News

Call for Applications: Program Director, Computer Science

Applications are open for a Program Director, Computer Science at Duke university. The job entails providing administrative support for the Alliance for Identity-Inclusive Computing Education (AiiCE), to include managing/coordinating financial development and administration, special programs (including speaker programs), publications, special conferences/meetings, and other events to ensure fulfillment of the program objectives. Learn more and apply here.  read more »

Call for Applications: Professor in Public Policy and Economics

The Sanford School of Public Policy is seeking to hire an economist at the senior level with a preference for candidates who can be hired at the full professor rank. The search is open to an economist with expertise in the broad area of the economics of inequality. We welcome applications from researchers from all fields in economics, including stratification economics. Applicants are encouraged whose research is devoted to inequality across social groups, especially at the intersection of race, ethnicity, and… read more »

Call for Grant Proposals: Duke Africa Initiative Faculty Opportunities

Each year, the Steering Committee of the Africa Initiative provides funding for small projects or working groups for the coming academic year. These grants have traditionally been in the range of $2,000 - $6,000 and are awarded to Duke faculty working in arts and humanities, environmental and life sciences,  physical sciences, engineering, social sciences or multidisciplinary areas. Please learn more here.  Funding requests should be sent to Meredith Watkins (mw390@duke.edu(link sends e-mail)) no… read more »

Nominations Open: Award Named in Honor of Sanford Professor Emeritus

The Society for Epidemiologic Research (SER) has announced the Sherman A. James Diverse and Inclusive Epidemiology Award, named for the Sanford School’s Professor Emeritus Sherman James. The award will recognize research, teaching or service by an individual that expands the scope of the field to under-represented or disadvantaged populations or researchers and that has facilitated greater diversity and inclusiveness. A core criteria for the award is interdisciplinary contributions or leadership to diversity and… read more »

Call for Proposals: Story+ Projects (Summer 2022)

Story+ is a 6-week summer program that immerses interdisciplinary teams of students, faculty, and staff in arts and humanities research and public storytelling. We invite proposals from Duke faculty, archivists, artists, and other campus and community members for the Summer 2022 edition of Story+. We anticipate we’ll gather again full-time fully in-person for Story+ Summer 2022. In order to provide options for our diverse student population, though, we are interested in accommodating… read more »

RACE, NOT JOB, PREDICTS ECONOMIC OUTCOMES FOR BLACK HOUSEHOLDS

During the decade-long economic recovery following the Great Recession, Black households lost much more wealth than white families, regardless of class or profession, according to new research from Duke University’s Samuel DuBois Cook Center for Social Equity.  “One of the important contributions of this study is our conscious effort not to treat everyone who engages in paid labor as members of the working class,” says co-author William A. Darity Jr., founding director of the Cook Center and the Samuel DuBois Cook… read more »

Resurrecting the Promise of 40 Acres: The Imperative of Reparations for Black Americans

Read Dr. William Darity and A. Kirsten Mullen in the NPO: Nonprofit Quarterly here. This article is excerpted from Resurrecting the Promise of 40 Acres: The Imperative of Reparations for Black Americans (Roosevelt Institute, June 4, 2020), with permission. It appears in the Summer 2021 edition of the Nonprofit Quarterly, “The World We Want: In Search of New Economic Paradigms.”  read more »

EXPANDING THE CONVERSATION ABOUT RACIAL JUSTICE

'DiversifyIT' brings new colleagues into fight against racism.  Dispirited by images of police violence against Black Americans, Steve Rich, like others at Duke, wanted to do something to fight systemic racism, but he didn't know where to start. An IT analyst with Duke's Office of Information Technology (OIT), Rich occasionally participated in events organized by DiversifyIT, a staff-led OIT initiative to create a more inclusive climate across Duke's IT spaces. And since last summer, when DiversifyIT… read more »

DEBRA CLARK JONES NAMED ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT FOR COMMUNITY HEALTH FOR DUKE HEALTH

Debra Clark Jones has been named Associate Vice President for Community Health for the Duke University Health System (DUHS). This role, reporting jointly to Dr. A. Eugene Washington and Stelfanie Williams, is a significant milestone toward forging purposeful partnerships with our neighbors in Durham and the region in a unified and coordinated way. Learn more here.  read more »

