2020-2021 Year in Review
2020-2021 year in review
Published July 2021
From the Dean
Looking back on the past year, I cannot express enough my appreciation for all the members of the Graduate School community: our students, who showed exceptional resilience while continuing their studies and contributing to Duke's teaching and research mission amid the disruptions; the faculty and staff in our programs, who dedicated countless hours to supporting graduate students; our alumni and supporters, whose time and generosity are always vital to our work, but especially critical amid the upheavals of the past year; our partners across Duke, who worked closely with us to meet our students' needs; and my colleagues in The Graduate School, who rose to take on one challenge after another throughout this difficult year.
This report highlights some of the school's efforts, as well as a small sample of our students' many accomplishments, from 2020-2021. The pandemic dramatically changed the way we worked this past year, but it did not diminish The Graduate School's commitment to our students and to Duke's educational mission. I look forward to continuing this important endeavor in the coming year as we renew our connections with students, faculty, staff, and alumni, and work together to keep building a stronger, more supportive, more inclusive, and more dynamic Graduate School community.
— Paula D. McClain, Dean of The Graduate School
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Sloan Scholars and Duke UCEM staff members
Duke UCEM receives $1 million grant renewal from Sloan
The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation renewed its grant for the Duke University Center of Exemplary Mentoring, a Graduate School-led effort to increase the number of Ph.D. graduates from underrepresented minorities across 10 programs in physical sciences and engineering.
Duke UCEM Research Summit
Thirteen Sloan Scholars presented short online talks about their research, and Erika Moore-Taylor (Ph.D.'18 Biomedical Engineering) gave the keynote address, discussing strategies that helped her on her Ph.D. journey. | WATCH THE TALKS
Behind-the-scene reflections
New Ph.D. graduates Dena Zhu Ho (Mathematics) and Zane Swanson (Evolutionary Anthropology) look back on their experiences as interns supporting the Duke UCEM—and finding support from the program in return. | READ THEIR REFLECTIONS
Funding research on racism and systemic inequalities
The Office of the Provost and The Graduate School established 10 Summer Research Fellowships for Research on Racism and Systemic Inequalities for summer 2021. Half of the 10 fellowships were supported by the Office of the Provost via funding from The Duke Endowment, and the other half were supported by the Graduate School Annual Fund.
Implementing holistic admission practices
In 2020-2021, The Graduate School continued its work to help programs develop more holistic admission practices. For the upcoming admission cycle, more than 50 programs have switched to GRE optional, and 49 departments have implemented holistic review to date.
See the presentation to the Association of American Universities about this effort, by The Graduate School's John Klingensmith and Anneli Richter and biomedical engineering faculty member Joel Collier.
Race and Bias Conversations
In support of Duke's anti-racism efforts, The Graduate School launched a series of conversations to help our community better understand various aspects of racism and bias. During 2020-2021, the school held six events, focusing on issues such as desegregation of higher education in the South; policing; diversity, equity, and inclusion work at Duke and beyond; and racial economic inequality.
New graduate student guide on options for reporting harassment, discrimination, and other concerns
In spring 2021, The Graduate School collaborated with Ph.D. candidate Kirsten Overdahl, the Nicholas School of the Environment, and the Office of Institutional Equity to develop an interactive guide aimed at helping graduate students understand the options, resources, and processes for addressing harassment, discrimination, and other problematic situations they might encounter.
See the presentation to the Association of American Universities about the development of this guide, by Kirsten Overdahl and Graduate School Director of Communications John Zhu.
Financial Support
By the Numbers
$5.22 Million
Awarded in competitive fellowships for 331 incoming and continuing Ph.D. students
$5.07 Million
Awarded via 477 summer research fellowships for summer 2021
$94,400
Provided in childcare subsidies
$79,941
Distributed in medical expense or hardship assistance
Ph.D. candidate Emily Ury, recipient of a Bass Instructional Fellowship (Photo courtesy of Emily Ury)
COVID Ph.D. funding extensions
In fall 2020, The Graduate School worked with the university to develop a mechanism to provide funding extensions for Ph.D. students whose progress to degree was significantly disrupted by the pandemic. Students apply for the extensions as they approach the end of their guaranteed funding period.
