Letter from the Dean
Dear Friends,
So often I am “up front” in Duke Chapel as a preacher, minister, or conversation leader, but this year I had the blessing of being in the pews for a significant gathering at the Chapel—the Our First Lady of Jazz concert on April 14, 2024. Along with the rest of the audience (or maybe I should say “congregation”), I soaked in the beautiful sounds of a wide range of Black sacred music from vocal jazz to choral to organ to gospel performed by the Duke Chapel Choir, the North Carolina Central University Vocal Jazz Ensemble, and guest artists. And, when it was time, I rose to join in the standing ovations for these inspired performances that celebrated both Duke University’s centennial year and the legacy of the jazz pioneer and former Duke artist-in-residence Mary Lou Williams. A reviewer with the Cultural Voice of North Carolina summed up the concert this way:
The impact of Black spirituality across many genres of music is undeniable, and Duke University’s celebration of Mary Lou Williams was an excellent showcase of this background and diversity in American music. The overarching sense of unification was felt in the very last pew, and I applaud the ensembles for a thoroughly uplifting afternoon of music.
I highlight this moment as I reflect on the 2023–24 academic year because it brought together so many strands of what Duke Chapel has become and is becoming. We are the spiritual home of the university, a vibrant center of Christian worship, a national site of musical excellence, an example of unity through diversity, a trusted partner at the university and in the Durham community, and a place where faith and learning come together for students.
As you read this report, I invite you to see yourself in these pages. Along with God’s grace, your time, attention, and financial support are the foundation for every blessing that flows from Duke Chapel. Every time a student’s faith is deepened, a congregant is inspired, a visitor finds solace, or a concert-goer is moved, you have helped make it happen.
With gratitude that you choose to be a part of the Duke Chapel community,
The Rev. Dr. Luke A. Powery, Dean of Duke University Chapel
86 Chapel Scholars
68
Pastoral Services (Weddings, Memorials, Baptisms)
243 Worship Services Held in the Chapel
284,000 Visits to Duke Chapel
39,036 Social Media Followers
$107,705 Given to Local and International Nonprofits
145 Members of Chapel Choirs
4,139,100 Minutes of Online Chapel Videos/Livestreams Watched
We are blessed by a global community of supporters
With the financial support of Duke University and faithful donors, Duke Chapel pursues its vision of responding to God’s all-inclusive love at Duke, in Durham, and beyond. Gifts to Duke Chapel come from supporters from around the United States. The dots on the map represent the places throughout the country where our supporters live. Additionally, the Chapel received support from people in five countries: China, the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom.
2023–2024
1,127 Chapel Supporters
2,045 Gifts From Donors In
47 States and
5 Countries
Student Engagement
In April, a Duke sophomore wrote in the Chronicle student newspaper what she called “A love letter to the Duke Chapel.” Moved by her participation in the Easter Sunday service that weekend, Anna Sorensen, a member of the Chapel’s Evensong Singers, explained how the Chapel had become a spiritual home for her.
“I’ve spent this past year growing more attached to the Chapel, and I have slowly made it my own place of worship,” Sorensen said. “From hours of choir rehearsal to random moments of prayer, the Chapel has been a constant in my day-to-day college life.”
Beyond her own experience, Sorenson argued for the importance of the Chapel’s mission of “bridging faith and learning” on college campuses today. “Despite the challenges of living by faith in college, studies show that college students crave spirituality and spaces to explore their beliefs,” she wrote. And, “Every college student should educate themselves on what it actually means to practice religion in today’s world—with all its nuances and dimensions. It is too powerful an influence to be neglected or dismissed by intelligent students preparing to engage empathetically with the people around them.”
She concluded, saying: “An accessible and robust home of worship was not something I consciously factored into my college decision when I was applying to Duke. But the rewards I’ve found in both the recluse and the community at the Chapel affirm that I should have considered it.
Students receive imposition of ashes in front of the Chapel on Ash Wednesday.
So, I genuinely thank God every day that I ended up here because of all the blessings I’ve found in friends, professors, and this beautiful campus, and because of all the ways my faith continues to mature at Duke.”