Dr. Kanecia Zimmerman: COVID Is Not an Insignificant Risk to Children

Kanecia Zimmerman and colleague Danny Benjamin stress the importance of vaccinations for staff, faculty, student, and family safety. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval last week of the Pfizer-BioNTech two-dose COVID-19 vaccine for adults is excellent news for every family heading back to school this fall. Approval will now offer more assurance to unvaccinated adults who were uncomfortable with emergency use authorization of the vaccine and encourage them to move forward in protecting themselves,… read more »

National Science Foundation launches artificial intelligence center at Duke

The National Science Foundation has announced the creation of an artificial intelligence research center at Duke. It is one of 11 new NSF institutes focused on AI.  The AI Institute for Edge Computing Leveraging Next-generation Networks—Athena for short—will be supported through a $20 million grant and five-year development plan from NSF and the Department of Homeland Security. The initiative is positioned to reshape the design, service, and operation of mobile systems. Athena will support a group of… read more »

POWERY TO SERVE THIRD TERM AS DEAN OF DUKE CHAPEL

The Rev. Luke Powery, who has served since 2012 as Dean of Duke Chapel, has been reappointed to a third five-year term following the completion of a university review, President Vincent E. Price said this week. “I am delighted to announce Luke Powery’s reappointment as Dean of the Chapel,” Price said. “Reverend Powery’s steadfast leadership has fostered an inclusive faith community on our campus, one that enables students, faculty, staff, and visitors to explore a wide diversity of spiritual practice. I am grateful for his… read more »

TYSON BROWN NAMED FIRST PRESIDENTIAL FELLOW AT DUKE

Program looks to help train the next cohort of faculty leaders at the university. Sociology and health policy scholar Tyson Brown has been named the inaugural Presidential Fellow by Duke President Vincent E. Price. The one-year, part-time fellowship is designed to prepare promising mid-career faculty members for future leadership roles and to engage them in the administration of the university. Brown is associate professor of sociology and director of the Center on Health & Society. His… read more »

America’s Racial Wealth Gap: Jay Pearson Tries to Build Wealth for the Next Generation

Growing up on a farm in Murfreesboro, North Carolina, Jay Pearson knew he wanted to do something different with his life. His grandfather was a tenant farmer, and he had come from a long line of farmers before that. For the first 11 years of his life, Pearson and his family lived in his grandfather’s tenant farm house. After that, they moved into a trailer park. His family never had any savings. “In terms of wealth and income, I grew up in abject poverty,” says Pearson. “I’m the first person in my direct… read more »

Moments to Movement Strategic Plan

In June 2021, the Duke University School of Medicine released its Moments to Movement strategic plan, “Dismantling Racism and Advancing Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in the School of Medicine.” This plan reflects the work of four constituent-based committees, with input from across the School of Medicine community and support from an oversight committee. Underlying these efforts is a vision of enduring change, whereby our efforts, actions, and decisions will create both the structural and cultural change required to… read more »

Makeba Parramore Wilbourn named Advisor of the Year

Makeba Parramore Wilbourn, Associate Professor of the Practice of Psychology and Neuroscience, has received Duke's Advisor of the Year Award. Academic Advising at Duke has upwards of 300 volunteer advisors working with first and second year students. Each year, based on feedback provided by students’ major declaration survey, advisees share their experiences working with advisors. Based on the student survey feedback two Advisors of the Year are selected: one faculty member and one… read more »

In the News with new professor Dr. Candis Smith

Dr. Candis Smith joins Duke's Political Science department for the 2021-2022 school year. Professor Smith's expertise highlights race and ethnicity's role in shaping the American political landscape.  Watch a recently published TedX where she discussed the three myths about racism that keep the US from progressing here. Additionally, find her quoted in The Fulcrum  on legislation banning critical race theory in schools here. read more »

COVID, KINSHIP & A MORAL ECONOMY

How are kinship and caring related to world economic systems, and might these concepts be central to a post-pandemic vision of flourishing for people and the planet? Kenan Senior Fellows Michaeline Crichlow and Dirk Philipsen teamed up with academics from several schools and disciplines to explore this and other questions in a special issue of Cultural Dynamics on “Markets, Race, and COVID-19” that comes out this month. “The demands emanating from these twin crises, Covid-19 and racial justice, seem to coalesce… read more »

