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Top 10 Duke Today Stories of 2012

Quiz stumps most entrants, two employees finish at top

Faculty and staff members from across Duke tested their news know-how, and two employees emerged as winners of Duke Today's "Top 10 of `12" news quiz.

The most-viewed stories from last year included a variety of news, from the announcement of Duke's annual Employee Kickoff Celebration for the first home football game to the obituary of Mary Duke Biddle Trent Semans and word of professor Robert Lefkowitz' Nobel Prize in Chemistry. To participate in the quiz, Duke employees tried to correctly arrange the top-10 viewed stories from 2012.

Doris B. Jordan
Two news quiz winners receive a Working@Duke coffee mug.

Adrienne Baroff, an administrative coordinator in Office of Undergraduate Admissions, and Mike Lutz, a senior research scientist in the Division or Neurology, scored the highest by correctly selecting the placement of four stories. About half of the 74 entries had no correct placements. Only five picked the most-read story from 2012 - news that Duke was to begin offering free courses online through Coursera, a California-based education company that provides a platform for universities to deliver online courses.

Baroff said she tried to recall popular stories she spotted by having Duke Today as her Internet browser's homepage.

"I just moved ones up I thought were the most interested from my standpoint," Baroff said. "I thought naming ferns after Lady Gaga was amusing because she's worn meat and Mary Semans was such an institution at Duke."

As a prize, both Baroff and Lutz receive a Working@Duke coffee mug to enjoy a hot beverage each morning while checking out the latest on Duke's daily news site throughout 2013.

Here's the of most-read stories from Duke Today in 2012:

  1. Duke to Offer Free Courses on Internet
  2. Basketball-Sized Eyes Help Squids Play Defense   
  3. Nineteen Species of Fern Named for Lady Gaga
  4. Robert Lefkowitz Shares Nobel Prize in Chemistry
  5. Mary Semans, Champion of Duke and Durham, Dies
  6. Free Football And Food At Employee Kickoff
  7. Luke Powery Named New Dean of Duke Chapel
  8. Top 5 Formerly Top Secret Documents
  9. Adolescent Pot Use Leaves Lasting Mental Deficits
  10. Duke's Graduate and Professional Schools Remain Highly Ranked by U.S. News