While writing about her personal experience, Anna spoke to so many aspects of the Chapel's Student Engagement, which touches the lives of thousands of students.
Christian Ministries
The Chapel Scholars program continues to grow with sixty-four undergraduates participating and twenty-two graduate students. These students engage in book studies, serve in
86 Chapel Scholars
worship leadership roles, meet with Chapel ministers, and get to know one another through social events. The result is an ecumenical community of students from various Christian traditions who deepen their faith at Duke.
At the Chapel’s PathWays House in Durham’s West End, a cohort of four Divinity School students lived in community. As PathWays Fellows, they joined together in prayer, study, discussion, and meals as part of a shared exploration of their vocations.
Chapel ministers led groups of students on
David Ntim delivers a sermon on February 25, 2024, as the Duke Chapel Student Preacher.
two different alternative spring break trips. One group spent the week in near-total silence at the Monastery of Christ in the Desert in New Mexico. The other group traveled to Charleston for a pilgrimage exploring race and faith in the city’s history and culture. Other students received funding from the Chapel totaling more than $26,000 for mission trips and service projects.
Intercultural Engagement
The Chapel’s intercultural programs and ministries embrace how the Gospel is expressed through various cultures and mediums.
The Chapel’s minister for intercultural engagement, the Rev. Racquel C. N. Gill, serves as an advisor for the student gospel group United in Praise. New this year, the Chapel hired a part-time professional music director for the group, which performed twice in the Chapel—once in a worship service and once in a concert.
In its second year, the Theology Underground series increased its number of participants to fifty-one total attendees. Rev. Gill hosted the discussions with guest speakers, exploring topics such as “Theology and Mental Health,” “The Holy in Hip Hop,” and “Howard Thurman and Black Mysticism.” Gill also worked with campus and community groups to bring students to discussions of faith and identity, such as author Cole Arthur Riley’s talk on “Dignity, Justice and Joy: Holding on to Our Dignity in Challenging Times.”
In addition to preaching at Duke Chapel, Gill is regularly invited to be a guest preacher or speaker at other churches and universities.
Supporting Pluralism on Campus
The twenty-two Religious Life groups at Duke provide support, community, and spiritual guidance for the thousandsstudents who participate in them. The Chapel oversees and convenes the leaders of these groups, providing professional development opportunities and facilitating a collegial environment. Through the Interfaith Roundtable, Religious Life leaders met for thematic conversations aimed at strengthening appreciation for one another’s religious traditions. Chapel Dean Luke Powery’s Religious Affairs Advisory Council brought together a select group of faculty, students, and administrators to identify campus trends in religion and ways to support faith practices. And, the new QuadEx Chaplains group of six campus chaplains provided spiritual care for students across faiths through one-onconversations, planning vigils, and “Chat with a Chaplain” sessions on Bryan Center Plaza. Students also took steps to better understand
Rev. Prasert Ammarte, Duke's Buddhist chaplain, talks with a student.
faiths that are not their own. A group of students organized lunchtime conversations with Muslim, Hindu, Christian, and Jewish professors to learn how they think about and practice their faiths in an academic setting. A dozen graduate students of differing faiths participated in a retreat over spring break for rest and reflection.
Students Tell Their Stories
The “Say the Thing” initiative, a joint project with the Kenan Institute for Ethics, launched in the fall with a suite of programs for students to use technologies old and new to express themes in their lives. Video booths located in the Chapel and elsewhere on campus
gave prompts for narrating important life events, which were recorded and shared back to the participants. Students and others, sometimes in small groups, used one of “The Booths” to create reflective videos more than 1,100 times.
Discussion groups, called “The Studio,” guided fifty students over six weeks in articulating and reflecting on their life stories. In the “Hamster” offering, students used vintage Polaroid-style photos to sketch key life moments in images, which were then posted on Instagram. Seventeen-hundred people participated in thirteen “Lark” pop-up events, which invited campus community members to use simple materials, such as old music sheets and ink stamps, to create personalized art pieces.
Students in the Chapel Scholars program get to know one another during a welcome event.
