Tyson Brown, a professor of sociology and associate professor in medicine, has been appointed director of the Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity at Duke University effective July 1, Provost Alec D. Gallimore announced.Brown succeeds the Cook Center’s founding director, William A. (“Sandy”) Darity Jr., the Samuel DuBois Cook Distinguished Professor of Public Policy and professor of African & African American studies and economics.Established in 2015, the Cook Center is a scholarly collaborative that studies the… read more about Tyson Brown Named Director of Cook Center »
The richness of Duke’s intellectual communities and its deep commitment to interdisciplinarity are major draws for top scholars who are leaders in their fields. To help recruit these academic stars, Duke leveraged the university-wide institutes, initiatives and centers (UICs) to create the Provost’s School-UIC Joint Hiring Program and to offer starting support from UICs. Donors’ generous gifts helped make these programs possible.Duke was able to recruit more than 40 faculty members through these mechanisms between 2006 and… read more about Nine Reasons Stellar Interdisciplinary Faculty Choose Duke »
The Office of the Provost and The Graduate School have selected three proposals to establish new Interdisciplinary Graduate Education Collaboratives (IGECs). Made possible by a generous grant from The Duke Endowment, these IGECs will launch in Fall 2026 and offer graduate students unique opportunities to tackle complex societal challenges alongside peers and faculty from across campus.Through seminars, working groups and projects, students will receive applied training and gain exposure to emerging issues at the… read more about Equipping Graduate Students to Tackle Emerging Challenges »
Trinity College of Arts and Sciences recently celebrated the achievements of three 2025 Ph.D. graduates selected as the first recipients of the Trinity Distinguished Dissertation Award. Nominated by their programs and representing each of Trinity’s three divisions — Natural Sciences, Arts and Humanities and Social Sciences — the recipients demonstrated remarkable academic excellence in their fields. This award honors not only their dissertation work but also their contributions to fostering a positive and enriching graduate… read more about Trinity Recognizes Excellence in Ph.D. Research »
The following is a partial list of national, university, school and departmental awards presented to the members of the Class of 2025. In some awards where there are multiple winners, only members of the Class of 2025 are included. read more about Department Honors and Laurels for the Class of 2025 »
Alpha Kappa Delta (AKD), the international sociology honor society, began in 1920 to “acknowledge and promote excellence in the scholarship in the study of sociology.” In 1967, AKD became a certified member of the Association of College Honor Societies. Over the past 100 years, universities have established almost 700 AKD chapters. We welcome and honor the newest inductees to Duke’s chapterAlexa CarrEugene ChoMargaret ColeJaqueline GoveaAriel HekierKia MarshallHillary OkpeseyiElle PiperAudrey… read more about Duke Sociology Welcomes the 2025 AKD Inductees »
Viktoria Wulff-Andersen is a graduating senior with a major in Political Science, minor in Sociology and a certificate in Philosophy, Politics and Economics. She has served as a Trinity Ambassador for Political Science. Trinity Ambassadors are student volunteers, nominated by their departments, to serve in this unique and important role.We asked a few of the ambassadors from the Class of 2025 to share their favorite memories from Duke. The below interview has been slightly edited for clarity.What was one of the most… read more about Notes From the Class of 2025: Learning Through "Life Stories" »
The Winfred Quinton Holton Prize committee, consisting of Dr. Sam Miglarese, Dr. Tori Lodewick, and Dr. Susan R. Wynn, selected Kelly Araujo's paper, Power Behind Bars: Exploring Social Hierarchies in Men’s Prisons with Educational Programs, as the winner of this year's award. Kelly is a Public Policy and Sociology major, with a minor in education. Kelly's project earned Top Honors, the highest award category, and as a result, she will receive $1,000 in recognition of her innovative research. read more about Kelly Araujo Wins Winfred Quinton Holton Prize for Educational Research »
WomenNC has selected Ava Meigs, medical sociology minor, as a 2025-26 WomenNC Scholar. This competitive program trains college students to conduct research and formulate policies that improve the lives of NC women and girls. Meigs’ research project will explore unequal access to maternal healthcare in Durham. The year-long experience will culminate in a research presentation at the Spring 2026 UN Commission on the Status of Women. read more about Ava Meigs Selected as a Member of 2025-26 Cohort of WomenNC Scholars »
As Duke approaches the end of the semester, many seniors are preparing for graduation. For sociology major Julian Seinfeld, these last few weeks have also been about something else: finishing a research project that brings together his academic interests and long-standing passion for basketball.Since January, Julian has been working on an independent study with Dr. Jen’nan Read, Chair of the Sociology Department. His project looks at how agents and administrators evaluate NBA players and whether current… read more about Evaluating the Evaluators: Julian Seinfeld’s Study of NBA Draft Outcomes »
Each year, Duke University awards Benenson Awards in the Arts, which provide funding for arts-centered projects proposed by undergraduates, including graduating seniors. This year, the Student Arts Award Committee awarded prizes to fifteen students for creative projects spanning film, theater, creative writing, music, dance, and visual art. read more about Announcing the 2025 Benenson Award Winners »
In the short term, President Trump’s tariffs could mean more-expensive iPhones. The longer-term goal is to reshore high-tech manufacturing to the U.S., including Apple’s cash cow.“The army of millions and millions of human beings, screwing in little screws to make iPhones—that kind of thing is going to come to America,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CBS’s “Face the Nation” over the weekend. “It’s going to be automated,” he added.Except iPhones contain a patchwork of sophisticated parts, sourced from many countries… read more about An American-Made iPhone: Just Expensive or Completely Impossible? Duke Emeritus Professor Explains. »
