To the Duke Community For the last several weeks, the Duke-wide Task Force has been working diligently to prepare for and plan our university’s response to COVID-19. In the past few days, it has become clear that the spread of the virus continues across the country. Even though this is due to circumstances beyond our control, we can take steps now to minimize health and safety risks to Duke students, faculty, staff and the larger community, especially as students and faculty prepare to return from Spring Break. read more about Community Update: Changes to Spring Break and Classes, New Travel Restrictions »
What happens when a group of students participates in a collective from a range of disciplines? How do a premed student, historian, neuroscience major, and English scholar seek to parse out the life and work of anthropologist, folklorist, and novelist Zora Neale Hurston? How can the digital humanities aid our understanding of sound? How does a team made of half undergraduates and half doctoral students unify to engage in research methods in a humanities seminar? read more about Listening for Zora: Merging Sonic Archives with the Digital Humanities »
Trinity Professor Priscilla Wald discusses the Coronavirus outbreak, how the Declaration of Alma-Ata comes into play, and the impact of a universal access to health care. Read more in the Charlotte Observer. read more about The best way to prevent an outbreak like Coronavirus »
We are excited to have Caryl Phillips joining us for the Spring 2020 residency with Duke’s English Department. Caryl Phillips is a novelist, playwright, and essayist, and among his many novels are The Final Passage (1985), Crossing the River (1993), A Distant Shore (2003) The Lost Child (2015), and A View of Empire at Sunset (2018). He is the winner of multiple awards, and is professor of English at Yale University. We… read more about Caryl Phillips, Blackburn Writer-in-Residency Events, 2/24 & 2/26 »
For nearly 48 hours last weekend, about 20 participants filled the Duke Game Lab and—fueled by plenty of coffee, pizza, and snacks—joined minds to bring to life their ideas for games related to a common theme. At the same time, at 933 other sites around the globe, tens of thousands of people were doing the same thing. They were all participating in the Global Game Jam (GGJ), the world’s largest game creation event, where people interested in game development came together all over the world to design, develop, and present… read more about 48 Hours, Little Sleep, and A Lot of Pizza: Ph.D. Student Brings Global Game Jam to Duke »
Duke senior Liddy Grantland, who is this year’s Duke Chapel Student Preacher, will deliver a sermon in the chapel on Sunday, Feb. 23. A double major in English and African & African American Studies from Columbia, South Carolina, Grantland will preach during the chapel’s 11 a.m. worship service. Her sermon is based on the verses of the Gospel of Matthew that describes Jesus ascending a mountain with three of his disciples and then being transfigured with light. A key passage for Grantland is when the voice of God… read more about Duke Senior’s Sermon Feb. 23 to Find Equality Before God »
Professor Aarthi Vadde and Melanie Micir, an Assistant Professor of English at Washington University in St. Louis, are the 2020 recipients of the Florence Howe Award in English for their essay “Obliterature.” Professors Vadde and Micir collaborated on this essay, which was published in Volume 25, Number 3 of Modernism/modernity, the official journal of the Modernist Studies Association in September of 2018. Rebecca Colesworthy, Editor for the SUNY Press, presented the award with the following citation: “In… read more about Professor Aarthi Vadde and Melanie Micir Are the 2020 Recipients of the Florence Howe Award in English »
The Graduate School has announced the recipients of its 2020 Dean's Awards, which recognize outstanding efforts in mentoring, teaching, and creating an inclusive environment for graduate education at Duke. English PhD candidate Hannah Rogers is one of three recipients of the 2020 Dean's Award for Excellence in Teaching. read more about Hannah Rogers Honored With 2020 Dean's Award for Excellence in Teaching »
The Graduate School has announced the recipients of its 2020 Dean's Awards, which recognize outstanding efforts in mentoring, teaching, and creating an inclusive environment for graduate education at Duke. The recipients will be honored at a reception on Wednesday, March 25. Dean’s Award for Excellence in Mentoring Faculty William Darity, Samuel DuBois Cook Distinguished Professor of Public Policy Jennifer Roizen, Assistant Professor of Chemistry David Wong, Susan Fox Beischer and George D. Beischer… read more about 10 Dean’s Awards Recipients Named for 2020 »
Students in Story+ project explore the different sides to an abolitionist, political activist, feminist and warrior read more about Harriet Tubman's Life In Pictures »
The acclaimed fiction writer and Shakespeare scholar taught at Duke for almost 40 years. read more about Remembering Writer Scholar and Teacher Joe Ashby Porter »
I met Dorothy during our BASS Connections project which focused on how expressive writing can help survivors of childhood cancer. Her compassion and genuine interest in other’s stories were constants in our discussions of trauma. I wasn’t surprised at all to learn that she’d channeled this into her English thesis. Dorothy’s thesis, “Narratives of Illness Written by African Authors”, contains three sections: cancer, HIV/AIDS, and mental illness. Each section looks at narratives that show experiences with these illnesses.… read more about Dorothy Adu-Amankwah: Narratives of Trauma »
This semester (Fall 2019), I took Shakespeare on Love with Professor Sarah Beckwith. This class gathered an interesting range of students from theater studies majors to goodness-I-just-need-an-ALP upperclassmen. I signed up to fulfill the Area I requirement and because my advisor had nothing but praise for Professor Beckwith. In her class description, Beckwith explains why she chose to focus on love in Shakespeare’s plays: “His plays explore the way in which love leads to transformed perceptions of the world and the lover… read more about English 235: Shakespeare on Love »
As a biology and English double major, I’ve found the intersection between STEM and English interesting but lonely. The increasing push for interdisciplinarity in academia has helped shrink the chasm that divides humanities and STEM; however, the chasm remains. I’ve joked with friends that if I had two personas, one for my biology classmates and one for my English classmates, there wouldn’t be any complications. However, as rare as the combination can appear at first glance, this combination exists all across Duke’s campus… read more about Combining STEM and English »
