2021 Program Requirements

Please direct questions to Inga Peterson, Associate Director of Operations, at inga.peterson@duke.edu.  

Staffing:

(in-person programs) DukeEngage requires that either the faculty director, or a site coordinator assigned to the program, be living on site at all times. We require program directors to be on site a minimum of two weeks at the beginning of the program and up to its entirety. DukeEngage will, if needed, assist the faculty director in identifying a candidate with at least three years of post-college work experience, training or education for the position of site coordinator. Ideally, the site coordinator will already be affiliated with Duke in some way (faculty, staff, or graduate student). Undergraduates, including graduating seniors, are ineligible to serve as site coordinators or in any other supervisory capacity at a DukeEngage site.

(virtual programs) To be determined.

Budget: If your proposal is accepted, DukeEngage will work with you to develop a detailed budget based on available funding.

Placements: All DukeEngage programs, whether in-person or virtual, should be eight weeks in length and be structured so students will come to know the community with whom they are engaging by learning the local culture and, in some cases, languages, customs and norms. Projects should include a full-time (35-40 hours per week) placement with a nonprofit, community-based organization, such as a social welfare or advocacy group, foundation, charity, school, social venture, or governmental agency. Placements might include individual assignments spanning several nonprofits within a geographic area or a single project in which all students are fulfilling a need identified by a community group or organization.  While the mission of DukeEngage is to support community engagement experiences involving direct service, projects with a research component in which the research goals and plans are developed in collaboration with a community partner, and the results of the research will be provided to the community partner and disseminated to the larger community will be considered. Final approval of projects with a research component is contingent upon Duke’s Institutional Review Board approval.

Training: All DukeEngage students are required to participate in pre-program training on identity, issues in navigating cross-cultural difference, and the ethics of community engagement. These mandatory workshops are offered by DukeEngage staff and alumni. Faculty directors should plan to hold two additional program-specific meetings in the spring with the faculty director and additional site orientation.

Cultural Immersion Activities: Each DukeEngage program will receive a budget of up to $350 per student (subject to change) intended to cover the costs of transportation, food, speakers’ fees or admissions associated with these activities, for the purposes of enrichment and immersion activities.