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Sarah Rogers

Call for Applications: Kenan Summer Fellows

Posted on by Sarah Rogers

Kenan Summer Fellows 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)

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.

Jesse Summers is the Associate Director of the Purpose Project and an adjunct Associate Professor of Philosophy at Duke University. Previously, he was an Academic Dean in Trinity College.

He received his PhD in Philosophy from UCLA, his MPhil in philosophy from University College London, his BA in philosophy, political science, and French from the University of Kansas, and his sense of humor from a latchkey childhood watching age-inappropriate comedy.

His book Clean Hands? Philosophical Reflections on Scrupulosity, co-authored with fellow Fellow Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, came out from Oxford University Press in 2019.

First-Year Students Reflect on Benefits of Kenan-Affiliated FOCUS Programs

Posted on by Sarah Rogers

Students recently told The Chronicle that two Kenan-affiliated FOCUS clusters provided “hands-on learning” opportunities and a sense of “community” during their first semester at Duke.

FOCUS is a fall semester program for first-year undergraduate students. Students take two or more courses in a course cluster on a shared theme, live in the same dormitory, and attend weekly dinners or outings with program faculty.

Two FOCUS clusters are affiliated with Kenan: “Free for All: Freedom, Justice, and Citizenship” and “It’s Not Too Late to Build a Better World.” 

First-year student Lily Oliver told The Chronicle that she enjoyed the “hands-on learning” experiences, trips to Duke Campus Farm and Duke Gardens, and talks from guest speakers in “It’s Not Too Late to Build a Better World.”

A group of students poses in Washington, D.C.
The Kenan-affiliated FOCUS cluster “Free for All: Freedom, Justice, and Citizenship” offers students the chance to travel to Washington, D.C. in the fall. First-year Nigel Cooper praised FOCUS as a way to “get a community and make friends.” Photo credit: Dagny Edison.

While Nigel Cooper found the classes in “Free for All: Freedom, Justice, and Citizenship” to be more rigorous than he expected, he said he was able to build community during the program due to its shared living space and a weekend trip to Washington, D.C.. “Most of them are still my friends going into the second semester,” Cooper said.

This year, the new Trinity College of Arts & Sciences curriculum requires students to either participate in a FOCUS cluster or a new program called Constellations, in which they take three courses on a related theme, including Writing 120, during the fall and spring semesters. 

While students have noted that this new requirement can lead to some difficulties with class scheduling, Cooper pointed out that there are benefits to it as well.

“If Duke didn’t have a curriculum, most students wouldn’t be able to become exposed to most of the classes Duke has to offer,” Cooper said.

To read the full article, visit The Chronicle.

An Inspiring Gift to Help Students Grow

Posted on by Sarah Rogers

The Kenan Institute for Ethics has received a major gift to support undergraduate programs.

Danielle Moore T’85 has pledged a $5 million gift from the Mary Alice Fortin Foundation, the family foundation of which she is president, to support the institute’s educational initiatives for students. 

Three students sit at a picnic table overlooking a beautiful view
Students participate in civic engagement programs around the world — including Kampala, Uganda, pictured above — through DukeEngage, a program of the Kenan Institute for Ethics. Dani Moore’s gift will support additional offerings focusing on undergraduates. Photo courtesy of Ashwin Gadiraju.

Moore, who goes by “Dani” (pronounced “Donny”), is the mayor of Palm Beach, Florida. As a Duke alum, she has long been passionate about enhancing the student experience at the university. A supporter and former advisory board member of DukeEngage, a Kenan Institute for Ethics program that offers civic engagement opportunities for undergraduates with community partners all over the world, she says she is especially interested in students talking to and learning from people who are different from them. 

“The foundation has a commitment to fostering dialogue,” Moore said.

Through the Fortin Foundation, Moore has also supported Bass Connections, a unique interdisciplinary program that allows Duke undergraduates to work with faculty and graduate students on research projects addressing urgent social concerns.

David Toole, Nannerl O. Keohane Director of the Kenan Institute for Ethics, says that ethics and character formation are a primary focus of the institute’s work with undergraduates. As an example, he points to a new program launched this year, Capacious Minds, which encourages students to think outside of ideological divides and instead approach problems through the co-creation of wildly imaginative spaces. 

Two students moving in tandem in a dance studio
Two Capacious Minds Fellows participate in a movement exercise. Part of the larger Capacious Minds initiative, this two-semester fellowship aims to help undergraduate students develop “capacious minds” through experiential practices that include open-ended and non-linear modes of engagement like play, embodied movement, and the cultivation of wonder through the observation of the natural world. Photo credit: Summer Steenberg.

“Building and scaling programs like Capacious Minds is the kind of thing we envision Dani’s funding helping us accomplish,” Toole said.

To read the full story on Moore and the history of the Fortin Foundation, visit MADE FOR THIS: The Duke Campaign website. 

Announcing Teaching on Purpose Fellows

Posted on by Sarah Rogers

Teaching on PurposeThe Kenan Institute for Ethics is pleased to announce the 2026 cohort of Teaching on Purpose fellows.

Teaching on Purpose brings doctoral students and faculty together to explore what it means to be a good teacher of undergraduates and to cultivate educational practices that will help their students flourish. It is a program of The Purpose Project at Duke, a collaboration between the Kenan Institute for Ethics, Duke Divinity School, and the Office of the Provost.

This year’s eighteen Teaching on Purpose fellows represent four Duke University schools — the Fuqua School of Business, the Graduate School, the Nicholas School of the Environment, and the Pratt School of Engineering — and 14 disciplines. As part of this unique, multidisciplinary community, fellows will meet weekly during the spring semester to explore fundamental questions about the purpose of college, learn how to engage students in meaningful learning, and gain insights from faculty.

