The Samuel DuBois Cook Center is a scholarly collaborative that studies the causes and consequences of inequality and develops remedies for these disparities and their adverse effects.
For Shamia Truitt, teaching is far more than a career, it is a calling rooted in service, creativity, and a steadfast commitment to equity. Throughout her more than two decades in the classroom, Truitt has championed a holistic, student-centered philosophy that honors the complexity of her students’ lives. Today, as a 7th grade teacher at…
Once a student in the Hank and Billye Suber Aaron Young Scholars Summer Research Institute, Oyinkan Ajasa has come full circle, returning this summer as a teaching assistant with years of study, community work, and teaching experience at her disposal. “It feels surreal to be back in this space,” Ajasa says. “This program gave me…
Kollin Brown’s journey is one that comes full circle. Once a high school participant in the Cook Center’s Hank and Billye Suber Aaron Young Scholars Summer Research Institute, Brown returns this summer—not as a student, but as a teacher’s assistant. It has been 7 years since Brown was an Aaron Young Scholar himself. Now, after…
Former Postdoctoral Associate and The Pandemic Divide contributor Melissa Scott recently published an op-ed in INDY Week reflecting on Hurricane Helene and its ties to the climate crisis. In the piece, Dr. Scott shares her experience staying in her family’s cabin in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains where she and her young son witnessed the…
Keisha Bentley-Edwards, Associate Professor of Medicine at Duke University, was recently featured on the podcast Questions You Didn’t Ask, hosted by Niasha Fray. In the episode, “What if your zip code determined your health, wealth, and life expectancy?”, Dr. Bentley-Edwards and entrepreneur/community leader Farad Ali explore the deep ties between economic justice and health. They…
Faculty Affiliate Carliss Chatman, Professor at SMU Dedman School of Law, co-authored a commentary in Bloomberg Law with Sergio Alberto Gramitto Ricci examining the governance challenges behind Disney’s reversal on suspending Jimmy Kimmel Live! The authors argue that such “whiplash” decisions highlight the risks of treating corporate values as flexible rather than foundational. They emphasize…
