Showing posts tagged “Duke University”
Lisa Sorg ·
5 Oct 2009, 9:00 PM ·
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The Daily Beast has named Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill as the No. 1 smartest city in America.
The online mag cited the area’s top-notch universities, Duke and UNC (sorry N.C. State), RTP and the “engaged political minds” that are attracted to the capital city. It awarded the region a Daily Beast IQ of 170, which, if translated into legitimate intelligence quotient, would place us between Albert Einstein, who reportedly had an IQ of 160, and Sir Isaac Newton with 190.
Of the 55 cities scored, Fresno, Calif., placed last with an IQ of 3. Greensboro came in 35th with an IQ of 83. Charlotte ranked 16th with an above average score of 119.
Chapel Hill, Durham, North Carolina, Raleigh, education, national, news Duke University, Research Triangle Park, The Daily Beast, UNC
Matt Saldaña ·
7 Apr 2009, 3:09 PM ·
2 Comments
Plans by Duke University to close off two public streets in order to accommodate a $50 million development project faced an icy reception among neighborhood groups and Durham officials at Monday night’s City Council meeting. Duke officials want to convert Maxwell Avenue and Sumter Street, near East Campus, into private parking lots restricted to students and faculty. And a site plan mock-up, which was presented for the first time on Monday, called for several “security gates” that would block public access to the streets and building.
“We believe this is a reaching out to that community,” said Duke Vice President for Campus Services Kemel Dawkins.
Dawkins argued that the project would bring 650 faculty and students “closer to Brightleaf,” and would encourage them to “mingle freely during the day.” However, from midnight until 6 a.m., a gate would prevent anyone from walking, or biking, through the area. And except for members of Duke, and neighbors who have applied for key cards, car traffic through the area would be closed 24 hours a day.
Duke “is perceived by citizens as a fortress, and we’re trying to get ride of that fortress mentality in the U.S.,” said Councilwoman Cora-Cole McFadden.
“Duke is as well,” Dawkins said, to snickers in the gallery.
Dawkins claimed that the streets were “mostly used by members of Duke,” and were “largely dirt and gravel roads” that would relieve the City of Durham from maintenance and utility work. However, several community members attested that they used the streets often–particularly in emergencies, and when trains block all other routes in the area.
“We live in a city, and that city needs to be meshed with Duke,” said Duke graduate student Richard Twigg, who was opposed to the street closing.
North Carolina General Statute 160A-299 requires that closing a street, or alley, is “not contrary to the public interest.”
When asked by council members if Duke would be willing to open the gates to vehicular traffic during the day, Dawkins said that would “compromise the safety of the parking lots.”
“I can’t buy that,” said Councilman Eugene Brown said. “This is not the way Duke has done business.” Continue reading »
Durham Alan DeLisle, Bill Kalkhof, Burt's Bees, DDI, Duke University, elections, John Schelp, Kemel Dawkins
David Fellerath ·
13 Mar 2009, 6:44 PM ·
2 Comments
Thavisouk Phrasavath, co-director and subject of the Oscar-nominated The Betrayal-Nerakhoon, at the 2008 festival. (photo by D.L. Anderson)
If there was any doubt about the depth and breadth of the economic crisis in general and the daily newspaper crisis in particular, this afternoon’s announcement from the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival abolishes it.
The New York Times, which has provided sponsorship support for the 12-year-old festival since 2001, has withdrawn its commitment, the festival announced today, less than three weeks away from the start of this year’s event, which is scheduled for April 2-5 in Durham.
The Times was one of two “presenting sponsors” for the festival. Duke University is the other. The threshold for being a presenting sponsor is $100,000, says Peg Palmer, the festival’s executive director, in a phone interview earlier this evening.
“We’re disappointed. We’ve had a good long relationship with the Times,” Palmer says. “All the newspapers are reassessing [their priorities]. They’re slashing budgets and revisiting priorities. We’re one of the many that fell by the wayside.” Continue reading »
Durham, arts, business, economy, film, media, national, news Duke University, Full Frame, New York Times, Peg Palmer
Matt Saldaña ·
17 Feb 2009, 7:21 PM ·
1 Comment
Photo by DL Anderson
…and cats and dogs are living together. That’s Chapel Hill’s mayor, Kevin Foy, helping Durham mayor Bill Bell into a Tar Heels sweatshirt–the result of an elaborate bet on the UNC-Duke game last week.
“He regrets the outcome of the game; I was very happy with the outcome of the game,” Foy told attendees at last night’s City Council meeting in Durham–before dashing off to Chapel Hill’s Town Council meeting that same night.
The agreement called for the mayor of the losing team’s city to wear the opposite team’s swag at the next council meeting. In addition, Foy gets free passes to a Durham Performing Arts Center show.
“You’re serious about this?” Bell asked, as he grudgingly descended the City Hall ramp toward Foy, who was holding, apparently, the most flamboyant zip-up hoodie he could find.
(More on urban chickens, and a 25 square mile “donut hole” in Durham with no water-quality control restrictions, after the jump.)
