GLS eNews May 11, 2020

GLS Weekly Update - May 11, 2020

The GLS Weekly Update will be on hiatus until August. In the meantime, we will keep you informed of any programmatic news via email as needed. Our Thursday afternoon virtual porch sitting is ongoing at least through June--we'll keep you posted.

Please note that GLS House remains closed until further notice. GLS staff are working remotely and may be reached via email.

In this edition:

• Message from the Director
• GLS Grad Celebration Video Posted
• Alum Presents Master's Project Research Tuesday
• Robin Kirk Talks Fiction
• GLS Fall Application Deadline Extended
• Online Coronovirus Resources for Graduate Students
• GLS Bulletin Board: Upcoming Application and Proposal Deadlines

Message from the Director

Hello GLS Community,

Well, we made it! Another 19 of our colleagues graduated this weekend with their master’s degrees! We were thrilled to be able to recognize them on Saturday at our virtual graduation celebration, which was attended by over 80 people! Check out our special GLS Graduation 2020 website for the ceremony video and, in coming weeks, special short spotlight videos from our Exemplary Master’s Project designees. We are so proud of ALL our graduates, and I am grateful to my GLS colleagues Kent, Dink, and Lisa, as well as our speakers Bob Healy and Tiffany Farr, for all their diligent work to be sure you all were appropriately recognized!

As my first year as GLS director draws to a close, I am looking forward now to having a bit of time to work with the rest of the GLS staff to look ahead to the future of the program. We had already set some planning goals for summer, but this project takes on new urgency with the upheaval across higher education that the COVID-19 crisis has brought. We have a wonderful class of admitted students set to join us in 2020-21, but it remains to be seen whether many of them can get to Durham. And of course, we await direction from Duke about the university’s operations in the fall.

Within this uncertain context, we will be spending summer looking closely at the GLS program, incorporating feedback from our recent ten-year review process (completed in January) as well as from our Advisory Committee, other involved faculty, and our current GLS students who responded to our curriculum survey earlier this year. We’ll be doing some benchmarking with other similar programs to see where we might sharpen our focus while not losing the flexibility that allows everyone in GLS to “follow [their] curiosity.”

Along the way, as always, we welcome the insights of those in the larger GLS community. I will continue to host Thursday “virtual porch sitting” (5:00-6:00 pm Eastern time) each week through the end of June, so I hope many of you will join me to chat! We’ll send a reminder with the Zoom link each Thursday, even though the GLS Weekly Update will be going on break until August after this issue.

Thank you all for your support and engagement this year! Take care of yourselves, and be well.

Warm regards,

Video of GLS Grad Celebration Posted

If you missed our special Zoom event honoring our 2019-2020 graduates, never fear! Just click below to watch a video of the celebration, or see our special website created to mark the occasion. The Exemplary Master's Project awardee videos, currently in production, will be available soon.

Alumna Presents Research at Duke Libraries' Lunch and Learn

Beverly Dowdy (MALS 2019) will present her master's project research on Tuesday, May 12, at 12:15 PM, as part of Duke Libraries' Brown Bag Lunch and Learn series. Beverly will present on a combination of her thesis and a journal article, to be published this summer. The presentation will last about 20 minutes and allow 10 more for Q&A. Click here to join the Zoom meeting.

Beverly's master's project, “The Selling of Virginia: English Emigration to the Chesapeake in the 17th Century," received the Exemplary Master's Project designation. The full text is available on DukeSpace.

Beverly Dowdy (MALS 2019) presents her work during the 2019 Exemplary Master's Project Celebration.

Robin Kirk Talks Fiction

Professor Robin Kirk was recently featured as part of Fantasy Cafe's Women in SciFi Month series. Professor Kirk, a lecturer in Duke’s Department of Cultural Anthropology and Faculty Co-Chair of the Duke Human Rights Center at the Franklin Humanities Institute, is also an accomplished novelist, poet and essayist. She will teach a new course for GLS this fall, "Human Rights Futures."

GLS Fall Application Deadline Extended

Just a reminder to everyone that we have re-opened our application process for Fall 2020 admissions with a new deadline of May 15th. If you know of people who’ve thought about doing a MALS degree, send them our way. Admissions criteria and the application portal can be found on the GLS website. We are also happy to schedule time via email or phone (919-684-3222) to speak with applicants over the phone or via Zoom.

Online Resources for Graduate Students

• The Duke Student Assistance Fund was established better support master's students who may be experiencing difficulty providing for their basic needs during this extraordinary time.
• Blue Devils Care is a new mental telehealth service that can provide support wherever you may be located currently. You can access the service by using the key DUKE2020.
• COVID-19 updates for students are available on Duke's Coronavirus Response website.
• Graduate School-specific COVID-19 updates are posted here. TGS has also created a FAQ for continuing and incoming international students.
• The Career Center now offers online drop-in advising for graduate students on Wednesdays and Fridays. View the schedule here.

EVERY THURSDAY THROUGH JUNE:

Opportunities Around Campus and Beyond

Visit the GLS Bulletin Board for a list of funding, volunteer, and other opportunities beyond GLS.