ICYMI: 2024 Orientation Week Recap

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The Graduate School's 2024 Orientation Week welcomed the 1,155 new graduate students to Duke through a series of events that helped them get acquainted with the university, hear advice from current faculty and students on how to transition to life in graduate school, connect with resources and organizations across the institution, and meet their fellow students, deans, and administrative staff in TGS. 

Welcome from Duke Leadership  

Orientation week kicked off with a virtual session on Tuesday, August 20. for all new graduate students. Suzanne Barbour, Dean of The Graduate School and Vice Provost for Graduate Education, welcomed new students and shared some interesting facts about the incoming class: 

• During the 2023–2024 application season, The Graduate School received 16,141 applications and sent 3,197 offers
• TGS welcomes 1,155 new students this year, 6.8% of its total applicants 
• International students from 63 countries make up 57% of the incoming student body
• Students from historically excluded or underrepresented populations comprise 22% of the incoming class

Executive Vice Provost Mohamed Noor welcomed graduate students with encouragement to form connections across the Duke and Durham community rather than feel siloed within the culture of one department or graduate program. 

View Vice Provost Noor's full message below. 

Professional Development Resources 

During virtual orientation, Assistant Dean of Graduate Student Development Melissa Bostrom shared a wealth of professional development resources, including where to find upcoming Professional Development events, how to access the Duke Options tool to map out professional development opportunities, and additional master's and Ph.D. support through the Beyond the Professoriate and Beyond Graduate School platforms.

Dean Bostrom closed by sharing the graduate student perspective of professional development options at Duke, as seen in the video below.  

New Student Resource Fair

This year's new grad student resource fair saw record attendance with over 1,000 attendees. The event was held in a new location: in the heart of campus on the Abele Quad. Students made new connections with organizations across Duke and enjoyed a free lunch at the Broadhead Center. 

Transitioning to Grad School: Faculty & Student Panels

Virtual orientation included faculty and student panels on the topic of transitioning to graduate school. Notable quotes are included below. 

• Yiran Chen, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering: "You will find that you will have a lot of freedom and flexibility. Unlike undergrad, where your schedule is carefully arranged by the university, you will find that nobody is going to do that. You need to be very self motivated."  
   
• Rob Garlick, Assistant Professor of Economics: "What you will see very quickly is that advice can be contradictory. You'll see people telling you, 'Do this,' and then others telling you to do the exact opposite. What that means is that you need to figure out a way to interpret advice, evaluate it, and decide how you are going to use it." 
   
•  Mallory Sorelle, Assistant Professor of Public Policy. "The idea of communication is really important. Sometimes when things don't go the way we want with advisers, often its because we have different expectations are of what that relationship is, or we haven't clarified what those are. It can be really important to have that conversation about what your expectations are and what [your adviser's] expectations are. 
   
• Dalal Azzam, Biochemistry Ph.D. student: "Don't lose yourself in the fast-paced life of a grad student. Make sure you recognize some of the priorities that are important to you, as well as succeeding in your program, and make sure that you do yourself some justice and actually pursue the things that you want to pursue outside of academic obligations."
   
• Carlos Monteagudo, Chemistry Ph.D. student: "The biggest piece of advice I can give is find your community here at Duke. I don't think it is a secret that Duke academics are phenomenal but I would encourage to try to find your people."
   
• Iyanna Marie Lewis, Global Health M.S. student: "Utilize your resources. That also involves relying on your peers and being vulnerable enough to open up to need your program when you don't know something. I think so much of these programs can be very community-based, and that is one of the things that makes Duke special."

RCR Mentoring Workshop

On Wednesday, August 21, The Graduate School hosted a mentoring workshop for incoming Ph.D. students, providing two RCR credits as well as insight into the importance of mentoring. Following an opening presentation, which included a video featuring several Duke faculty mentors, participants broke out into small groups to discuss practical challenges that might arise and how to navigate these issues. Their insights were then shared with the larger group.

Welcome Reception for New and Returning Students 

Orientation Week 2024 closed with a celebration at The Graduate School building, which included lawn games, Pelican's Snowcones, and some very competitive matches of foosball! A record 800 students and guests registered to attend.