Continue reading »
Durham, Durham County, Wake County, environment 751 Assemblage, Bill Kalkhof, DDI, Downtown Durham, Duke University, Durham City Council, jordan lake, Patrick Byker, UNC, urban chickens
Fiona Morgan ·
17 Dec 2008, 11:30 PM ·
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Duke University President Richard Brodhead sent an email to students, faculty and staff Wednesday evening letting them know some unsettling news about how the financial crisis has affected the university: Its endowment is worth 19 percent less than it was on July 1.
It could be worse. Just ask Yeshiva University.
Below is a copy of Brodhead’s email.
Continue reading »
Durham Duke University, financial crisis
Matt Saldaña ·
8 Dec 2008, 11:24 AM ·
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On Sunday, Barack Obama officially announced his selection of Eric K. Shinseki, a retired four-star general, to head the Department of Veterans Affairs. In addition to serving in the U.S. Army for 38 years–and earning two purple hearts in the Vietnam War–the Duke Chronicle reports that Shinseki graduated from Duke University in 1976, with a B.A. in English literature.
In 2003, Shinseki faced criticism from George W. Bush and then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for testifying before Congress, shortly before the U.S. invasion of Iraq, that “several hundred thousand” troops would be necessary in order to confront the region’s ethnic tensions.
The New York Times notes that, although Shinseki’s comments made him something of a persona non grata, they turned out to be quite prescient:
The testimony angered Donald H. Rumsfeld, the defense secretary at the time, whose war plans called for far fewer troops. Mr. Rumsfeld’s deputy, Paul D. Wolfowitz, publicly rebuked General Shinseki’s comments as “wildly off the mark,” in part because Iraqis would welcome the Americans as liberators.
With the subsequent years in which Americans battled ethnic insurgents, and after President Bush agreed in January 2007 to a “surge” strategy of more troops, General Shinseki was effectively vindicated, and military officials, as well as activists and politicians, publicly saluted him. By then, however, General Shinseki had been marginalized on the Joint Chiefs of Staff and quietly retired from the Army.
If confirmed by the Senate, Shinseki will oversee 240,000 employees in the second-largest federal agency, behind the Defense Department.
Durham, education, national, politics Barack Obama, Donald Rumsfeld, Duke University, Eric Shinseki, George W. Bush, Iraq war, Paul Wolfowitz
Matt Saldaña ·
24 Nov 2008, 4:28 PM ·
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What do Nazi comic books, Civil War-era song sheets, and portraits from a pioneering African-American photography studio in Charleston, S.C., have in common? They’re all new additions to the Duke Digital Collections, Duke University’s free archive of historical texts and images. (The collection’s About page notes: “In addition to providing easier access to these materials, digital collections aid in the preservation of materials by reducing the need for handling the originals.”) Indeed, the presentation online is remarkable–and, for the song sheet collection, there’s even a tag cloud containing terms like “love,” “flag,” “cause” and “traitor.”
Other recently digitized collections include photographs taken by two Americans living in a nascent Soviet Union, and a Union soldier’s private collection of cartes-de-visites of “Officers of Army and Navy and Notorious Characters of the So-called ‘Confederate States.’” Here’s an excerpt from the intro for “Americans in the Land of Lenin: Documentary Photographs of Early Soviet Russia, 1919-1930.” Trust us, though, the images are even better:
Both men left unique photos of their encounter with ordinary individuals of the self-proclaimed first socialist country in the world. Their images of life in the Soviet provinces between the World Wars reveal an agrarian, multi-ethnic country, still reeling under the impact of the revolutionary forces unleashed at the beginning of the 20th-century.
arts arts, Duke University
Grayson Currin ·
10 Nov 2008, 3:46 PM ·
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…but we’re guessing Reggie Love won’t be in the stands.
(From Huffington Post: Former Duke basketball and football star Reggie Love, center and facing)
But we will be: Follow the action at Triangle Offense.
Durham, sports Barack Obama, Duke University, Durham, Reggie Love
Fiona Morgan ·
6 Oct 2008, 10:14 AM ·
1 Comment
The media maven will give Duke’s 2009 commencement address, the university recently announced.
Too bad Ronnie Sturdivant won’t be here to see her. Hopefully whoever gets hold of his downtown building will keep his signs up in the window long enough for her to see them.
UPDATE: The Indy has confirmed that the “We Want Oprah!!!” sign has been taken down from Sturdivant’s converted motel on Corcoran St.
Durham Duke University
Matt Saldaña ·
1 Oct 2008, 2:19 PM ·
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And it’s shutting down (mostly) Oct. 15. The Personal Rapid Transit system, established in the 1980s, connects Duke’s hospital and outpatient clinics, via a single-car, electro-magnetic “magic carpet ride.” Portions of the track are underground, making it the only underground transportation system in North Carolina.
The N&O has the obit:
The tram system has been Mathews’ life for three decades. When he describes how the system works — by electric current and a magnetic field he likens to a “magic carpet ride,” his voice swells with the sort of pride usually reserved for a proud parent on a child’s graduation day. He expects a bit of melancholy to set in next month, because he and Burke have seen the system through from cradle to grave.
Durham Duke University, rapid transit
