President Price has accepted with pleasure the Undergraduate and Graduate & Professional Young Trustee Nominating Committees’ recommendations to nominate Drew Greene and Rickard (Rich) Stureborg for election by the Board of Trustees as this year’s Young Trustees. These nominations will be brought forward to the trustees for election, effective July 1, 2024.
What is a Young Trustee?
- A Young Trustee is a fiduciary of the university, charged with ensuring the long-term health of Duke University. A Young Trustee is not an advocate or representative for any group. All members of the Board of Trustees—there are 37 of them, including three Young Trustees—understand that when issues come before the board, it's their job to consider what is best for the whole university, not a particular constituency.
- Young Trustees, like other trustees, must demonstrate an ability to think broadly about the university, understand the role of the university in society, be curious about institutional issues facing Duke, and respect how universities are administered and governed.
- Young Trustees are independent and collegial and are visible representatives of Duke University. They should embody the values that define Duke—respect, trust, inclusion, discovery and excellence.
- Young Trustees are not “Student Trustees.” The Young Trustee position was created to ensure that the board included individuals who are closer to the experience of today’s Duke—not to have students on the board to advocate for student issues.
- Every year, one individual from the undergraduate student body and one individual from the graduate and professional student body are elected as Young Trustees. They each serve their first year (of either a two- or three-year term) as an observer, which means they attend meetings but do not have a vote. The Office of the Secretary does cover the cost of travel and hotel accommodations for Young Trustees to attend the four full board meetings each year.
What is the process for selection?
2023-2024 Undergraduate Young Trustee Nominating Commitee Roster
- Kacia Anderson
- Theiija Balasubramanian
- Andre Barajas
- Carmen Becker Pombo
- Isaiah Hamilton
- Mark Kabai
- Ejay Lin
- Axelle Miel
- Pranav Mukund
- Glory Olowojoba
- Jack Sabo
- Hanna Smith
- Joyce Thomas
- Abbey Varju, Committee Secretary (non-voting)
Nominating Committee
The secretary to the Board of Trustees and chief of staff to the president will lead a process to select members of the nominating committee. This committee will oversee the nomination process for undergraduate students. The nominating committee for undergraduate students will consist of the following:
- One Current Young Trustee
- Two Undergraduate Students Serving on a Standing Committee or Participating in the Strategic Engagement Program with the Board of Trustees
- Duke Student Government (DSG) President
- Up to Six At-Large Student Body Positions
- Up to Five Identity/Affinity Group Representatives*
- Director of Board Operations in the Office of the Secretary (Committee Secretary, non-voting)
*The Office of the Secretary will solicit nominations from the identity/affinity groups. Each identity/affinity group may nominate one student each.
The committee will elect one member as chair by consensus or, if necessary, ranked choice vote at the first meeting.
Application Process
Once the nominating committee is seated and the application created by the committee, the secretary to the Board of Trustees and chief of staff to the president will send an email to undergraduate juniors and seniors. The message will remind students about the Young Trustee position, the selection process, inform them of the members of the nominating committee, and invite interested students to submit applications to serve as a Young Trustee. (For academic year 2023-2024, juniors and seniors in the undergraduate student body are eligible for the Young Trustee position. Eligible seniors include those designated as December graduates of the senior class.)
- An open forum will be held for all interested students to attend, hosted by the Office of the Secretary, where students can learn about the Young Trustee position, hear from current Young Trustees, and ask questions.
Selection of Nominees
The nominating committee will convene to review the applications and interview candidates. (Prior to this, all nominating committee members will have gone through bias and conflict of interest training. Additionally, nominating committee members are to recuse themselves when considering candidates where a conflict of interest is present.) Candidates selected as semi-finalists will be invited to participate in an interview with members of the nominating committee. Additionally, the Office of the Secretary will have academic and conduct records reviewed to ensure semi-finalists are in good standing. Following semi-finalist interviews, two to four finalists will be selected by the committee.
- Once the finalists have been selected, the secretary to the Board of Trustees and chief of staff to the president will send an email to all undergraduate students to inform students of the names of the finalists and to invite all students to attend a meeting hosted by the Office of the Secretary.
- At the meeting, the secretary to the Board of Trustees and chief of staff to the president will begin by describing the Young Trustee position. Each finalist will have time to speak about their interest in the position. Then there will be a question and answer period with the finalists. A survey will follow within the next couple of days for everyone who registered and attended the full session. A recording of the session will be available for a few days following the session for those who are not able to attend live.
