Duke University and the higher education community are regularly driving progress and generating positive impacts in their home states via job creation, improved health outcomes, education and more. Through purposeful partnerships with the government and nonprofit and for-profit entities, universities are helping their local communities flourish.
The inaugural event of the NC in DC series, Duke’s Education & Workforce Training Across North Carolina, will demonstrate how faculty and staff across Duke are directing programs that train individuals to become leading practitioners in their respective fields and bring valuable resources to local communities throughout North Carolina.
In advance of the event, preview some of the many ways our panelists and Duke University as a whole are engaging in North Carolina:
The Duke in North Carolina Annual Report, prepared by Duke State Relations, highlights the high-level presence and impact of Duke University, Duke Health and Duke LifePoint Healthcare in the state.
Duke Across North Carolina, prepared by Duke’s Office of Government Relations and Duke in DC, provides a one-page overview of the university and health system’s reach.
Speakers and Topics
Vincent Guilamo-Ramos| Dean, Duke University School of Nursing
Vincent Guilamo-Ramos, PhD, MPH, LCSW, R.N., ANP-BC, PMHNP-BC, FAAN, serves as dean and professor at the Duke University School of Nursing and is Vice Chancellor for Nursing Affairs at Duke University. In addition, he is the founding director of the Center for Latino Adolescent and Family Health (CLAFH) at Duke University. Before being appointed dean in July 2021, Ramos was a tenured professor at New York University (NYU) and Columbia University. Most recently, he held faculty appointments in nursing, public health, and social work at NYU. While at NYU, Ramos also served as Pilot Projects and Mentoring Core Director of a NIDA-funded P30 center and as Associate Vice Provost for Mentoring and Outreach Programs, a role in which he developed a university-wide mentoring infrastructure for the advancement of early career faculty, with particular emphasis on underrepresented faculty.
Since 1931, the Duke University School of Nursing (DUSON) has had a longstanding commitment to providing an outstanding environment for education and innovation that develops and supports tomorrow’s nursing leaders. The Duke University School of Nursing trains the next generation of health care providers to serve in communities across North Carolina and beyond. DUSON is a national leader in nurse education, coming in second in the nation in the U.S. News and World Report’s 2023 Best Nursing Schools rankings. In addition to educating the nursing leaders of tomorrow, DUSON represents a hub for critically important nursing research that is changing the future of health care. By engaging in community partnerships, breaking down barriers to social determinants of health, and facilitating innovative research and discovery, DUSON is influencing the future of health care in our state. One such initiative includes a recent $3.9 million award from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to deliver nurse-led models of care in North Carolina communities. Beginning in May 2023, students at DUSON will have the opportunity to participate in weeklong immersion experiences in rural and underserved communities in North Carolina. The cooperative agreement award will establish the Mobile Prevention and Care Team (M-PACT) Clinic and provide care and health promotion activities to urban underserved and rural populations in North Carolina, including Granville, Vance, Harnett and Pamlico counties. Priority populations also include veterans, homeless and low-income people in Durham and Latino immigrants through the Mexican consulate in Raleigh. DUSON plans to partner with Durham Technical Community College, which will provide a mobile van unit for the excursion and immersion events.
Liz DeMattia |Research Scientist and Director Community Science Initiative, Duke University Marine Lab
Dr. Liz DeMattia is the director and founder of the Community Science Initiative at the Duke University Marine Laboratory (DUML) and has 26 years of experience conducting ecological research and developing outreach for community-based conservation programs. At DUML, Dr. DeMattia has trained 31 undergraduate and graduate students in community engagement; has created K-12 curricula on Marine Debris, Water Quality, Restoration, and Drones; and has also designed a storm water citizen science program (AdoptADrain) that connects high school students and teachers with researchers and community decision-makers.
The DUML in Beaufort, North Carolina, has been home to scientists conducting world-class, cutting-edge research on many aspects of marine ecosystems and the human communities that depend on them. Today, the Marine Laboratory operates year-round to provide educational, training, and research opportunities to about 3,500 persons annually, including undergraduate, graduate and professional students enrolled in the university’s academic programs; visiting student groups who use the laboratory’s facilities; and scientists who come from North America and abroad to conduct their research. The Marine Lab also collaborates with community organizations in coastal North Carolina with educational and conservation missions and partners with local K-12 schools to provide opportunities for area residents to participate in Marine Lab research.
