The Duke Digest - November 9, 2012


In Today's Issue:
  • Duke Alumni Retain Seats in House, May Add One More
  • USAID Awards Duke $10 Million for Social Entrepreneurship Accelerator Launch
  • Opinion: Curing an Addiction to Spending
  • Fuqua Prof Proposes New System to Evaluate Technologies in K-12 Classrooms

 

DUKE ALUMNI RETAIN SEATS IN HOUSE, MAY ADD ONE MORE
The 113th Congress will include at least five Duke alumni among its ranks.  In the House,  all Duke members retained their seats.  Reps. Shelley Moore Capito T’75 (R-WV), Dan Lipinski G’98 (D-IL), Nick Rahall T’71 (D-WV), and Mo Brooks T’75 (R-AL) will all return for an additional term. Scott Peters T’80 (D-CA) is currently leading in votes to unseat Representative Brian Bilbray (R-CA) in the 52nd congressional district of California but the race is still too close to call.
Senator Rand Paul M‘88 (R-KY) will be the sole Duke alumnus in the United States Senate. 


USAID AWARDS DUKE $10 MILLION FOR SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP ACCELORATOR LAUNCH
Duke University will be able to draw on its expertise in social entrepreneurship and innovation to tackle global health challenges, thanks to a $10 million award from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) that was announced Thursday in Washington.

As one of the founding partners of the Higher Education Solutions Network (HESN) -- a new USAID initiative intended to leverage the power of universities to create breakthrough development solutions -- Duke will launch the Social Entrepreneurship Accelerator at Duke (SEAD). SEAD is a global health development lab that identifies and supports the growth of solutions to global health challenges in low- and middle-income countries.

“We are thrilled that Duke’s global health and entrepreneurship initiatives will be founding elements of USAID’s new partnership with universities,” said Duke University President Richard H. Brodhead. “Our faculty look forward to contributing their research and expertise toward new and effective solutions to global health problems.”

Duke will participate this afternoon in an inauguration ceremony for the HESN at the National Academy of Sciences. Photos to follow.

Read More:
Duke Receives Award for Social Entrepreneurship Accelerator (Duke News)
Social Entrepreneurship Accelerator at Duke (SEAatDuke)


OPINION: CURING AN ADDICTION TO SPENDING
Connel Fullenkamp, a professor of the practice of economics at Duke University and former visiting scholar and consultant at the International Monetary Fund’s IMF Institute in Washington, writes in an opinion piece in the News & Observer:

"Unless Congress acts soon, the expiration of the Bush tax cuts and across-the-board cuts in government spending will take effect on Jan. 1, 2013. It’s estimated that the combined result would be the same as a 3-to-4 percent drop in GDP. That’s roughly how far our national output fell in 2009, the worst year of the worst recession since the Great Depression.

And while it is true we’re definitely heading for trouble, what we’re facing isn’t really like a fall off a cliff. It’s actually worse – we’re in for a long, slow slog through desert sand. And unless we finally move beyond our never-ending fight between Democrats and Republicans and adopt fundamentally different ways to run our country, every step along the way is going to hurt."

Read More:
Curing an Addiction to Spending (Newsobserver.com)


FUQUA PROF PROPOSES NEW SYSTEM TO EVALUATE TECHNOLOGIES IN K-12 CLASSROOMS
Aaron Chatterji, a professor at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business, together with Benjamin Jones, a professor at Northwestern University, have spent considerable time grappling with how technology can improve K-12 education.

As a result, Chatterji and Jones have unveiled EDU STAR, a new third-party ratings organization which would evaluate education technologies that would create a dynamic market for instructional software where the most effective products rise to the top.

Read more for highlights of Edu Star as noted in their paper "Harnessing Technology to Improve K-12 Education", which was commissioned by the Hamilton Project.

Read More:
Fuqua Professor Aaron Chatterji Proposes New System To Evaluate Technologies in the K-12 Classroom (fuqua.duke.edu)