GLS eNews November 23, 2021
GLS Biweekly Update - November 23, 2021
The GLS staff currently are working a hybrid schedule. Email and phone (GLS main number - 919-684-3222) remain the best way to reach us.
GLS will be closed for Thanksgiving beginning at 1 PM on Wednesday, November 24, though Sunday, November 28. Team GLS wishes you a safe and happy holiday!
GLS Welcomes New Team Member
A message from Director Anne Whisnant:
We are thrilled this week to welcome Malina Chavez to our GLS team as our new front-desk Staff Assistant. For those of you who’ve been with us awhile, Malina is taking the place of Dink Suddaby, who retired in the fall of 2020. She’ll be the first person you’ll see when you come to GLS House, and will help us return to a more regular, predictable schedule of having the house open each day.
I’ve known Malina for several years, as she and I overlapped in my final year at UNC, back in 2016. There, I knew her as part of the digital humanities lab, a unit that I often collaborated with in developing activities for my public history courses. When I saw her application for our position at GLS, I was excited because I knew that Malina had the kinds of creative, technical, and digital skills that we were looking for to expand our GLS web presence, social media, outreach, and communications efforts. It doesn’t hurt in this regard that she has an MFA from Duke!
As we move forward, Lisa Robinson Bailey will continue to handle most inquiries from current students and faculty related to student progress through the program, courses, registration, payments, scholarships, and so forth – things that fall generally under the “Director of Graduate Studies Assistant” and departmental business manager roles. Malina, meanwhile, will be taking over fielding inquiries from prospective students and helping us get the word out broadly about GLS and the accomplishments and activities of our students and alums!
Below is Malina’s bio to tell you more about her. You can reach her at malina.chavez@duke.edu or in person at the GLS House!
Malina Chavez (MFA|EDA, Duke University) has been a PhD Lab Artist in Residence, teaching assistant in Information Science + Studies (Web Multimedia), Experimental Film, and Cathy Davidson’s groundbreaking Coursera MOOC, The History (and Future) of Higher Education. Chavez graduated cum laude with a BS in Photography from Middle Tennessee State University, where she completed minors in both Film Studies and International Media. Her Google street project 1949 Armistice Agreement Line explores borders that separate Gaza and Israel and was the recipient of the 2013 SPE Jeannie Pearce Award for Innovations in Imaging.
Prior to joining the GLS team, Chavez was the Program Coordinator for the Carolina Digital Humanities Initiative at UNC, Chapel Hill. She also worked as a web assistant for the Center for Documentary Studies and a marketing assistant for the MFA|EDA program at Duke University. She is interested in work that engages the public, serves communities, and propels participatory projects with underserved demographics.
Two GLS Students Receive Dean's Research Award
Congratulations to Brie Russell and Romeo Tokinai, who each received the 2021-22 Dean's Research Award for Master's Students. The award, sponsored by The Graduate School, provides up to $1,000 to fund the purchase of materials and supplies to support research relevant to a master’s student’s degree completion or research/conference travel. See below for more on Brie, who also was recognized this past week by Duke@Work for her supreme generosity.
GLS Student Shares Healing Gift with Transplant Recipient
Wanting to do something positive and life-affirming, GLS student and Duke employee Brie Russell donated a kidney through Duke's Kidney Transplant Program at the height of the COVID pandemic. Click here to read about Brie's remarkable gift and the twist of fate that brought her face to face with the transplant recipient.
Photo by Stephen Schramm from Working@Duke.
TGS Race and Bias Conversations Series Continues with RCR Forum
The Graduate School's 2021-2022 Race and Bias Conversations series continues with a discussion of anti-racist practices in graduate education, this time led by three current Duke PhD students. The event is open to all members of the Duke community, including alumni. In this event, you’ll hear about best practices for academic departments, including how graduate students in Duke’s Biology department developed a course called BIOLOGY 750S: Introduction to IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Anti-Racism) in Biology. Click here for more information.
Note that graduate students will receive RCR credit (GS715.01) for attendance of the entire event; attendance is recorded via Zoom logs. For RCR credit, verify that you are logged in to your Duke Zoom account for the event (and not logged in with another account such as Gmail.) You will receive the Zoom link upon registration. All master's students are required to complete one RCR forum in addition to the required RCR training at orientation.
Duke GradEngage, Posen Library Taking Applications for Spring Fellows
Want to be more involved with Duke’s neighboring communities?
Looking to deepen your relationship with a community organization to create change?
Interested in meeting like-minded students at Duke?
Apply to be a Spring 2022 GradEngage Fellow!
Deadline: November 28, 2021 (11:59PM)
GradEngage is a funded fellowship program that offers Duke’s graduate and professional school students the opportunity to strengthen their connection to Durham and its surrounding communities through projects that address a societal need in collaboration with a community partner organization.* The program is seeking applications for projects conducted during spring 2022.
For more information, go to the GradEngage webpage.
*For those who are new to Durham or don’t have existing community relationships, visit ConnectCommunity, a community engagement platform maintained by Duke Civic Engagement, or set up a time to meet with someone from their team here.