$26,000 Grants to Support FaithRelated Student Travel
and Projects
Service and Hospitality
Students enliven and contribute to every aspect of the life of the Chapel from worship and music to administration and hospitality. Graduate students worked as visitor relations assistants, welcoming visitors to the Chapel and responding to their needs. A newly revived group of Student Ambassadors offered tours of the Chapel. Student workers documented Chapel events through photography, assisted
in live streaming services, and helped publicize Chapel programs on campus. Behind the scenes, other student workers sorted files, entered data, cleaned up after events, and took on countless other tasks essential to the Chapel’s areas of service. All of these student jobs come with the long-term benefits of mentoring, professional development, and exposure to work in an environment with multiple faith traditions.
“Every time I enter the Chapel, I feel like some part of me is coming home, and I know I belong to something much greater than myself and my struggles or stresses."
—Anna Sorensen, Duke Class of 2026
Graduate student Kalu Amah holds up a print he made at a "Say the Thing" program.
Anna Sorensen, a member of the Chapel's Evensong Singers, was inspired to publish "A love letter to the Duke Chapel."
Christian Worship
In his 1924 indenture of trust that transformed Trinity College into Duke University, James B. Duke wrote: “I advise that the courses at this institution be arranged, first, with special reference to the training of preachers, teachers, lawyers and physicians, because these are most in the public eye, and by precept and example can do most to uplift mankind.” In honor of the university’s centennial, the Chapel has been celebrating a particular part of J. B. Duke’s vision—the training of preachers—by inviting Duke alumni back to campus to preach in Chapel services.
These are pastors, ministers, chaplains, and professors who have become leaders in their fields and communities. To name a few, the Rev. Dr. Douglas A. Hicks, D ’93, is the president of Davidson College; the Rev. Dr. Jennifer Copeland, G ’08, D ’88, T ’85, is the executive director of the North Carolina Council of Churches; the Rev. Dr. Maurice Wallace, G ’95, is a professor and associate chair of English at Rutgers University; and the Rev. Marc Antoine Lavarin, D ’18, is pastor of First Calvary Baptist Church in Durham.
One of those alumni preachers, Rev. Dr. Copeland, reflected on her time at Duke as an undergraduate and graduate student, saying, “A steady diet of strong preaching laced with Methodist mandates for personal piety and social holiness laid the groundwork for solid preaching.”
“The preachers of Duke Chapel showed me that reality at a critical time in my life,” she said. “Every once in a while, I get to preach in Duke Chapel and try to live into that truth. It’s always an honor.”
Ecumenical Worship
Ever since they began in the 1930s, Chapel worship services have comprised ministers, prayers, and music from a range of Protestant denominations. That ethos lives on in today’s Sunday morning services with liturgical and preaching influences from the Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, and Anglican traditions, among many others. The music in the services ranges from sixteenthcentury English choral anthems and American hymnody to Black spirituals and contemporary
Above: Children dressed as angels process on Christmas Eve. Right: Rev. Bruce Puckett, assistant dean of the Chapel, presides at a Sunday morning service.
praise songs. The interdenominational breadth represented in the services points to the diversity, beauty, and unity present in the Gospel message. The services’ significant online audience, typically more than a thousand views for each, shows how the Chapel’s preaching, music, and liturgy reach well beyond its walls.
Special services outside of Sunday morning also have this ecumenical character and often involve partnerships with other campus groups. Working with the Divinity School’s Anglican Episcopal House of Studies, Choral Evensong services this year marked feast days such as All Saints’ and Ascension Day with stirring choral anthems and high liturgy. Jazz Vespers services combined scripture readings, prayer stations, and gospel music; they were enriched through partnerships with Duke Arts, Duke Initiatives in Theology and the Arts, and the Divinity School’s Office of Black Church Studies. With the Duke Catholic Center, the Chapel held the
annual Blessing of the Animals outdoor service inspired by St. Francis of Assisi and, new this year on Ash Wednesday, an offering of prayer and imposition of ashes for people walking by on the Chapel Quad. Also new this year, the Chapel teamed up with the Duke Episcopal Center to hold weekly Compline services during Lent with candlelight, chanted prayers, and meditative choral music.
