Dean McClain, Board of Visitors Host Graduate School’s Inaugural Homecoming Reception

On the evening of September 27, Dean of the Graduate School and Vice Provost for Graduate Education Paula D. McClain welcomed more than 200 alumni, graduate students, members of the Graduate School Board of Visitors, and friends of the Graduate School to the school’s inaugural Homecoming Reception. The first of what is hoped to be many such occasions, the event was held on the Scharf Patio of the Michael W. Krzyzewski Center for Athletic Excellence preceding President and Mrs. Brodhead’s Homecoming Dance. Dean McClain thanked the Board of Visitors for helping to host the reception, noting that it includes some of the most engaged members of our alumni community and that it “serves as a sounding board for issues of importance to The Graduate School and also advocates for Duke in a variety of ways.”

Dean McClain remarked that the Graduate School is the second largest school at Duke, boasting almost 30,000 alumni and 3,000 currently enrolled Ph.D. and master’s degree students. “Our students,” she said, “are conducting research around the globe, from Oaxaca to West Africa; they strengthen the intellectual life of the university, support our faculty, and mentor our undergraduates. Their work, passion, and dedication are what make Duke a top-ranked research university.”

Dean McClain reminded guests to pick up their gifts of a magnet featuring the new Graduate School logo to display on their vehicles or refrigerators before leaving. That alumni’s continuing involvement and support is critical to the life of The Graduate School was evident in Dean McClain’s concluding remark: “As The Graduate School supported you from the beginning of your program, we hope that as you walk out the door with your degree, you will rip a check out of your checkbook to help support the Graduate School!”