Staff Directory

Hometown: Red Wood City, California and Arlington, Texas

Hobbies: My favorite pastimes are exploring nature trails in Durham and Chapel Hill, watching my kids play sports, and listening to podcasts.

Why did you choose Duke OUSF?

I have a background in building, delivering, and assessing co-curricular programs for students. Being at Duke has enabled me to bring these skills to a dynamic group of merit scholars and nationally competitive scholarship applicants, which I thoroughly enjoy. One of the best aspects of my role is the broad range of students I work with--from graduating high school seniors to undergrads to graduate students and alumni.

My doctorate is in Learning, Design, and Technology, and my research focuses on the benefits of experiential learning and electronic portfolios for students, faculty, staff, and employers. Prior to arriving at Duke, I worked over 15 years in honors education.

The best thing about OUSF is the close-knit community. I am grateful for the amazing students and fantastic colleagues I have the opportunity to work with each day. 
 

Hometown: McLean, Virginia, Fort Myers, Florida, and Durham, North Carolina

Hobbies and Interests: hiking, reading, crosswords and other puzzles, soccer, Duke sports, church

Why Duke?

I initially visited Duke in 1990 to interview for an AB Duke Scholarship, and fell in love with the school at first sight. After four wonderful years, I left Duke to embark on my graduate education. As I was finishing my PhD in 2001, I had the great fortune of being offered the opportunity to return to Duke, this time on the faculty. It is a joy to have been here ever since, and the highlight for me is the privilege of working with amazing students.

Hometown: St.Louis, Missouri

Hobbies: I enjoy home renovation projects, gardening, traveling, and pasta making.

Why Duke OUSF?

I came to Duke in the fall of 2010 to enter the Ph.D. program in the Department of Political Science. I'm grateful for the many experiences I've had at Duke since: teaching courses, coordinating DukeEngage programs, interning at The Graduate School, serving as a college advisor, and working in the Office of Undergraduate Admissions. Joining OUSF in the fall of 2021 is the culmination of these experiences and I'm eager to work with the students, faculty, staff, and alumni that make up the OUSF community.

Sachelle Ford, who grew up in Georgia, brings over a decade of experience in research and curriculum development, assessment, teaching, program coordination and student development to her new role as director of the Rubenstein Scholars and  Duke LIFE (Low Income, First-generation Engagement) Office. Prior to taking this position in January 2020, she most recently served as interim director at the African American Cultural Center (AACC) at N.C. State University.

Dr. Ford has returned to Duke, where she served as lecturing fellow of Duke University’s Thompson Writing Program from 2014-2018. Her courses examined the Black Power movement, the history and culture of African American families, Caribbean literature and contemporary African American literature. She holds a Ph.D. in English from Brown University and a B.A. in English from Emory University, where she was a first-generation, low-income undergraduate student.

Hometown: Kittrell, North Carolina

Hobbies: Coaching, reading fiction from Black voices, and finding the best vegan restaurant eats 

Why Duke OUSF?

As an NC native it was important to me to work in an environment that not only impacted the population of people I was directly serving, but a space that was committed to the advancement of the community at large. 

I was born and raised in rural North Carolina where all of my family originates, and being a first-generation, low income student is a large part of my journey to Duke. It is important to me to pay it forward and be a representation of the success that is possible with the right support and resources.

The best thing about working in OUSF is knowing that I am coming to the table with like-minded individuals who share my passion for providing students with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to continue being high achievers beyond the campus of Duke.

Andrew Lakis joined the Robertson Scholars Leadership Program in March 2021.  He brings with him 17 years of experience in education, leadership development, fundraising and organizational management.  In 2004, Andrew joined Teach For America as a teacher at Friendship Public Charter School in Washington, D.C.  A native of North Carolina, he worked as an instructional coach in Durham Public Schools and served in multiple leadership roles within Teach For America over the past decade. From 2015 to 2021, Andrew led Teach For America’s largest rural region, working with his team to recruit, train and support over 400 new teachers and partner with almost 1,000 alumni leaders working toward educational equity across eastern North Carolina.  During his tenure as executive director, he also oversaw the launch of Teach For America’s first rural regional summer teaching institute, Eastern NC Residency, and the redesign of Teach For America-Eastern North Carolina’s leadership development program.  Andrew received his BA in History from Duke University, where he was a Trinity Scholar, and his Masters in Elementary Education from American University.

Dr. Lodewick has directed the University Scholars Program since its inception.  She holds a Ph.D. in French Literature.

Dr. Pierce is the Nicholas J. and Theresa M. Leonardy Professor of Mathematics. She was named a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society in 2021 in honor of her contributions to number theory and harmonic analysis. Dr. Pierce has received a Rhodes Scholarship, a Sloan Research Fellowship, a Bonn Research Fellowship, a Birman Fellowship, and won the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers in 2019. Outside the classroom, Dr. Pierce enjoys reading, art, and music.

Dr. Piece enjoys mentoring A.B. Duke Scholars as they pursue their own goals at Duke and beyond. She advises all incoming students to remember that we go to a university to learn more—we are here not because of everything we know already, but because of everything we don’t know yet.

Dr. Craig is the William T. Miller Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and is Director of the NSF Center for the Chemistry of Molecularly Optimized Networks and head of the Craig Lab in the Duke Department of Chemistry. His current research includes the design and synthesis of self-healing polymers and the study of transition states and reactive intermediates, and he teaches Chemistry 101: Core Concepts as well as Organic Chemistry. Trinity and Alumni Scholars alike benefit from his wisdom - and humor in the chemistry classroom! 

