GLS eNews December 01, 2023
Alumni Update December 2023
Anne (center, top step) with the Fall 2023 entering class..
Hello GLS Alumni/ae!
Happiest of holidays from Duke Graduate Liberal Studies! I hope this finds you healthy, peaceful, and anticipating restorative good times in the coming weeks. We were pleased to see so many of you at our recent GLS Holiday Party, and want to provide all of you with an update on how things are going with this special and unique program. GLS has 73 students now, who are as always, an interesting and diverse group, as the following brief statistics attest:
- 40 of them (55%) are studying full-time; 33 (45%) part-time
- 14 (20%) are international with representation from China, Germany, Ghana, Japan, Malawi, Mauritania, and Russia
- 9 (12%) are Duke employees
- Our students range in age from 20-71, with 32 as the average
Seven students are graduating this month, and we expect to welcome seven new students in January. They will join the 16 new students who began their studies earlier this fall. With new classes and instructors, porch sittings, and other student gatherings, GLS House has felt as vibrant in the past few months as I have seen it since I became director in 2019.
Working with our students and watching them grow and flourish, I remain convinced of the value of a program like this that helps people listen to their own voices and craft learning experiences that are uniquely fitted to their interests and the challenging moment in which we live. Just recently, I had an experience that happens to me frequently: I was telling a Duke colleague about our program, and his eyes just lit up. “I’d love to do something like that!” Meanwhile, a student who will graduate in the spring was almost sad as she lamented, “I wish I could just stay at GLS!”
Our students have made a brave and hopeful step of investing in themselves, with a self-confidence that following a path forged by their own curiosity will bear fruit for them and those around them. It’s a joy to be part of their journeys. You, as alums, know the value of what you gained here as it has played out in your own lives.
While we would always welcome your financial support (as GLS is self-sustaining), perhaps the way you could help us most is to continue to spread the word about our program through your own networks. If you have a LinkedIn page or other public online professional presence (Instagram, a website, online CV), we would love it if you’d identify yourself, specifically, as a Duke GLS graduate. Tag our program in your LinkedIn education listing, follow our LinkedIn and Facebook pages, interact with or retweet our posts, tell others about the program. You are – by far – our best ambassadors in the world, our wonderful examples of what is possible with a GLS degree.
Additionally, if any of you are members of community organizations (either in the Triangle or farther away) that you think might be good places to spread the word about GLS, I would be happy to come and speak about the program at any time. Indeed, I would appreciate tips on places to target outreach, especially “close to home” either at Duke or across North Carolina – the areas we were initially established to serve and where we continue to want to be deeply engaged. Feel free to write to me directly with suggestions at anne.whisnant@duke.edu.
I truly hope that all of you are healthy, happy, and still learning, and that you will enjoy reading this update about all that is going on at Duke GLS.
Sincerely,
Alumni Highlights
Andrea Larson (AM 2018) was awarded Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. Andrea is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the Carolina-Duke Graduate Program in German Studies. The Duke University Graduate School created the award to celebrate and honor exemplary teaching by currently enrolled Ph.D. students who are engaged in teaching Duke undergraduate or graduate students and who best exemplify the characteristics of effective college teaching as they prepare for lives of service, leadership, and teaching.
Anahad Kaur (AM 2023) was one of three GLS presenters at this year's Association of Graduate Liberal Studies Programs (AGLSP) annual conference, held this year in San Diego, CA. Anahad's paper was entitled "The Imagined Identity: Factors Impacting an Artist's Brand Identity and Interaction with Their Fandom." She was joined by two current GLS students, J. Kelly Davis and Chase Pikarsky.
Janet Shaw (AM 2021) turned her Master's Project into her book. Released January 18th under her pen name, Janet Malcolm Hayles, you can find Every Three Hours: A Mother’s Story of Raising a Child with Chronic Illnesses from Car Seat to Career on Amazon and Barnes & Noble via paperback and ebook.
Latishia (“Tish”) Futrell (AM 2023), currently a senior program coordinator in Graduate Student Affairs in The Graduate School at Duke, has accepted a new position as the Director of Academic Engagement for Alumni Engagement and Development (AED). In this role, she will provide oversight of the development, marketing, and execution of educational programs supporting the academic exploration and intellectual
curiosity, and interests of the alumni community in support of the Forever Learning initiative. Tish joins two other GLS alumae in AED, Jennifer Chambers (AM 2021), Assistant Vice President of Lifelong Learning, and Sara Stevens (AM 2019), Assistant Director, Graduate and Professional School Engagement.
Current student Shu Hu interviewed author and GLS alumna Megan Mayhew Bergman (AM 2008) for The Graduate School's Alumni Profiles Series. Megan is the author of three short story collections, most recently How Strange a Season, and numerous articles in publications such as the Guardian, the New Yorker, and the Atlantic. Currently Megan teaches literature and environmental writing at Middlebury College, where she also serves as Director of the Bread Loaf Environmental Writers’ Conference. Read more about Megan's work here.
GLS's newest alums at the 2023 Commencement celebration.
In May, we celebrated our 22 newest alumni with a commencement ceremony at the JB Duke Hotel. Learn more about the 2023 graduates and their master's projects on our 2023 Commencement website. Be sure to visit the Master's Project Showcase page to get an idea of the varied and fascinating projects GLS students produce.
There are now nearly 1,000 GLS alumni since GLS graduated its first cohort of 5 students in 1986. Be sure to keep in touch - let us know what you're up to and share any changes in your contact info. Don't forget to update your Duke's alumni directory entry in the Duke Alumni Graduate Liberal Studies Group!
We want to feature your story on our new GLS website! Our communications lead, Malina Chavez, is working furiously to launch our new GLS website in early spring. We would like to feature program alumni on the site to showcase the diverse pathways our students follow through Duke and beyond. If you are willing to be profiled in this new feature area (including having the courses you took - not the grades! - listed on the site), please complete this form. If you have questions, just reach out to us at dukegls@duke.edu.
Carrying it Forward
GLS alumni contributed $4,370 to the MALS Scholarship Fund in 2023. With your support, GLS is able to offer substantial merit awards to students at various points in their careers, including the Director's Awards ($5,000 entrance awards) and the MALS Endowment Awards ($2,500 each). We truly appreciate your continued generosity!