Our Team

Email: alex.cooper@duke.edu

Alexandra Cooper is the Associate Director for Assessment for DukeEngage.  She supports faculty, staff, and the students who participate by gathering evidence about DukeEngage programs and their effects and by working with DukeEngage faculty and staff to examine and understand what that evidence shows us about what DukeEngage does and can accomplish.

Prior to joining DukeEngage she worked at Duke’s Social Science Research Institute as its Associate Director for Education and Training.  She has guided and directed a wide range of collaborative educational programming and services and devoted  effort to a wide range of research projects, supporting both quantitative and qualitative data collection, management, analysis, and reporting.  She lives in Chapel Hill with her husband and son and their dog, and has adult stepkids who live in Durham and in Asheville.

Email: christine.folch@duke.edu

Christine Folch, Ph.D., is the Bacca Foundation Associate Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Duke University and holds a secondary appointment as Associate Professor of Environmental Sciences and Policy at the Nicholas School of the Environment. Her newly published The Book of Yerba Mate: A Stimulating History (Princeton) explores the past and present of South America’s most interesting beverage. Folch uncovers the untold story of yerba mate and its lesser-known but equally delightful caffeinated Ilex/holly-genus cousins guayusa (Amazonia) and yaupon (southern North America). Folch’s first book Hydropolitics: The Itaipu Dam, Sovereignty, and the Engineering of Modern South America (Princeton) is an in-depth look at the people and institutions connected with the Itaipu Dam, the world’s biggest producer of renewable energy. She is the recipient of several awards, including two Fulbrights, a Mellon-ACLS, and the Andrew Carnegie Fellowship. Her writings on cuisine, culture, and history have appeared in The Atlantic, Slate, and Scalawag. Additionally, Folch is the author of multiple reports on energy and development policy in Paraguay and the Southern Cone—many of them co-authored with students from DukeEngage projects.

Email: christine.mayer-patel@duke.edu

Christine manages the application and registration processes, including travel and visas, as well as supporting our events and programming.

Christine has a Master’s in Nonprofit Administration and a Bachelor’s in Political Economy of Industrial Societies. She has 17 years of experience at Duke, during which time her work has focused on stewardship/donor relations and financial management. Prior to coming to Duke, Christine worked at the Volunteer Center of Durham and other nonprofits in North Carolina and California. She lives in Durham with her family and a grumpy but charming dog.

Email: elena.hammann@duke.edu

Elena helps manage the Gateway, Brodhead, and Decaminada programs. She previously worked for DukeEngage twice as Site Coordinator (SC) in Uganda and Brazil, and currently supports SC training and student recruitment.

She has a background Engineering Physics, Spanish, and Mathematics. Prior to working at Duke, she was a two-time Fulbright Scholarship recipient and worked with Universities in Bucaramanga and Tunja, Colombia. She enjoys the outdoors and living with her bike, musical instruments, and many plants.

Phone: 660-3224
Email: inga.peterson@duke.edu

Inga Peterson is the Associate Director of DukeEngage. She has been developing and managing programs and cross-functional teams at Duke for over a decade, including as the original assistant director for programs with DukeEngage from 2007-2012. Most recently, she served as the Assistant Vice President for Campus Engagement for the Duke Alumni Association, where she was the senior administrator responsible for the campus-facing programs and functions of the 175,000-member Association. Prior to coming to Duke, Inga worked in academic advising and student affairs at the University of Chicago, Harvard, and Boston University, and developed and managed international community development programs with the Academy for Educational Development, the Harvard Institute for International Development, and the United States Peace Corps. Inga lives in Durham with her son and two four-legged friends.

Email: kristin.wright@duke.edu

Kristin serves as the point person for faculty-led group programs, supporting faculty and staff in program development and implementation. She also manages student training and development, including the Spring Convocation, DukeEngage Academy, and Fall Reunion.

Kristin has a background in education and worked in admissions and program evaluation at the University of British Columbia for several years before returning to NC to coordinate faculty support and student development efforts for Duke’s academic service-learning program. She lives in Durham with her quirky teenager and three felines.