Dean Luke Powery talks with a student after a Sunday morning service.
Students with the United in Praise gospel group sing during a Sunday morning service.
45 Students Served in Worship Leadership
A Place of Prayer Throughout the Week
Less visible than the Sunday morning and special services in the Chapel are the regular moments of prayer by individuals and small groups throughout the week. It is common to come into the Chapel on a weekday and find a person tucked behind a column in a quiet posture of prayer—sometimes with an open Bible from the pew rack. The prayer request cards deposited in a stand in front of Memorial Chapel reveal the breadth of joys, hopes, relationship struggles, and cries for healing that people bring into the Chapel. The rows of tea candles inside Memorial Chapel, lit anew each day by visitors, are a visible reminder of the stream of prayers that ascend from inside the Chapel.
The Chapel offers aids to prayer practices at certain points in the year. The Stations of the Cross paintings by artist Margaret Adams Parker, displayed during Holy Week, present a fresh visual representation of the traditional fourteen stages of the crucifixion of Christ. The
Above: A student imposes ashes on another student on Ash Wednesday. Below: Singers with the John Brown Little Big Band at a Jazz Vespers.
labyrinth, a large canvas with the ancient pattern of a spiritual maze, invited visitors to walk its path in prayer and contemplation when it was available for two days in the spring.
The Chapel’s Choral Evensong services, held on alternating Sunday afternoons, have a dedicated following among people who attend in person and also touch casual visitors who come upon the service’s soaring
116,455
Online Views of Chapel Worship Services
anthems as well as an online audience that typically views each service more than 500 times. The Duke Catholic Center’s daily Masses, held in Memorial Chapel four days during the week, draw together a dozen or two people for prayer, hymns, and holy eucharist, with its chants and music spilling out into the main sanctuary, while the center’s Sunday night Mass in the Chapel’s main sanctuary draws hundreds of students and community members.
A Site for Learning and Scholarship
The Chapel continues to be a place for forming students for service and leadership in the church—whether or not they go on to become ministers or pastors. This year, forty-
"The Chapel and its worship services have provided me with a weekly, wondrous, and necessary reminder of the peace that surpasses all understanding. I couldn't imagine a more beautiful center to Duke campus and my religious life."
— Kadin Purath, Duke Class of 2026
Dr. Philip Cave conducts the Evensong Singers during a Choral Evensong service.
22,161 Streams of the Duke Chapel Sermons Podcast
five students served in liturgical leadership roles, reading scripture and offering prayers in Chapel services. Two Divinity School students served as interns, learning the many factors that go into planning worship services and student programs, while also receiving opportunities to preach and lead discussion groups.
The Chapel’s Living Tradition website and Duke Chapel Recordings digital archive are an evolving resource for clergy, seminary students, and homiletics professors. This year, a Divinity School student worked as a research assistant at the Chapel, mining the archives for enduring
quotes from Chapel sermons and identifying themes that recur across decades. In a creative twist to highlight the richness of the Chapel’s preaching tradition, a “Short Edition” sermon snippet dispenser located in the narthex invited visitors to press a button to receive a printout of a memorable set of sentences preached at the Chapel. And, a new podcast from the Chapel, Sounds of Faith, provided listeners with thoughtful conversations about the traditions of faith, sacred music, and spoken word connected to the Chapel.
Organ Scholar Katherine Johnson conducts a choir during a Compline service.
Sacred Music & the Arts
For decades, the Duke Chapel Choir’s performances of Handel’s Messiah have been enjoyed by capacity audiences at three sold-out performances each December. This year’s Messiah augmented that audience through an online version of the concert, publicly available for three weeks, that was viewed nearly 60,000 times by people throughout the United States as well as South Korea, Germany, Japan, and Canada. This substantial audience is one more sign of Chapel Music’s national and international influence. The Chapel Choir was named a finalist for The American Prize in Choral Performance (community division), while Chapel Music
“I have been welcomed with open arms by the most wonderful choir community. I've been pushed musically, and I have been so very moved by the things I hear in church each Sunday.”
