Academics Archives - Page 14 of 23

Karsh International Scholarships Awarded to Incoming Duke Students

DURHAM, N.C. — Four rising first-year students have been awarded the Karsh International Scholarship to pursue their undergraduate studies at Duke University.

The Karsh International Scholarship is awarded to intellectually and civically engaged international students who promote interdisciplinary inquiry, academic research and scholarship in the service of society.

The scholarship covers the full cost of tuition, room, board and mandatory fees for four years of undergraduate education. Karsh International Scholars also have access to funding for domestic and international experiences, including opportunities for independent research both in the summer and during the academic year. Based on estimated tuition rates over a four-year period, the scholarship is worth over $315,000.

The Class of 2024 scholarship recipients are:

Chika Dueke-Eze of Enugu, Nigeria, a graduate of King’s College, Lagos, Nigeria

Arran Fearn of Nercwys, Flintshire, Wales, a graduate of Eton College, Windsor, England, United Kingdom

Henrietta Rye of Afrancho, Ashanti Region, Ghana, a graduate of Yaa Asantewaa Girls’ Senior High School, Kumasi, Ghana

Nathaniel Wullar of Wegbe Kpalime, Ghana, a graduate of Presbyterian Boys Senior High School in Ghana

For more information about the Karsh International Scholarship, visit https://www.ousf.duke.edu/page/Karsh.

11 Incoming Students Awarded A.B. Duke Scholarships

DURHAM, N.C. — Eleven high school seniors have been awarded the Angier B. Duke Memorial Scholarship to pursue their undergraduate studies at Duke University.

The scholarship aims to foster intellectual leadership and is awarded to students who show outstanding promise.

The scholarship covers the full cost of tuition, room, board and mandatory fees for four years of undergraduate education. In addition, A.B. Duke scholars have access to funding for domestic and international experiences, including opportunities for independent research both in the summer and during the academic year.

The full value of each scholarship is estimated at more than $315,000 over four years.

The awards stem from the Angier B. Duke Memorial Inc., which Duke University co-founder Benjamin Newton Duke established in 1925 in memory of his son, Angier Buchanan Duke.

The class of 2024 recipients are:

Elizabeth Berenguer of Hialeah, Florida, a graduate of Jose Marti Math and Science Technology 6-12 Academy

Andres Cordoba of Ames, Iowa, a graduate of Ames High School

Beatriz De Oliveira of San Diego, California, a graduate of Torrey Pines High School

Katherine Heath of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, a graduate of Bloomfield Hills High School

Katherine Holo of Bellevue, Washington, a graduate of Interlake High School

Amber Miranda of Dallas, Texas, a graduate of the School for the Talented and Gifted

Sophie Munro of Rancho Palos Verdes, California, a graduate of Palos Verdes High School

Sasamon Omoma of Acworth, Georgia, a graduate of Kennesaw Mountain High School

Madeline Rubin of Roslyn Heights, New York, a graduate Roslyn High School

Herbert Wang of Hinsdale, Illinois, a graduate of Hinsdale Central High School

Emily Zhao of Germantown, Maryland, a graduate of Richard Montgomery High School

For more information about the A.B. Duke Memorial Scholarship, visit https://www.ousf.duke.edu/page/ABDuke.

Benjamin N. Duke Scholarships Awarded to Incoming Students from NC

DURHAM, N.C. — Five incoming first-year students from North Carolina have been awarded the Benjamin N. Duke Memorial Scholarship at Duke University.

The scholarship covers the full cost of tuition, room, board and mandatory fees for four years of undergraduate education. In addition, B.N. Duke scholars have access to funding for domestic and international experiences, including opportunities for independent research both in the summer and during the academic year. The full value of each scholarship is estimated at more than $315,000 over four years.

The award is given to students from the Carolinas who have demonstrated high academic achievement, a commitment to community service and potential for leadership.

