36 Hours at Duke is a new student alumni initiative started by Professor Tony Brown. The program brought 18 alumni back to Duke this past Thrusday through Saturday for the purpose of recharging batteries and reconnecting with the Duke community. Each alum was paired with a student host who was responsible for reaching out beforehand to help their alum come up with a customized itinerary/schedule for their time back at Duke.
Alums chose to do a variety of things– from attending classes or events, visiting places of personal interest in Duke or Durham, touring campus, or having conversations with faculty, administrators, students, and each other. Several even had conversations about developing or enhancing an enterprising idea based on a strong personal interest. The program also included several scheduled group events and activities that the alums and students could choose to take part in as part of their customized time back at Duke (click 36_Hours_at_Duke_program_schedule.pdf to view).
The program is designed to be intentionally flexible in order to allow for alumni participants and student hosts to engage in the breadth of the Duke experience to whatever extent they desire. 36 Hours at Duke is meant to be an avenue for alumni and students to come together and recapture a sense of what it means to actively participate in the extended Duke community.
I left with a different and more informed set of goals for the next 3-5 years of my professional career, and with a renewed sense of energy to tackle the challenges and make the decisions that I face until then. I think it helped that I went into the experience with 2 clear questions that I was able to figure out. The organizers and my student hosts helped me gain access to the experiences that were going to help me figure out those answers. -alumni participant