The Chronicle Review recently featured an article, "Talent Knows No Borders," written by Duke University President Richard Brodhead. In the article, he reflects on his visits to Africa and China last summer, where he visited Duke students applying their classroom knowledge through their service to partner communities.  Within the article, he references the 92 DukeEngage students whose service initiatives took them to locations throughout Africa.  Read the article in its entirety here.

Learn more about upcoming DukeEngage international programs in Africa and beyond for summer 2012 by visiting http://dukeengage.duke.edu/immersion-programs/international-programs . 

Duke senior Jared Dunnmon recently was awarded the Rhodes Scholarship. (Check out Duke News coverage of his award here.)  Jared spent two months in the summer of 2009 pursuing an independent project through DukeEngage, partnering with the San Francisco Office of Climate Protection Initiatives through which he endeavored to raise awareness about the potential effects of even minor climate change on coastal cities as well as to form a sustainable climate protection model on a municipal level. Below, Jared reflects on his DukeEngage experience now 18 months later just after learning of his Rhodes award:

What inspired you to apply to DukeEngage?

I was inspired to apply to DukeEngage by one of my mentors, Professor Jon Protz.  We had been discussing how it is crucial for engineers to be engaged in the world of public policy if they are to truly make a significant impact on the implementation of technology for the common good.  Given my interest in energy and environmental policy, Dr. Protz suggested that I work on conceptualizing a DukeEngage project that would allow me to engage relevant issues in a real world setting, and put in a great deal of work to help me along that path.

As an independent project student through DukeEngage you had a different experience than many who take part in "group programs" with their Duke peers? What advantages or benefits did you see in pursuing the independent track?

The main advantage I see with independent projects is that you have to apply on your own, conceptualize the project on your own, and execute it on your own.  You take ownership of the entire enterprise, and in doing so I think it becomes a uniquely personal experience. While you have a community partner, the problems you encounter must be solved by you and you alone.  That can be a difficult task, but I firmly believe that having to look inside myself and find ways to make things happen is one of the most important sources of personal growth I found during my summer at DukeEngage.  It's definitely a different experience than a group project, but one I would say is well worth it.

What advice would you give future DukeEngage participants to make the most of their experience during their summer of service and to apply what they learned once they return to their academic and co-curricular lives at Duke?

My one piece of advice would be to take on something that is relevant to your interests, but outside of your comfort zone.  That's the way you're going to learn, that's the way you're going to grow and that's the way you're going to begin to understand how you can make a difference.

Middle-school students in a historically black neighborhood near Duke’s campus are digging into the community’s roots in a summer enrichment program sponsored by Duke’s Office of Durham and Regional Affairs.

Trudi Abel, a professor in Duke’s history department, and Casey Dunn, a Duke undergraduate, are helping the 11 seventh- and eighth- graders from Carter Community School’s summer program on the Walltown Neighborhood History Project. (WNHP).

Walltown, a small neighborhood north of East Campus, was established in the late 1800s by George Wall, an African-American staff member of Trinity College (now Duke University) who relocated to Durham after the college’s move from Randolph County.

“There is a wealth of information available about middle class African-Americans living in Hayti [a famed Durham neighborhood] during the 1930s, particularly on the Fayetteville Street corridor, but there isn’t as much available for Walltown (West Durham) and its African-American working class residents,” Abel said.

The program, which lasts five weeks, is a part of DukeEngage Durham, which connects Duke undergraduates with immersive service projects. 

Read the story in its entirety here.

About a dozen students from Duke are halfway through their two-month service learning program in Zhuhai, China, where they are working with seventh and eighth graders at No. 9 Middle School. 

Read the entire story in the Duke University arts journal here.