Last Days of Laurie

Last Days of Laurie

A Parting Conversation with Dean Laurie Patton about Community and Intellectual Life

Trinity College of Arts & Sciences Dean Laurie Patton’s commitments to integrative learning, civic engagement, and public scholarship have inspired and enabled a great deal of programming during her tenure at Duke. From the creation of the Forum for Scholars and Publics, to conversations with Duke Service-Learning about integrative learning, to the now annual “Transcripts and Lifescripts Monologues” and “Finding Your Question” events, we have all been touched by her ideas and exhortations. As Dean Patton prepares to depart, she joined Duke Service-Learning and the Forum for Scholars and Publics for a “kitchen table conversation” about the state of Duke’s intellectual engagement with the community:

• What lessons have we learned together about the role of public engagement in a liberal arts education?
• In what ways are we moving toward helping students to create coherent educational pathways that embrace both the curricular and the co-curricular?
• Have we fully embraced Dean Patton’s observation that Duke needs the community as much, or more than, the community needs Duke?

Co-sponsored by the Forum for Scholars and Publics and Duke Service-Learning.