Felicia Hawthorne is running for graduate Young Trustee because she wants to ensure that graduate and professional students are not forgotten when the University makes major decisions.
Hawthorne, who graduated from Clemson University with a bachelor’s degree in biology, is a fifth-year doctoral candidate in the genetics and genomics program. During her time at Duke, Hawthorne has been very active in the Graduate and Professional Student Council and currently serves as its president. Since her first year at Duke, Hawthorne has sat on GPSC’s basketball committee, which organizes the distribution of season tickets to men’s basketball games during the annual GPSC campout. Hawthorne also sits on the planning committee for Duke’s 50th anniversary of the first black students’ admittance.
“It was really rewarding to be able to help coordinate an event in which everyone could come together and have fun,” she said. “As I got involved at Duke, I got to understand how the University works and started to see there was a way to make a difference.”
As a graduate Young Trustee, Hawthorne would like to focus on the image that Duke projects as an institution and for its students, both domestically and internationally. She said the position of the graduate Young Trustee has always interested her.
“I would really like to continue working on issues affecting student life in addition to improving the cohesiveness of the graduate student culture,” she said.
Hawthorne wants to prioritize the needs of graduate and professional students as Duke administrators plan to embark on capital projects, such as the West Union Building renovations and the events pavilion construction.
“There is a laundry list of projects the University would want to do, but we don’t have the finances for all of them,” she said.
Jacqueline Looney, senior associate dean of the Graduate School and associate vice provost for academic diversity, was not surprised to learn that Hawthorne was pursuing the graduate Young Trustee position.
“[Hawthorne] has been very focused and intentional about the leadership she has provided,” she said. “She tends to look forward to what the graduate and professional students need.”
Looney and Hawthorne interacted over the past two years when Hawthorne served as both GPSC’s vice president and president. Hawthorne has been very instrumental in moving forward on issues that graduate and professional students care about, Looney said.
“She’s an individual that has been very easy for GPSC to work with,” Looney said. “She connects with the graduate and professional student population.”
Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Moneta, who has also worked with Hawthorne, said he believes that Hawthorne could be an effective graduate Young Trustee.
“She’s deeply invested in the lives of [graduate and professional] students and understands the breadth of issues affecting masters and Ph.D. students,” Moneta wrote in an email Feb. 16.
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