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Cook Society Nominations Open to Honor Community Service Work

Awards ceremony scheduled for Feb. 23

Cook Society awards ceremony announcement. The ceremony will be Feb. 23

Nominations are now open for the Samuel DuBois Cook Society Awards, which honor members of the Duke and Durham communities for their service toward building a stronger and more just society, both on campus and in the larger world.

The Samuel DuBois Cook Society was founded in 1997 to honor the first African American faculty member hired and tenured at Duke University, and to recognize his contributions as a member of the Duke University Board of Trustees. A classmate and close personal friend of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., he shared Dr. King's vision of the "beloved community."

Cook joined Duke in 1966 as a political scientist, educator and human rights activist, becoming the first African American professor to hold a regular rank faculty appointment at a predominately white college or university in the South.

The awards will be presented during a virtual ceremony at 5:30 p.m. on Feb. 23, 2021.

Last year’s winners included the Rev. William Barber, organizer of the Moral Monday protests at the State Capitol known also for his wider fight for educational equality, redistricting, health care reform, labor and worker rights, protection of immigration rights and other civil rights issues. For a full list of 2020 winners, see the Cook Society website.

Nomination forms can also be found on the Cook Society website. To submit a nomination, e-mail the form to Megan Peterson at megan.peterson@duke.edu.