Faculty Discuss Plans to Strengthen Campus Communities

The final month of the academic year is an especially busy time on campus. It’s hard enough to keep up with everything that needs to get done, let alone find time for anything else. Yet on a recent weekday, around 20 faculty members managed to gather in person for a lunch discussion on their Faculty Advancement Seed Grants.

“We love working on this program,” said Sherilynn Black, associate vice provost for faculty advancement. “Our goal is to build community among the faculty, and however we can make that happen, we want to help.” 

Seed grant recipients from several schools discussed their plans to build academic networks and strengthen faculty communities at Duke.

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Leaders and collaborators of the 14 seed grants for 2023-24 come from five schools. Attending the kick-off luncheon were Ann Brewster, Lou Brown, Nicolette Cagle, Tara Chandrasekhar, Marika Coffman, Leslie Digby, Sophia Enríquez, Laura Florand, Heather King, Kara McGee, Alma Solis, Kristen Stephens, Tim Strauman, Malinda Teague and Augustus Wendell. 

Several members of the previous cohort were on hand to provide advice and perspectives. Yue Jiang, Anna Nelson, Maggie Regan, and Cristina Salvador — as well as Nicolette Cagle, whose seed grants spanned both years — spoke about their successes and challenges and took questions on topics from scheduling hacks to outreach methods.

Black said she has heard from numerous deans about the difference these faculty-led initiatives have made.

Support from the Office for Faculty Advancement includes funding as well as practical measures. Black emphasized that faculty leaders are part of a cohort that will meet quarterly for virtual sessions. She and Jennifer Goins, senior program coordinator, will also provide helpful resources and field questions throughout the year.

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Additional leaders and collaborators of the 2023-24 grants who were unable to attend include Doug Boyer, Michael Cary, Geraldine Dawson, Bill Fick, Jehanne Gheith, Susan Gower, Elaine Guevara, Brian Hare, Vickey Keathley, Amie Koch, Sneha Mantri, Jacquelyn McMillian-Bohler, Megan Oakes, Shitong Qiao, Alex Zhang and Leah Zullig.

Main image: Sophia Enríquez talks about her seed grant project, “Local Listening Series.”