In the first year of the initiative, every student who applied for funding extensions received them. In all, nearly $280,000 were distributed in extensions of stipends and coverage of tuition and fees.
Virtual activities grants for graduate students and postdocs
With in-person events scrapped due to COVID restrictions, The Graduate School collaborated with the Office of Research and the Division of Student Affairs to develop funding for virtual group activities aimed at building community among graduate students and postdocs. The grant program launched in spring 2021, and 10 grants were awarded in the first round.
Professional Development
By the Numbers
855+
Graduate School students attended 106 events offered in the Professional Development Series
3,200
Transcript notations earned by students for participation in the 70+ events offered by The Graduate School for Responsible Conduct of Research credit
33
Sessions in the new Alum Zooms series, developed in light of COVID restrictions on in-person events
$3,000
Awarded via Professional Development Grants to support efforts by student and departments to create discipline-specific programming
480
Students enrolled in the Certificate in College Teaching, the largest certificate program at Duke
1,000+
Users have signed into Duke OPTIONS, a professional development planning tool developed by The Graduate School for Ph.D. students
100+
Entries in the Alumni Profiles Series, which showcases the wide range of career paths for Graduate School alumni
21
Fellows completed the Preparing Future Faculty program entirely online, making connections with mentors and visiting partner institutions via Zoom
New training for graduate TAs
To help graduate students prepare for serving as teaching assistants in online classes, Assistant Dean Hugh Crumley led a Graduate School collaboration to develop and deliver an entirely new Online TA Skills workshop series in spring 2020, partnering with Duke Learning Innovation and Ph.D. students serving as Bass Digital Education Fellows. The workshops were then continually refined, expanded, and offered multiple times over the past year.
During the 2020-2021 academic year, The Graduate School offered 20 events as part of the series, with about 900 students registering for the workshops. Currently, there are plans to further expand this series to include departmental partners.
Assistant Dean Hugh Crumley led the collaboration to develop the Online TA Skills workshop series.
Mentoring workshops
As part of its ongoing effort to create a robust culture of mentoring for graduate students, The Graduate School conducts mentoring workshops each year. In 2020-2021, the school held one workshop that was open to all of its students and another specifically for Ph.D. students in the Duke School of Nursing.
The school has also been sharing its best practices on mentoring with other institutions. Assistant Deans Melissa Bostrom and J. Alan Kendrick delivered a presentation about the mentoring workshop for the Department of Health Services, Policy & Practice at the Brown University School of Public Health. Kendrick also presented to all the institutions in the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation's University Center of Exemplary Mentoring (UCEM) network. The mentoring workshop will also serve as the core of a new peer mentoring initiative within the Duke UCEM.
Career data for master’s alumni
A longstanding priority for The Graduate School has been the collection and publication of data about the careers that its alumni are pursuing, which offer important information for prospective and current students. Over the past several years, the school has significantly enhanced the career data for Ph.D. alumni. In 2020-2021, the school published career statistics for master's alumni for the first time, offering program-specific insights into the industries that alumni work in, their geographic distribution, and the top employers.
English for International Students
By the Numbers
495
Students enrolled in 34 online EIS courses during 2020-2021
21
1-on-1 online consultation sessions on speaking or writing
Campus Partnerships
In addition to supporting the language needs of Graduate School students, the English for International Students program also supports the constituents of various partners across Duke. Here is EIS's work with some of those collaborators in 2020-2021.
Duke Law School
Administered language exams to 17 incoming J.D. students
Conducted 24 1-on-1 sessions with J.D. students
Held 12 small-group sessions with LL.M. students
Led 2 workshops at the Winter Institute on Language, Law, and Culture
School of Nursing
Worked with the Institute for Educational Excellence to plan and lead a Teaching Conversation on effective strategies for working with non-native English speakers. Participants included School of Nursing faculty, staff, and clinical instructors.
Master of Arts in Teaching
Conducted a workshop on ESL best practices for the pre-service teachers in the cohort of MAT students.
International House
Held informal language classes for postdocs, visiting scholars, and their spouses or partners (8 sessions in summer 2020, 6 more in summer 2021)
Students in one of EIS's informal summer language classes, which helped provide language support and community during the pandemic.
Duke Pre-College Programs
EIS conducted 10 virtual interviews with international-student applicants and led two staff trainings for faculty and teaching assistants who will be working with domestic and international students enrolled in the program in summer 2021, with about 25 participants in each training session.
