WORKING@DUKE
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ADDING GENDER IDENTITY
Prompted by the LGBT Task Force, Duke adds “gender identity” to its nondiscrimination policy.
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N EWS YO U CA N U S E
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FISCAL FITNESS
Take control of your financial planning during Financial Fitness Week workshops May 14 to May 17.
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Vo l u m e 2 , I s s u e 4
MAY I HELP YOU?
The Human Resources Call Center answered more than 88,000 calls last year — get an inside look from Susan Naylor.
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May 2007
Bridging the Communication Gap “B
Staff from other countries learn English at Duke eat.” “Bet.” “Bat.”
The three words were pronounced carefully, slowly, every sound prolonged, every letter distinguishable. The speakers, immigrants from Mexico, sat at a table in a balcony above the Marketplace, the East Campus dining hall where they work for Duke Dining Services. After pronouncing each word, the three employees looked at Lizzy Do for approval. Her wide smile signified they said it right. When Do, a first-year student at Duke, asked about the meaning of the words, staff member Maria Alvarez repeated “bat” as she clasped her hands together and swung her arms out, as though swinging a baseball bat. Francisco Naranjo, her father, sat with her. He nodded in agreement, along with co-worker Raul Alvarez. The dining services employees passed the next hour talking with Do, a tutor and coordinator of Partners for Learning, a faculty-advised student group that offers English as a Second Language and computer instruction for Duke staff. “Partners for Learning is helping make employees more comfortable at work,” said Katheldra Pinder, director of training for the Compass Group, the food service vendor at the Marketplace. “Communication is key. If you can speak to customers and the students who come here, it creates a bridge of trust and encourages relationships.” In the 1990s, the Community Service Center at Duke ran a program similar to Partners for Learning. The program, which offered adult literacy classes to employees and had a student leadership component, ended in 2000. Partners for Learning formed in 2006 with the merger of two projects developed by students in Professor Tony Brown’s enterprising leadership course. In starting the new employee-student literacy initiative, the founders of Partners for Learning interviewed various Duke employee groups and managers and discovered a demand among employees for ESL and computer lessons.
Local statistics reflect the need for a program such as Partners for Learning. According to the U.S. Census, Durham had 2,054 Hispanic residents in 1990; that number jumped to 17,039 in 2000. Since last summer, group and individual tutoring sessions have been scheduled based on employee availability and held in work locations, usually twice a week. This semester, 16 employees took ESL lessons at Edens Quad and the Marketplace. Recently, Partners for Learning began an ESL pilot at the WashingtonDuke Inn with 25 employees, mostly from Mexico, but also from Vietnam, Morocco, Liberia, China, Guatemala, Honduras and Taiwan. Partners for Learning is one example of the unique learning opportunities available for Duke employees. From the professional school libraries and seven other library branches to guest lecturers and the Professional Development Institute (PDI), Duke offers many ways to continue learning. PDI, for example, provides assessments of employee SEE BRIDGING THE COMMUNICATION GAP, PAGE 4
From top: Duke food services employee Raul Alvarez, left, asks first-year student and English as a Second Language tutor Lizzy Do a question during a Partners for Learning session. Maria Alvarez and her father, Francisco Naranjo, right, listen intently. Below: first-year student and ESL tutor Isaac Warren plays a Bob Marley song as Miriam Lopez follows the lyrics during a Partners for Learning session.
This paper consists of 30% recycled post-consumer fiber.