A new initiative called DukeBurst is adding to the many opportunities for students to interact with professors outside of the classroom.
Junior Will Want and sophomores Leah Rothfeld and Isabella Turchetta started the program this semester to help undergraduate students connect to professors while also getting to know the city of Durham.
“We realize that there are a couple of problems that Duke students have,” Rothfeld said. “One is that students don’t get to know their professors very well outside the classrooms, and we also noticed that a lot of students graduate only knowing Shooters, Harris Teeter and Ninth Street. So we want a way that students can get to know Durham through the professors. ”
The four pilot events organized through DukeBurst have have generated positive feedback from both the students and professors. Faculty members determine which aspect of Durham they would like to showcase before being joined by students.
“It was really fun to hear what Duke life is like from a professor’s standpoint,” said sophomore Evan Bell, who went to the popular coffee shop Cocoa Cinnamon with Writing 101 professor Lisa Andres last Saturday. “I also like the opportunity to go to Durham because it’s not something I can always do, because I don’t have a car. It was just two great things in one.”
Andres noted that the type of interaction offered by DukeBurst is distinct from how professors typically communicate with students in the classroom.
“Office hours are so formal, and I only get to interact with students in my class,” Andres said. “Flunch is nice, but it’s still on campus. I really loved the Cocoa Cinnamon chat because the students who came happened to be very diverse, with different majors and backgrounds, and it’s nice to get to know them outside of the class.”
Andres, who grew up in the area, said that Durham has been changing a lot in the last 15 years and is worth exploring.
“I really like the idea of DukeBurst—bursting out of the Duke bubble—because Durham has a lot to offer,” she said.
Another aspect of the program that appealed to Andres was that it was not limited to freshmen. Faculty-led outings during orientation week are not able to offer the same diversity as those facilitated through DukeBurst, she explained.
Economics professor Martin Zelder—who led a hike in Eno State Park with six students—also said he enjoyed the experience.
“It’s very different when you are out in the wild, where I am not an authority,” he said. “There is more openness for students to raise topics.”
In addition to increasing interactions between students and faculty, the program can also potentially connect Duke students to Durham residents, Turchetta explained.
She said that a soccer game—one of the four pilot programs—organized by a professor managed to create ties between students and residents that would go beyond a one-time occurrence.
“The exciting thing is after that game, the Durham residents actually invited us to play with them in the future, so this really means that Durham is welcoming Duke students to go out more and interact,” Turchetta said.
The founders of DukeBurst noted that they are meeting with the head of Duke Conversations, another program that creates space for conversations between students and faculty members, and Duke Student Government to discuss cooperation and possible expansion.
Zelder explained that the benefits of the program serve to strengthen the bonds between students and faculty.
“I think it’s important for the student to see us more as human beings—this is what has happened to me and my life, this is what I think I have learned from it and this is what I want to pass on to you,” he said. “It’s valuable any time at any setting where you can get to know about another person and try to make sense of their existence. ”
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