Carter Zenke ’20 was initially drawn to Duke because of its interdisciplinary strengths. He began his academic journey in Duke’s Pratt School of Engineering, focusing on electrical and computer engineering. But he quickly realized his interests were much broader. Zenke moved to Trinity and created his own interdisciplinary major through Program II, an individualized degree program for students whose interests cross departmental boundaries. read more about Carter Zenke Shares His Journey Through Interdisciplinary Education at Duke »
The FOCUS Program wishes to congratulate all of the new Class of 2028 Baldwin Scholars!We are especially proud of the nine students who are part of the FOCUS Program: Alba Maria Becker Pombo (Ethics, Leadership & Global Citizenship)Michelle Giffoni-Albor (Knowledge in the Service of Society)Bahiyyih Grant (It's Not Too Late to Build a Better World)Amira Hijazi (Science and the Public)Siri Oehler (It's Not Too Late to Build a Better World)Ananya Pinnamaneni (Medicine, Ethics, and Health Policy)Natalie… read more about The FOCUS Program Congratulates the Class of 2028 Baldwin Scholars »
The FOCUS Program wishes to congratulate all of the new Class of 2027 Baldwin Scholars! We are especially proud of the eight students who are part of the FOCUS Program: Rose Cassidy (It's Not Too Late to Build a Better World) Sola Corrado (Cognitive Neuroscience and Law) Anika Kumar (Ethics, Leadership & Global Citizenship) Sitara Kumar (It's Not Too Late to Build a Better World) Jaden Redfern (Humanitarian… read more about The FOCUS Program Congratulates the Class of 2027 Baldwin Scholars »
The Focus Program congratulates fall 2022 "Virtual Realities, Fictional Worlds, and Games" cluster students Alyssa Ho, Yihong Song, John Schappert, and Eleanor Taylor for presenting their VR project, "Geomancer," at the 2023 East Coast Game Conference! read more about "Virtual Realities" Students Present at East Coast Game Conference »
The FOCUS Program wishes to congratulate all of the new Class of 2026 Baldwin Scholars! We are especially proud of the nine students who are part of the FOCUS Program: Niyat Asefaw (Humanitarian Challenges) Christina Barrow (Virtual Realities, Fictional Worlds, and Games) Selom Bediako (Visions of Freedom) Alexandria Calloway (Knowledge in the Service of Society) Hannah Gedion (Cognitive Neuroscience and Law) Mariam Gulamhusein (Global Health: Problems and Paradigms) Neyla Kirby (Ethics, Leadership and… read more about The FOCUS Program Congratulates the Class of 2026 Baldwin Scholars »
When her journey to 99 Clay Vessels: The Muslim Women Storytelling Project began, multimedia artist and educator Alison Kysia did not intend to be traveling the United States to tell her story to classes or host pottery workshops. Kysia turned to pottery as a form of personal healing during her time working at an interfaith organization in 2017. “Because I am Muslim, I was hired to teach about Muslims, Islam and Islamophobia — and yet, the executive director and the board just held deeply entrenched ideas about who… read more about Artist Alison Kysia on Telling Painful Stories With Pottery »
The Focus Program would like to give a special thanks to the wonderful teams who supported our IDC Dinner Seminars. This includes: Program Support from Dining and Events, including Barbara Stokes, director of Residential Dining, and Jim Hodges, director of Duke Conference and Event Service. Erik Dailey, owner of the Picnic Basket Catering and COVID-19 Catering Specialist, for running the catering for our classes that meet in the East Duke Building, the Focus… read more about FOCUS Thanks Teams Supporting its IDC Dinner Seminars »
More than 50 people gathered in a Duke classroom both in-person and remotely this September to consider whether “Truth is a Linguistic Question” – a prompt provided by faculty leading the ongoing Sawyer Seminar Series on language discrimination in fragile and precarious communities. Funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the series launched in spring 2020 and continued throughout the pandemic thanks to a combination of perseverance and the power of Zoom. This latest seminar kicked off a slate of events for this fall.… read more about ‘Truth is a Linguistic Question’ Talks by Five Trinity Scholars Relaunch Series on Language Discrimination »