— Georgia, Chapel Choir member, Duke Class of 2027
Above: Chapel Choir members sing during Handel's Messiah. Left: Dr. Zebulon Highben conducts the Chapel's Schola Cantorum during the Our First Lady of Jazz concert.
Director Dr. Zebulon Highben was selected as a finalist for The American Prize in Choral Composition (professional division, shorter choral works). The American Prize national awards are designed to recognize and reward the best-performing artists, directors, ensembles, and composers. Internationally, Dr. Highben received an Honourable Mention award in the Sir David Willcocks Carol Competition, sponsored by The Bach Choir (UK), for his Christmas carol “There is No Rose.” The Chapel’s conductor-in-residence, Dr. Philip Cave, released an album with the professional choir he directs featuring the music of Orlandus Lassus on the Linn Records label.
145
Members of Chapel Choirs
The Chapel’s contributions to sacred music extend beyond its staff and choirs. The Music from Duke Chapel Series of choral music published by MorningStar Music has grown to twenty-seven compositions with more than 43,000 copies sold to date. The pieces range from new editions of historic music such as “Puer natus in Bethlehem” by Samuel
A capacity audience watches the silent film Phantom of the Opera while listening to live, improvised organ music accompanying the movie.
Dr. Philip Cave directs the Chapel's performance of Bach's St. John Passion
64,045 Online Views of Chapel Concerts
Scheidt, to hymn-anthems like “All Creatures of Our God and King,” to original works by contemporary composers such as “The Lamb” by Brandon Spencer and “Jubilate Deo” by Joanna Marsh.
Collaborations Expand Musical Offerings
This spring, the Chapel contributed to the university’s yearlong Centennial celebration by holding a concert in honor of Mary Lou Williams, the pioneering jazz artist who served as an artist-in-residence at Duke during the final years of her life. To present works by
Williams and other twentieth-century Black composers, the Duke Chapel Choir teamed up with Duke Arts Vice Provost John Brown, the North Carolina Central University Vocal Jazz Ensemble, and Patrice Turner, who is the director of worship and the arts at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta and a 2024 graduate of Duke Divinity School. The combination of musicians and singers delighted the capacity audience. A reviewer from the Cultural Voice of North Carolina website described the atmosphere saying, “By the end, there were people clapping in their seats and two-stepping in the aisle.”
Collaborations with guest musicians and choirs have long been a strength of Chapel Music, from soloists at Handel’s Messiah to the Durham Children’s Choir singing at Christmas Eve services to Amalgam Brass playing at Easter. This year, the Chapel invited several new artists
Singers with the NCCU Jazz Ensemble perform at the Our First Lady of Jazz concert.
to perform. The pianist and theologian Julian Davis Reid led a Jazz Vespers in the fall with a theme of rest in God. The National Lutheran Choir brought their “My Song As I Journey” tour to the Chapel in the spring. And, a campus partner, Duke Arts, brought three well-regarded choral groups to the Chapel—Conspirare, the King’s Singers, and the Marian Consort.
Duke student groups also enhanced the Chapel’s musical offerings. The Christian student ensembles United in Praise and Something Borrowed Something Blue presented a joint concert at the Chapel in the fall and each group sang in worship services in the spring. The Duke Chorale continued to put on its popular holiday concert at the Chapel.
Successful Series Build Momentum
Chapel Music performances bring fresh energy to music drawn from centuries past. The Chapel’s Bach Cantata Series, presented by professional soloists with instrumental accompaniment by Mallarme Music, drew a cumulative audience of thousands to hear J. S. Bach’s cantatas and a 300th anniversary performance of Bach’s St. John Passion. The annual Organ Recital Series began the year with a visual flare—a live organ accompaniment of the 1925 film Phantom of Opera performed before a capacity audience.
A new generation of carillonneurs is making music on the Chapel’s bells during the traditional weekday recitals at 5:00 p.m., which have a dedicated livestream following on Facebook. One of the Chapel carillonneurs, Divinity School student Mitchel Eithun, gave a full-length recital in the fall, and the other, postdoctoral associate Aaron Colston, is scheduled to give his recital this coming year.
