May - Jun 2007 Issue

In the 1970s, less than 25 percent of middle schools included sixth grade. Now, the figure is 75 percent nationwide and 90 percent in North Carolina, which has led the trend toward middle schools comprising grades 6-8. The shift took place in part because of overcrowding, but also because educators believed it was developmentally appropriate.

Sack: questioning what's lost when

On a single day, the magazine received promotions for two conferences. The themes created a curious juxtaposition. One conference was on "How Colleges Can Obtain National and Regional Publicity"—as if Duke, over the past year, had been eager for that opportunity.

Whether you're already a long-standing member of a book club or simply drawn to intellectual discourse, a new program called Duke Reads offers a number of enticing reasons to join other Duke alumni and friends for a series of book-related conversations.

Toast of the town: Loomis, center, surrounded by well-wishers at the Random House gala.

Megan Morr

More than a golfer: Panel pondered what Woods represents. David Cannon

Jon Gardiner

Sam Nicols

I've been told that before I accept a job, I should look at the total compensation package. What does that mean?Compensation consists of salary and benefits. If you're young and healthy, it's natural to focus on the money. But you may expose yourself to unnecessary risk and also leave money on the table.

Portrait in courage: Full Frame

Rally for McCallie: "This has been a dream job of mine for many year

Swooping In

Early Century Southern Fiction.

Kevin Sack

Neal Bell started writing plays in the late 1960s, so it's no surprise his plays address the human condition in times of turmoil. In his latest work, however, he has reached back in history—to 2700 B.C.E.—to examine our contemporary world.

 In May 2004, Robert Satloff flew from Morocco to Tunisia in search of Khaled Abdelwahhab. Not the man himself, but information that would confirm what Satloff had heard about Abdelwahhab from a California woman named Anny Boukris.

What were the lacrosse players thinking about as they raced onto the field, in late February, for the first game of the new season? This should have been a season like any other season. And yet, invariably, they knew, it would be a season like no other. The crowd of 6,000—some ten times larger than normal—left no doubt as to their sentiments.

 At first glance, Me Against the World is little more than a repeated pattern of stacked discs forming towering, teetering columns. Drawn with pencil on a nine-foot by five-foot expanse of off-white paper retrieved from a dumpster, the unframed piece is literally stapled to a gallery wall in the Nasher Museum of Art.

New research findings now online in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology began with a professor's desire to understand why her husband often seemed to ignore her requests for help around the house.

Green Apples, 1868, by Winslow Homer. Engraving, 5 7/8 x 3 5/8 inches. Von Canon Fund

Allison Haltom '72, vice president and university secretary, will step down at the end of December. Haltom has been at Duke for almost forty years. After graduating from the Woman's College, she stayed on to work for the university, serving in the offices of undergraduate admissions and annual giving. She was the first woman to direct the Annual Fund. Haltom was named university secretary in 1986 by president H. Keith H.

Hutton Archive

Capito: celebrating with husband, Charlie Capito, on election nig

Les Todd

Megan Morr

 

In the early 1970s, Ann Atwater, a black civil-rights activist, and C.P. Ellis, a former member of the Ku Klux Klan, were asked to work together toward the desegregation of the Durham public-school system.

Shared grief: Brought together by t

Two new staff members have joined the Office of Alumni Affairs, the better to enhance and expand alumni career options. Louise Giordano, formerly a career counselor at Brown University, is the new alumni career adviser.

Tangible teaching: Reiter helps students unde

The Crown family of Chicago has contributed $5 million to Duke to support scholarships and summer fellowships for undergraduate students. The gift will provide $4 million in endowment for need-based undergraduate scholarships, $750,000 in endowment for undergraduate summer fellowships, and $250,000 in endowment for athletic scholarships.

The collector: Byrne stands in front of

 According to new statistics that would make Bob Vila cringe, the number of injuries from nail guns has almost doubled since 2001. And researchers say that more and more often it is do-it-yourselfers who are feeling the pain.

  A Well-Paid Slave: Curt Flood's Fight for Free Agency in Professional Sports By Brad Snyder '94. Viking, 2006. 480 pages. $25.95.

Making the world a better place: scholars Levin, Cunningham, and For