In this series of four stories, we are highlighting students whose “Why I Learn Languages” essays have been selected as winners of the Trinity Language Council’s 2024 Best Essay competition. Charlotte Yew Huixin is a sophomore majoring in Sociology and Public Policy, with a minor in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (AMES) focused on Korean. Read and let Yew tell you, in her own words, how learning languages helped unveil layers of affection in her… read more about In Their Own Words: Languages Unveil Layers of Affection »
Duke University PhD student Isabella Bouklas is driven by a commitment to uncover the structures shaping inequality in our world. Through her research on structural racism, health disparities, and spatial inequality, she is asking the hard questions that matter.Her dedication to these issues has earned her two prestigious fellowships:The von der Heyden Global Fellowship from the John Hope Franklin CenterThe Summer Research Fellowship for Research on Racism and Inequities… read more about Izzy Bouklas selected for von der Heyden Global Fellowship and Summer Research Fellowship »
Warren Lowell has accepted a tenure-track, Assistant Professor position at Vanderbilt University in the Department of Human and Organizational Development. Warren is currently a PhD candidate in Duke’s joint-degree program in Sociology and Public Policy, and he will graduate in May. He is an urban sociologist and population scientist whose work focuses on housing policy, internal migration, and child wellbeing. His doctoral work has been supported by the Russell Sage Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, and the W.T. Grant… read more about Warren Lowell Accepts Tenure-Track, Assistant Professor Position »
Ahead of the launch of Trinity’s new curriculum, the Department of Sociology is aligning its course offerings with the evolving needs of today’s Duke students. Department faculty have been examining their course offerings with a keen eye toward incorporating innovative teaching practices that blend practical skills with experiential learning and real-world applications. Undergraduate students have been directly involved in many of the implemented improvements, providing faculty with input and ideas.“Duke is… read more about Breathing Fresh Innovation into Sociology Courses »
How do we foster collaboration in a divided world? Duke faculty are exploring innovative ways to bridge gaps — through sociology, international youth camps and cultural partnerships in Durham. (Design by Shaun King/Trinity Communications) In an increasingly divided world, the need for civil discourse and strategies to bridge perspectives has become a central topic of discussion — not only at Duke but worldwide. At Duke, several current initiatives aim at fostering inclusive… read more about Fostering Connections Across Differences: Three Faculty Explore Unlikely Collaborations »
On July 1, Duke will become the new editorial home of Demography, the flagship journal of the Population Association of America, for the next three years. Co-editors leading Demography are Hedy Lee, James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of Sociology; M. Giovanna Merli, Professor of Public Policy, Sociology and Global Health; and Marcos Rangel, Associate Professor of Public Policy and Economics. A multidisciplinary team of Duke faculty, along with faculty from other top-tier research institutions, will serve as Deputy… read more about Duke Becomes New Home for "Demography" Journal »
John Levi Martin once remarked that “if one were to take a picture of some well-populated area from a low-orbiting satellite, and marked a spot wherever there was a car, one would be able to figure out rather well where the roads were, and where cars were allowed to go.”A new study by Nicolas Restrepo Ochoa (UC Davis) and Turgut Keskintürk (Duke University) takes this idea a step further, arguing that just as traffic patterns reveal roads, the movement of people’s beliefs over time can reveal the structure of culture itself… read more about New Study from Ochoa and Keskintürk: Measuring Movement in Cultural Landscapes »
Sociology and biology double major Eugene Cho is a semi-finalist for the prestigious 2025/26 Fulbright Scholarship. If selected as a finalist, Cho will live and work in Uganda, collaborating with healthcare professionals and community members to identify and remove structural barriers to high quality healthcare. Host country committees are reviewing semi-finalists’ applications and will notify selected candidates this spring.As a sociology major, Cho studies healthcare systems and communal disparities in accessibility… read more about Eugene Cho Fulbright Semi-Finalist »
Three Duke alumni and a senior have been named Schwarzman Scholars, a program that funds one year of graduate study in Beijing.From an initial pool of nearly 5,000 applicants, they are among approximately 150 Scholars chosen from around the world.Anya Button, Yutao Gong, Hope Jackson, and Jie (Vincent) Liu will develop international leadership skills through the fully funded one-year master’s degree program in global affairs, designed to enable future leaders of the 21st century to engage with China.Scholars are selected… read more about Three Duke Alumni and One Senior Named Schwarzman Scholars for Graduate Study in China »
In a world where conversations about race and gender are more urgent and polarized than ever, Dr. Jessi Streib’s new book, Is it Racist? Is it Sexist? promises to be a beacon of clarity and introspection. Co-authored with sociologist Betsy Leondar-Wright, the book delves into the complexities of how Americans—particularly white Americans—interpret and navigate issues of racism and sexism. The book was born out of a turbulent political moment: the 2016 election of Donald Trump. Dr. Streib recalls, “At that… read more about Is it Racist? Is it Sexist? Unpacking Bias and Bridging America's Deep Divides »