Office of Undergraduate Education

After graduating from Duke in 2007, Rachel Weeks went to Sri Lanka on a Fulbright Scholarship to pursue her interest in ethical fashion, a subject she explored in her Women’s Studies senior honors thesis, “The Wonder Bra: Theorizing Globalization, Women’s Labor, and Consumption for Twenty-First Century Feminism,” a study of the intersections between fashion and academic feminism. But her interest in the topic wasn’t just academic…  You can listen to Rachel recount her own story in a recent radio interview on “The Story with Dick Gordon.” You can also read Rachel’s own words in this month’s Duke Women’s Studies newsletter.

There is nothing atypical about a Duke professor sending her students to the library, but when cultural historian Trudi Abel gives her troops marching orders, she has a mission.  This mission is the Digital Durham project.  Begun in 1999, Abel’s initiative to map Durham’s history  has become central to her courses such as “Digital Durham and the New South.”   Supported by Trinity College and Duke’s Center for Instructional  Technology her website, which is open to the public, contains public and private records, photographs and maps–and nearly all of this was found by her and her students in Duke’s special collections library.  In her class, students not only have their own part of the historical project, but they also serve as mentors to middle-school students at Durham School of the Arts. Abel’s work with undergraduates has led her to a new research interest in the study of how technology can be used in the classroom.

For more on Abel and her students, check out this DukeToday story on the Digital Durham project.

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.

Space is a funny thing.  We know it as a concept. We can measure it and give it a formula, but it never seems to be real until it is in our faces—and more typically than not, until there is a perceived shortage or surfeit of it.  Think football stadium or  small closet!    A group of intrepid Duke students, however, have been trying this past semester to circumvent the disconnect between represented space and the understanding one gets from being in that space.  The members of “Wired: New Representation Technologies for Historical Materials” spent this spring digitally recreating the second-century Roman baths in Aphrodisias (modern Turkey) by re-placing statues and artifacts (now scattered across the world in museums) into a virtual space made from the ruins. (more…)

Duke Student Government has recently put together what looks to be a useful tool for undergrads struggling to choose which classes to register for.  The new Syllabus Archive has collected and centralized syllabi from Duke courses taught over the last few years and in almost every department.  DSG hopes the Archive will provide students with some insight as to each class’s potential workload.

The site is continuing a drive to amass more syllabi from current students and asks that anyone interested in submitting send their copies to dukesyllabi@gmail.com. For all Duke Student Government’s ongoing and upcoming projects, check out its blog at dukesgblog.blogspot.com.