EIS assistant dean/director named co-chair of TESOL interest section
Brad L. Teague is co-chairing the Program Administration Interest Section for TESOL, the largest organization focused exclusively on English language teaching for speakers of other languages.
Brad L. Teague
Health & Wellness
Wellness coach training for DGSAs
The pandemic exacerbated graduate student wellness issues that were already serious concerns throughout higher education before COVID. In spring 2021, The Graduate School partnered with the Office of the Provost, the School of Medicine, and CAPS to launch a pilot program to help address some of those challenges.
The program provides opportunities and funding for director of graduate studies assistants (DGSAs) to pursue training and certification as health and wellness coaches, which they then put to use supporting graduate students in their programs. Five DGSAs were selected for the initial cohort.
New dental insurance for Ph.D. students
In June 2021, Duke announced that it will provide a dental insurance plan for Ph.D. students and will cover the cost of premiums for those who are in their first six consecutive years of Ph.D. study. Both students and the Graduate School staff advocated for this resource, and Senior Associate Dean Shanna Fitzpatrick laid the important groundwork by researching options, initiating and sustaining discussions, and collaborating with campus partners on the logistics.
Shanna Fitzpatrick
Managing COVID testing for graduate students
To protect the health of the community, Duke students in the Durham area were required to undergo weekly COVID surveillance testing throughout 2020-2021. Led by Registrar Helene McAdams, members of The Graduate School's Academic Affairs team took on the intensive work of overseeing testing compliance for 1,600-plus local Graduate School students. Wading through hundreds of emails each week, they coordinated with students and the university team in charge of testing to ensure compliance, schedule make-up tests, and help students avoid losing access to campus facilities due to missed tests.
Helene McAdams
Prescription for Persistence
Every graduate school journey has its share of ups and downs. To help students better navigate those challenges, The Graduate School developed a series of short videos offering tips on staying the course. The 10-video series rolled out in fall 2020.
Development
Rising to the Challenge
The uncertainty and increased student need caused by the pandemic underscored the critical importance of financial support for graduate education at Duke. One of the most important resources is the Graduate School Annual Fund, which directly supports graduate students while giving the school the flexibility to meet evolving priorities and address emergency situations such as a pandemic. For instance, much of the Graduate School Annual Fund is used to provide summer research fellowships for Ph.D. students, making it a crucial component of the school's preparations to shift to full 12-month stipends for all Ph.D. students in their guaranteed funding period starting in fall 2022.
In 2020-2021, the school wrapped up the second year of the Graduate School Annual Fund Challenge, a three-year push to build a more robust annual fund. Thanks to supporters' generosity, the school surpassed its challenge goals for dollars raised and new leadership donors (those who give $1,000 or more). In addition, the school received a generous gift to fund a new Sloan UCEM Affiliates program that will allow more students to benefit from the work of the Duke University Center of Exemplary Mentoring.
By the Numbers
$653,417
Raised for the Graduate School Annual Fund (goal was $500,000), a 15% increase from the previous year
$622,000
In gifts for endowed graduate fellowships, from 33 households
1,881
Graduate School Annual Fund donors
246
Leadership donors (gifts of $1,000 or more)
28
New leadership donors (goal was 20)
Comings & Goings
408
New Ph.D. students in fall 2020
376
New master's students in fall 2020
377
Ph.D. graduates in 2020-2021
660
Master's graduates in 2020-2021
Commencement celebrations
Pandemic restrictions prevented The Graduate School from holding its usual Ph.D. Hooding Ceremony in May 2021, so the school held a drivethrough celebration for its doctoral graduates instead. More than 120 graduates dropped by for photo opps and graduation gifts. The school also held a virtual Ph.D. recognition ceremony and developed a website to celebrate its doctoral and master's graduates. (See pictures and videos)
With COVID restrictions being loosened, The Graduate School is planning a hooding ceremony in September 2021 for its 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 Ph.D. graduates.
Graduate School Awards
Dean’s Awards
Excellence in Mentoring: Faculty
Excellence in Mentoring: Students
Excellence in Teaching
Student Highlights
A small sample of Graduate School students’ accomplishments in 2020-2021
Awards & Honors
10 grad students received Bass Connections Student Research Awards.
