Office of Undergraduate Education

Article by Naureen Khan originally appeared in the November issue of Towerview Magazine:

You can tell a lot about a person’s worldview from their Facebook statuses. OK, maybe not a lot. But definitely something. Take, for example, what Ben Bergmann and Vikram Srinivasan—arguably the most visible political figures on campus as far as Duke students go—had to say on their respective pages the day it was announced President Obama had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Bergmann, a junior and the president of Duke Democrats for two years running: “Ben will have a permanent quizzical expression for the day because of the Nobel Prize pick. But isn’t it great when the RNC, John Bolton, Hamas, and the Taliban can agree on something?” (more…)

It’s an unusual claim to fame. Swathi Padmanabhan, a public policy major from Columbus, Ohio, has read every one of Nicholas Kristof’s New York Times columns since she was in the 10th grade. No wonder she was so excited to attend the fall lecture and booksigning at Duke of the Pulitzer Prize winning journalist who often writes on global health, poverty, and gender issues in the Third World — and to attend a reception for him hosted by the Baldwin Scholars and WISER programs. Padmanabhan, a Baldwin Scholar herself, has dedicated her Duke research experience to getting a less expensive cervical cancer vaccine to Indian women.

Kristof didn’t disappoint. Here’s Padmanabhan’s take: (more…)

Duke this spring hosted 400 high schoolers for four days of intense debate and diplomacy surrounding a mock international crisis — the drug cartel problem in Latin America. The students gave the Model UN conference rave reviews. They even created a Facebook fan page for the secretary general – Duke student Jin-Soo Huh. Here Jin-Soo shares secrets for a highly successful conference and how the Duke International Relations Association added to his Duke experience:

The MUN conference has been around for a long time (it was our 28th conference this year), but when I first joined the Duke International Relations Association (DIRA) in 2005, the conference was kind of thrown together. Many students from my year actually left DIRA, which is composed of students from all sorts of majors – those studying international politics and pre-meds interested in global health, to engineers involved in groups like Engineers without Borders.  Many, like me, had hoped to find a strong MUN program at Duke through which to continue the work they’d enjoyed in high school. The next two years saw a marked improvement in the conference and we were a good conference. This year, we moved from being just a regional conference attracting North Carolina schools to one that has a national reputation. (more…)

Rising-sophomore Molly Grace has come a long way from her freshman move-in… and we’ve got the video to prove it.  Almost a year since her first appearance in the orientation documentary “Molly’s Major Move,” the Durham native has begun blogging for Duke’s Howard Hughes Program, recounting her research and recent fieldwork in the swamps of Pennsylvania.  For the summer, Molly has been working in the Biology Department’s Nowicki lab, where she has been studying the relationship between mate choice and song in the Swamp Sparrow.  The Howard Hughes Program also provided Molly with the funding to join Steve and his lab team on a specimen collection trip in northwestern Pennsylvania.  You can read about her experience, from operant conditioning to swamp-wading, at her Howard Hughes blog.

Originally in Ethics in Action, Summer 2009:

Until I came to college I was socially and educationally engineered by my parents. Throughout high school, I was a pure automaton, directly programmed to take the maximum number of Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate courses. My parents felt they had figured out the exact calculus for getting me into a top-tier college and then into a great medical school.

Being totally apathetic to anything beyond my weekend curfew, even to my possible future career, I played along. I never questioned why I had to take certain courses and only did community service work at the hospital because my parents made me. Did I do these things because of an excessive trust in my parents? A concession to futility? Complete arrogance? Who knows?

My first semester of college was wasted worrying about grades and being homesick instead of experiencing Duke and Durham. I was complacent in my Duke bubble-in my mind anything beyond campus was an evil, no-entry zone where bad things took place. Sounds bad, doesn’t it? Well welcome to the perception of most Duke students. Fortunately for me, my eyes were opened early on in spring 2007 when I took my first two classes in the Ethics Certificate Program. (more…)

I am a child of the 80’s–and the Ghostbusters franchise was my wet-nurse.  The movies, the cartoons, the toy proton-packs, all of it.  Recently, I came across a line from Ghostbusters II that has not stopped resonating in my mind:  “You might want to check those Duke University mean averaging studies on controlled psychokinesis.”  Was this a sign? An omen?  How had I never caught that my Alma Mater was mentioned?  Luckily, author and NPR correspondent Stacy Horn has helped me make sense of my haunting questions with her new book Unbelievable: Investigations into Ghosts, Poltergeists, Telepathy and other Unseen Phenomena from the Duke Parapsychology Laboratory. It not only made sense of the reference (it was a study of human thought on a random-number generator) but also gave me a sense of Duke’s values and history. (more…)

Dukies have many pastimes.  Think basketball or tenting. But the thing Duke students love most to do is to talk about Duke….whether it’s arguing about it or simply reading about it.  As an alumnus and administrator, I still have not given up on this pastime, which is why I find myself often on the web searching for Duke.  Recently, I’ve taken an interest in the “Duke University” Wikipedia entry–while not exactly a page-turner, the entry has its charms…  “famous” Duke bands that I’ve never heard of…colorful commentary on Cameron Crazy cheers… bizarrely intricate descriptions of Duke policies…photos of campus that feel like they came off someone’s cell phone…and sources that range from pamphlets to fifteen-year-old Chronicle stories. (more…)

Passport sounds like a travel magazine–or perhaps a cheesy 80’s espionage flick –but Duke’s Passport magazine encompasses more than just travel. Its articles offer glimpses into the varied international experiences and backgrounds of Duke students. (X percent of undergraduates come from xxx countries and xx percent travel abroad..)  Alongside airy travel logs and “must-do” lists, one finds serious pieces on sex trafficking in India or New Zealand’s growing green economy. The stories aren’t solely about issues in other countries. In the latest edition, graduating senior Mara Hermann offers tips on keeping alive her overseas memories when she’s back in Durham.  (Most of her tips are of the gastronomical persuasion.)  In any case, Passport is about making connections: helping Duke students explore the world by sharing international experiences.  Check out the latest issue at a newsstand near you or online at  http://www.duke.edu/web/passport.

So, it’s 9:30pm. You have an essay and a problem set due tomorrow, and also a slew of e-mails to respond to that are gathering at light speed in your inbox. There are a few speakers you’d like to see this week, and also some extracurricular meetings that you need to go to, but none of it matters because unless you get your work done by class tomorrow morning you’re dead.  So what do you do?

Procrastinate, of course! (more…)

One famous complaint from Duke students is that they don’t get into Durham enough.  Well, the world wide web has now made it possible to learn so much about our fantastic home city without ever leaving your room!  A blossoming blog scene has sprouted up showcasing the history, culture, and development of Durham, giving Duke students the chance to enrich their knowledge of the city.

Carpe Durham, a wonderful food blog written by Duke Law students, showcases restaurants of every kind from all corners of the city.  From taco trucks in North Durham (24 such postings) to bars in Brightleaf along with wine tastings, bakeries, gas station food reviews, and perspectives on Durham’s finest restaurants, the website has it all.  Short, enthusiastic entries, written with flair and expertise, along with high-quality pictures of food and drinks will make you want to leave your computer behind and go the city to get some delicious Durham fare.  Also available now in Durham: opentable.com, where you can make reservations online for some of Durham’s best restaurants, such as Watt’s Grocery, Revolution, and BIN54. (more…)