Duke Student Dies in Bicycle Accident

Duke sophomore Claire Crowley was killed Saturday, Dec. 23, after being struck by a vehicle while bike riding near her home in Clemmons, N.C. Sue Wasiolek, Duke's dean of students, said the incident occurred at 5:15 p.m. and Crowley died five hours later.

Visitation will be held Wednesday, Dec. 27, from 7-9 p.m. at the Hayworth-Miller Funeral Home in Advance, N.C. The funeral will be Thursday, Dec. 28, at 11 a.m. at Clemmons Presbyterian Church, 3930 Clemmons Road, in Clemmons.

Crowley was a Trinity College student and vice president of Duke's women's ultimate team, called Chakra.

One of her professors, biologist Sherryl Broverman, remembered her as a student who became deeply interested this fall in the issue of gender inequality in Kenya after taking Broverman's class on AIDS and emerging diseases. Crowley was among 12 students in a research service-learning section that focused on a project called the Women's Institute for Secondary Education and Research (WISER), which is creating a boarding school for girls in Kenya.

Crowley's task was to create a summer program in leadership, adolescent health and gender awareness, which she planned to continue as an independent study in the spring, according to Broverman, who said Crowley also planned to work at the camp in Kenya this summer.

"She was really excited. She was really getting pumped up about going this summer," Broverman said. "She put a lot of energy above and beyond the class into the project," working late nights, creating the summer program and helping write grant proposals.

"Of her own accord, she definitely took on a leadership role," Broverman said. "It's a blow to the project. Claire had invested a lot. It's a loss for WISER."

A Claire Crowley Memorial Fund at Duke University Women's Institute for Secondary Education for Muhuru Bay, Kenya, has been established and is accepting contributions at P.O. Box 90338, Durham, N.C., 27708.