Duke University Year In Review - The Year of the Sophomore

1995: Duke begins housing all first-year students on East Campus, building a sense of community that crosses racial and ethnic lines.
1995: The university creates the Graduate and Professional Students Council to foster a sense of community among graduate and professional students, promote communication, and represent student concerns to university administrators.
1995: Duke launches the Kenan Institute for Ethics, a university-wide initiative that provides students with a focus on academic integrity; encourages ethical inquiry and service-learning opportunities within many disciplines; calls attention to humanitarian challenges at home and abroad; and fosters debate around the moral and civic mission of institutions.
1998: Nearly one-fourth of Duke’s first-year students enroll in the FOCUS program--intensive, interdisciplinary seminar-oriented programs of study guided by senior faculty members.
1998: The Campaign for Duke establishes a priority to raise funds for scholarships and financial aid to support Duke’s need-blind admissions policy. Since 1993 the university’s annual financial aid contribution has jumped from $17 million to $34 million.
1999: The new $20 million Wilson Recreation Center energizes student life on West campus.
2000: Curriculum 2000, the result of three years of planning, mandates foreign language study, intensive writing and research experience and deeper requirements for ethical, cross-cultural, science and society studies for Trinity College students.
2001: A record 448 Duke students participate in fall semester Study Abroad programs in 28 countries. More than 45 percent of the Duke student body studies overseas.
2001: Duke continues to increase its support for women athletes as part of a commitment to Title IX: By 2001, 41 percent of the $8 million in student aid for athletes went to support women, up from 27 percent in 1995-96. Of the 695 students participating in intercollegiate athletics, 43 percent were women, up from 34 percent in 1995-96.
2003: Planning begins for West Campus student village--a major construction project to expand meeting, support services and social space.

It’s an August tradition—every year, just before classes start, a fleet of overstuffed vans and station wagons pulls onto the Duke campus and a flurry of unloading begins. In 2002, though, moving-in week looked a bit different than in years past. For the first time ever, all sophomores unpacked their bags on West Campus, where they would spend the next year living, working and learning together as part of Duke’s ongoing plan to improve the undergraduate residential experience.

Made possible by the opening of the new, 350-bed West-Edens Link residence hall, the gathering of all sophomores on West Campus aims to build on Duke’s highly successful policy of housing all first-year students on East Campus, established in 1995. The new sophomore arrangement was celebrated in a year-long series of lectures, weekly dinners and special events just for the Class of 2005, dubbed Sophomore Experience 2002 . . . beginning a new tradition. “We wanted to foster a campus living environment that is more socially vibrant, engaged in more academic endeavors outside the classroom and focused on more civic leadership opportunities,” said Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Moneta. “Now, we can start building momentum.”

Joining other initiatives started in the past decade to enhance student scholarship, promote diversity, expand opportunities for undergraduate research and encourage student voluntarism (see timeline), the housing improvements are a major part of Duke’s overarching plan to “Nurture the personal and intellectual growth of students by building community in social, civic and academic realms."