The signs of change were all around: Students walking around campus wearing face masks, talking to new friends in distanced circles. Socializing tents scattered around campus. Seminars in large rooms with seats spaced out. But the first day of classes also had much that was familiar. Students strolled along pathways with coffee and food-for-later in hand. Groundskeepers zipped past on riding mowers while joggers circled the East Campus loop, albeit giving each other plenty of room. Most importantly, there was… read more about The First Day of Classes Start With Masks, Distancing and Vigorous Classrooms »
Congratulations to Neal Hutcheson, Danica Cullinan, and Walt Wolfram for their Emmy win in the Documentary/Culutral category for Talking Black in America, The Language and Life Project at NC State University. read more about Congratulations to Walf Wolfram, Neal Hutcheson, and Danica Cullinan on their Emmy »
Dr. Roseen Giles and Dr. Thomas Robisheaux will participate in a session organized by Dr. Astrid Giugni for the Pedagogy and Premodern Symposium (March 6-7 at Duke). The three will discuss their experience teaching (mainly) STEM students in their Focus cluster. According to them "[t]he Medieval and Renaissance Studies cluster is the only Focus cluster centered on premodern humanistic studies. For Fall 2019, [the] cluster consisted three courses: “Engineers, Doctors and Scientists in the Renaissance… read more about Focus Faculty Presenting at the Pedagogy and the Premodern Symposium »
A seminar series focused on language discrimination in fragile and precarious communities proposed by faculty in the Trinity College of Arts & Sciences at Duke has attracted key funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The project has been designated a Sawyer Seminar Series and awarded a grant of $225,000 over two years. Institutions must be invited to apply for the opportunity. Leading the effort are professors Edna Andrews, chair of Linguistics; Lee Baker, chair of Cultural Anthropology… read more about FOCUS to support the Sawyer Mellon Seminar Series to Raise Awareness of Language Discrimination »
The FOCUS Program congratulates Gabriella (Elle) Diech on being chosen as a 2019 Rhodes Scholar. Elle Diech was in the FOCUS cluster Ethics, Leadership, and Global Citizenship in 2016. In addition to being chosen as a Rhodes Scholar, Diech was an Angier B. Duke Scholar and designed her own major at Duke -- Biological and Artificial Intelligence. She hopes to pursue degrees in Computer Science and Global Governance at Oxford, and her long-term plans include working in the field of… read more about Diech Becomes Latest FOCUS Student chosen as Rhodes Scholars »
The Focus Program wishes to congratulate all of the new Class of 2023 Baldwin Scholars! We are especially proud of the 10 students who are part of the Focus program: Chaya Brennan Agarwal (Middle East and Islam in Global Context) Meghna Datta (Knowledge in the Service of Society) Emma Frankstein (Modeling in the Economic and Social Sciences) Lana Gesinsky (Ethics, Leadership, and Global Citizenship) Adela Guo (Science and Religion in Public Life) Hana Hendi (Middle East and Islam in Global Context) Claire Kraemer… read more about The FOCUS Program congratulates the new class of 2023 Baldwin Scholars »
The FOCUS Program is proud to congratulate all of the new Baldwin Scholars! We would like to give special recognition to the 13 new Baldwin Scholars who are from 8 of the 2018 FOCUS program clusters: Mashal Ali (Cognitive Neuroscience and Law) Nora Benmamoun (Global Health) Anne Crabill (Science and the Public) Tyler Edwards (Science and the Public) Margaret Gaw (Global Health) Susana Gutierrez (Ethics, Leadership, and Global Citizenship) Sophie Hurewitz (Global Health) Clara Love (Visions of… read more about The FOCUS Program congratulates the new class of 2022 Baldwin Scholars »
The FOCUS Program is proud to recognize the summer research projects from Focus students and faculty participating in the 6th Annual NC Biosciences Collaborative Symposium held on July 27th Participating summer research programs included BioCoRE, Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy, Huang Fellowship Program, Summer Neuroscience Program, SROP Scholars, SURPH Scholars, Biological Sciences Undergraduate Research Fellows. A full list of FOCUS students, their cluster and participation year, and project titles are found… read more about Congratulations to FOCUS students participating in the 6th Annual NC Biosciences Symposium! »