To the Duke Community,
Tomorrow morning, we will begin in earnest what may be the greatest experiment in our university’s history: the beginning of virtual classes for all of our Duke students.
For our faculty, the recent weeks have been a crash course in alternative course delivery for more than 6,000 classes. It has been inspiring to see our outstanding and dedicated teachers learn how to extend their excellence in the classroom into Zoom presentations, conference calls, or newly designed independent learning activities.
We didn’t ask for this, but we are rising to the charge. And as we do so, I am very grateful to our students, faculty, and staff for your flexibility as we transition to new models of teaching, enabled by technology and accelerated by necessity.
The coming weeks won’t be easy, and there will of course be growing pains. But we are committed to doing our very best to make our students’ learning experience exceptional.
And if we do this right—and I believe we will—we will give our students the tools they need to complete their programs and keep learning, and growing as scholars, despite the unprecedented challenges to our region and the world.
I’m inspired by this community’s compassion and concern for one another. And whether we are far from campus, or nearby, Duke’s bonds have never been stronger than they are in the face of these great challenges.
I have never been prouder to be a part of the Duke community.
Very best wishes to all of you.
Vincent E. Price
President
Duke University