Something Old, Something New

Two years ago, the pages of this magazine were filled with two things: a list of 10 wonderfully promising Dukies to keep an eye on—and a whole lot of ugly. So for this, the seventh incarnation of Towerview, we decided, What the hell? Bring back the first and spice up the rest.

It’s actually not surprising how well the first annual “10 People to Watch” crop turned out: the now-Chairman of the Board (Bob Steel), the most heralded scientist at Duke (Huntington Willard), a national player of the year (Alana Beard), a Final Four coach (Beth Bozman), a spunky prof writing the best damn econ textbook we’ve ever read (Tom Nechyba) and the best campus leader we may ever see (Anthony Vitarelli).

Given Duke’s pervasive, subconscious motive to promote high-paced, forward-looking growth centered on its individuals, it’s not too tough to pluck out a couple soon-to-be over-achievers. Now we’re not necessarily the biggest fans of the Duke go-getter’s take-no-prisoners, ride-or-die mentality, but it’s hard to ignore that more and more people from this place are going to change not only the future of our campus but the shape of our world, too.

So we decided to step it up—and out—a notch the second time around, giving you a peek at everyone from a Wall Street boss and a Washington activist to a new Blue Devil and a meticulous stem-cell researcher.

The ugliness, on the other hand, we had to step up. To readers enamored with TV’s status as the world’ longest toilet read, we apologize. But with this issue and this year of TV come a new, consistent identity. We hope a revitalized layout—complete with front-of-book sections, new graphics and new reasons to make TV your must-have magazine—will appeal as much to the student on the bus as the professor in office hours, to the post-op nurse as the between-meetings administrator.

Three mainstays to watch for: BusStop, where you can catch information on the latest trend or rumor to keep up with what’s hot on campus today; Gothica, where you can explore new angles on the major news headlines covering all aspects of Duke and beyond; and Rearview Mirror, where junior Jimmy Soni will bring his respected opinion pieces from the editorial pages of The Chronicle to the back end of a freshened-up magazine.

Don’t forget to watch where these new Top 10 people end up either. TV will be waiting—and keeping an eye out for you too.