Sacred Music Training and Education
Located at the center of a research university, the Chapel has been expanding its music education offerings. This year, forty students sang in the Chapel’s choirs, some of them receiving course credit. Chapel Organ Scholar Katherine Johnson honed her skills through regular rehearsals and made significant contributions to Chapel Music by playing regularly in services and concerts. Johnson and Mitchell Eithun, who both served as interns for Chapel Music, rehearsed and conducted the Chapel’s choirs during the year.
In the fall, the Chapel hosted the annual conference of the North Carolina Chapter of the American Choral Association, which gathered hundreds of conductors and singers for a weekend of choral performances and workshops. In January, the renowned conductor Dr. Anton Armstrong, director of the St. Olaf Choir, led the Chapel’s first annual Sacred Choral Clinic for over 200 singers in the region. Later in the spring semester, the Los Angeles-based composer Saunder Choi led a Chapel Choir rehearsal; the choir then debuted his anthem “Blessed Is the Spot, and the House” in a Sunday morning service.
Two summer programs held at the Chapel allowed singers across generations to learn church music from highly regarded instructors. The weeklong Chorworks early music workshop focused this year on the seventeenthcentury English composer Henry Purcell, while the Royal School of Church Music in America’s Carolina Summer Choral Residency brought together choristers and adults for a week of choral instruction at Duke.
428 Participants in Music Training Programs at the Chapel
Faith and Visual Art
In the fall, the Chapel teamed up with Duke Initiatives in Theology and the Arts to display two exhibitions of Chinese artists whose work in various media explores tensions between the material and spiritual. A featured artist, DaoZi, came to Duke to give a talk on his traditional Chinese ink paintings that express themes from his Christian faith.
In the spring, the Chapel presented the Stations of the Cross paintings by Margaret Adams Parker, which depict the fourteen traditional stages of Jesus’s crucifixion using muted colors and people in modern American clothing. Also in the spring, a Chapel committee selected a student as the next C. Eric Lincoln Fellow, who will create a faith-themed art exhibition to be presented this coming fall.
Artist DaoZi (right) presents one of his works of art with the assistance of Dr. Dan Train, associate director of Duke Initiatives in Theology and the Arts.
Community Engagement
The then-president of the American Psychological Association, Dr. Thema Bryant, came to Duke in the fall as the Chapel’s 2023 William Preston Few Lecturer with a message about the role of faith in psychological practice and research. “Psychology at its roots is built on faith—not necessarily a religious faith for all people but a belief that more is possible than what we currently embody,” she told an attentive in-person audience of more than 300 people at the Chapel
and an online audience that has grown to more 1,200 via a recording of the event.
Throughout the hourlong public conversation with Chapel Dean Luke Powery, Dr. Bryant offered insights into the role of faith in counseling, the mental health challenges of college students, techniques for self-calming, and her own faith journey. A triple-Duke alumna, Bryant is a professor of psychology at Pepperdine University and also the director of the mental health ministry at First AME Church in South Los Angeles.
Prompted to give a final message, she said, “My final word is, ‘You are worthy.’ You are worthy of care. You are worthy of respect. You are worthy of safety. You are worthy of joy.” The audience responded with a standing ovation.
Bryant’s visit to campus—which included a lunch with students, a podcast interview, and a reception in addition to her talk—was an example of how the Chapel strengthens the communities on campus, in Durham, and beyond.
A Respected Voice for Faith
In February, Dean Powery received the Raymond Gavins Distinguished Faculty Award from Duke’s Samuel DuBois Cook Society.
234 Groups Climbed the Chapel Tower
Dr. Thema Bryant poses for a photo with people who attended her public conversation.
Duke alumna Dr. Thema Bryant, then-president of the American Psychological Association, was the speaker for the 2023 Few Lecture.
The award is given each year to recognize a faculty member who fosters “positive and constructive interpersonal and intergroup relations within both Duke University’s and Durham’s Black communities.” The award was one more indication of the respect Dean Powery has earned in the community and academy during his twelve years as dean. Another one came when his book Becoming Human: The Holy Spirit and the Rhetoric of Race won the 2023 Book of the Year award from the Religious Communication Association, a society for scholars, teachers, students, clergy, and journalists who share an interest in religious
speech and media.
