded entirely by Duke and supports nearly 20,000 biweekly employees at the university and health system.

“It’s extremely valuable because it gives you a stable lifetime income,” said Duke Human Resources Retirement Plan Manager Linda Phelps. “It’s Duke’s responsibility to make sure the plan is funded, so the employee doesn’t have to deal with the volatility that they might see with the Faculty and Staff Plan.”

Biweekly paid employees can enhance their retirement savings by also contributing to the Faculty and Staff Retirement Plan, the 403(b) plan, but Duke does not make contributions due to the pension plan. Having both the traditional pension plan and the 403(b) account can improve the financial outlook for biweekly paid staff in retirement.

All staff and faculty can learn more about Duke’s retirement plans during annual Financial Fitness Week from Sept. 16-19. The event features live virtual seminars with experts from Fidelity and Duke Human Resources on topics such as building a budget, building a strong credit history and more.

Daniels took advantage of the 403(b) plan option and began contributing $100 per month into the plan several years ago, giving her another ingredient for a secure retirement.

“I don’t have to worry,” she said. 

By Stephen Schramm

Duke Dining Lead Production Worker Gloria Daniels, a fixture in the kitchen of the George and George-Frank Wall Center for Student Life, retired in July after nearly 44 years at Duke. Photos by Travis Stanley.

Find Your Service Opportunity

The ConnectCommunity website makes it easy for individuals and teams to volunteer

On a Wednesday in February, nearly 20 members of Duke’s Department of Pediatrics’ leadership team gathered in a warehouse to build a playhouse for a nearby school through Habitat for Humanity of Durham.

While members of the group occasionally collaborate on work projects, the volunteering activity in East Durham offered a rare chance to bond.

For Dr. Ann Reed, Chair of the Department of Pediatrics and the organizer of the playhouse activity, watching her team fit together outside of work – with colleagues painting trim and sawing boards together – was a thrill.

“It was neat to see how people migrated to different activities,” Reed said. “Everybody bought their different skills. I just really wanted to learn how to use the router so I could rout a bunch of holes and make windows. That was really fun.”

Volunteering together can enhance a positive workplace culture. According to a study commissioned by Ares Management Corporation, 79% of employees who participate in workplace volunteer programs report higher job satisfaction, and 75% express satisfaction with their employer’s organizational culture.

Duke staff, faculty and students who are looking for ways to serve can find volunteering opportunities from more than 160 local nonprofits on the ConnectCommunity online platform. Created by Duke Community Affairs, ConnectCommunity offers a searchable database of current volunteering needs at nonprofit organizations vetted by Duke.

Opportunities include construction projects for Habitat for Humanity of Durham, delivering food for Root Causes or Meals on Wheels of Durham, sorting donated clothes and housewares for The Scrap Exchange and more. There are also nonprofits looking for long-term roles such as building websites or fostering pets.

“ConnectCommunity is a great way for nonprofit partners to post their volunteering opportunities and connect with people who might be interested in helping,” said Sarah Cline, who manages the ConnectCommunity platform as the A.J. Fletcher Civic Engagement Fellow for Duke Community Affairs. “This is really about serving needs. These posts are the opportunities that our partners are asking for. This is where they need help.”

Debra Ragland, Director of the Duke University School of Medicine’s BioCoRE Program, has used the ConnectCommunity platform to find monthly volunteering opportunities for graduate and doctoral students in the program.

In April, Ragland and around a dozen students spent a Saturday pulling weeds, sewing seeds and spreading compost at the Briggs Avenue Community Garden, a sustainable agricultural outreach project providing healthy food to Durham families.

“It’s important for the Duke community to give back to the Durham community as much as possible,” Ragland said. “I love doing it.” 

By Stephen Schramm

Duke Department of Pediatrics team members volunteered to build a playhouse for Habitat for Humanity of Durham. Photo courtesy of Duke Department of Pediatrics.

Dr. Ann Reed works on a playhouse with Habitat for Humanity of Durham. Photo courtesy of Duke Department of Pediatrics.

Toward Racial Justice Building an Inclusive Team

Duke Athletics makes equitable hiring part of its game plan

On most days, hundreds of Duke studentathletes pass through the Scott Family Performance Center’s sprawling 13,000-square-foot Olympic sports weight room.

It’s the job of Dan Perlmutter, Director of Sports Performance and Olympic Sports Performance Coach, and his eight-person team, to help Duke’s diverse collection of student-athletes get more out of their bodies and expand what they believe they’re capable of.

That means building relationships with sprinters, golfers, rowers, wrestlers and others. It means connecting with studentathletes from Durham and Dubai, New York and New Zealand, and Iowa and Iceland.

