For nearly a century, residential living and learning have been a cornerstone of the Duke undergraduate experience. It has also evolved over the years to adapt to the changing needs and norms of the institution and broader cultural climate. In 1896, Duke became one of the first colleges with co-educational housing in the American South. In 1972, East Campus’s Women’s College and West Campus’s male-only Trinity College merged. Central Campus apartments finished construction in 1975, and East Campus became the first-year campus twenty years later. The last twenty years saw the adoption of quads and house models, along with a reorganization of selective living group locations on campus.
Questions around the current state of living and learning at Duke and what it could become were again taken up by President Price and the Board of Trustees in 2018-2019. President Price and the Board charged the Next Generation Living Learning Experience (NGLLE) Task Force to identify the best aspects of our residential experience and to reimagine an approach that is distinctly Duke. (For a full list of NGLLE Task Force members, see below.)
After many months of deeply engaging with campus stakeholders, Duke-specific data, and peer-benchmarking efforts, the task force developed a strong vision for shaping a living-learning environment that promotes growth and health. This vision included recommendations to organize Duke houses into vibrant and diverse neighborhoods, foster connections between East and West Campus, enhance faculty and alumni engagement with students, and create more robust social events and traditions.
The NGLLE Task Force published its Executive Summary in June of 2019. Among their recommendations was to charge a future committee with the implementation of their vision of a renewed campus community.
In the time since, the Office of Undergraduate Education and Division of Student Affairs have been working behind-the-scenes to align its policies and staffing structures to set itself up to launch the next phase of Duke’s future: the Next Gen Living & Learning 2.0 Committee.
NGLLE Task Force Members
Betsy Holden T’77, Chair
Gary Bennett G’02, Vice Chair
Madison Barnes N’19, Graduate and Professional Student
Lisa Borders T’79, Trustee
Michael Gulcicek T’19, Undergraduate Student
Eric Juarez G’21, Graduate and Professional Student
Elizabeth Kiss, CEO of the Rhodes Trust
Emily Klein, Faculty
Erika Moore P’19, Trustee
Sabriyya Pate T’19, Undergraduate Student
Ann Pelham T’74, Trustee
J.B. Pritzker T’87, Trustee
Adam Silver T’84, Trustee
Josh Sosin G’00, Faculty
Frederick Sutherland T’73, Trustee
Kayla Thompson T’19, Undergraduate Student
Hope Morgan Ward T’73, D’78, Trustee
Chris Clarke, Senior Assistant Vice President for Trinity College and Graduate School Development, Ex-officio
Sally Kornbluth, Provost, Ex-officio
Larry Moneta, Vice President for Student Affairs, Ex-officio
