Dear Colleagues,

The Office of Undergraduate Education aspires to be your partner, helping to amplify your impact on undergraduate students' educational journeys. OUE seeks to lower barriers so that you can create innovative and dynamic curricular and co-curricular learning opportunities that inspire and challenge our students. And we want to help connect you with our exceptional undergraduate researchers for mutually beneficial, meaningful, and even transformative student-faculty collaborations.

Below, we outline some opportunities to do just that, and we're always open to your new ideas and feedback.

Sincerely,
Candis Watts Smith, Ph.D. 
Interim Vice Provost of Undergraduate Education
Professor, Political Science

FacPass is an initiative with the Student-Faculty Engagement Office to further build community between faculty and their student-athletes beyond the classroom. Through a partnership with Athletics, all faculty who teach undergraduate student-athletes in some capacity are invited to submit a request for free tickets to see their student-athlete in an upcoming Duke Athletic event.  There is a range of competitive, fun and exciting opportunities to cheer on student-athletes and support the campus community.

Students can use their work-study awards to help you with your research projects. The Undergraduate Research Support Office  has funding available to supplement student wages that are not covered by work-study, effectively making undergraduate student help free to you. 

Muser is an application platform that provides Duke undergraduate students with equitable access to research opportunities across all academic fields. We invite all research mentors to post undergraduate research project during the following times:

Bass Society of Fellows are Duke faculty who have been recognized for excellence in teaching undergraduates and have a distinguished record of scholarship. Join them in conversation through these two initiatives.

Bass Society Seminar
The Bass Society Seminar on Teaching Excellence highlights successful teaching strategies through expert-led, interactive sessions. 

Bass Teaching Triangles
The main goal of Bass Teaching Triangles is to promote collaborative learning by sharing teaching practices and gaining inspiration from colleagues, emphasizing a supportive environment focused on professional development.

Legendary civil rights icon Rev. Dr. Benjamin Chavis, Jr. and rocket-scientist-turned Duke Provost Alec Gallimore sat down Monday night for a fireside chat on West Campus. Read more >>

Duke in Venice - Semester

The Global Education Office (GEO) is seeking teaching proposals for its Duke in Venice semester study away program, which takes place in Italy in partnership with the Globalization Program at Venice International University (VIU). GEO is currently considering proposals from regular-rank Duke faculty for the fall 2025 or spring 2026 semesters. Respond by April 3.

Duke in New York - Summer

The Global Education Office (GEO) also supports an established study away program in New York City. Summer study away programs and faculty directors in this location rotate. GEO is currently developing Duke in New York summer programs for 2025 and beyond. Respond by April 3.

Focus Group - Trauma Informed Teaching, Learning, and Education

Researchers from the Bass Connections project, “Developing Best Practices for Trauma-Informed Teaching and Learning at Duke” are seeking focus group participants. Participation is virtual, a 1.5-hour commitment, and compensated. 

Climate Change Faculty Fellows

The conveners of UNIV 102: “Let’s Talk About Climate Change at Duke” seek Climate Change Faculty Fellows to provide diverse perspectives and enhance the student experience for the Fall 2024 semester.

Mental health is a state of well-being that exists on a complex continuum unique to each person and is a critical component of health that lies at the core of our individual and collective abilities to build relationships, make decisions, and navigate the world in which we live (WHO, 2023). An estimated 1 in 5 U.S. adults and 1 in 6 U.S. children experience mental illness each year. Although mental illness prevalence estimates are imperfect, they still highlight that anyone experiencing a mental health concern is not alone.

Many individual, interpersonal, social, and structural factors manifest throughout our lives and interact to protect or challenge our mental health and alter our position on the continuum of well-being. These risk and protective factors operate on different scales (e.g., brain chemistry, family history, social emotional skills, exposure to unfavorable conditions, national legislation, and international policy), and their impact on us will also vary based on a constellation of factors within ourselves and our environment. All that is to say anyone can be impacted by mental health challenges, and mental health challenges are neither weaknesses nor flaws. Mental health challenges can be short-term, episodic, or chronic, and 75 percent of all lifetime mental illnesses begin by age 24. Although experiencing mental health concerns can make activities such as learning, working, and maintaining relationships difficult, people impacted by mental health challenges can manage their conditions and lead fulfilling and meaningful lives with early and consistent treatment.

Unfortunately, a cultural expectation of being well and taking care of yourself contributes to stigma (including self-stigma), discrimination against people with mental health challenges, and a proliferation of (ineffective) consumerist solutions marketed as self-care. Further, access to quality care for mental health challenges is not distributed equitably. These factors explain, at least in part, why more than half of people experiencing mental health challenges do not engage in treatment. Thankfully, evidence-based treatment strategies and new tools to support well-being do exist for mental illness, with new approaches constantly emerging and evolving. Strategies to cultivate self-compassion (see examples here and here) represent one approach that has shown to help prevent and improve symptoms of mental health challenges. 

If you are concerned about a student, connecting them with CAPS and DukeReach is a great first step to help them engage with support at Duke. Similarly, benefit-eligible faculty and staff (and their immediate families) seeking assessment, short-term counseling, and referrals can engage with PAS services at no charge. Duke and Durham emergency resources can be found here.

Please send your emails to vpue@duke.edu and your feedback or ideas will be shared with the leadership team anonymously unless requested otherwise.