- Participants in the meeting will be given the opportunity to express their preference for the candidates. Only those individuals who attended the meeting or watched the recording will be able to participate in the survey. (The survey is not a vote but rather feedback from the student body on the candidates for the nominating committee to utilize in making their recommendation.)
- The results of the survey will be provided to the nominating committee, which will then make a recommendation to the president.
- The results of the survey and the recommendation of the nominating committee will be forwarded to the president.
Election of Young Trustee
The president will consider the results of the survey and the recommendation of the nominating committee and will put forward one individual for election by the Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees has the final authority to elect the Young Trustee.
2023-2024 Graduate/Professional Young Trustee Nominating Committee Roster
- Maryam Al-Mujtaba
- Andy Castro-Arroyo
- Brittany Gabriel
- Tyler Johnson
- Josh Kim
- Kelsey Lu
- Vaibhav Manapuram
- Paul McKee
- Jennifer Melcher
- Edgar Virgüez
- Catherine Wang
- Kayla Wood
- Abbey Varju, Committee Secretary (non-voting)
Nominating Committee
The secretary to the Board of Trustees and chief of staff to the president will lead a process to select members of the nominating committee. This committee will oversee the nomination process for graduate and professional students. The nominating committee for graduate/professional students will consist of the following:
- One Current Young Trustee
- Two Graduate/Professional Students Serving on a Standing Committee or Participating in the Strategic Engagement Program with the Board of Trustees
- Up to Two Graduate and Professional Student Government (GPSG) Representatives (To be from different schools)
- Up to Five At-Large Student Body Positions (All to be from different schools)
- Up to Three Identity/Affinity Group Representatives*
- Director of Board Operations in the Office of the Secretary (Committee Secretary, non-voting)
*The Office of the Secretary will solicit nominations from the identity/affinity groups. Each identity/affinity group may nominate one student each.
Once the above committee members have been seated, the Office of the Secretary will assess the committee to determine if all schools are represented. If any school is not represented, the Office of the Secretary will extend an invitation to that school’s dean to nominate three students. From that pool, one student from each unrepresented school will to be invited to serve.
The committee will elect one member as chair by consensus or, if necessary, ranked choice vote at the first meeting.
Application Process
Once the nominating committee is seated and the application created by the committee, the secretary to the Board of Trustees and chief of staff to the president will send an email to all graduate and professional students. The message will remind students about the Young Trustee position, the selection process, inform them of the members of the nominating committee, and invite interested students to submit applications to serve as a Young Trustee. (For academic year 2023-2024, current graduate and professional students, as well as students who have graduated in the spring or summer terms of 2023, are eligible. In addition, international students as well as students who will live outside of the U.S. upon graduation are eligible.)
- An open forum will be held for all interested students to attend, hosted by the Office of the Secretary, where students can learn about the Young Trustee position, hear from current Young Trustees, and ask questions.
Selection of Nominees
The nominating committee will convene to review the applications and interview candidates. (Prior to this, all nominating committee members will have gone through bias and conflict of interest training. Additionally, nominating committee members are to recuse themselves when considering candidates where a conflict of interest is present.) Candidates selected as semi-finalists will be invited to participate in an interview with members of the nominating committee. Additionally, the Office of the Secretary will have academic and conduct records reviewed to ensure semi-finalists are in good standing. Following semi-finalist interviews, two to four finalists will be selected by the committee.
- Once the finalists have been selected, the secretary to the Board of Trustees and chief of staff to the president will send an email to all graduate and professional students to inform students of the names of the finalists and to invite all students to attend a meeting hosted by the Office of the Secretary and held in partnership with the Graduate and Professional Student Government (GPSG).
- At the meeting, the secretary to the Board of Trustees and chief of staff to the president will begin by describing the Young Trustee position. Each finalist will have time to speak about their interest in the position. Then there will be a question and answer period with the finalists. A survey will follow within the next couple of days for everyone who registered and attended the full session. A recording of the session will be available for a few days following the session for those who are not able to attend live.
- Participants in the meeting will be given the opportunity to express their preference for the candidates. Only those individuals who attended the meeting or watched the recording will be able to participate in the survey.
- The results of the survey will be provided to the nominating committee, which will then make a recommendation to the president.
- The results of the survey and the recommendation of the nominating committee will be forwarded to the president.
Election of Young Trustee
The president will consider the results of the survey and the recommendation of the nominating committee and will put forward one individual for election by the Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees has the final authority to elect the Young Trustee.
What is the timeline?
The nominating committees will submit their recommendations to the president by early April 2024 and the Young Trustee nominations will go to the board for approval at its meeting in May.