The Office of Undergraduate Scholarships and Fellowships (OUSF) located in Smith Warehouse is home to comfortable couches, free sodas, and Duke’s many helpful scholarship advisors. Within this office, a few divisions coexist including undergraduate merit scholarships, affiliated programs, and nationally competitive scholarships/fellowships. Merit scholarships are awarded during Duke’s undergraduate application process, so they will not be the focus of this article. Rather, I will highlight opportunities for current English… read more about The English Major’s Guide to the Office of Undergraduate Scholarships and Fellowships (OUSF) »
This Fall 2019 semester, Professor Tsitsi Jaji taught Introduction to Poetry. This class came at an exciting time for her as she published her own poetry book Mother Tongues in November. Professor Jaji has never taught this class before, but quickly confirmed that she is “having great fun teaching this class.” Jaji says, “It’s an amazing opportunity to get to know students and how they see the world in ways they care about, ways they’re invested in.” When Professor Jaji first realized that her class was primarily… read more about Introduction to Poetry with Professor Tsitsi Jaji »
Meeting your new roommate on move-in day might be a bit daunting, but what effect does a random roommate policy have on students over the course of the year? Dr. Sarah Gaither of Duke’s Psychology & Neuroscience department explains the benefits of randomly assigned roommates revealed in her research. read more about Randomly Assigned Roommates: What are the Effects? »
“Have you ever been to the writing studio?” After the typical “hello” and “how are you doing?” greetings, the writing consultants at the Thompson Writing Program (TWP) Writing Studio are trained to ask this question. It allows us to gauge if we need to prime the writer for the appointment or if they already have the routine down-pat. And this is my goal for this article: to describe an appointment at the Writing Studio from the consultant’s perspective (mainly my own but heavily informed by my coworkers). When you… read more about An Inside Look into the Writing Studio »
Why do non-English majors take English classes? While assembling a list of reasons my friends should take English classes (with me), I interviewed five undergraduates who have majors outside of English but who have taken English classes. Most of them requested to remain anonymous, so I am referring to them all by their majors for consistency. What English class did you take? Neuroscience: English 110S: Intro to Creative Writing with Cathy Shuman Computer Science/… read more about Reflections from Non-English Majors »
This was the book. The book that was supposed to make Maria Kuznetsova a published author. The book that she started during her MA in fiction writing at University of California, Davis, after completing her undergraduate English major at Duke University. Maria had decided to continue working on her thesis until its publication as a novel. An act that she called “insane” during her DEMAN talk. After writing and rewriting for two years only to receive a series of rejections from agents, Maria finally did find an… read more about Writing through Rejection: Maria Kuznetsova’s Advice for Young Writers »
In the Assessment & User Experience Department, we’re always looking for ways to improve how our patrons experience the libraries’ physical and online spaces. One of our primary ways of learning about our patrons is our biennial user satisfaction survey, which we use to collect opinions from large groups of our patrons about a wide range of issues. read more about Where Do Patrons Get Lost? A Study of Library Navigation. »
Amidst plenty of skepticism about the liberal arts and majors such as English, it turns out a tiny shift in context can change everything. Want to know how to sell English as a major? read more about Long Live The English Major—If It’s Paired With An Industry-Recognized Credential »
A few years ago, two associate professors in Duke’s English Department started a reading group to explore their shared interest in human mobility and its cultural expressions. Building on their discussions, Charlotte Sussman and Tsitsi Jaji teamed up with Dominika Baran, Jarvis McInnisand Corina Stan to direct the Representing Migration Humanities Lab. read more about How Do We Remember and Memorialize the Middle Passage? »
As part of an investigation into the history of American celebrity, a team of undergraduate students created an exhibit, “Stories We Sell: Crafting Public Persona from Walt Whitman to Billie Eilish," now on view in Perkins Library. Merrit Jones (‘21), Tristan Kelleher (T ‘22) and Andrew Witte (T ‘22) worked together during Story+, a 6-week humanities research program in which undergraduate students complete a project under the guidance of a sponsor and a graduate student mentor. read more about Exhibit on Walt Whitman and celebrity created by Story+ team »
The Duke Campus Farm serves the Duke community as well as our Durham neighbors. This Thanksgiving, we reflect on the power of food, shared labor, and love. read more about A Campus Farm Thanksgiving »
Prof. Mesha Maren and Prof. JP Gritton in conversation on the Chicago Review of Books discussing the JP Griffton's first novel "Wyoming." read more about "Creating 'Colorado Noir' "- Chicago Review of Books »
Good teachers aren’t born that way, even the best ones admit that it took years before they felt comfortable in front of the classroom. Experience helps, but mentoring from other teachers is a critical component. read more about Five Things To Know About Great Teaching »
Industry leaders share perspectives on working with academic and trade presses read more about Advice for Would Be-Book Authors »
A great migration is happening on U.S. college campuses. Ever since the fall of 2008, a lot of students have walked out of English and humanities lectures and into STEM classes, especially computer science and engineering. read more about The world’s top economists just made the case for why we still need English majors »
As a senior English major, I’ve taken several creative nonfiction writing classes at Duke, during which my professors have encouraged us to seek out small local publications in Durham or Chapel Hill in the hopes of being published. read more about 8 Tips for Writing a Bestselling Book »