The scholarships were established by The Duke Endowment to honor Benjamin Newton Duke, a member of the Duke family and noted philanthropist.

The Class of 2024 recipients are:

Nicole Bolton from Gastonia, North Carolina, a graduate of Forestview High School
Cordelia Hume from Durham, North Carolina, a graduate of Woods Charter School
Oum Lahade from Morrisville, North Carolina, a graduate of Research Triangle High School
Rashad Rahman from Fayetteville, North Carolina, a graduate of Terry Sanford High School
McKenna Vernon from Durham, North Carolina, a graduate of the Durham School of the Arts.

For more information about the incoming class of B.N. Duke Scholars, visit the scholarship's website at https://www.ousf.duke.edu/page/BNDuke.

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18 Duke Scholarships Awarded to First in Families to Attend College

Eighteen rising first-year students have been awarded the David M. Rubenstein Scholarship to pursue their undergraduate studies at Duke University.

The Rubenstein Scholarship recognizes the outstanding academic achievement and vision of students who are the first in their families to attend college.

The scholarships cover the full cost of tuition, room, board and mandatory fees for four years of undergraduate education at Duke. In addition, Rubenstein Scholars have access to generous funding for domestic and international experiences, including opportunities for independent research both in the summer and during the academic year.

Based on estimated tuition rates over a four-year period, the scholarship is worth over $315,000.

The Class of 2024 scholarship recipients are:

Nathaniel Asia from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a graduate of Northeast High School
Brianna Cellini from Hillsborough, North Carolina, a graduate of Cedar Ridge High School
Janice Chen from Jamison, Pennsylvania, a graduate of Central Bucks High School East
Mackenzie Culp from Pfafftown, North Carolina, a graduate of Salem Academy
Dagny Edison from Indian Land, South Carolina, a graduate of Indian Land High School
Melia Fox from Round Rock, Texas, a graduate of Round Rock High School
Charla Gentry from Duncan, South Carolina, a graduate of James F. Byrnes High School
Connor Gregg from Omaha, Nebraska, a graduate of Creighton Preparatory School
Sawyer Grovogel from Green Bay, Wisconsin, a graduate of West De Pere High School
Emily Hughes from Bergenfield, New Jersey, a graduate of Bergen County Career Academies
Colin Kaeo from McKinney, Texas, a graduate of McKinney Boyd High School
Harmony McMullen from Casselberry, Florida, a graduate of Winter Springs High School
Alicia Medina from Lake Havasu City, Arizona, a graduate of Lake Havasu High School
Muhib Methani from Spring, Texas, a graduate of Colleyville Heritage High School
Sofia Morales-Calderon from Durham, North Carolina, a graduate of the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics
Sara Oike from Temecula, California, a graduate of Western Center Academy
Hector Ontiveros from Thomasville, North Carolina, a graduate of Ledford High School
Jose Santillan from Thomasville, North Carolina, a graduate of Ledford High School.

The Resisters: The Psychology Behind Refusing to Wear Masks

Food Supply Chains and Covid-19

Video of FOOD SUPPLY CHAINS AND COVID-19: Mother Nature and Selective Resilience_Highlights

Two food logistics data scientists, Duke alumnus Elliott Wolf and Daniel Wintz, joined professors Giovanni Zanalda, Gary Gereffi and Lori Leachman for a discussion on the working of food supply chains and their resilience during the COVID-19 crisis. They noted that COVID-19 and its associated increase in food purchases are not unlike a typical uptick seen around major holidays.

Food supply chains are characterized by underlying resilience and large reserves, which has allowed U.S. and EU grocery stores to be well stocked with food. They also drew important lessons for the retooling and restructuring of global supply chains including medical supplies and personal protective equipment.

This event is the second in a series of webinars on the impact of COVID-19 on global supply chains organized by the DUCIGS/Rethinking Diplomacy Program. For a summary and video of the first event follow this link.

