Highlights: Courses
Bass Connections partners with faculty and schools to embed collaborative, project-based learning into the curriculum.
Collaborative Project Courses Faculty Fellows Program
Launched in partnership with Duke Learning Innovation, this initiative supports faculty seeking to infuse collaborative, applied projects into new or redesigned courses. The 2022 cohort includes 14 faculty affiliated with four Duke schools and two university-wide institutes. They will design eight undergraduate courses (three of which will be taught by a trio of faculty), five graduate courses and one undergraduate/graduate course.

This cohort of faculty fellows was invited to partner with a graduate student on course development, connected to the Collaborative Project Expeditions program (see below). Five fellows have done so.
2022 Faculty Fellows
- Catherine Admay, Senior Lecturer in the Sanford School of Public Policy
- Eileen Anderson, Lecturing Fellow of Romance Studies
- Mattia Begali, Assistant Professor of the Practice of Romance Studies
- Germain Choffart, Lecturing Fellow of Romance Studies
- Bobby Compton, Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Pratt School of Engineering
- Jenifer Hamil-Luker, Assistant Professor of the Practice of Sociology
- Cambey Mikush, Assistant Professor in Orthopaedic Surgery
- Andrew Nurkin, Hart Associate Professor of the Practice, Sanford School of Public Policy
- Silvia Serrano, Instructor of Romance Studies
- Christopher Sims, Associate Professor of the Practice in the Sanford School of Public Policy
- Jessica Sperling, Research Project Manager, Social Science Research Institute
- Alvan Ukachukwu, Research Scholar, Duke Global Neurosurgery and Neurology
- Miranda Welsh, Lecturing Fellow of the Thompson Writing Program
- Colin Yuckman, Director of Educational Programs, Divinity School
History of Latinx Movements at Duke
What is the story of Latinx activism in the United States? Whose voices are heard? Hunt Family Assistant Professor of History Cecilia Márquez challenges students to consider these and many other important questions in her project-based course, Latinx Social Movements.
Márquez reimagined her course as part of the Collaborative Project Courses Faculty Fellows Program. The students’ work was featured as part of the exhibit Our History, Our Voice: Latinx at Duke in Spring 2022.

Collaborative Project Expeditions Program
This initiative provides support for doctoral students to work with a faculty sponsor to create or redesign an undergraduate course that integrates collaborative, project-based work as a central element. In Summer 2021, Ph.D. student Siobhan Oca worked with engineering professors Genevieve Lipp and Sophia Santillan to design and teach a course on basic computational concepts in robotics.
“The experience has solidified my desire to be a teaching professor in the future,” Oca reflected.

After graduating, she got her wish. In 2022, Oca joined the faculty of the Thomas Lord Department of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science in Duke’s Pratt School of Engineering. She designs and implements robotics-related curricula for undergraduates and graduate students.
Collaborative Project Expeditions
2022-2023
- Shiraz Ahmed (MFA in Experimental & Documentary Arts), PUBPOL 890: Ethics and Equity in Media, Documentary and Technology
- James Budinich (Ph.D. in Music), PUBPOL 290: Leadership and the Arts
- Kerry Eller (Ph.D. in Biomechanical Engineering), BME 290L: Tech Design for Global Health
- Mikella Green (Ph.D. in Psychology & Neuroscience), PSYCH 204-205: Psychology Methods and Statistics 1 and 2
- Neeraj Meghani (Master of Engineering Management), EGRMGMT 590: Managing Energy Transition
- Sam Rosen (Ph.D. in Statistical Science), STATS/ISS 313: Advanced Data Visualization
- Ruth Wygle (Ph.D. in Sociology), SOCIOL: U.S. Law in Practice
- Luoshu Zhang (Ph.D. in English), Occupational Therapy Doctorate Capstone
2021-2022
- Siobhan Oca (Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science), ME 490: Introduction to Robotics
2020-2021
- Colin Birkhead (Ph.D. in Sociology), SOCIOL 255: Immigration and Health