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DukeEngage Looks to Meet Growing Interest

Two-year-old program is expanding

Children at the Arusha Primary School in Tanzania gather around Hilary Robbins, DukeEngage '08. Through their Literacy Through Photography project, DukeEngage students used photography as a vehicle for introducing visual learning into primary and secondary schools in and around Arusha. The program will continue in Summer '09.  This photo by Kaitlin Rogers, DukeEngage '08, is one of 12 that comprise a photo exhibit being installed at the Duke Center for Civic Engagement.

Minutes before a recent roundtable presentation during Parents' Weekend in mid-October, DukeEngage director Eric Mlyn found himself hurriedly pulling in more chairs to the Lilly Library's Thomas Room. The space comfortably accommodates 50 -- the number he estimated might turn out for the informal conversation.

Actual attendance was more than double his estimate -- indicative of the growing interest in Duke's young civic engagement program.

The quiet rollout of a pilot program in the summer of 2007 supported 89 students pursuing civic engagement projects in the United States and abroad. In 2007-08, more than 700 Duke students submitted applications to take part in the program. DukeEngage placed 365 of those students in 24 national and international group sites and nearly 100 individual projects around the globe in the summer of 2008. The program, housed within the Duke Center of Civic Engagement, plans to place 400 students within 31 group sites and 100 individual projects during the summer of 2009.

Why such interest? A mix of support and success, Mlyn said.

"Thanks to generous gifts from The Duke Endowment and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, we are fortunate to be able to provide students with a rare service opportunity that often proves to be transformative," he said. "We believe that the news about DukeEngage is getting out through our students who return to campus and share their accounts in formal and informal settings."

The formal program includes a course on the Politics of Civic Engagement offered by Professor Robert Korstad and a House Course on civic engagement.

Of course, while DukeEngage's broad appeal is one of the program's greatest strengths, it's also proven to be one of its greatest challenges. "We want to ensure that as many Duke students who want to pursue a DukeEngage experience are able to do so, and that the experiences serve our partner communities" Mlyn said. "But at this time, we expect demand for programs is far exceeding the number of placements we're able to supply. "

Another challenge is helping students balance their perception of where service is needed most. To that end, Mlyn says that special attention this year has been given to the expansion of DukeEngage domestic programs. In addition to continuing programs in Durham, New Orleans, Seattle and Tuscon, Ariz., new programs have been added in St. Louis, Portland, Ore., and Crownpoint, N.M.

"We certainly have wonderful resources to offer through our students to the international community, but we also want to be very intentional about the work we're doing in our own backyard," Mlyn said. He added that Durham was DukeEngage's largest site in 2008 and will be again this coming summer.

Students may apply to one or two programs for the summer of 2009. If applying to two programs, one of those must be domestic. The new policy has been met with criticism among some students who are more attracted to DukeEngage's international service locations, but Mlyn says students who become familiar with the efforts taking place domestically may find the local and national DukeEngage programs equally compelling.

Of course, many things are continuing as they were last year. Students who intend to apply for an individual project -- one envisioned by them in collaboration with a DukeEngage staff adviser -- must continue to have a faculty mentor involved in the development and advising of the project.

"The bar is being raised for individual projects," Mlyn said. "We want to ensure students are being as thoughtful and thorough as possible in envisioning the kind of service they can provide a community partner and that there's some element of oversight and collaboration that engages Duke faculty into that endeavor. We think this will prove to be enriching to both the student and faculty member involved."

The applications deadlines for DukeEngage projects have also been moved up this year, so that staff and faculty who are involved in the review process have adequate time to read through applications and interview prospective DukeEngage students. Group project applications are due Dec. 15, while individual projects applications are due Jan. 23. Students accepted into the DukeEngage program will be contacted in February.

The DukeEngage "Academy," which will provide pre-departure training for all DukeEngage students, is May 4-6 on campus.

For more information about DukeEngage and its programs, click here.