Skip to main content

Duke, Meet Durham

Service-learning program introduces new faculty to Durham's deep and complex relationship with the university

Sanford School Dean Kelly Brownell listens to a discussion about Durham during a bus tour introducing new Duke faculty to community leaders.  With Brownell is Dan Levine of the Self-Help Credit Union, Duke faculty member and Durham City Councilmen Steve
Sanford School Dean Kelly Brownell listens to a discussion about Durham during a bus tour introducing new Duke faculty to community leaders. With Brownell is Dan Levine of the Self-Help Credit Union, Duke faculty member and Durham City Councilmen Steve Schewel, and Professor Emeritus Naomi Quinn. Photo by Duke University Photography

Nearly two dozen new faculty participated in "Context and Connections," a program organized by Duke's university-wide service learning program last Friday.

The day-long bus tour takes new faculty and staff on a historical tour of Durham, providing inspiration and context for service-learning projects they can incorporate into their classroom teaching.

The bus, which began at Smith Warehouse, wound it's way through downtown, crossing the train tracks into some of Durham's historic neighborhoods making brief stops at landmarks such as Hayti Heritage Center, North Carolina Central University's art museum, the NC Mutual Life Building and the Walltown Recreational Center.

Tour guides Barbara Lau of the Pauli Murray Project, and Mayme Webb-Bledsoe and Sam Miglarese of the Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership, discussed Duke's historical and present-day involvement with local communities and projects such as the American Tobacco Campus and Southside developments.

The service-learning program works with a wide range of disciplines, from biomedical engineering and chemistry to Jewish studies and dance, translating theory to real-world applications. The program offers instructors resources including financial support, ready-to-use instructional materials, service-learning assistants, and networking opportunities, as well as opportunities for reflection.

Director David Malone said it is important to be mindful when engaging the community, which includes being "careful with our words." He intended to have tour members get off the bus and to "not act as tourists."

Laurie Patton, dean of Trinity College of Arts and Sciences, encouraged the group to consider why the university needs the community to thrive, instead of vice versa. She challenged the group to explore how relationships can be sustained with community partners.

Organizers expressed the importance of listening when entering a new community, before plunging in to solve perceived problems. "They want a say in what their community looks like," Bledsoe-Webb said of residents on Durham's south side. "The city had to listen, then act."

She said gentrification and "Duke invading their space" is a constant worry.

"They will tell you about what used to be downtown, not what's there now," she said.

At a stop on historic Parrish Street, the group had lunch with community leaders representing nonprofits such as Self-Help Credit Union, the Full Frame Documentary Festival, El Centro Hispano, NC WARN and the Durham Economic Resource Center.

Kelly Brownell, the new dean of the Sanford School of Public Policy, arrived to Duke and Durham this summer. 

"This experience helped bring Durham alive because of the history and cultural background that was provided by people who know the city inside out," he said.