Duke University's Board of Trustees on Saturday approved elevating Duke's African and African American Studies (AAAS) Program to departmental status.
"As the mission of AAAS has expanded, it has become appropriate to graduate from program status to that of a full department," said Dean of the Faculty of Arts & Sciences George McLendon.
Academic departments at Duke offer undergraduate and graduate degrees. Because the AAAS program currently offers an undergraduate degree and a graduate certificate, it already functions much like a department, said Arts & Sciences Dean of the Social Sciences Sarah Deutsch.
"And it became clear that in circles outside of Duke the label ‘program' carried connotations of impermanence and standing that were not applicable to our program," she said. "The shift to ‘department' better represents Duke's commitment to the enterprise, and the standing and activity of the unit."
The university's Academic Programs Committee unanimously approved the change at its Oct. 25 meeting, and in a resolution commended AAAS "for its quality research and undergraduate programs. The AAAS faculty, including those with joint and secondary appointments, have demonstrated an admirable commitment to advanced research, teaching and outreach activities that deserves recognition."
The Academic Programs Committee also encouraged AAAS to consider establishing a Ph.D. program in the future.
AAAS has 15 core faculty members. Some 50 other Duke faculty members, whose teaching, research and cross-listed courses contribute to scholarship in AAAS, are designated as faculty affiliates. Currently, 33 undergraduate students major in African and African American Studies, 22 undergraduates minor in it and 24 graduate students are enrolled in the graduate certificate program.
In related business, the trustees also approved several new academic programs, including two new dual degree programs at Duke Law School: a three-year JD/DESS (Diplôme d'études supérieures spécialisées) in global business law in partnership with two top French universities, and a JD/MEMP (Masters of Engineering Management) in cooperation with Duke's Pratt School of Engineering.
The Global Business Law JD/DESS degree program is a partnership with University of Paris I and with Sciences Po in Paris. The program involves two years of study at Duke and one year in Paris, where students will enroll in primarily master's degree level courses in global business law and economics and, if needed, an introduction to French law.
Duke joins a select group of American law schools in offering the JD/DESS, which is open to 20 French students and 10 U.S. students each year; law schools at Columbia, Cornell, Georgetown, Northwestern, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Virginia also offer the program.
"Law practice in most fields is increasingly international and law graduates who have had meaningful international experience are highly sought after by U.S. law firms," said Duke Law School Dean Katharine T. Bartlett. "In thoroughly integrating U.S. and European legal studies, the JD/DESS program provides one more vehicle to equip Duke graduates to practice law in the global context."
Establishing a dual degree in law and engineering management responds to a demand from applicants to Duke Law School and the Pratt School of Engineering, Bartlett said, and builds on the schools' existing partnership in which a three-year JD is offered in combination with an MS in engineering. Students enrolled in the new program will begin their studies in June instead of August and will be required to complete 72 credits at the Law School and 30 in the Master of Engineering Management Program.
Currently, about 25 percent of Duke law students are enrolled in a dual degree program.
The trustees also approved:
-- a new Joint Doctor of Medicine degree to be granted by the Duke/National University of Singapore Graduate Medical School. This collaboration, which was formalized in 2005, is not only intended to educate future physicians and promote biomedical research in Asia, but represents an opportunity for Duke to expand its global presence in science and medicine, said Dr. Victor J. Dzau, chancellor for Health Affairs at Duke and CEO of the Duke University Health System.
Singapore is committed to becoming a leader in biomedical research, Dzau said, and Duke officials believe that collaborations such as this one will help Duke accelerate its efforts in translating the discoveries made in the laboratory into therapies to help patients around the world.
The curriculum of the new graduate school will be based on that of the Duke University School of Medicine's course of study, with its third year dedicated solely to research. Students in the first class are expected to begin their studies in 2007.
-- the creation of a joint Master of Management Studies (MMS) degree involving the Fuqua School of Business and Seoul National University (SNU). Those SNU students accepted into the program would first attend SNU, then travel to Fuqua in the spring of their first year for Fuqua's final six-week term. This would be followed by a summer internship and a second year of study at Fuqua. At the conclusion of their course work, students will be issued an MMS from Fuqua. The students would receive their Masters of Business Administration degree from SNU once they complete other requirements.