Sarah Rogers

The Prison Engagement Initiative at the Kenan Institute for Ethics is proud to offer three opportunities for teaching incarcerated people. Faculty (including non-regular rank or visiting faculty), staff who teach as the instructor of record at Duke, and PhD students who are ABD are all eligible to join these prison teaching efforts.

OPPORTUNITIES

1) Lecture at Butner Federal Correctional Complex
For two years, we have been running a regular lecture series at FCI Butner, a federal prison about 30 minutes away from Durham. Instructors deliver one-hour, dynamic lectures to a room of 40–50 incarcerated people, typically on Wednesday evenings. Lectures have spanned a wide variety of topics from different disciplines across the humanities, sciences, and social sciences.

2) Teach a 6–8 week workshop course at Butner Federal Correctional Complex
Together with Duke’s Center for Teaching and Learning, we have developed a “Certificate in Ethical Inquiry” that incarcerated students can earn if they take four non-credit workshop courses taught by Duke faculty or graduate students. These workshop courses consist of weekly seminars of about two hours, normally held during the day, for six to eight weeks. Subjects so far have been in writing and the humanities, but we welcome workshops on any topic that incorporates a relation to ethical inquiry, broadly conceived. Instructors may coteach if desired.

3) Teach a Community College course at Johnston Correctional Institution
In partnership with Johnston Community College and the Laughing Gull Foundation, we are proud to offer the first opportunity for Duke faculty and graduate students to teach credit-bearing courses at a correctional facility. Instructors will teach a semester-length course at Johnston Correctional Institution, which is around an hour commute from Durham each way. Instructors will be hired as adjunct professors at Johnston Community College (JCC) to teach a general education course based on a syllabus provided by JCC.

ELIGIBILITY

All teaching opportunities are open to all faculty (including non-regular rank or visiting faculty), staff who teach as the instructor of record at Duke, and PhD students who are ABD.

COMMITMENT

1) Giving a lecture as part of the Butner Lecture Series is a two-time commitment: new lecturers must attend one lecture before giving one themselves
2) Teaching a workshop course at FCI Butner is a commitment to teach a six-to-eight week non-credit course composed of weekly, two-hour seminars.
3) Teaching a community college course at Johnston Corretional Institution is a commitment to teaching a semester-length course and commuting to Johnston County, around an hour drive from Durham each way. The exact schedule of meetings will be determined with the instructor according to space and staff availability at Johnston Correctional Institution.

COMPENSATION

The Butner Lecture Series and the Butner Workshop Courses are volunteer positions. Instructors teaching a community college course at Johnston Correctional Institution will be compensated for this position at a comparable rate to teaching an adjunct course at Duke.

APPLY

If you are interested in any the prison teaching opportunities, please fill out an application form at this link.

Apply Now

CONTACT

If you have any questions, please contact Jac Arnade-Colwill, Prison Engagement Initiative Graduate Assistant, at jac.arnade-colwill@duke.edu

How are communities built? What sustains them? And what gets in the way? 

The Kenan Institute for Ethics invites first, second and third-year students to apply to a new fellowship program, Groundwork Fellows. The priority deadline for this program is 12pm (EST) on Friday, April 3, 2026.

PROGRAM

As a complement to a summer commitment that includes working with any kind of collective — whether a workplace, a grassroots community organization, or sports team —  Groundwork Fellows will observe and reflect on the often unseen social infrastructures that are holding that collective together. What makes it possible for people to connect, even when — or especially when – they hold complicated or conflicting commitments? What goes into the labor that creates a culture of belonging and mutual trust? 

In ongoing conversations with peers, faculty and staff, and partners, Groundwork Fellows will learn about relational and structural organizing: how groups form, how they make decisions, why they fall apart, and what helps them endure. They will experiment with practices that support cultures of belonging, and, after returning to Duke in the fall, they will co-create a small repeating gathering that brings people together to connect on campus (and maybe beyond).

COMMITMENT

Groundwork Fellows is a nine-month-long commitment involving in-person training in the spring, a series of Zoom meetings over the summer (in tandem with students’ pre-existing commitments), and a half-day debrief in the fall. Employing what they’ve learned through the summer, students will design a repeated gathering that promotes group belonging that they will test out during the fall semester.

• Initial half-day training on a Saturday in April, followed by one to two planning meetings in late April and early May.

• Committed summer engagement in an approved setting. Students must be engaged for at least 15–20 hours per week over a minimum of eight weeks during Summer 2026. The Groundwork Fellowship is not a placement program, and fellows are responsible for arranging their own summer experiences that provide a context for observing how people organize, navigate institutions, and/or build and sustain groups, whether in a team, workplace, nonprofit, campaign, movement, or even government agency. Participation in formal Duke civic engagement or research programs may qualify with permission from those program directors. Alternative forms of sustained summer engagement may also qualify on a case-by-case basis.

• Observational practice involving short readings and a few small experiments, all designed to fold into your everyday life. These practices help Groundwork Fellows notice how people gather, drift, and stay connected — and reflect on how their own presence shapes those dynamics. 

• Every-other-week Zoom reflection circles. These biweekly sessions will ask Fellows to discuss and reflect on what they’re noticing about themselves, their roles, and the groups they’re part of.