The audience for Dean Powery’s biweekly column in the (Duke) Chronicle continued to grow with his essays receiving a cumulative 9,000 views this year. These reflections, intended broadly for the Duke community, addressed topics such as “Poetry and suffering,” “Strangers as angels,” and “Black History Month, Valentine’s Day and love.”
Hosting Milestone Moments
The Chapel has long been a place Duke community members seek out to mark the most important moments in life. This year was
Dean Luke Powery leads a prayer at the closing celebration for the Bridge Internship program.
no exception with the Chapel hosting fortythree weddings, seventeen baptisms, and eight funerals and memorials. University leaders also turned to the Chapel for significant occasions, such as graduation ceremonies, memorial services for deceased alumni and employees, and the Centennial year Martin Luther King, Jr. ceremony featuring alumnus and basketball great Grant Hill.
Climbing the Chapel tower is a tradition that connects students, faculty, staff, and alumni across generations. The experience of ascending the 239 winding stairs to reveal the striking view from the top bonds the groups who climb the tower and creates a lasting memory (and often also a “selfie” photograph that lives on digitally!). Specially for students, Chapel ministers hold a monthly nighttime tower climb, which has the added drama of a darkened skyline punctuated by campus and city lights.
This year 425 students participated in the nighttime tower climbs.
The Chapel harbors many architectural and historic details that are revealed during tours by a cadre of docents. These volunteers present facts, give context, and share stories about the Chapel on tours for tourists, nursing homes, school groups, and many others.
The student ensemble Something Borrowed Something Blue performs at the Chapel's National Advisory Board reunion.
Students and community members gathered for prayer and conversation in support of refugees.
Building Bridges
Now in its second year, the Bridge Internship invites students from Duke and North Carolina Central University to live together for a summer in the Chapel’s PathWays House in Durham’s West End. Each student has an internship at a local nonprofit. Additionally, they share meals, read books about purpose and meaning, and discuss their faith backgrounds. Relationships with units across campus as
thirty students and community members. Another example of bridge building was the Chapel’s role in the Provost’s Initiative on the Middle East, created to make space in the campus community for rigorous and respectful debate on current and past conflicts in the region. Working with Duke Provost Alec Gallimore’s team, the Chapel presented a public conversation by Roots/Shorashim/ Judur, a Palestinian-Israeli peace organization.
well as with churches and nonprofits in the wider community allow the Chapel to build bridges through formal programs and also informal introductions. A key initiative for deepening the awareness of Duke and Durham’s complex history is the Durham Pilgrimage of Pain and Hope. This two-day program from the nonprofit DurhamCares immerses participants in the history of Durham as well as biblical narratives through a guided tour of Durham punctuated by times of reflection. This year, the Chapel sponsored two pilgrimages comprising
About seventy-five students, faculty, and staff attended the event at which a Palestinian and an Israeli, both living in the West Bank, described how they came to appreciate—although not always agree with—the perspective of the other person’s community.
$107,705 Given to Local and International Nonprofits
Students from Duke and NCCU who completed the Bridge Internship pose with their internship supervisors.
Integrating Worship and Service
Each month during a Sunday morning worship service, a leader from a local nonprofit gives a brief presentation about the mission of their organization, and the offering for the service is donated to that organization. This year, the Chapel donated $107,705 to 25 community partner organizations. This longstanding practice of having a Mission of the Month is one way the Chapel connects its worshiping community with the needs and aspirations of the wider Durham community.
Another example is the annual rose procession honoring homicide victims in Durham. In partnership with the Religious Coalition for a Nonviolent Durham, the Chapel invites community and congregation members to carry a rose in silence down the Chapel’s center aisle at the start of a Sunday morning service. This year, people carried forty-nine roses, each representing a murder victim, and placed them on the altar during a solemn time in the Sunday service on February 18, 2024.
“The pilgrimage opened my eyes to the history of Durham around me, to the stories that have been buried within its streets and houses. It helped me join those around me in the push and pull of pain and hope, lament and praise. I couldn't look at life with the same eyes after the pilgrimage.”