Here are excerpts:

RESILIENCY IN THE FOOD SUPPLY CHAIN

Daniel Wintz, principal data scientist at Lineage Logistics

“There’s a resiliency built into the food supply chain that we’re forced to do by virtue of bacteria on its own. Bacteria wants to eat our food and it spoils, and so things are a bit more efficient, so to speak. We really have only a few days to get it to the grocery store and then they have a few days to sell it. Whereas face masks — the part that expires on the mask is the elastic band after eight years. We’re kind of forced to be this good.”

Elliott Wolf, vice president and chief data scientist of Lineage Logistics

“First, there’s lots and lots and lots of sources. We have very efficient commodity markets that allow you to backfill from all over the world. And then lastly, we have lots and lots of inventory actually in physical storage in the United States. And so that’s why you’ve been able to get cauliflower and fish but perhaps not toilet paper.”

Daniel Wintz

“The statistics of rare events is difficult. And it’s almost kind of clear that resiliency is a way to deal with these rare events and doing that expected value calculation for the supply chain. It appears that a lot of companies haven’t done that all the way right."

FOOD SUPPLY CHAIN RESILIENCY VS. OTHER

Elliott Wolf

“Toilet paper has become, in the mind of the American consumer, the emblem of supply chain failures.”

“I'm proud of the fact that of all of the supply chains implicated in this, whether personal protective equipment, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, dry food, the only one that really didn't fall down was perishable food. Carrots are available. Meat is still broadly available.”

“In reality we’ve been trained. The system has trained us to not rely on the availability of this stuff. The system has trained us and history has trained us. The history of humanity is in very large measure the history of agricultural disruptions. And now the system is dealing with things that the rest of the economy is shocked to learn are a factor. That’s got to change everyone else’s outlook on this. I hope it does because the fact that the U.S. ran out of masks is really frightening.”

COVID’S IMPACT ON SUPPLY CHAINS

Daniel Wintz

“Mother Nature provides a lot of random independent events that are ‘one-offs,’ so to speak. And COVID for us has almost kind of just been another one of these.

“This demand spike at our biggest facilities was just kind of a small Thanksgiving in terms of product we need to ship out. So this quote-unquote panic buying was almost less than Thanksgiving, so to speak, which I find kind of interesting because it’s been in the news everywhere. Stores are out of toilet paper. There’s people hoarding stuff left and right and it’s kind of fascinating."

Elliott Wolf

“I myself did not anticipate it would have this big of an impact on the domestic supply chain. But to the extent the federal government knew about it in January and February, that information would have been helpful to start setting all of this up in anticipation of that.”

ON CHANGES IN PURCHASING DURING COVID

Daniel Wintz

“Meatpackers are relatively struggling, and fruits and vegetables — they’re coming in, they’re going out relatively unfazed, which honestly I found surprising at the beginning of the panic buying COVID period. You’d expect the fruits and vegetables to be the things that ran out at the store but that supply chain is just kind of functioning. What’s out is baking powder and flour and pasta and rice and beans. They make some sense because they’re non-perishable, but I just found that surprising.”

ON FOOD LOSSES DURING COVID-19

Elliott Wolf

“What’s been happening in the fields is tragic. Perfectly good produce is getting plowed back into the fields. But for the food industry, it’s not unprecedented. Whether it was taken out by a lack of restaurant demand or taken out via some bad weather event. The food industry is still resilient against stuff getting taken out. This just has a much more emotional element because it seems perfectly good.”

“It’s sad, but the way we look at it is it’s as if El Niño rains wiped out a slug of the Southern California fruit harvest. It’s sad, but it’s not unprecedented.”

ON THE PANDEMIC ACCELERATING THE ROBOTIZATION PROCESS

Elliott Wolf

“I think we are starting to change our automation strategy to go towards stuff that would be difficult to socially distance. To do automation purely for the purposes of safety even if it’s economically irrational."

