Adrienne Clough was elected graduate Young Trustee at Tuesday night’s Graduate and Professional Student Council meeting.
“I’m elated,” said Clough, a second-year student in the Fuqua School of Business. “I was really looking forward to today.”
General assembly representatives said the election was efficient and only required one round of voting. There was a movement to skip the open discussion, and all debate occurred during closed discussion.
“Basically what we did was... debated the strengths of all the candidates and honestly none of them had many weaknesses,” Inderpreet Jalli, a second-year biology graduate student, said.
Clough’s platform was based on her previous experiences and vision for the next Young Trustee.
“My vision for Young Trustee is as fundamental as the ABC’s—A for asset management, B for borderless education and C for career services,” Clough said.
Clough said her previous endowment experience at Princeton University would allow her to defeat proposals that are bad for graduate students. She also said she hopes to facilitate interdisciplinary study by addressing the hurdles to study across departments.
To address career services, Clough said she wants to increase mentoring of graduate and professional students. She also suggested giving international students, who have 20 to 30 percent lower job placement than do students from the U.S., increased visa and job opportunities.
Clough emphasized her passion for Duke and desire to have a bigger impact on the University community.
“I think you can actually get things done at Duke,” Clough said.
This semester Clough is taking French 2, which she said has given her a taste of the undergraduate experience. Although she did not get her undergraduate degree from Duke, she said the Board of Trustees is looking for independent thinkers, not necessarily someone who has had the most Duke experiences.
In response to the financial crisis, Clough said she hopes to reduce the debt recent graduate students leave school with. She also said she hopes to ensure that the University’s more limited funds are distributed between the humanities and the sciences.
Graduate Young Trustees serve two-year terms on the Board. Clough will be a non-voting observer this Fall and a voting member the following year.
Starting this fall, Clough will be working for The Boston Consulting Group while living in Durham.
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