Posen Fellowship in Digital Humanities & Indexing
(part-time, graduate and post-graduate level)
Deadline to apply: Tuesday, November 30, 8 PM EST
The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization is a growing, landmark collection of Jewish literature, artwork, and artifacts, from the biblical to the contemporary period. Through printed volumes (Yale University Press) and a free online digital site, The Posen Library aims to educate broad audiences about the diversity and richness of Jewish culture from around the world. We are in the process of redeveloping our digital platform, the Posen Digital Library, and this fellowship program will contribute to its progress.
About the Fellowship
We seek to create a cohort of 10–15 Fellows in Digital Humanities & Indexing with graduate level work in digital humanities, digital archiving, or metadata and indexing, as well as a passion for Jewish Studies. Fellows will spend the bulk of their time working with the primary sources of The Posen Library (5 of 10 volumes published to date), tagging the texts and artwork according to theme, genre, and geography. In addition to this indexing work, this is a professional development opportunity that will include group workshops and opportunities to learn from digital humanities and publishing professionals. All ranks of scholars will be considered: graduate students, ABD, post-doctoral.
Tasks include but are not limited to:
- identifying themes in texts and artwork and tagging these sources from a set list;
- researching historical geography;
- organizing large volumes of data;
- data entry.
Essential qualifications include but are not limited to:
- graduate level scholar of digital archive studies, digital humanities, library science, or museum studies, particularly in fields related or adjacent to Jewish Studies;
- high levels of detail and organization;
- excellent computer skills including experience with Dropbox, and Google Sheets;
- native-level fluency in English;
- independent initiative.
The Fellowship is remote and international applications will be considered. The position will be paid hourly at a rate of USD$20–25/hr. This is a 10-week term, beginning January 9, 2022, with the possibility for additional work beyond the conclusion of the Fellowship on March 20, 2022. Prior to the start of the program, Fellows must commit to work at least 10 hours/week and attend all virtual meetings. A stable, high-speed internet connection is required for the position and must be provided by the Fellow.
The Posen Library is committed to an environment of mutual respect where equal employment opportunities are available to all applicants and teammates.
Interested candidates should apply here. The form will request that you upload a C.V., the names and contact information for two recommenders, and a letter of inquiry, which includes your motivation for applying, areas of interest/expertise, ways you intend to apply this expertise to The Posen Library, how this Fellowship will contribute to your professional development and career goals. Applications will be accepted until 8:00 p.m. EST on Tuesday, November 30, 2021. For questions, contact Alison Joseph, Senior Editor, ajoseph@posenlibrary.com (APPLY HERE). Please note, our office will be closed the week of American Thanksgiving.
Still Time to Register for Spring Seminars
The spring registration drop/add period is now underway. Please note that December 1 is the late registration deadline for Spring 2022. This includes registration in continuation. A $50 fee will be assessed to students who register after this date.
Currently there is a waitlist for The Art of Storytelling, but seats are still available in Critical Digital Knowledge and Protecting Nature in a World of People.
LS 780-93 Critical Digital Knowledge: Seeing Data Bodies and Practicing the Future
Instructor: Amanda Starling Gould
Mondays, 2-5 PM
GLS House, 2114 Campus Drive, and online
Click here for course description.
LS 760-39 Protecting Nature in a World of People: Protected Areas, Economic Development and Tourism
Instructor: Robert Healy
Tuesdays, 6-9 PM
GLS House, 2114 Campus Drive
Click here for course description.
LS 770-45 The Art of Storytelling
Instructor: Michelle Dove
Wednesdays 6-9 PM
GLS House, 2114 Campus Drive
Click here for course description.
Professional Development for Master's Students - Emerging Leaders Institute
The Graduate School offers several professional development opportunities throughout the year. Coming up on December 7: learn about the Emerging Leaders Institute (ELI) at an ELI Information Session. The ELI is a great opportunity for developing leadership skills while collaborating on an interdisciplinary team project with other graduate students and postdocs. Click here to register for the Zoom info session.
SPREAD THE WORD! Graduate Liberal Studies holds online information sessions for prospective students every Friday morning at 10 AM EST. These sessions, which last about an hour, are the best way to learn more about the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies degree at Duke University. GLS staff members are available to discuss degree requirements, the application and admissions process, and more. Click here for registration details.
Important Dates for GLS Students
Tuesday, November 9 - Drop/Add begins for Spring 2022
Tuesday, November 23, 10:30 PM - Thanksgiving recess begins; Graduate classes end
Wednesday, November 24-Tuesday, December 7 - Graduate reading period
Wednesday, December 1 - Late registration deadline for Spring 2022. A $50 fee will be assessed to students who register after this date.
Wednesday, December 8-Monday, December 13 - Final examinations
Campus Calendars
Check out the links below for events happening across Duke.
Franklin Humanities Institute (FHI)
Department of Art, Art History & Visual Studies (AAHVS)
Department of Asian & Middle Eastern Studies (AMES)
Department of Gender, Sexuality & Feminists Studies
Department of International Comparative Studies (ICS)
Online Resources for Graduate Students
- COVID-19 updates for students are available on Duke's Coronavirus Response website.
- Graduate School-specific COVID-19 updates are posted here.
- 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.
- The Duke Career Hub offers career support, content, and resources.