• Half-day session in August before class begins, focused on debriefing the summer and brainstorming and/or designing in the fall.

• Pilot a small experiment in belonging by the end of the Fall 2026. Groundwork Fellows will design and test a small, repeating slow-practice gathering — something that cultivates rhythm, care, and belonging in a way that makes sense for this moment on campus (and possibly in Durham).

Through the program, Groundwork Fellows will be mentored by Kenan faculty and staff with experience in social movements, restorative justice, and community-building.

ELIGIBILITY

This program is open to all first, second, and third-year students who will be on campus during the spring and fall semesters in 2026. Please note that students need to have a pre-approved summer commitment that will allow them to observe a collective to be eligible for this program.

Students with all or some of these qualities may also find this program a good fit:

• Students who care about service, supporting social connection and collective life,  and promoting justice in its many forms

• Students who think something is missing in Duke campus culture and want to spark something different or new

• Students who have seen student clubs, teams, or initiatives lose momentum and want to understand how to build something that lasts 

• Students who feel caught between diametrically opposed positions and want spaces where people feel empowered to have difficult, honest, and nuanced conversations

AWARD

Students who successfully complete the program will receive a $500 stipend for the summer and a $500 stipend for the fall. Fellows can also propose reasonable budgets for materials or activities to support the repeated gatherings they will design in the program. 

APPLY

The priority deadline for this program is 12pm (EST) on Friday, April 3, 2026.

Apply Now

CONTACT

If you have questions, please feel free to reach out to Kay Jowers, kay.jowers@duke.edu.

Kay Jowers is Executive-in-Residence and Director of Social Inquiry & Community-Engaged Practice at the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke. Her work is shaped by earlier experience in public-interest law and environmental justice. She works at the intersection of political sociology and community-engaged scholarship, with a focus on how movements and institutions, especially universities working with local partners, sustain the long work of justice and repair. These days, she builds programs, community partnerships, and learning spaces where rigorous inquiry and relationship-building go hand in hand, and where curiosity is treated not just as an intellectual habit but as a form of care. Across classrooms, community collaborations, and research projects, she’s interested in what it takes to keep returning to the table long enough for real change to take root.

What does it mean to live an ethical life?

Kenan Summer Fellows spend a summer exploring this question through independent projects grounded in reflection, practice, and mentorship. Fellows receive funding to support an eight-week summer project and participate in a cohort-based experience that encourages deep engagement with ethical questions across disciplines, methods, and lived contexts.

The Kenan Institute for Ethics invites first- and second-year Duke undergraduates to apply for the Kenan Summer Fellows program.

The priority deadline is March 1, 2026. Please contact Jesse Summers at jesse.summers@duke.edu if you intend to apply after the deadline.

PROGRAM

The Kenan Summer Fellows (KSF) program supports Duke undergraduates in designing and carrying out an independent summer project that explores what it means to live an ethical life. Projects may take many forms, including artistic expression, and draw on a wide range of disciplines, experiences, and interests.

Over the course of the summer, Fellows pursue their projects while gathering periodically as a cohort for workshops led by the faculty director. These gatherings provide space to reflect on the ethical questions raised by Fellows’ work, as well as the practical and intellectual challenges they encounter along the way.

COMMITMENT

Kenan Summer Fellows commit to:

• Eight consecutive weeks (300 hours) devoted to their proposed project. Projects must begin no later than June 1 and conclude by August 14, 2026. Minor timeline adjustments may be considered with prior approval.
• Participation in required cohort events (exact dates TBD):
  • Spring: Orientation and in-person IRB training
  • June: Zoom group workshop
  • July: Zoom group workshop
  • August: Zoom group workshop
  • Early September: In-person debrief and project presentations
• Completion of short readings and assignments in preparation for each workshop
• Three reflection essays, each developed through at least two drafts and workshopped with a KIE advisor and the faculty director
• Project presentation at the September debrief gathering
• Final budget report detailing use of KSF funds
• Faculty mentor check-ins, as agreed upon with the mentor (minimum of four required)

ELIGIBILITY

Applicants must meet the following criteria:

• Status: Current Duke undergraduates in their first or second year at the time of application, enrolled at Duke’s Durham campus for Spring 2026.
• Discipline: Students from all academic backgrounds and areas of interest are encouraged to apply; priority is given to Ethics & Society Certificate students.
• Faculty mentor name
• Main ethical question the project will explore
• A detailed project description and explanation of how it addresses living an ethical life
• Statement of the project’s broader significance
• Explanation of applicant’s preparation for the project
• Project dates and week-by-week schedule
• Plan for faculty mentor meetings (minimum of four)
• A detailed project budget (see sample budget here)

AWARD

Up to $5,000 to support a project with spans eight consecutive weeks during the summer of 2026. Students may combine this with other Duke funding, such as other fellowships, but must indicate the source of those funds on the application, as well as whether those other funds are applied for or approved.

APPLY

Applications should be sent via email to jesse.summers@duke.edu with the email subject line “KSF APPLICATION.”

The priority deadline is March 1, 2026, and applicants who submit by March 1 will receive notifications about decisions on March 18, 2026.

CONTACT

If you have any questions about this program, please contact the director of this program, Jesse Summers, at jesse.summers@duke.edu.