“One of the reasons why it’s so labor-intensive right now is that there’s 50,000 items available in your nominal supermarket and that number is only growing. And that variety makes it really hard to automate right now. So I could see the two working together, where you have kind of a strategic pull back on variety, coupled with an increase in automation.”

Meet the Experts:

Elliott Wolf is vice president and chief data scientist of Lineage Logistics, the largest temperature-controlled warehouse owner and operator in the world, with 293 facilities across six countries. The Lineage data science team is responsible for the mathematics, statistics, computer science, physics and R&D underlying storage, shipment and routing of food, as well as the siting, design and operation of Lineage’s warehouses.

Daniel Wintz is a principal data scientist at Lineage Logistics. He heads all efforts related to labor, automation and inventory. Wintz and his algorithms are the air traffic controllers of inventory and labor across the food supply chain.

Gary Gereffi is an emeritus professor of sociology and director of the Global Value Chains Center at Duke University.

Lori Leachman is a professor of economics at Duke University.

Giovanni Zanalda is a Duke faculty member and director of the Duke University Center for International & Global Studies

(Wintz and Wolf’s remarks were their own and do not represent the views of Lineage Logistics.)

Duke Trustees Review Covid-19 Response in Quarterly Meeting

The Duke Board of Trustees approved the awarding of degrees and reviewed the university’s response to COVID-19 and plans for future activity in its first-ever online meeting that concluded Friday afternoon.

While the annual commencement ceremony was postponed for the first time in Duke history, nearly 6,000 undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees were conferred this weekend. Students and families around the world participated Sunday in Marking the Moment, an online celebration featuring special messages and performances, and diplomas will be delivered to all graduates. An on-campus celebration for the class of 2020 will take place sometime next year.

In the board’s business meeting, President Vincent E. Price led a discussion with senior administrators regarding the ongoing planning for the resumption of campus activity, including teaching, student life and research, as well as updates on patient care in Duke’s hospital and clinics, the ongoing advancement of strategic goals and the financial effect of the pandemic. The trustees also heard from infectious disease specialist Dr. Cameron Wolfe, and Dr. Mark McClellan, founding director of the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy, who has been working with federal and state government officials on the reopening of the country.

The board also reviewed the rapidly changing financial challenges presented by COVID-19, including significant, projected declines in philanthropy, support from clinical operations, and auxiliary revenue, as well as increases in student financial aid and operating costs. The trustees approved the university’s fiscal year 2020-21 operating and capital budgets, which include the School of Medicine and the School of Nursing but not Duke Hospital and other clinical components of the Duke University Health System.

While the $2.8 billion operating budget reflects a $67 million transfer from reserves, the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic remains uncertain and is therefore largely not reflected in this budget. Similarly, the $218 million capital budget reflects only completion or continuation of current projects. Duke has already announced a series of hiring, spending and salary freezes, and a suspension of nearly all planned new construction and renovations, to reduce expenditures as the full implications of the current global economic uncertainty is assessed, and further actions are anticipated to protect academic and student priorities.

In other business, the board:

Reviewed and ratified progress toward a comprehensive strategy for research, translation and commercialization at Duke, completing a year-long assessment that included meetings with university, corporate and government leaders from across the region. The new strategy will have as a goal increasing the capacity to attract research-oriented business activity to Durham and the Triangle through collaborative efforts, space, marketing, financing and talent development, and will be implemented in consultation with faculty across the university.
Established three new Strategic Task Forces for 2020-21 that will focus on Duke’s centennial in 2024, Duke-Durham collaboration and partnership, and the university’s environmental and sustainability priorities. The Strategic Task Forces include trustees, faculty and students and function as special committees of the board, providing analysis and recommendations to the university administration.
Recognized departing Young Trustees Uzo Ayogu and Amy Kramer who are completing their terms this year.
Passed a resolution of tribute to senior vice president and secretary Richard V. Riddell, who is retiring in June after 28 years as a faculty member and administrator at Duke, the last 13 of which have been as board liaison and counselor to the president. Riddell was named Secretary Emeritus.

