Run with Duke Conversations for academic tradition

Duke Conversations is taking campus by storm. The program is a series of student-organized dinner discussions between groups of about 20 students and a faculty member host. Thus far in the semester 800 students signed up for the listserv. As reported earlier this month, faculty interest in hosting the dinners was also high with replies across the board, indicating faculty very much want to break bread with students. 

In the past when discussing summer reading and academic exploration, we have bemoaned the lack of social events that seek academic unity on campus. The success of Duke Conversations this semester demonstrates that both students and professors desire to form more and deeper bonds in academic communities, however. We applaud how this program expands on the existing FLUNCH and FOCUS programs by opening up group settings to all students and making the program regular through a series of dinners. Conversational dinners can give confidence to students who want to start as flies on the wall and also open professors up to students not enrolled in their classes.

The value of these social academic interactions is in broadening student horizons through exchange of experience. By sitting with faculty members in less structured settings, students gain the same benefits of the FLUNCH program. Going further, being with peers of different years and interests within a department gives students a look at what others are doing and provides ample food for thought. Increasing opportunities for students to exchange academic backgrounds as groups also increases mentorship between classes. Students also stand to informally gain exposure to topics in their major that are unfamiliar to them and also to professors outside their major who can add new perspectives to their experience. In these ways Duke Conversations shines with the interdisciplinary and exchange-driven ideals that are Duke academic staples.

Furthermore, the occasion of coming together for academic reasons cuts across the student body in a way that athletics, living groups and extracurriculars do not. This refreshing grouping of students is why academic traditions within and between departments are so vital; they serve to revitalize student socialization on campus. While some departments host similar events regularly, they could all benefit from creating a regular schedule of coordinated faculty dinners open to all students. Specific departments could even consider inviting experts or prominent members of the field to host special majors-only dinners.

Of course, part of the difficulty in bringing students together for any kind of tradition is that these events' success depends on students with existing connections attending with already-formed groups of friends. Academic and dinner engagements that offer the occasion of shared academic interest and passion sidestep that weakness, similar to how Tea with Strangers derives attractiveness through the shared interest in meeting new people. Here, the University can take advantage of student interest in academic conversation, particularly where there is utility in showing students uncommon paths not taken after graduation.

We are looking forward to seeing Duke Conversations continue with this momentum and how it may be adapted by academic departments. The academic culture of the University, built on peer-to-peer and peer-to-faculty relationships, stands to gain much from the expansion of this kind of program. The return of academic homecoming and focus on creating programs that emphasize what students have in common but also what they have to learn from one another will give students a true sense of having an intellectual home and family at Duke.