The DUML Community Science Initiative was created in 2017 to increase community engagement through scientific research. The initiative aims to collaborate with our community through education, conservation, outreach, and local research. The Community Science Initiative houses several programs, including the DUML Marine Debris Curriculum. This year-long interdisciplinary program for 4th and 5th-grade classrooms across North Carolina was developed by DUML researchers, local teachers, and community members to engage elementary students with experiential learning based on local ecosystems. The STEM Pathways, Student Scientist Program also provides high school students in Carteret and Craven counties the opportunity to gain research and leadership skills while gaining an understanding of local ecosystems.
Brad Thie | Director, Thriving Rural Communities, Duke Divinity School
Rev. Brad Thie, a 1998 Duke Divinity School graduate, has pastored United Methodist churches in North Carolina and has extensive experience ministering as a chaplain and spiritual counselor in prisons, hospitals, and retirement communities. Before joining Thriving Rural Communities in 2013, Thie served as pastor of Friendship UMC in Newton, N.C., a partner church with Thriving Rural Communities. “I have witnessed the transformative power of the ministry,” Thie said. “Rural Fellows have blessed our church, our laity has grown through Duke learning events, and Friendship UMC has been encouraged in her ministry within the community.”
Founded in 1926 as the first of the university’s graduate professional schools, the Divinity School at Duke University attracts students from across the state, nation, and worldwide. Duke Divinity School has hundreds of alumni working as religious or nonprofit leaders in North Carolina and leads various community initiatives designed to use theological engagement and interdisciplinary collaboration to address complex issues in local communities and beyond.
The Thriving Rural Communities initiative focuses on rural communities in North Carolina by cultivating faithful rural Christian leadership and fruitful rural United Methodist congregations while preparing a select group of students for effective ministry in these areas. Thriving Rural Communities has formed partnerships with rural United Methodist churches across North Carolina. Each partner church receives educational opportunities and grant funding from Duke Divinity School and The Duke Endowment as it seeks further ways to serve its surrounding community. The congregations also serve as special learning centers for Rural Ministry Fellows, who serve their ten-week summer field education placement in one of these congregations, as well as for other clergy and laity throughout North Carolina.
Aaron Kyle | Professor of the Practice in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, Pratt School of Engineering
Dr. Aaron M. Kyle focuses on enhancing undergraduate education while teaching First Year Design, Senior Design and Medical Device Instrumentation. Kyle aspires to create new courses that will provide robust design experiences for undergraduates between their first and final years of study. He is also devising methods and researching the efficacy of intentionally addressing DEI issues in design projects and engineering education. Prior to joining Duke, Kyle led summer design boot camps for New York City high school students, allowing students from the local community to enter university workspaces and build biomedical devices. Students used that initial design knowledge to identify a problem and develop a simple prototype to address that problem. These outreach programs have spanned more than 40 successful projects, including a tool to help people with darker skin identify and detect signs of melanoma, heart rate monitors for people with sleep apnea, and even a guidance system for people who are visually impaired, as students found that they are especially susceptible to injuries above the waist. By working with local teachers, Kyle has helped create seven design-centric high school classes that have impacted over 1000 New York City high school students.
Kyle is replicating the efforts from New York in North Carolina with the newly formed Outreach Design Education (ODE) Program. ODE is an NIH Science Education Partnership Award-funded program that introduces grades 6-12 students, particularly underrepresented minority or economically disadvantaged students, to STEM concepts through biomedical engineering design projects. Kyle does this through a combination of Design Hackathons for middle school students, a Summer Design Camp for High School students, and the creation of engineering design-centric course content with grades 6-12 STEM teachers. As the programs develop in NC, Kyle will focus on new collaborations with partners outside of the Duke community, like principals and teachers at local middle and high schools to develop outreach programs that can help introduce younger students to engineering and to foster an early appreciation for STEM, helping them to develop STEM identity and persistence.
Moderator
Chris Simmons |Duke UniversityVice President for Public Affairs and Government Relations (Interim)
Associate Vice President, Office of Government Relations
Chris Simmons oversees all aspects of Duke University’s communications, marketing, and government relations and serves as a member of the President’s Cabinet. He arrived at Duke in 2006 after serving in lead advocacy roles for the Association of American Universities (AAU) and the American Council on Education (ACE) in Washington, DC. Simmons is Duke’s principal point of contact and spokesperson on legislative and regulatory issues involving the federal government and Congress in areas such as student financial aid, academic research, international education, tax policy, intellectual property, and immigration. He also oversees Duke in DC, Duke’s academic center and home for research and official events in Washington, DC.
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