Lee Reiners: Who Are Your Trusted Sources on COVID-19?

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, the question of where to turn for solid information has never been more important. In this ongoing series, Duke Today asks Duke experts to share their preferred sources for good information about the pandemic as it relates to their fields.
Lee Reiners is executive director of the Global Financial Markets Center at Duke Law. He relies on a mix of sources to stay informed about how the coronavirus pandemic is affecting financial markets and policy.

MEDIA

I still get the hard copy of the Wall Street Journal delivered to my house every day. Reading it is a great way to start my morning and gives me eyes a reprieve from screens. Plus I find that I read interesting articles that I would not come across if I relied solely on digital sources.

I am also a big fan of email newsletters. To understand what is going on in the financial system and with financial policymaking, I review these three:

•   POLITICO’s Morning Money
•   American Banker’s Morning Scan Plus (subscription-only)
•   Bloomberg’s Money Stuff, authored by the always witty Matt Levine

BLOGS AND THINK TANKS

I am a big fan of anything related to finance and economics put out by the Brookings Institution, where two previous Federal Reserve Board chairs, Janet Yellen and Ben Bernanke, are distinguished fellows. Readers interested in financial regulation and policy may also want to take a look at Duke Law’s Global Financial Markets Center blog.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Because things are moving so quickly, I find Twitter to be the go-to source for the most up-to- date information. Specifically, the Federal Reserve’s Twitter feed, @federalreserve, is a must- follow account to stay on top of everything our central bank is doing. I also follow the Bank for International Settlements, @BIS_org, to better understand the global economic policy response.

How to Teach Kids at Home During Pandemic

Coronavirus is riding roughshod over American secondary education, creating myriad new problems for educators ranging from the basic logistics of classroom teaching to the challenge of helping children deal with a weighty new wave of confusion and anxiety. But this global pandemic may also present an opportunity for education leaders to substantially re-think long-held education practices that could use some improvement, three Duke experts said Wednesday.

In a virtual question-and-answer session with journalists, three Duke education scholars discussed these and other issues.

Audio and video are available here: https://duke.box.com/s/myeqk3coutjchq5x2uv7mkpw3977vdlk

Here are excerpts:

ON THE CHALLENGES OF ONLINE LEARNING RIGHT NOW

Kristen Stephens, education professor:

“It should be called ‘pandemic learning’ rather than ‘online learning.’ When you transition to online learning, typically it’s very well thought out and you have time to plan. In this case, in the period of one or two weeks, teachers took everything that used to be face-to-face in the classroom and took it online. It’s been challenging for them but they’ve risen to the occasion out of to their care for their students.”

“Nothing really substitutes for the face-to-face instruction.

“They’re also dealing … with financial concerns. With state budget cuts, inevitably there’s probably going to be some reduction in workforce in the future for teachers. Not to mention that many teachers rely on second and third jobs to make ends meet. It’s going to be hard for them to make up that lost income over the summer because there aren’t going to be the positions there have been in the past for them.”

Harris Cooper, psychology and neuroscience professor:

“My research suggests that (online is) not going to work as well as classroom teaching and that it’s going to be very different for different students, especially related to family economics and their family background.”

“All kids lose learning over the summer. They all lose math. When it comes to reading skills, middle-class kids tend to hold their own and lower economic children tend to lose some reading ability as well.”

“There are some things that can be taught online, and done so effectively, and there are other things that kids need to meet and work together. Imagine lab classes … that can’t possibly be done online, or where discussion groups are a very important part. Kids can get together in (virtual) discussion groups, but it’s not the same thing.”