6 School of Medicine Ph.D. students received Chancellor's Award for Research.
5 graduate students received Forever Duke Leadership Awards.
5 Nicholas School Ph.D. students received Dean’s Awards for Outstanding Graduate Student Manuscript.
3 Psychology and Neuroscience graduate students received the Stella Powell-Williams Award for research projects related to identity, diversity, inclusion, equity, and thriving..
John Amodeo (Cell and Molecular Biology) received the Algernon Sydney Sullivan award for charitable service.
The Samuel DuBois Cook Society honored Ajenai Clemmons (Public Policy).
Yuan Deng (Computer Science) received the Victor Lesser Distinguished Dissertation Award Honorable Mention.
Sinja Küppers (Classical Studies) received the CAMWS Presidential Award for Outstanding Graduate Student Presentation.
Quran Karriem (Computational Media, Arts & Cultures) was nominated for The Bessies.
Ajenai Clemmons received a Samuel DuBois Cook Society Award, which recognize individuals who routinely enrich the lives of people in the Duke community and contribute to the betterment of all people, above and beyond their given roles.
Lisvel Matos (Nursing) won the ANA Minority Fellowship Award.
Meredith Schmehl (Neurobiology) was named to the Triangle Business Journal's "40 under 40" list.
Jewel Scott (Nursing) was honored for her dissertation by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.
Alma Solis (Evolutionary Anthropology) won her department's first Mossé Outreach Award.
A paper by Jonathon Yuly (Physics) earned the Cozzarelli Prize from PNAS.
Jin Zhou (Electrical and Computer Engineering) won the Bass Connections Award for Outstanding Mentorship, and Anna Holleman (Sociology) was a finalist.
Grants & Fellowships
18 Ph.D. students received NSF Graduate Research Fellowships.
4 Duke doctoral students were named Data Analytics Ph.D. Student Fellows.
Duke’s Purpose Project announced 28 inaugural Race and the Professions Fellows.
8 Ph.D. students received Graduate Student Training Enhancement Grants.
Physics graduate students received a number of awards and fellowships
Felipe Álvarez de Toledo López-Herrera (Art, Art History and Visual Studies) and Kathleen M. Burns (English) won Mellon/American Council of Learned Societies Dissertation Completion Fellowships.
Jordan Anderson (Evolutionary Anthropology) received a NSF DDRIG Grant.
Nathaniel Berndt (History) was named a Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellow.
Duke's 2021 NSF Graduate Research Fellows
Joella Bitter (Cultural Anthropology) and Farren Yero (History) received American Council of Learned Societies Fellowships.
Briana Davis (Molecular Genetics and Microbiology) and Nina Marie Garcia (Pharmacology) received the Gilliam Fellowship for Advanced Study.
Joe Fader (Ecology) won a John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship.
Tyler Johnson (Physics) was named an Arms Control Fellow at SURF.
Brian Kundinger (Statistical Science) received a Google PhD Fellowship.
Andrew Smith (Physics) received the Jefferson Science Associates Graduate Fellowship.
Scholarship, Research, and Other Writings
Kaylee Alexander (Art, Art History and Visual Studies) dug into cemetery data to explore 19th-century France's burial system.
Chris Bassil (Pharmacology and Cancer Biology) is hunting for the Achilles' Heel of drug-resistant tumors.
Carolin Benack (English) wrote about similarities between novelists and economists.
Ajenai Clemmons (Public Policy) studies heavily policed populations in Durham and London.
Alexander Davis (Biology) and colleagues discovered at least 16 species of ultra-black deep-sea fish
Michael Gaffney, Claire Ravenscroft, and Casey Williams edited the 28th issue of the Literature program’s journal, Polygraph, on the theme of “Marxism and Climate Change”
Iman Hamid (Genetics & Genomics) led a study on the rapid evolution of human DNA to adapt to malaria on Cabo Verde
Research by Jacob Harrison (Biology) on baby mantis shrimps was featured in Popular Science
A study led by Leon Li (Psychology and Neuroscience) explored the role of group dynamics vs. adult authority in getting kids to "behave."
Krishni Metivier (Religion) published an op-ed on Inside Higher Ed about antiracist actions colleges and universities should take.