West Duke Building Closed After Flooding

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Exterior shot of the West Duke Building
The Kenan Institute for Ethics’ primary home, the West Duke Building on Duke University’s East Campus, will be closed for the foreseeable future. This will allow for repairs of the damages caused by a burst water coil on December 15, 2025, when temperatures in Durham, North Carolina reached extreme lows.

Flooding mainly affected the northern side of the building, including KIE offices in West Duke 103 suite. Other KIE office suites, including the Fortin Family Foundation Director’s Suite, did not appear to sustain any damages.

While West Duke is expected to open again during the spring semester, the entire building will remain closed while damages are being evaluated and restoration plans assessed.

All classes in the West Duke Building, including Ethics courses, have been reassigned to other spaces on East Campus, and KIE staff will work remotely or in the East Duke Building, where the Kenan Institute for Ethics holds additional office space.

Call for Applications: Re-Imagining Medicine Fellowship

Posted on by Sarah Rogers

ReMed tileWhat does it mean to be a good healthcare practitioner? How do we learn to care for people, not as containers of symptoms and illness, but as bearers of stories? How do we work for just, fair, humane, and equitable practices of health care? How do the arts, ethics, and history help us prepare to practice medicine with character and creativity, to develop a sense of meaning and purpose in our work, and to encourage and empower the communities we serve?

The Kenan Institute for Ethics invites first-, second-, and third-year undergraduates planning on working in health care to apply for a Re-Imagining Medicine Fellowship. The priority deadline is February 14, 2026.

PROGRAM

The Re-Imagining Medicine (ReMed) program is an interactive summer program for Duke pre-health students exploring the intersection of medicine and moral purpose. Students are invited to imagine how those working in health-related fields can use their specialized knowledge and skills with humility to care for individuals, cure and prevent disease and suffering, flourish in their chosen profession, collaborate with other professionals, and work toward the greater good.

ReMed seeks to foster the character, imagination, and practices needed to work effectively in contexts of human suffering and healing. Fellows will join with healthcare professionals and faculty from a variety of disciplines to develop practices and skills that will help them to attend closely to their own stories, to the stories of the places where they live and work, and to the stories of the communities they plan to serve. ReMed engages the medical humanities, including ethics, movement, history, visual arts, and expressive writing to help students explore themes often absent in traditional medical education.

ReMed is a program of The Purpose Project at Duke, a collaboration between the Kenan Institute for Ethics, Duke Divinity School, and the Office of the Provost. It is sponsored by a grant from The Duke Endowment.

COMMITMENT

The ReMed program has four primary components:

  • Immersive Week: The ReMed program begins the week following commencement with an on-campus immersive week at Duke in May. This immersive week will feature shared meals and conversation, experiential learning at Duke Hospital and Duke Regional Hospital, engagement with creative writing and the visual arts, introduction to the medical humanities, and facilitated reflections on justice and equity in health care.
  • Experiential Work/Service: ReMed is not a stand-alone program. To enable critical reflection on lived experiences and practices, Fellows are required to pair their participation in ReMed with an internship, employment, or service work related to health or health care over the summer. Fellows must arrange this parallel experience on their own. Practicum experiences must be at least twenty hours a week for eight weeks over the summer, and may include, but are not limited to:
    • Volunteer service in a health-related setting
    • Paid employment in a hospital, clinic, public health agency, or health-related company or nonprofit
    • Formal Duke civic engagement or research programs, with permission from the directors of those programs
    • Engagement in clinical research
  • Weekly Virtual Sessions: Following this week, ReMed will meet virtually for eight weeks. Fellows and faculty will gather for weekly 90-minute online seminars to reflect on their summer experiences and to engage in conversation with leading scholars and practitioners in the medical humanities. Readings, writing exercises, and reflective practices will be assigned between seminars. These seminars will take place on Zoom from 5:00-6:15 pm ET on Thursdays:
    • May 21
    • May 28
    • June 4
    • No meeting June 11
    • June 18
    • June 25
    • No meeting July 2
    • July 9
    • July 16
    • July 23
  • Fall ReMed Dinner Gathering: to reflect on and celebrate the summer ReMed cohort and student accomplishments.

ReMed Fellows are expected to participate fully in all components of the fellowship, including the entire immersive week, and to miss no more than one virtual Seminar.

ELIGIBILITY

If you are a current first-, second-, or third-year Duke undergraduate planning on working in health care and have interest in exploring questions of medicine and moral purpose, Reimagining Medicine (ReMed) invites you to apply for a Summer 2026 Fellowship today. The immersive week will take place May 10-15, 2026. Students should be available starting May 10, 2026 at 6pm through May 15, 2026 at 1pm. Full participation in immersive week activities is required for your application to be considered. The Reimagining Medicine Fellowship is limited to 20 students.

AWARD

For full participation in the Fellowship, Fellows will receive:
• Housing at The Lodge Hotel, located near the Duke School of Medicine (RAs and others with prior housing arrangements may opt out of the provided housing option), during the immersive week
• Meals throughout the immersive week
• $1000 honorarium

APPLY

The priority application deadline is February 14, 2026. After that time, applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until available spots are filled.

Apply Now

CONTACT

If you have questions about ReMed, please contact Proram Director, Warren Kinghorn or Program Coordinator, Victoria Yunez Behm.

Warren Kinghorn, MD, ThD
Faculty Director, Re-Imagining Medicine
Professor of Psychiatry, Duke University Medical Center
Esther Colliflower Professor of the Practice of Pastoral and Moral Theology, Duke Divinity School
warren.kinghorn@duke.edu

Victoria Yunez Behm, MS, MTS, CNS
ReMed Program Coordinator
victoria.behm@duke.edu