ON THE RESOURCE GAP, AND HOW POORER KIDS SUFFER

Cooper:

“The online learning is going to be differentially effective for children with different economic backgrounds. Lots of schools … are sending laptops and tablets home with kids who don’t have them. But the resources in the home, the ability in the home to support online learning, is going to be very different. The most dramatic case — think about a child who comes from a family of limited means, whose parents don’t even speak English at home. Their experience with online learning is going to be very different from a student with a desktop and a 40-inch screen and a very well-resourced desk and a parent hovering around to come in and help when needed.

“The impact of the long summer break, and the even longer pandemic break, is going to make even more dramatic the impact of the economic gap based on ethnicity and social class.”

ON THE STRUGGLES TEACHERS FACE

Stephens:

“The biggest issue is having the infrastructure and to consider the inequities that exist across our state, and access to technology. We even have teachers who live in locales that don’t have reliable internet, and are driving to their school parking lots and having class from the inside of their cars so they can access reliable Internet.”

“We just need to be aware there are other elements that are probably bigger than giving teachers professional development on how to deliver online instruction effectively that have more of an impact.”

ON EMOTIONAL CHALLENGES FOR KIDS – AND ADULTS

Katie Rosanbalm, research scientist:

“Kids look to adults for cues about whether there’s reason to be worried, to be anxious, whether there’s danger in the environment. We’re all stressed right now, we’re all worried and anxious, and kids are soaking that all up.

“They’re losing their routine and their structure to the day. They’re losing their connection with friends and teachers and all these wonderful things they’ve looked forward to all school year or maybe for years. Things like sports and field trips and concerts and performances. So there’s a lot of emotion going on for kids right now.

“The things parents can do first and foremost is take care of yourselves. The more you can practice calming down and keeping yourself in a good place, the more that will rub off on your children. Practice taking deep breaths together.

“Build as much routine and structure into the day as you possibly can so the kids have some predictability and consistency. Keep them moving and active. Find ways you can have fun together. Play together. Laugh together. Connect virtually with people you love and keep those relationships going.”

ON HOW THE PANDEMIC IS UPENDING PRE-K EDUCATION

Rosanbalm:

“There are a lot of kids at home right now who are not having access to early opportunities to learn to share, to learn to sit in circle time and keep their hands to themselves and follow directions and learn their ABCs.

“That lack of access is going to mean our youngest kids are going to be less ready for kindergarten when the time comes, if this continues. Those early years really lay the foundation for all of that knowledge that will come. They’ll be starting at a disadvantage and not having those social-emotional skills and those early academic skills.”

HERE’S A BOLD SCHOOL CALENDAR IDEA

Cooper:

“Instead of worrying about getting kids back to school in June or July, especially for kids on the traditional calendar, why not take the end of August start date, move it up a month, and actually have kids start school in the grade they were in when school shut down? And then let them continue for four weeks or whatever, give teachers an opportunity to see where the kids are … and then at some point, let’s say a month after school starts, have kids transition to their new grade.

“Doing something like that, what we do is take a lot of pressure off parents and a lot of pressure off teachers to reinvent instruction under the shadow or the cloud of some very serious circumstances.”

CAN SCHOOLS PRACTICE SOCIAL DISTANCING IN CLASSROOMS?

Stephens:

“If schools are to return to session, it’s safe to say it won’t look like it’s looked in the past. It’ll be very different.

“If students have to maintain the six feet social distancing guidelines, what will that mean in terms of how many students will fit in a classroom? The class size in terms of students are rather large, and some of these classrooms are relatively small.

“If you were to distance six feet apart, you could only possibly have nine to 10 students in a class at a time. So there would have to be an on and off day, a rotation of some sort. Maybe there are Monday/Wednesday students and Tuesday/Thursday students.

“It becomes particularly more difficult when you’re looking at little ones, kindergarten and first grade, to monitor that social distancing throughout the day.”

Rosanbalm:

“Social distancing isn’t something that small children are going to be able to do. They’re not going to understand it; they’re not going to get it. Childcare centers have been grappling with this already and what they’ve basically come to is that we can’t keep kids socially distant. What we can do is limit the number of kids in a group together.

