• Debbie Goldstein, Associate Vice President and Associate Vice Provost for Community-Engaged Scholarship, Duke University
• Pinaki Ghosh-- Graduate Student, Duke Master's in Interdisciplinary Data Science
• Ja'Nell Henry— Executive Director, Black Farmers Market
• Mina Silberberg — Faculty Director, Duke Center for Community-Engaged Scholarship
• Adrienne Stiff-Roberts — Associate Dean for Community-Based Innovation, Pratt School of Engineering at Duke University

This panel will explore best practices in community-engaged scholarship, focusing on how universities can build reciprocal partnerships, address administrative barriers, and support community-engaged research across disciplines. Panelists will consider how community engagement takes shape in STEM fields, particularly engineering, and how faculty, students, and community partners can co-develop projects that are useful, sustainable, and responsive to community priorities.

The conversation will also draw on specific project examples, including Durham Public Schools Data+ projects and the Black Farmers Market internship. Panelists will discuss what made these collaborations successful, what challenges emerged, how partners developed right-sized research questions, and what lessons can help sustain community-engaged work over time

• Syretta Hill, Senior Director of Economic Mobility, Duke Community Affairs
• Rosalind Garmon, Workforce Development Coordinator/Career Development Coordinator, Career & Technical Education, Durham Public Schools
• Dr. Evingerlean D. Blakney, President and Chief Executive Officer, Blakney Global Solutions, Inc.
• Alissa Weather, HomeGrown Lead, Duke Supply Chain Management
• Gabriel Treves-Kagan, Vice President, Strategic Partnerships & Capital, Latino Community Credit Union

This panel will explore how anchor institutions can leverage hiring, procurement, real estate, investment, and community partnership strategies to advance economic mobility. Using Duke's HomeGrown initiative and the Economic Mobility Council as complementary examples, the conversation will examine how institutional assets can be aligned with community priorities to create pathways to opportunity, strengthen local businesses, and support shared prosperity.

Panelists will consider what meaningful partnership looks like in practice, how trust and accountability are built, and what lessons other institutions can take from Durham-based economic mobility efforts. Questions will focus on why this work matters, how community voices shape strategy, what impact has emerged, and what anchor institutions should do to make long-term commitments more equitable and effective.

• Ian Lee Brown MS, MLS, DMH, Chief Community Health & Social Impact Officer, Duke Health and Clinical Affiliate in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, Duke School of Medicine— Moderator
• The Rev. Marc Lavarin, MDiv, DMin — Senior Pastor, First Calvary Baptist Church and Member of the Duke Health CEO Community Health Advisory Board
• Pilar Rocha-Goldberg — President/CEO, El Centro Hispano and Member of the Duke Health CEO Community Health Advisory Board
• Jessica Sperling, PhD — Director of Applied Research, Evaluation, & Engagement in Duke University’s Social Science Research Institute (SSRI) and the Office of Evaluation and
• Applied Research Partnership, Duke Clinical and Translational Science Institute and Assistant Professor in Medicine and Assistant Research Professor at Duke School of Medicine
• Nicole Helmke, MD — Clinic Manager, Lincoln Community Health Center Healthcare for the Homeless Clinic and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Duke School of Medicine.

This panel will explore how colleges, universities, academic health systems, and community partners can work together to advance health and well-being by grounding their efforts in community voice, trusted relationships, shared capabilities, and sustained institutional commitment. Panelists will consider health broadly, including the social, economic, environmental, and relational conditions that shape physical and mental health, belonging, dignity, safety, opportunity, and the ability to flourish.

The discussion will focus on what it means to begin with community priorities rather than institutional assumptions, how institutions can build trust where communities have experienced neglect or extraction, and how authentic partnerships can move beyond transactional engagement to building community capabilities. Panelists will also explore how universities can connect education, research, clinical care, employment, purchasing, investment, and volunteerism to community well-being, and how success should be defined, measured, and sustained in partnership with communities.

• Tuere Bowles, Associate Vice President for Operations, Research, and Advancement, Duke Community Affairs – Moderator
• Jesse Hamilton McCoy II, Director, Duke Civil Justice Clinic
• Taren C. Moore, Senior Associate Director of People, Culture, and Community, Duke University Athletics
• Rev. Bruce Puckett, Assistant Dean, Duke University Chapel
• Kathy Sikes, Associate Director, Duke Service-Learning

University-community engagement encompasses a broad continuum of activities ranging from volunteer service and crisis response to community-engaged scholarship, community development projects, health initiatives, and long-term institutional partnerships.

This session will explore how Duke Athletics, Duke Chapel, Duke Law’s Civil Justice Clinic, and Duke Service-Learning approach community engagement through distinct yet complementary models. Panelists will examine how sustained partnerships, reciprocal relationships, and community-identified priorities create meaningful impact for both universities and communities. Through examples spanning service, education, legal advocacy, and crisis response, participants will gain insight into the diverse ways higher education institutions can foster lasting community impact.

The session will conclude with a live demonstration of the Duke Partnership Platform and how it supports visibility, coordination, and collaboration across Duke's community engagement ecosystem.