Professor Kisha Daniels and Duke undergraduate student Selena Collins’ collaborative service-learning course, Critical Pedagogy of Hip Hop, connects Duke students and Durham Public School middle and high schoolers. Working in partnership with public school educators, Duke students create engaging learning environments that celebrate language, critical thinking and social justice through hip hop music. Rooted in relationship-building and student empowerment, the course work confirms how community-based, collaborative learning can strengthen student engagement and inspire the next generation.

Episode Credits

Senior Editor and Producer: Cara August, Trinity Communications

Audio Editor and Mixer: Marc Maximov

Music Composition: André Mego, T’20 | MMS’21

Production Sponsor: Trinity College of Arts & Sciences, Duke University

Recording Date and Location: May 2025, Bryan Center Studios

Duke faculty Pedro Lasch and UNC faculty Sherrill Roland’s artistic collaborations ask: How does art reclaim our humanity? After spending ten months in prison for a crime he didn’t commit and for which he was exonerated, Roland returned to his art practice not just to heal, but to challenge. Through a fellowship with Lasch’s Social Practice Lab — which brings together scholars, artists, and activists — Roland created the exhibit “Processing Systems: Numbers,” a reckoning with how we see, name and remember those impacted by the criminal justice system. Lasch has spent nearly two decades using mirrors to interrogate the politics of perception and power. His ongoing series, Black Mirror / Espejo Negro, layers iconic European paintings with pre-Columbian sculptures onto darkened glass, letting the mirror reflect and challenge our views on their history. These two artists do not make art that just hangs on walls, but that asks us to reimagine the world in which we live.

Episode Credits

Senior Editor and Producer: Cara August, Trinity Communications Audio Editor and Mixer: Marc Maximov Music Composition: André Mego, T’20 | MMS ‘21 Production Sponsor: Trinity College of Arts & Sciences, Duke University Recording Date and Location: May 2025, Bryan Center Studios

Since their first meeting six years ago, Alec Greenwald from Duke University and Yolanda Dunston from North Carolina Central University have been united in a shared vision: Supporting public schools that serve as hubs of opportunity, healing and innovation. Through the university-assistance framework, Duke and NCCU act as a unified partner for local public schools, providing targeted support based on direct input from the school’s community, including its students, families and teachers. The partnership helps facilitate the integration of university-assisted academic programs and social services, and demonstrates how when universities join together, they can use collective resources to strengthen local communities.

Episode Credits

Senior Editor and Producer: Cara August, Trinity Communications

Audio Editor and Mixer: Marc Maximov

Assistant Content Editor: K’Mari Peede, Dr. MAC Fellow, Trinity Communications, Summer 2025

Music Composition: André Mego, T’20 | MMS ‘21

Production Sponsor: Trinity College of Arts & Sciences, Duke University

Recording Date and Location: June 2025, Bryan Center Studios