“I don’t see a likely scenario where we have our youngest kids not coming into contact with one other. They’re going to have to have recess. They’re going to have to move around. As much as you try to limit it, it’s going to be very hard to do."

AND FINALLY, SOME OPTIMISM

Cooper:

“One thing good that could come out of this … is a new appreciation of teaching as not only an art, but a science. Hopefully, parents will recognize and have a greater appreciation for the skillset teachers have to have.

“Most parents would be reluctant to pick up the scalpel to do surgery or even pick up a drill to do carpentry or dentistry. Hopefully one of the things that will come out of this is a new recognition and appreciation for teaching as a profession.

“The other thing I’d like to see … is greater imagination put into when we send kids to school and how we do it. Our adherence to the traditional school calendar, which doesn’t fit the way most Americans live today, is an anachronism.”

Meet the experts:

Harris Cooper
Harris Cooper professor of psychology and neuroscience. Researches the value of homework, making the most of summer school, the value of after-school programs and the impact of school calendars and calendar variations (for example, summer learning loss, year-round schooling, extended school days and years) on students and their families.
cooperh@duke.edu

Katie Rosanbalm
Katie Rosanbalm is a senior research scientist at the Duke Center for Child and Family Policy. Trained as a child clinical and quantitative psychologist, Rosanbalm’s work focuses on early childhood programs, self-regulation development, child welfare and trauma-sensitive schools. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she has consulted local policymakers on how to support children with social-emotional learning needs upon return to school. Rosanbalm has also created multiple COVID-related resources, including a policy brief outlining strategies to support the well-being of essential child care staff and young children.
katie.rosanbalm@duke.edu

Kristen R. Stephens
Kristen Stephens is an associate professor of the practice of education. She specializes in educational policy, gifted education and teacher education. Stephens can discuss challenges of teaching online classes during the pandemic and when students return to school. She is co-director of the working group on education policy for the Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity and president of the American Association for Gifted Children.
kstephen@duke.edu

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Duke experts on a variety of other topics related the coronavirus pandemic can be found here.

Student Assistance Fund Distributes Grants to More Than 1,000 Students

A fund set up to assist Duke students with unexpected expenses related to the COVID-19 pandemic distributed grants totaling almost $1.5 million to 1,169 students as of April 30. Additional requests are being reviewed and a second round of grant applications will soon be opened.

The Duke Student Assistance Fund (DSAF) was one of three funds established by the university in the wake of the pandemic. Launched with an initial university commitment of $4 million, DSAF was an acknowledgment that the campus closure would result in unexpected short-term financial need for some students.

“We know students are facing tremendous disruption as a result of the pandemic,” said Executive Vice Provost Jennifer Francis, who is overseeing the review and approval of the grants. “The goal of this fund is to help alleviate the immediate financial burden of these unexpected expenses so students can complete their academic work.”

To the Duke students who received the grants, the funds were essential. Several wrote Francis and her team to express how the grants offered financial relief and alleviated stress for themselves and their families. “I am deeply grateful to receive this,” wrote one student, “as it will be greatly helpful during this strange, difficult and uncertain time.”

Student requests for help included expenses for housing, food, travel, technology and medical bills. The requests came in from graduate and professional students and undergraduates. For the first round of grants, 1539 students submitted complete applications, as of April 30. Of these 1169 had been approved and 53 denied. The rest remained under review.

In addition, Duke distributed 68 loaner laptops to meet student technology needs.

Domestic students submitted 60 percent of the applications with the rest coming from international students.

According to data from the DSAF, housing expenses accounted for slightly more than half of the funds requested in the first round of applications with food representing nearly a quarter of the distributions. The average grant size was $1,281.

More applications are coming in and being reviewed on an ongoing basis. Francis said this first round of grants will cover expenses continuing through the end of June, and that additional round of grants covering eligible expenses beyond then will be announced later this month.