Duke's Office of Durham and Regional Affairs honors and recognizes Michael Palmer, Assistant Vice President for Community Affairs, as he leaves Duke. Palmer has led the Office of Community Affairs from the early years of the Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership, which was created in 1996 to connect Duke University to the neighborhoods and schools surrounding campus.

"Michael's vision for community partnerships has been uniquely insightful," said Dr. Phail Wynn, Duke's Vice President for Durham and Regional Affairs. "His dedication and commitment to the revitalization of the surrounding neighborhoods and to improving relations between the university and the neighborhoods have been truly noteworthy. We extend sincere thanks and appreciation for his contributions to the development of the Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership."

Mayme Webb-Bledsoe, Duke's Senior Neighborhood Partnership Coordinator and facilitator for the Southwest Central Durham Quality of Life Project, said Palmer has an instinct for community work.

"Michael often speaks of the neighborhoods having a pace, their own rhythms that outsiders need to identify and listen for," she said. "We began this journey of listening in Southwest Central Durham over eight years ago, and that has allowed us to build a trusting relationship of collaboration."

Under Palmer, the staff in the Office of Community Affairs and Duke's internal and external partners have worked to attain the following:

• Greater access to quality healthcare and affordable housing for residents in Walltown and Southwest Central Durham
• Capacity-building support, coordination and advocacy for neighborhood projects such as the Community Family Life and Recreation Center at Lyon Park and the Maplewood senior housing project in Southwest Central Durham
• Ongoing discussions and real steps forward on safety and security concerns in local neighborhoods
• A focus on at-risk youth mentoring, especially through the programs Partners for Youth and Rites of Passage

Palmer also has served on numerous boards and committees, supporting the work of the Durham Partnership for Children, Carter Community Charter School, the Durham Economic Resource Center, and Durham's 10-year plan to end homelessness.

"Michael's years of service at Duke have revealed a heart of concern and compassion for those who are underserved, a person of high integrity, and always a voice of calm, reason and wisdom," said Sam Miglarese, Duke's Director of Community Engagement. "We wish him Godspeed on the next steps of his journey."

The Duke undergraduates enrolled this fall in Chemistry 109, a service-learning course taught by Kenneth Lyle, spent the last class reflecting on their outreach to the Durham community and beyond. During the semester, the 16 students spent more than 300 hours at schools and festivals to lead chemistry presentations like "Elephant's Toothpaste," "Witch's Cauldron," "Propane Soap Bubbles," and "Grape Juice to Water to Milk."

The students' impact was clear. At one school, said Chem 109 student Bessie Zhang, the presenters had to place a line of tape on the floor because the children were so eager to get close to the experiments.

"It was great," Zhang said. "I think conveying that enthusiasm for science is just as, if not more, important than conveying the knowledge."

Zhang was seconded by classmate Marcus Kaplan: "We got to show little kids how chemistry isn't geeky. Chemistry can be cool."

As part of the class, students completed a reflection following each presentation. Lyle said that while students typically wrote a few paragraphs at first, by the end of the semester they were submitting 3-page, single-spaced pieces that tackled subjects from their own personal growth, to the importance of parent engagement, to strategies for better reaching audiences of at-risk students.

Chem 109 is in high demand, both at Duke and in Durham. The course has a waiting list, and Lyle has community presentations booked all the way through July 2011. Lyle also depends on many Duke students who aren't even enrolled in the class -- some former Chem 109 students -- who volunteer significant time and energy to make possible the dozens of presentations made every year.

The class has a growing fan base in the Durham community, among young students who begin to recognize and request certain experiments. Jade Wu, a Chem 109 student, described one little girl at the "Science Under the Stars" event who came running to the presenters with a request, shouting, "I love propane bubbles!"

"This might be personal," Wu said, "But if I have kids, for fun, they're just going to do this stuff."

Click here for photos from a past Chem 109 demonstration.

Click on the image above to watch a video featuring Corey Gattis, Duke University sophomore and football player. After completing the Education 100 service-learning course last year, Gattis continued to volunteer as a tutor at the Crest Street Tutorial Project in the Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership.

"I want to get my education certificate, either while in college or as soon as I graduate," Gattis said. "This is just a great opportunity to get a head start on that."

Betty Johnson, who leads the Crest Street program for neighborhood youth, sang the praises of Gattis and his fellow Duke volunteers.

"I just wish we had more Corey's, to give back to the community."

Click here for the video of Gattis at the Crest Street Tutorial Project.
Learn more about service-learning in Duke's Program in Education.

Follow the links below to see how the Office of Durham and Regional Affairs and its partners in Duke community engagement have made headlines.

"The Duke Center for Civic Engagement: Vision and Initiatives"
The Chronicle, 12-10-10
In this column, Duke Center for Civic Engagement Faculty Director Leela Prasad lays out her vision and goals for the re-conceptualized Duke Center for Civic Engagement.

"Melodi Javid and Navid Pourtaheri hit the classroom"
Albert Schweitzer Fellowship Blog, 12-9-10
This Q&A features Melodi Javid and Navid Pourtaheri, two Duke School of Medicine students who have created the program Duke Med Elementary to teach local public school students about how to take charge of their physical and mental health.

"Duke Med 'doing the right thing'"
The Chronicle, 12-8-10
Duke's Division of Community Health has long partnered with community health centers to provide accessible, affordable health care to area residents. Duke's community clinics are supported in part by the Doing Good in the Neighborhood employee-giving campaign.

"Duke, Durham share outstanding project prize"
Duke Today, 11-30-10
Duke University and the City of Durham won a prize at the annual Downtown Durham, Inc. meeting in recognition of their partnership in creating the fare-free Bull City Connector transit route connecting Duke, Ninth Street, downtown, and Golden Belt.