From the Editors

In the waning days of the semester, we’ve found ourselves getting overly sentimental about every last. This issue—themed Year in Review—the last time we’ll walk through the doors of TOWERVIEW magazine, the last time we go to Shooter’s, even the last student election we’ll vote in.

 We’re lucky to have a tangible product, a scrapbook of sorts, for the volume that was—this issue makes seven in all. None of them would have happened without our phenomenal editorial and art team, chief among them the capable crew featured in the contributors’ section on the opposite page.

First, thanks are due to our Creative Director Lawson Kurtz, who is far more capable in the realm of aesthetics than we could have pretended to be, which is pretty much the only trait he shares with the inspiration for his editorial title, Don Draper. Without Caroline McGeough, our resident cover story reporter, and Naureen Khan, whose work ethic and passion for journalism rubbed off on us every month, there would be nothing for you to read, either. And, of course, we’re in debt to Barb Starbuck and Chrissy Beck for not killing us, and Jonathan Angier, for not killing the magazine.

In this Year in Review—covering many of the University’s facets but, naturally, not as many as we would have liked—you can read about women’s rights, conflicts of interest in research and what it takes to win a national championship, but you might want to start with the end, the future.

President Richard Brodhead sat down with TOWERVIEW this month to discuss his tenure at Duke’s helm and, more important, what comes next: for him, for Duke, for the future of higher education in general. “It’s almost the end of my sixth year,” Brodhead said. “Time flies.” Especially when you’re having fun.

So thanks, most of all, to you: our readers. It still delights and charms us to see you reach into the racks and start flipping through these pages, justifying the hard work that goes into crafting them. It’s been our pleasure.

Merry LDOC!