WORKING@DUKE
2
GETTING AHEAD
The February Primetime employee forum on career and professional development drew 300 employees.
3
N EWS YO U CA N U S E
::
APPRECIATING FACULTY & STAFF
Duke Appreciation events in May include Lunch on the Quad and Family Fun Day with live music.
7
Vo l u m e 2 , I s s u e 3
GUEST COLUMN
Nicholas School Dean William H. Schlesinger writes about minimizing our “footprint” on earth in recognition of Earth Month.
::
April 2007
Opening Doors To Higher Education DUKE CHILDREN’S TUITION BENEFIT SENDS 3,430 TO COLLEGE
I
t was a student’s worst nightmare. After gaining the attention of his class, Peace College English Professor Charles Duncan slyly announced a pop quiz on three stories assigned as homework. Third-year student Veronica Suitt could have kicked herself. She only had time to read two of the stories. “I did alright,” Suitt, daughter of Shirley Suitt, a Duke Dining Services employee, said later. “He usually gives us one quiz a week.” The strains of college life are many, especially when coupled with a job, but Suitt doesn’t complain. At age 20, she enjoys being busy and knows her circumstances aren’t nearly as difficult as they could be – if she had to pay for school herself. Suitt could not afford to attend her top choice, Peace College, without financial help from the Duke Children’s Tuition Grant. She is one of 1,267 children of Duke faculty and staff who used the benefit in 2006; 126 of those students are attending Duke. The benefit provides up to 75 percent of Duke’s tuition – currently $12,316 per semester – toward undergraduate tuition for children of faculty and staff. To receive the benefit, the parent must work full-time at Duke University for at least five years, and their children must attend an accredited institution full-time. Families pay a $1,800 deductible each semester. “I honestly don’t know what I would do without the Duke grant,” said Suitt, who is studying human resources management. “I’m so grateful for it. Without it, my choice of schools definitely would have been limited. I really wanted to go to Peace because it’s close to home and it’s small. I wanted to go some place where I could fully concentrate on my school work.”
From top left: Shirley Suitt bakes five kinds of bread for Subway in the West Campus Union. She has worked at Duke for 24 years and is sending her daughter, Veronica Suitt, to Peace College with the Duke Children’s Tuition Grant. Veronica Suitt, right, works with classmate Alicia Thompson on an assignment during an African-American literature class at Peace College.
The Duke Children’s Tuition Grant may be used toward full-time study at the associate or baccalaureate level at any approved, accredited, degreegranting institution of higher education. The benefit covers tuition only, not room and board, books or other expenses. Since 1996, Duke has provided $107.4 million to 3,430 children of Duke faculty and staff, at about 600 institutions. Bill Phillips, Duke Human Resources benefits manager, said the grant is intended to help employees send their children, like Veronica Suitt, to schools they may not be able to attend otherwise. SEE CHILDREN’S TUITION, PAGE 4
Top Five of 600 Universities Attended By Children of Duke University Faculty and Staff Under the Duke Children’s Tuition Grant
Nearly one-third of children of Duke University faculty and staff participating in the Duke Children’s Tuition Grant in 2006 attended a private institution in North Carolina. Source: Duke Human Resources
This paper consists of 30% recycled post-consumer fiber.