Symphony auditions
The Duke Symphony Orchestra is seeking string players for the spring semester of programs, including a performance of "The Barber of Seville" in April.
Auditions are open to all members of the university and local community. For more information or to schedule an audition, contact Harry Davidson at 660-3324 or e-mail hdavid@duke.edu. To find out more about the Duke Symphony Orchestra, visit www.duke.edu/music/performance.
Duke cell phone portability
Duke students, faculty and staff wishing to change cellular telephone carriers while keeping their existing cell phone numbers may now do so.
Switching a wireless number to a new carrier -- called "porting"-- requires a small amount of paperwork, re-programming the wireless phone or purchasing a new one, and in some cases, signing a new contract. Duke's Office of Information Technology (OIT) has information and change forms available online at www.oit.duke.edu/televid/.
For compatibility reasons, OIT is recommending that individuals moving from another carrier to Duke/ALLTEL purchase a new phone. Several phones-including the Nokia 3585i, Motorola 120e, and Kyocera 3225-are free or discounted, whether individuals sign-up for departmental or personal plans. Both plans offer 100 bonus minutes per month, free mobile-to-mobile, and no roaming or long distance charges. No contract is required withthe Duke departmental plan, which allows users to pay via cost center charges. Additionally, the Duke personal plan is offering a five-percent discount. New Duke/ALLTEL customers receiving new phones may pick them up at a convenient on-campus service center location.
Those wishing to move from their current Duke/ALLTEL plan to another carrier will be required to sign a new contract; will be responsible for contacting their new carrier to initiate service; will need to contact OIT to terminate their ALLTEL service; and will be responsible for all ALLTEL charges through the end of the month.
No matter which carrier individuals port to or from, they may not port a wireless number from out-of-state; to keep a number, the porting must take place within the service provider's local area.
Students with questions may call OIT at 684-2200; faculty/staff may call 684-2337, option 1.
Professional development applications
The Professional Development Institute will offer the next class of the office staff development program beginning March 1. The institute will accept applications from eligible participants through Jan. 26.
This program is designed to help participants develop clerical office skills and capabilities to assist them in qualifying for future opportunities in administrative and medical office support positions at Duke. For more information or to complete the online application, visit www.hr.duke.edu/pdi. You may also call 684-5406 or stop by the Institute's office located at 3616 Duke South (Yellow Zone) to pick up an application and information packet.
Polycystic ovary syndrome study
Volunteers are needed for a Duke study on the effects of exercise on women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). To be eligible for the study, women must have PCOS, be between the ages of 18 and 50, be willing to attend exercise sessions four times a week and maintain their current weight during the study.
PCOS symptoms include excess facial hair, irregular or absent periods, excess fat around the abdomen, thickened dark skin around the neck and insulin resistance. Participants will receive an individual exercise program and nutritional counseling. For more information, call Jody Crabtree at 684-4139.
Mood study
Volunteers are needed for a Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences study on the effects of moods on health. Participation involves a laboratory testing session lasting approximately 3 ‚ hours.
To be eligible, volunteers must be healthy and between the ages of 18 and 65. Upon successful completion of the study, participants will be paid $70.
For more information, call 684-8667 or email sualab@mc.duke.edu.
Smoking study
Cigarette smokers between the ages of 18 and 65 who want to quit are needed for research studying the effects that smoking nicotine-free cigarettes may have on brain activity. Participants will be paid up $480 for 13 visits. For more information, call 681-2595.
Obituaries
Kenny J. Williams, a longtime Duke English professor who died Dec. 19 at the age of 76, will be remembered in a memorial service at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 14, at Community Baptist Church of Durham.
Williams, who came to Duke in 1977, was appointed in 1991 to the National Council on the Humanities. In 1986, she was awarded the MidAmerica Award for distinguished contributions to the study of Midwestern literature. She was a founding member of the Duke chapter of the National Association of Scholars.
"What attracted us at the outset was the depth, range and consistent excellence of her scholarship," English professor Victor H. Strandberg, who was on the search committee that hired Williams, wrote in a remembrance.
"Her book They Also Spoke, for example, provided an overview of African-American writers during the two centuries before the radical 1960s, by contrast to many scholars for whom -- at that time -- only the writings of recent figures such as Eldridge Cleaver or Sonny Carson seemed to matter," Strandberg added. "Though they are familiar figures now, Kenny was ahead of her time in espousing the importance of precursors such as Phillis Wheatley, Harriet Jacobs and Paul Laurence Dunbar. Likewise, her writings on Sherwood Anderson, on the Chicago humorists and on the whole rich texture of America's urban culture displayed a curious, supple and multi-faceted intellect."
Alexandra "Sasha" Marie Burakow, a first-year student from Fairfax Station, Va., died Dec. 17 after suffering a brain aneurysm. She was 19.
"We had only begun to know this talented young woman, whose achievements in high school ranged from varsity athletics to the national semifinals of the prestigious Intel Science Competition," said Duke President Nannerl O. Keohane in a statement. "Her death is a great loss not only for her classmates who lived with her on East Campus and who shared classes and activities, but for all of us in the Duke community."
In lieu of flowers, the family requests contributions to her high school, the Sasha Burakow Scholarship Fund at the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Virginia.
Burakow came to Duke with an already impressive record of scholarship. She was a semifinalist in the Intel Science competition and had conducted original research on amoebas. "Sasha was an outstanding and exuberant young woman who was an avid learner interested in all academic areas," said her high school principal Elizabeth Lodal in a letter posted on the school's Web site.
Shirley Baron Colton, a long -time member of the Duke community, died on Dec. 16 after a short illness. A native of New York, she arrived in Durham in 1947 when her husband, professor-emeritus Joel Colton joined the Duke history department. Over the years she served at Duke as editorial assistant for the Duke University Catalogue, as assistant to the editor of the History of Political Economy, and as assistant to the director of the Southeastern Institute of Medieval and Renaissance Studies. She also was active as a docent at the Duke University Museum of Art, chaired the museum's docents, and served as member of the board of the Friends of the Duke University Museum of Art.
A memorial service will be held Saturday, Jan. 10, at 2 p.m. in the auditorium of the Forest at Duke , 2701 Pickett Road. Contributions in her honor may be sent to the Shirley Baron Colton Memorial Fund for the Arts and Other Philanthropies, Triangle Community Foundation, Box 75393, Charlotte, NC 28275-0393.