Three undergraduate students, two graduate and professional students and an alumnus were selected as 2025 Young Trustee finalists.
Young Trustees are students who serve two- or three-year terms as one of the 37 members of the Board of Trustees to provide the perspective of “today’s Duke.” Though they spend their first year as non-voting observers, Young Trustees are tasked with ensuring the “long-term health” of the University, rather than advocating for student issues.
This year’s undergraduate finalists are Trinity seniors Danica Bajaj, Jax Nalley and Gabriela Pereda. The graduate and professional student finalists are Austin Beason, a master’s student in the Fuqua School of Business, Keanu Valibia, a third-year dual master’s student in the Nicholas School of the Environment and the Sanford School of Public Policy and Dakota Douglas, Trinity ‘22 and Graduate School ‘24.
The open meeting for the respective student bodies to meet their Young Trustee finalists are March 24 from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. for graduate and professional finalists and March 25 from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. for undergraduate finalists in the Holsti-Anderson Family Assembly Room in the Rubenstein Library.
Undergraduate Young Trustee finalists
Bajaj, who hails from Princeton, N.J., is a Robertson Scholar pursuing a major in computer science and a minor in philosophy. She serves as a Duke Presidential Ambassador and was previously a member of the Young Trustee nominating committee from 2022 to 2024.
Nalley, from Springdale, Ark., is a Robertson Scholar majoring in public policy and romance studies. He serves as the chief of staff for Duke Student Government and is a member advocate for the Community Empowerment Fund, where he supports Durham community members facing housing or financial insecurity.
Pereda — a Cincinnati native — is a Baldwin Scholar and SPIRE Fellow pursuing majors in computer science and economics with a minor in French. She has served in leadership positions for the Latinx Business Organization, the Duke Technology Program and Business Oriented Women, and worked as an undergraduate teaching assistant in mathematics and economics courses.
Graduate/Professional Young Trustee finalists
Beason holds a Doctor of Medicine from Southern Illinois University, where he previously served five years as an orthopedic surgery resident. The Philadelphia native also served as a Hand & Upper Extremity Surgery Fellow at the University of Florida for a year before enrolling at Fuqua.
Valibia has served as the president of the Graduate and Professional Student Government since 2023 and previously served as secretary of the Master of Public Policy student council. Throughout his tenure on GPSG, Valibia led efforts to increase the body’s volunteer efforts and member retention.
Douglas is pursuing a Doctor of Medicine at Howard University. Throughout her time as a graduate student at Duke, she was a featured speaker for TEDxDuke and pursued research through Bass Connections and at the Center for Humane Technology.
Young Trustee selection process
Young Trustees are selected by separate nominating committees for both the undergraduate and the graduate and professional candidates. The selection process for members of the nominating committee is led by the secretary to the Board of Trustees and chief of staff to the president, currently Margaret Epps.
Epps shared in a Monday email to The Chronicle that the undergraduate committee is chaired by sophomore Jack Sabo and the graduate/professional committee by Kiara Ekeigwe, Trinity ‘24 and master’s candidate in global health.
All undergraduate juniors and seniors, as well as all graduate and professional students, are invited to apply to be a Young Trustee. In both processes, the nominating committees select two to four finalists after interviewing semi-finalist applicants.
Finalists are invited to a meeting hosted by Epps’ office, open to their respective student bodies. The candidates will speak about their interest in the position and answer questions, after which student attendees are able to voice their preference for Young Trustee. The nominating committee will then recommend one undergraduate and one graduate/professional student to the president.
The Board of Trustees’ newest Undergraduate Young Trustee is Drew Greene, Trinity ‘24, and the newest Graduate/Professional Young Trustee is Rickard Stureborg, Graduate School ‘24.
Editor's note: A previous version of this article said that Valibia is a third-year master's student in the Nicholas School of the Environment. This article was updated Tuesday afternoon to reflect that Valibia is a third-year dual master’s student in the Nicholas School of the Environment and the Sanford School of Public Policy.
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Michael Austin is a Trinity junior and managing editor of The Chronicle's 120th volume.