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Patton Addresses Arts & Sciences Council for Last Time

Departing dean reviews progress and challenges ahead

Dean Laurie Patton praised arts & sciences faculty members for their entrepreneurial style. Photo: Duke Photography
Dean Laurie Patton praised arts & sciences faculty members for their entrepreneurial style. Photo: Duke Photography

In her final address to the Arts and Sciences Council, Dean Laurie Patton looked back at progress over her four years and outlined challenges ahead for the faculty and her successor.

With Patton leaving Duke this summer to become president of Middlebury, she praised the faculty for promoting research "married with curricular change" and for being open to new challenges while keeping an eye on financial sustainability.

"We have an entrepreneurial style," Patton said. "We are not afraid to experiment."

Among the highlights Patton cited in her address:

* A stronger financial position for Arts & Sciences. After facing a projected $7 million deficit for 2014/15, Arts & Sciences has cut costs and increased revenues—enabling the school to project a $1.1 million deficit for 2015/16. Annual Fund contributions have increased from $14.5 to $19 million. And Patton has raised 17 new professorships through the DukeForward campaign.

* Curricular changes that promoted innovative classroom learning. New initiatives include the Bass Connections, the University Course and Signature Courses, and experiential certificate programs.  A faculty committee is leading a three-year curriculum review to better integrate these kinds of initiatives.

* Improvements in academic advising, as the school placed greater resources into an area that had been a significant student concern for many years.

* New research initiatives such as a new interdisciplinary Big Data project, a new grant on population and aging studies and Humanities Writ Large.

* Seventy-eight new arts and sciences faculty hires since 2012. Patton said she is particularly excited about the new hires coming in next year "including one of the top Chinese historians in the world." The hires also make Arts & Sciences more diverse, with 32 hires who are women, 6 hires who are Black and 3 hires who are Hispanic.

Patton praised the faculty for taking ownership of the curriculum review, "which has brought forth lots of interesting proposals," and serves as an example of strong faculty governance. She also spoke of new facilities expected to come on line in the near future, including a science education building and an arts center.

She also underscored continuing financial and academic challenges.  She urged faculty to ask "can we do better on teaching and learning? Do we miss opportunities to create a better collective with discussions on pedagogy?" 

She also warned about continuing intellectual silos and asked if these silos "are storing good intellectual grain?"

"My last question is how many Dukies will I miss," Patton concluded. "I simply will miss you all."

The council ended the meeting with a reception and a toast to the departing dean.