“Our student-athletes are from everywhere, all different walks of life, all different types of people,” said Perlmutter, who has been at Duke since 2009. “So, for us, representation matters.”

Earlier this year, Duke Athletics adopted a set of equitable hiring practices to help build a workforce that reflects the identities of student-athletes. As part of Duke Athletics’ Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging Committee, Perlmutter helped craft the eight-page document of recommendations and protocols.

The document features advice about avoiding narrowly worded job descriptions that can exclude candidates and ensuring candidates have identical interview agendas and questions. It also outlines requirements such as including members of the committee in the resume review process and implicit bias training for hiring managers.

“We want to make sure everyone has a fair opportunity to come interview with us and hopefully work within Duke Athletics,” said Taren Moore, Senior Associate Director of Athletics and Chief Diversity Officer.

The document is part of a broader diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging initiative within Duke Athletics, where over 350 full-time employees support varsity sports, Recreation & Physical Education and the Duke University Golf Club. The effort has included focus groups and surveys to gauge the departmental climate and guest speakers on topics such as neurodiversity and Native American culture.

Building a strong, diverse staff has long been a departmental goal, and the new formalized set of equitable hiring practices fully weaves that priority into the department’s culture.

“If we want to change our culture and our community, how you think about promoting and hiring and retaining people is a key component,” said Kim Hewitt, Vice President for Institutional Equity and Chief Diversity Officer at Duke.

In the Scott Family Performance Center’s weight room, student-athletes seek out Perlmutter and his team to unlock their potential. It’s a job Perlmutter knows requires many voices different than his own.

“What we do goes beyond just getting someone bigger, stronger and faster,” Perlmutter said. “We need to have a well-rounded group so we can really impact our studentathletes’ lives.” 

By Stephen Schramm

Resources

The Office for Institutional Equity (OIE) at Duke hosts in-person workshops on topics related to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. Learn more: duke.is/5/r37g

Duke Athletics Director of Sports Performance and Olympic Sports Performance Coach Dan Perlmutter, far right, talks with colleagues in the weight room in the Scott Family Performance Center. Photo by Travis Stanley.

A ‘Home’ Course in Duke’s Backyard

Duke University Golf Club and Hillandale Golf Course offer discounts to Duke staff and faculty

When Jennifer Ingram joined the Duke University School of Medicine faculty in 2006, she was thrilled to learn about a bonus to her employment: the staff and faculty discount at the Duke University Golf Club.

Ingram has been golfing at the course associated with the Washington Duke Inn since 2002, and already was in love with not only the course layout, but how she could walk the accessible fairways rather than rely on a golf cart.

Ingram, an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine, began coordinating a ladies’ “9 after 5” league at the course in 2011 and said the staff and faculty discount “has facilitated its continuation” ever since.

“I’ve met some fantastic women golfers, made lifelong friends through our league, and it’s great to feel that Duke’s golf course is my ‘home’ course,” Ingram said.

Duke employees receive discounts on greens fees, with 2024 rates between $55-85 depending on the day (regularly $90-$115).

Along with the Duke University Golf Club employee discount, Hillandale Golf Course offers a 10% discount to Duke employees who show their valid ID.

“Staff and faculty are certainly one of the groups of people that we want to try and look after as best we can,” said Ed Ibarguen, longtime General Manager and PGA director of Golf at the Duke University Golf Club. “It's been a very nice relationship to have them feel like we're part of the university.”

The award-winning 67-year-old Duke University Golf Club was designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr. and updated by his son, Rees Jones. First envisioned in the early 1930s, the course has received top rankings from Golf Digest and Golf Magazine and has been voted best public course in the Triangle by the Triangle Business Journal.

Ibarguen, who has been a golf pro since 1979, called the course “a fantastic challenge.”

“We have tees that you can play from regardless of your handicap or your playing skill that you can enjoy,” he said. “And at the same time, as a very proficient golfer, you can like that we’re the kind of course that hosts a U.S. Open Finals Qualifier” as the course did in June 2024.

Ibarguen is proud of one review that said, “it’s like going to a private country club and a public fee.”

“We’re accomplishing that goal pretty well,” he said. 

By Jodie Valade

Learn more about golf discounts at golf.duke.edu, hillandalegolf.com and hr.duke.edu/discounts. Anyone interested in joining the ladies “9 after 5” group can contact Ingram at jennifer.ingram@duke.com or Duke University Golf Club Head Golf Professional Rob Pilewski at rob.pilewski@duke.edu

Jennifer Ingram at a golf course in Alabama. Photo courtesy of Jennifer Ingram.

Duke University Golf Club’s No. 12 green is set against a picturesque backdrop. Photo courtesy of Duke University Golf Club.