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Majoring in Neuroscience with minors in Chemistry and Visual & Media Studies and on the pre-med track, Stephany Perez-Sanchez knew she wanted to pursue a career in medicine, all thanks to a high-school psychology course.“My favorite unit in that class was neuroanatomy,” the junior explains. “I was so fascinated by the brain and how this structure controls all our functions.”She brought her cerebral fascination to Duke and began her research in earnest during the summer of 2022 in the Huang Fellows Program. Focusing on… read more about Future Physician Discovers Intersections Between Media and Science »
A muse of Salvador Dalí and a regular at Andy Warhol’s Factory 54. Friend of Mia Farrow and photographed by legendary photographer Richard Avedon. Featured on the covers of Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar. So why do so few people know about Donyale Luna, the first Black supermodel? Richard Powell’s interest in Donyale Luna goes “way, way back.” The John Spencer Bassett Distinguished Professor of Art and Art History, whose research focuses on Americans from the Black diaspora, started looking into… read more about Richard Powell Helps Revive the Legacy of Donyale Luna »
Two Duke faculty in the Trinity College of Arts and Sciences have been appointed National Humanities Center (NHC) fellows for the 2023-2024 academic year. Richard Jaffe, professor of Religious Studies, will lovingly craft 15-plus years of research into a comprehensive biography honoring a name many are familiar with: Suzuki. “This isn’t Suzuki the motorcycle inventor or the music method Suzuki,” Jaffe cautions. “This is Daisetsu Teitaro (D.T.) Suzuki, who introduced Zen Buddhism to the United States and Great… read more about Duke Professors Awarded for Research on a Zen Influencer and a New Approach to Color Theory »
Associate professor of the practice Shambhavi Kaul’s film, Slow Shift, will have its World Premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). The 48th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival takes place Thursday, September 7-17, 2023. Slow Shift is a rich reflection on the intersections between myth and reality, as Kaul trains her camera on a World Heritage Site overrun by langurs in Hampi, India, revealing an uncanny co-existence between past and present. Kaul’s film will be part of… read more about Slow Shift World Premiere »
Summer is a great time to catch up on reading. Books from more than a dozen Duke authors offer insight on a range of topics – from gratitude for everyday life to the antislavery writings of Henry David Thoreau. Below is a roundup of some of the most recently published and soon-to-be-out titles. Many of the books, including new editions of previous titles, can be found on the “Duke Authors” display shelves near the circulation desk in Perkins Library. Some are available as e-books for quick download. Most can also be… read more about Hot Off the Press: Summer Reading From Duke Authors »
From Frederick Douglass to Angela Davis, “natural hair” has been associated with the Black freedom struggle. In New Growth Jasmine Nichole Cobb traces the history of Afro-textured coiffure, exploring it as a visual material through which to reimagine the sensual experience of Blackness. Through close readings of slave narratives, scrapbooks, travel illustrations, documentary films, and photography as well as collage, craft, and sculpture, from the nineteenth century to the present, Cobb shows how the racial… read more about New Growth: The Art and Texture of Black Hair »
“This is the photo that launched a thousand ships — and the book,” Gennifer Weisenfeld shares as she taps the front cover of her latest publication, “Gas Mask Nation: Visualizing Civil Air Defense in Wartime Japan.” The book’s cover photo, “Gas Mask Parade, Tokyo (Gasu Masuku Kōshin, Tōkyō),” was taken in 1936 by the modernist Japanese photographer Horino Masao. His black-and-white image captures a never-ending procession of schoolgirls, dressed in a standard uniform of white long-sleeve shirt and dark jumper, as they… read more about Preparing for War from the Air: “Gas Mask Nation” Explores Japan’s Wartime Air Defense Campaigns »
To strengthen the role of the arts at the university and to attract nationally and internationally known artists to the faculty, Duke should establish a new tenure track for visual and performing artists, a faculty committee reported to the Academic Council Thursday. The special pathway in the report would be part of the university’s normal appointments, promotions and tenure (APT) process and would allow for appointments (external or internal) of tenured full professor or professor of the practice to attract the most… read more about Academic Council Considers Tenure Pathway for Creative Artists »