— Isaac Frank, Duke Class of 2026, describes his experience of the Durham Pilgrimage of Pain and Hope
The Chapel partnered with the Provost's Office to organize a public conversation on the Israel-Palestine conflict.
THANKSWe give
OFFICE OF THE DEAN
Rev. Dr. Luke A. Powery
Dean of Duke Chapel
Ava West
Assistant to the Dean
Rev. Leah Torrey
Director of Special Initiatives
MINISTRY
Rev. Bruce Puckett
Assistant Dean
Rev. Racquel C. N. Gill
Minister for Intercultural Engagement
Rev. Kathryn Lester-Bacon
Director of Religious Life
Angela Flynn
Worship and Ministry Coordinator
Nicholas Venable
Music Director for United in Praise
MUSIC
Dr. Zebulon Highben
Director of Chapel Music
Dr. Philip Cave
Conductor-in-Residence
Dr. Robert Parkins
University Organist
Chad Fothergill
Chapel Organist
John Santoianni
Ethel Sieck Carrabina Curator of Organs and Harpsichords
David Faircloth
Program Coordinator for Chapel Music
Katelyn MacDonald
Staff Specialist
Mitchell Eithun
Chapel Carillonneur
Aaron Colston
Chapel Carillonneur
Katherine Johnson
Organ Scholar
ADMINISTRATION
Amanda Millay Hughes
Senior Director of Development and Strategy
Joni Harris
Director of Business and Facilities
James Todd
Communications Manager
Jeff Compton Nelson
Associate Director of Development
Nathan Dove
Communications Specialist
Jimmy Paton
Development Marketing Specialist
Lisa Best
Business and Facilities Specialist
Erica Thomas Staff Assistant for Development
HOSPITALITY
Mark King
Hospitality Coordinator
Karen Jones
Wedding Director
Leslie Ballew
Wedding Director and Visitor Relations Assistant
Paquita Burnette-Thorpe
Wedding Director
Nikki Manderico
Interim Wedding Coordinator and Visitor Relations Assistant
Binta Watkins
Wedding Assistant
Ann Hall
Visitor Relations Assistant
Shawn Proffitt
Visitor Relations Assistant
Emerson Cobbs
Visitor Relations Assistant
Kenyon Davenport
Visitor Relations Assistant
Benny Edwards
Visitor Relations Assistant
Prerana Deshpande
Visitor Relations Assistant
Larry Efird
Visitor Relations Assistant
John Murphy
Visitor Relations Assistant
Morgan Dynes
Visitor Relations Assistant
Kalu Amah
Visitor Relations Assistant
Stanley Gilles
Visitor Relations Assistant
Poppy Zhao
Visitor Relations Assistant
Anjali Nandagopal
Visitor Relations Assistant
Oscar Dantzler
University Housekeeper
Beverly Jordan
University Housekeeper
CHAPEL NATIONAL ADVISORY BOARD
Grace Lee, T ’79
Chair
Dr. T. Walker Robinson, T ’00, G ’01, M ’09
Vice Chair
Members
Lauren Allen, T ’25
D. Michael Bennett, T ’77
Charles Berardesco, T ’80
John A. Bussian III, T ’76
Rev. Dr. M. Keith Daniel, T ’90, D ’05, D ’16
Dr. Ellen F. Davis
Thomas Felgner, T ’94, B ’95
Rev. Dr. Cathy Gilliard, D ’97
Elizabeth Grantland, T ’20
Zach Heater, T ’17
Sara Elizabeth H. Jones, T ’89
Southgate Jones III
Carole Ann Klove, N ’80
Dr. Kenneth Lee, T ’74
Arthur Maxwell Powell II, D ’24
Hananiel Setiawan, G ’23
Sanyin Siang, E ’96, B ’02
Max Sirenko, T ’11
Dr. Valerie Henry Sirenko, T ’11
Kathryn Watkins, T ’19
Emeritus Member
William E. King, T ’61, G ’63, G ’70
staff and
Advisory members during the 2022–2023 year.
Chapel
National