Anna Nordseth (Ecology) wrote about seed dispersal and forest restoration and about a project to explore why some forests hold more carbon than others.
Brianna Peskin found that a single-letter change in DNA caused mutant fish to develop backbones that resemble ancestral fish. (Photo by the Bagnat Lab)
Brianna Peskin (Developmental and Stem Cell Biology) opened a window into evolutionary history with her zebrafish research.
Stoney Portis (English) wrote in the New York Times about watching his war story become a movie and in Duke Magazine about finding healing in literature.
Aaron Reuben (Psychology and Neuroscience) spoke to the BBC about his research on the effects of lead exposure on the brain.
Lane Scher (Ecology) wrote about the large southern migration of birds from the northern U.S. and Canada.
Jake Ulrich (Civil and Environmental Engineering) is investigating the potential cause of a mysterious kidney disease.
Research by Emily Ury (Ecology) on ghost forests received significant media coverage, including a feature in Smithsonian Magazine.
Eric Yeats (Electrical and Computer Engineering) will present at top machine-learning conference.
Other Student Highlights
3 master's students organized a conference on decolonization in global health.
Anjali Boyd (Marine Science and Conservation) was elected as Durham’s Supervisor of the Soil and Water Conservation District, and she was named to the National Committee for UNC Decade of Ocean Science.
James Budinich (Music) composed the music for a piece at the Guggenheim.
Courtney Crumpler (MFA in Dance) and Gray Kidd (History) mentored the team of undergraduates that produced the History Department’s virtual exhibit on the international dimension of Black Lives Matter.
Brittany J. Green (Music) contributed a composition to the Castle of Our Skins Concert Series.
Aram Grigoryan and Zichang Wang (Economics) revamped their department’s math camp for incoming Ph.D. students.
Katherine Hayes (Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science) is advising the Pentagon about new research in science and technology.
Anjali Boyd talks about the experience of running for office in the 2020 Durham elections.
Jonathan Henderson (Music) collaborated on a climate-change art installation at The Ruby.
Travis Knoll (History) directed a documentary about Brazil's "Book Revolution."
Meredith Schmehl (Psychology and Neuroscience) was profiled by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Kelly Tang (Art, Art History and Visual Studies) joined Duke's board of trustees.
The BBC interviewed Nick Williams (Electrical and Computer Engineering) in a story about electric tattoos.
Graduate students and alumni find their voice in podcasting.
Presentations & Invited Talks
As part of their efforts to share best practices and learn from peers, Duke Graduate School staff members give presentations and invited talks at conferences and other institutions on topics related to graduate education and graduate student support. Here are some of those presentations from 2020-2021.
Duke Science & Society Coronavirus Conversations: Surviving & Thriving As A STEM Graduate Student during the Pandemic (Melissa Bostrom, May 2020)
Informational Interview 2.0 podcast with Heidi Scott Giusto, Ph.D. ’12 (Melissa Bostrom, Summer 2020)
Professional Development in a Pandemic, for University of Memphis Graduate Student Association (Melissa Bostrom, July 2020)
Faculty Job Search Q&A Webinar, with University of Pennsylvania Career Services (Melissa Bostrom, September 2020)
Professional Development at Duke University Graduate School, for UC Merced Materials Science undergraduate association (Melissa Bostrom, November 2020)
Cultivating a Culture of Mentoring at Duke University Graduate School, a presentation for the Department of Health Services, Policy & Practice at the Brown University School of Public Health (Melissa Bostrom and J. Alan Kendrick, December 2020)
Hosted and served as a panelist for Graduate Career Consortium Professional Development event “Engaging Graduate Student and Postdoc Alumni,” featuring colleagues from Duke Postdoc Services, Penn State University Postdoc Affairs and University of Waterloo Career Center (Melissa Bostrom, April 2021)
Cultivating a Culture of Mentoring workshop with Sloan Connect and the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering (J. Alan Kendrick, May 2021)
AAU Ph.D. Education Initiative Wheel Bazaar: Improving Faculty Advising & Mentoring (John Zhu, with Ph.D. candidate Kirsten Overdahl, June 2021)
AAU Ph.D. Education Initiative Wheel Bazaar: Implementing Holistic Admissions (John Klingensmith and Anneli Richter, with biomedical engineering faculty member Joel Collier, June 2021)