A New Opportunity for Exploring Race, Identity and Inequality

Duke’s Bass Connections program announces a new theme, Race & Society, to support interdisciplinary teams of faculty and students in their exploration of race-related issues. This effort furthers the university’s commitments to anti-racism and to transforming teaching and discovery for the 21st century. Tyson Brown will lead the Race & Society theme. He’s associate professor of sociology, director of the Center on Health & Society, and Duke’s inaugural Presidential… read more »

PKD-RRC PILOT AND FEASIBILITY PROGRAM ACCEPTING LETTERS OF INTENT

The PKD RRC Pilot and Feasibility (P&F) program will provide funds to eligible investigators for the development of innovative and high impact projects broadly related to the study of polycystic kidney and liver disease. Projects focusing on discovery (hypothesis-generating) and/or innovative (high-risk/high-reward) research are highly encouraged. The program will support basic, translational and clinical research proposals. Learn more about eligiblity and the application process here. MANDATORY LETTER OF INTENT (LOI… read more »

Jennifer Nash: Love Warriors: Women of Color Doulas in a Time of Crisis

Read this except to Jennifer Nash's new book Birthing Black Mothers.  "When I ask Lauren, a Black birthworker who lives and works on Chicago’s South Side, to describe the two-day doula training she completed, she tells me that they ended it with pneumatics gunshot wound training.“I remember having a deep conversation with my husband about how knowing how to potentially save someone from a gunshot wound was related to birth,” she said." Read the full excerpt on LitHub here.  read more »

Q&A WITH JENNIFER C. NASH

Jennifer C. Nash is Jean Fox O’Barr Professor of Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies at Duke University. Her new book is Birthing Black Mothers, which examines how the figure of the “Black mother” has become a powerful political category. Read an edited Q&A interview here to learn more about her.  read more »

5 Scholars Join Econ Faculty

This fall, Duke Economics is thrilled to bring five new faculty members to campus. Three will be joining the department this year. Two will be teaching and researching in person for the first time, having joined in 2020, in the midst of COVID-19. All will bring exciting, essential expertise to Duke. Learn more about all of them here.  read more »

Show Me the Money: Reparations Scholar Dr. Darity Is Not a Fan of Reparations Bill

It has been widely reported that William Darity, one of the nation’s leading scholars on reparations, thinks that Black American descendants of slaves should be compensated for centuries of unpaid labor that made America a superpower. Less known, however, is that Darity, an economist, and director of Duke University’s Samuel Dubois Cook Center for Equity, is not a fan of House Bill 40—decades-old, proposed legislation that calls on Congress to form a commission to study and develop a reparations plan.  … read more »

The Persistent Joy of Black Mothers: Jennifer C. Nash

This article from The Atlantic details how Black mothers are characterized throughout American history as symbols of crisis, trauma, and grief, and yet consistently reject those narratives through world-making of their own. It mentions Duke professor and feminist theorist Jennifer C. Nash new book, Birthing Black Mothers. Black motherhood, she has written, has become a “political position made visible (only) because of its proximity to death.” The Black mother as a figure, Nash argues, exists as a… read more »

How Cells Manage Stress: Dr. Gustavo Silva

In this episode of BioGist, Christina Shin, a Duke student who recently graduated in the class of 2021 with a major in Art History and minor in Chemistry, interviews Dr. Gustavo Silva, an Assistant Professor in the Biology department at Duke University. Dr. Silva shares how studying oxidative stress is like repairing water damage on a house. Listen to hear more about regulating stress (on the cellular level, of course) and picking up new habits during the pandemic! To find out more about Dr. Silva, visit his… read more »

Nolan Smith launches podcast on social justice and sports

Back in June, Smith launched “Power Check Ball," a podcast centered around sports and social justice, alongside financial advisor and athlete advocate Marc Isenberg. Just six episodes in, guests so far have included former Duke forward and ESPN college basketball analyst Jay Bilas and North Carolina Central men's basketball head coach Levelle Moton. Read more here.  read more »