Office of Undergraduate Education

I  am not Indian, but over the past several months, I have been rehearsing for a South Asian cultural celebration called Awaaz. Sponsored by Diya, Duke’s South Asian students association, Awaaz brings students from different cultural groups across campus to perform  music, comedy, and dance. All proceeds benefit the Duke Microfinance Leadership Initiative, which sponsors startups in the developing world. (more…)

It’s an accepted fact around campus that Duke students can sell Duke best–whether it’s to the media or for admissions. Dan Piech, T ‘09, took his Duke-love one step further and created a Duke infomercial for his senior capstone project. After his final product was posted on YouTube, several Duke administrators came across the informative and edgy piece. Admins were so impressed that the piece was edited down to become Duke’s official thirty-second commercial spot.

You can read more about Dan’s transformation from student-filmmaker to university marketer in this Duke news article:

http://news.duke.edu/2009/09/tvspot.html

Saying you study with a master makes me think of the 80’s movie, the Karate Kid. But the only fancy footwork for the student’s the music department’s master classes is the piano pedals. Master classes, hosted by the Department of Music, bring select undergrads to study with noted and celebrity musicians for short one-on-one sessions.

Check out the DukeToday news article about students and their exciting new sensei.

I’ve seen many performances at Duke. I cried at the heavy and heavenly Angels in America, while I laughed my pants off (sic) at the Rocky Horror Picture Show. But among all the performances I’ve seen during my Duke tenure, none have been as charming or as smart as Hoof ‘n’ Horn’s performance of It’s a Bird…It’s a Plane…It’s Superman.

The music is campy, the characters over the top, and the plot is simply preposterous. Yet, all of this fades into the background. (more…)