As the calm blue lights cast a soft glow over the small groups that milled about, graduate students and Duke alumni chatted over light refreshments at the Homecoming Graduate School Reception on Friday night. The Chronicle's Kevin Lin caught up to the attendees in Scharf Hall to find out what kinds of changes they've noticed at the University.
“You get the chance to go to all kinds of activities, and you get the chance to talk to people. When I was studying at the University of Georgia, they seldom had social activities, so I enjoy this very much.” —Anna Li, graduate student
“It’s become more of an international university, both in terms of just the study body but also that so many students travel abroad.” —Charles Arthur Grove, Engineering '51
“Duke is definitely more eco-friendly. I see more conservation.” —Muxi Yang, masters of environmental management student
“Opportunities like this show you how graduate students go forward in the future and what you can do with your degree.” —Karen O’Connell, genetics and genomics graduate student
“The one thing that struck me about Duke was the collaborative environment. We work closely with people at UNC, NCSU, and SAMSI.” —Hamza Ghadyali, third-year physics graduate student
“People give you the room to explore and learn things that you might not have thought you were going to do.” —Dan Griffin, Ph.D. candidate in classical studies
“We have to do lots of assignments at Duke to keep pace with the class.” —Xiaochen Sun, masters of environmental management graduate student
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