Adam Hollowell is Senior Research Associate at the Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity and serves as Director of the Inequality Studies Minor. These positions reflect his long-held teaching and research activities related to ethics, religion, race, and public policy. Dr. Hollowell was a B.N. Duke Scholar while at Duke as an undergraduate student, and he is proud to support the B.N. commitment to social justice.

Karin Shapiro is Associate Professor of the Practice in the Department of African and African American Studies and in the Department of History. She has also served as advisor for the Fulbright Fellowship program through 2013. Dr. Shapiro’s interdisciplinary research focuses on the history of the American South as well as South Africa, and she teaches courses on South African history, race and society, and immigration. Dr. Shapiro has served as a Karsh Scholarship Faculty Director since 2017, and students are grateful for her calm and steady guidance.

Dr. Zanalda is Professor of the Practice in the Social Science Research Institute, Department of Economics, and Department of History, and Director of the Duke University Center for International and Global Studies. An economic historian by training, Dr. Zanalda teaches courses on financial crises, emerging markets, international economy, and the history of globalization. A Karsh Scholarship Faculty Director since 2018, Dr. Zanalda enjoys mentoring and guiding international students through their Duke careers.

Dr. Makhulu is Associate Professor of Cultural Anthropology and African & African American Studies. Her research in South Africa focuses on social movements, historical transformation, race and class mobility, and rural-urban migration. She teaches courses on activism, urbanization, climate change, as well as social theory. Dr. Makhulu has been the Faculty Director of the MasterCard Foundation Scholarship program at Duke since 2016, and is proud to work with the final MCF Scholars cohort as they plan for life after graduation in May of 2022.

Dr. Jaji is an associate professor of English at Duke University with expertise in African and African American literary and cultural studies, with special interests in music, poetry, and black feminisms. She previously taught at University of Pennsylvania and has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities/Schomburg Center, Mellon Foundation, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies, and National Humanities Center. 

Chris Simmons arrived at Duke in 2006 after serving in lead advocacy roles for the Association of American Universities (AAU) and the American Council on Education (ACE) in Washington, DC. Simmons is Duke’s principal point of contact and spokesperson on legislative and regulatory issues involving the federal government, Congress, and the Administration, in areas such as student financial aid, academic research, international education, tax policy, intellectual property, and immigration. He also oversees Duke in DC, Duke’s academic center and home for research and official events in Washington, DC.

Valerie Sheares Ashby is the Dean of Trinity College of Arts & Sciences at Duke University. She received her B.A. and her Ph.D. degrees in chemistry from UNC-Chapel Hill and completed her postdoctoral research at the Universitat Mainz, Germany in 1994 as a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow and NATO Postdoctoral Fellow.

Hometown: Red Wood City, California and Arlington, Texas

Hobbies: My favorite pastimes are exploring nature trails in Durham and Chapel Hill, watching my kids play sports, and listening to podcasts.

Why did you choose Duke OUSF?

I have a background in building, delivering, and assessing co-curricular programs for students. Being at Duke has enabled me to bring these skills to a dynamic group of merit scholars and nationally competitive scholarship applicants, which I thoroughly enjoy. One of the best aspects of my role is the broad range of students I work with--from graduating high school seniors to undergrads to graduate students and alumni.

My doctorate is in Learning, Design, and Technology, and my research focuses on the benefits of experiential learning and electronic portfolios for students, faculty, staff, and employers. Prior to arriving at Duke, I worked over 15 years in honors education.

The best thing about OUSF is the close-knit community. I am grateful for the amazing students and fantastic colleagues I have the opportunity to work with each day. 
 

Hometown:

Hometown: Stockton, California

Hobbies and Interests: I spend a lot of time crossword puzzle-ing, reading, baking, and hiking. 

Why Duke?

The best thing about being at Duke is getting to be a part of OUSF! I am enjoying getting to know the Scholars, hearing about their interests and goals, and watching them tackle new challenges. I have great colleagues, and appreciate the OUSF community.

My background and degrees are in French. I lived in three different parts of France at different times in my life - I am a big advocate for study abroad and international experiences since it was such a formative part of my life. I love Durham, but I'm still hunting for a good baguette in the Triangle!

Hometown: Topeka, Kansas

Passions and Interests Outside of Work: Cycling and Anti-Racism

Why Duke OUSF?

As an employee, my time at Duke has been a good experience for me. 
You see and come into contact with students that really impress and give you hope for the world.

Fun Fact: I have been collecting comic books since the 6th grade. My collection contains over 11,000 books.

Hometown: Santiago, Chile and Wilmington, North Carolina

Hobbies and Interests: mystery novels, cross stitch, cooking, reality shows

Why OUSF?

I was a B.N. Duke Scholar when I was an undergraduate at Duke from 1991-1995. I was very close to my faculty director and scholar cohort- they really helped make my time as an undergrad incredible.  After Duke, I went to law school and practiced immigration law for several years until I became a stay at home mom after my sons were born.  When my youngest was ten, I began to look for part time work, and found the job at OUSF of being an alumni coordinator.  Being an OUSF alum myself, I was super excited to apply, and the rest is history!  I love working here with the students and the staff; I really enjoy coming to work most days!

Hometown: San Diego, California

Hobbies: knitting, crocheting, baking, organ and choral music

Why Duke?

I  guess Duke chose me... I started with Duke Temporary Services and spent time with the Office of Durham and Community Affairs and the Law School before I landed at OUSF.

Tell us a fun fact about you:

Not many know this: I have a Ph.D. in Natural Products Chemistry. I consider myself a non-practicing chemist at this point. :) Also: I was part of the panel for the podcast, "The Secrets of Harry Potter." It was one of the most popular podcasts for the Star Quest Production Network in the early 2010s at one point in time.