The Arts and Sciences Council discussed integrating DukeEngage into the curriculum and how the new initiative will affect Duke's study abroad program in the future at its meeting Thursday.
Eric Mlyn, the outgoing director of the Robertson Scholars Program, and Sherryl Broverman, associate professor of the practice of biology, spoke to the council about DukeEngage and its role in undergraduate life at Duke.
Mlyn, who will serve as the director of the new Duke Center for Civic Engagement, said he hopes DukeEngage will become an "essential part of the Duke experience."
"In five years we will look back on this initiative and it will either be an appendage, kind of a barnacle on a ship... or it will be something even more," Mlyn said. "It will be something integral to the Duke experience the way people talk about the [Focus program]."
Mlyn added that the success of DukeEngage depends on the level of faculty involvement. The student body and community is already on board, but the key is to get faculty excited, he said.
"What we need to do is think about how we do [DukeEngage] in a way that supports what [faculty] are doing and also makes for the best experience for undergraduates," Mlyn said.
Broverman, who will serve as vice chair of the program's faculty advisory board, stressed the need to "think creatively" about how community service can be connected to the intellectual objectives of Duke.
"We have to think very broadly and that is a discussion we're going to have, what is a community partner and what is service and how can that connect to the intellectual activity at Duke," she said.
DukeEngage has the potential to spur intellectual growth and add innovation to the curriculum, Broverman said.
"There is the hope that this will lead to honors theses, this will lead to more independent studies," she said.
Broverman added that she hopes increased faculty-student interaction results from DukeEngage.
"You get a very different relationship with a student when you're involved with them in a research project, when you're mentoring them in perhaps another community or another culture, than you get in the classroom," she said.
Another key component to DukeEngage will be full immersion in a new culture, Broverman said.
"How do we balance service versus immersion is something we're going to still talk about," she said. "There might be really good service projects that have less immersion and really good immersion projects that have less service involved. There's a continuum there we have to define."
Following Mlyn and Broverman's speech, Margaret Riley, associate dean for study abroad and director of the Office of Study Abroad, spoke on the role of study abroad at the University.
"I am happy to think of study abroad as a pillar of the Trinity experience," Riley said.
She added that Duke does not have to "sell study abroad" to its students. She pointed to a survey that showed 10 percent of students nationwide study abroad during their college career while 43 to 46 percent of Duke students study abroad.
"[Students] come here planning on [studying abroad] and knowing that it gets the wonderful support that it does here," Riley said. "So they earn credit towards their degree, they experiment horizons, they learn a lot about themselves."
Riley described the process of approving new study abroad programs as well as methods of assessing the success of current programs. She added that an online evaluation form has been implemented to solicit student feedback on study abroad programs.
Riley said DukeEngage will be a critical partner for the Office of Study Abroad in the future. She added that there will be "natural linkages" that will evolve from the partnership.
"It may mean some shifts in the traditional paradigms that we in the Office of Study Abroad have operated under," Riley said. "But we're flexible, we're excited and we're definitely willing to engage with DukeEngage and see how this links to and complements the great work that we've done in study abroad."
In other business:
The council announced that it will discuss the Campus Culture Initiative at its April meeting.
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