Anyone seeking a concentration of religious experts on the University’s campus might look first in the Duke Chapel, the Freeman Center for Jewish Life or the Gray Building. But thanks to a surprising number of Divinity School graduate students serving as graduate assistants, Duke residence halls are home to several of the University’s spiritual scholars.
Of the 20 GAs that Residence Life and Housing Services is employing this year to assist students in dormitories, 15 are graduate students enrolled in the Divinity School. This preponderance of Divinity students is a result not only of the service-based nature of the school’s focus, but also because the school’s curriculum and costs make the benefits of a stint as a GA particularly appealing to its students.
“There’s a certain simpatico between the pastoral careers that many of [the Divinity students] have chosen and helping other students out in a residential setting,” said Eddie Hull, executive director of housing services and dean of residence life.
Hull’s office recruits from every graduate and professional school in the University, but the yield from the Divinity school has been dominant for several years, due in large part to greater publicity for the opportunity put out by the school’s admissions and financial aid offices.
“I think our Divinity program does an outstanding job marketing these opportunities to first-year [graduate] students,” said Deb Lo Biondo, assistant dean of students for residence life, who has coordinated numerous GA hirings. “There’s also a programmatic connection between counseling [in the dorms] and ministry.”
Divinity School administrators agree that the GA position is an excellent enticement for aspiring ministers. “It is very much a part of the admissions and financial aid offices’ spiels in terms of attracting students,” said Greg Duncan, associate dean of student services at the Divinity School.
Not only do Divinity School students dominate the GA roster, they also account for about half of the graduate students serving as residential advisors, Lo Biondo noted.
The most evident reason that so many GAs are in the Divinity School is that they are preparing for a similar role after graduation. “These are of course persons who have been called to be with people, to help people,” Duncan said. “Helping people, offering advice is what they have been trained to do—in a Christian context, but this applies to GAs and RAs as well.”
The financial benefits RAs and GAs receive can also account for the popularity of being a GA for graduate students, as the benefits are particularly helpful for those planning careers in ministry.
“A lot of times, in other graduate programs at Duke, the debt that’s accumulated [through student loans] is more easily paid off in the years after graduation,” said Major Treadway, a second-year Divinity student who serves as a GA in Alspaugh Dormitory.
GAs at Duke receive a stipend of at least $3,000, as well as a single room or an apartment with local phone service donated by the University and a food stipend of roughly $1,000.
Duncan noted that Divinity students will likely continue to dominate this position, as many of them have had positive experiences with it.
“I enjoy it because I enjoy having an impact on people’s lives,” Treadway said.
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