Founding Director, William “Sandy” Darity, discussed the potential racial and social harms of a nearly all white presidential cabinet on the Tavis Smiley Podcast. He acknowledges that while representation matters, it does not inherently guarantee policies that advance equity. I don’t think that visual representation is a sufficient basis for making a judgement about any…
Last year Founding director, William A. “Sandy” Darity, Jr., was named a 2024 Distinguished Fellow by the American Economic Association (AEA). On January 5th, 2025 he received the award at the ASSA Annual Meeting. Darity, the Samuel DuBois Cook Professor of Public Policy, African and African American Studies, and Economics at Duke University, is one of…
The Cook Center is pleased to celebrate Core Faculty Affiliate Keisha Bentley-Edwards in being selected in the 2025 ALICE cohort! ALICE is a 10-month leadership development opportunity for mid-career women faculty in the School of Medicine. The program empowers participants with in-depth experiences in leadership skill development, personal reflection and goal setting, peer mentoring, and structured…
Cook Center Faculty Affiliate Carliss Chatman provided comments in Spectrum News 1 article on the legal battle surrounding the states of Texas and New York on abortion rights. The conversation comes after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s lawsuit against a New York doctor for prescribing a medical abortion drug to a Texas woman. I think,…
Core Faculty Affiliate Keisha Bentley-Edwards recently appeared on NPR’s Short Wave podcast, hosted by Emily Kong. The episode focused on KFF Health News’ Silence at Sikeston podcast series, an in-depth look at the impact of racial trauma and its implications on Black communities, as discussed by KFF Health News Midwest Correspondent Cara Anthony. Dr. Bentley-Edwards,…
Faculty Affiliate Fenaba Addo, PhD, an Associate Professor of Public Policy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, was recently interviewed about her work on race and policy by The Washington Center for Equitable Growth. Dr. Addo spoke about her lived experiences with student debt and the racial wealth divide, the relationship between…
We are proud to celebrate Hank & Billye Suber Aaron Young Scholar Alina Azhar in her recognition by Durham Public Schools as Student of the Month for November. In the feature written by Durham Public Schools (DPS), she outlined her future goals to pursue higher education and mission to overcome disadvantages to live freely. As…
Faculty Affiliate Loneke T. Blackman Carr, Assistant Professor of Community and Public Health Nutrition at the University of Connecticut, recently co-wrote a piece with Dr. Jameta Nicole Barlow in The Conversation discussing weight loss interventions based on lifestyle changes for Black women. In wondering why scientists have been unable to craft a lifestyle-based weight loss…
Dr. William A. Darity Jr., Founding Director of the Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity, and Dr. Gwendolyn Wright, the Cook Center’s Strategic Initiatives Director, were recently quoted in The Globe and Mail on the role of race in the recent U.S. presidential election results. Reflecting on the impact of race on voters’ reception…
Associate professor in the Department of Psychology & Neuroscience at Duke University and Cook Center Faculty Affiliate Dr. Sarah Gaither has been featured in The Guardian for her insights on the complexities of identity development. Her commentary provides an understanding of how a person’s identity is shaped by influences and experiences throughout their life. “Identity…