20 Moments From 2020

A year unlike any other: coronavirus pandemic, social activism, and a vaccine.

By Duke University

January 5^th, 2021

We entered 2020 at Duke much like any other year. Students gathered with friends to mark first day of classes, a concept that seems alarming now. But within a month, the COVID-19 outbreak forced the Duke Kunshan University campus in China to close and move all instruction online. For many in Durham, COVID-19 seemed very distant then – it was still an epidemic. During spring break the virus hit home. Staff and faculty began working from home; labs went dark. After an extended spring break, Duke launched 6,000 virtual classes, and our health care workers became heroes as the outbreak was declared a global pandemic. During the summer, Black Lives Matter protests came to Duke and rekindled discussions of systemic racism on our campus. Meanwhile, teams across campus were busy working on a Duke United plan for returning to campus with guidelines for masking, symptom monitoring, distancing and more. Employees from all over Duke helped facilitate COVID-19 testing for students as they began the fall semester in virtual and in-person classes. Athletics reinstated competition, without spectators. We voted, more than ever before. And then a vaccine arrived at Duke and gave us all hope and renewed optimism for the spring.

1. FDOC (FIRST DAY OF CLASSES)

Friends pose for photos together on the evening of the first day of spring classes, Jan. 8, 2020.

2. THE WIZ - HOOF 'N' HORN'S FIRST ALL-BLACK THEATER PRODUCTION

Hoof ‘n’ Horn’s first all-Black cast transports sold-out audiences to a fantastical world of Munchkins, flying monkeys, and magic at every turn during their performance of The Wiz Jan. 30 - Feb. 9, 2020. The 1975 Tony Award winner for Best Musical employs distinctly Black artistic styles to retell the story of Dorothy, a farm girl from Kansas, as she travels along the yellow brick road to meet the all-powerful Wiz while befriending the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion, who band together to help get her back home.

3. THE VIRUS HITS HOME. EARLY GOODBYES AMIDST THE ONSET OF THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

Students share early hugs and take graduation pictures a few days after March 10, 2020, when Duke announced a one-week extension of undergraduate spring break and suspension of all on-site classes for the rest of the semester. Students who were on campus at the end of spring break were able to pack their belongings and bid farewell to friends.

4. HEROES WORK HERE

Our Duke Health providers and frontline workers put on a mask of a different kind, every day, to care for our patients and our community. Our health care heroes are putting our patients at the center of everything they do, giving us all hope.

5. Duke PRINTS THE PAPR: A RACE TO HELP HEALTH CARE

Duke Orthopaedics and Biomedical Engineering team up to modify orthopaedic surgical hoods that use room air for ventilation to functional Powered Air Purifying Respirator (PAPR) hoods by creating 3-D printed filters in Duke's Innovation Co-Lab Studio. Made to combat the critical shortage of medical equipment, the protective respirators have helped keep doctors safe while caring for patients. The extraordinary, interdisciplinary success story of the Duke COVID-19 Engineering Response Team and the PAPR hoods can be found here.

6. MARKING THE MOMENT: EVERYTIME WE TOUCH

Members of the Class of 2020 celebrate their achievements at Duke with a virtual event, Marking the Moment, on Commencement Sunday, May 10, 2020. One major highlight: a surprise performance from Natalie Horler of Cascada, who sings the Cameron Indoor Stadium anthem “Everytime We Touch,” with Duke students and administrators. Relive the entire 2020 Commencement experience with virtual messages from actor and alumnus Ken Jeong, DSG President Olivia "Liv" McKinney, and President Vincent E. Price, along with a Class of 2020 memories highlight reel, tour of Duke Gardens, Duke Chapel tower climb, and more.

7. DUKE IN SOCIAL ACTIVISM: FROM WHITE COATS TO STUDENT ATHLETES, DUKE STOOD TOGETHER IN SOLIDARITY.

Hundreds of Duke Health employees march in support of racial justice and equality, carrying a message that Duke stands stronger together, during the "White Coats for Black Lives" march on June 10, 2020. On June 16, Black faculty, staff and students speak from their personal experiences and discuss the impact of racism and racist policies and structures during Living While Black, a university-wide virtual symposium. A couple of months later, in K-ville, student athletes and coaches speak during a Black Lives Matter protest, days after the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wis. reopened the wounds of police violence and racial justice in America.

8. DUKE UNITED: HERE. FOR EACH OTHER.

As the fall semester begins, things look very different. But in this unprecedented moment, there are great opportunities to be a Duke united in building an even brighter future for our university, the nation, and the world. Below, Duke students and staff encourage the Duke community to wear masks on campus to keep each other safe, as part of the Duke United Return to Campus and Duke Compact campaigns.

9. CLASS OF 2024 WELCOME

On Aug. 7, 2020, first-year students and their families move into residence halls on East and West Campus, as well as rooms at The Washington Duke Inn, with COVID-19 safety measures in place. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, students and parents participate virtually in the New Student Convocation, filmed in an empty Duke Chapel, for the first time. In a video below, the Duke community welcomes the Class of 2024 and incoming students, as Gary Bennett, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education, explains all the preparations that were made and protocols put in place to keep students safe during this unprecedented time.

10. PROTECTING THE CAMPUS DURING THE PANDEMIC

Students returning to Duke University in the fall of 2020 participate in asymptomatic surveillance testing to help rapidly identify and isolate people with COVID-19. This is done using pool testing, which combines nasal samples from five people for a single test to allow more testing using fewer resources. This large-scale effort was designed and coordinated by dozens of Duke’s faculty, researchers, and staff across disciplines. Learn more about pool testing at Duke in this seven-minute video here. Read more about Duke's COVID-19 prevention strategy, including risk reduction behaviors, frequent testing, and contract tracing in this report published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And check out the L.A. Times story: Duke University schools the country on how to stay open during the COVID-19 pandemic.

11. DUKE WELCOMES THE 2020 NEW FACULTY

Alicia Nicki Washington, Prof. of the Practice of Computer Science; Chris Monroe, Prof. of Electrical & Computer Engineering and Physics; and Lisa Gennetian, Assoc. Prof. of Early Learning Policy Studies, are among a group of new faculty members with new ideas, research problems, and classes. “We welcome and celebrate our new faculty this year in the most unusual ways and circumstances, but with no less enthusiasm,” says Duke Provost Sally Kornbluth. Meet all nine new faculty members we highlighted here.

12. A NEW STYLE OF LEARNING

Wearing masks and physically distanced, undergraduate students attend virtual and in-person classes on the first day of the fall semester Aug. 17, 2020. Check out our FDOC photo essay & short video here.

13. NEW FANS FOR FOOTBALL

Duke Athletics hosted fall sports events without spectators, including football games at Brooks Field at Wallace Wade Stadium, where supporters of the Blue Devils football team could buy fan cutouts of an individual or pet. Only essential game management personnel and broadcast media were allowed at home games.

14. HONORING A PIONEER, DUKE RENAMES BUILDING AFTER ONE OF THE FIRST BLACK UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS.

On Sept. 26, 2020, the Duke University Board of Trustees votes unanimously to name the Sociology-Psychology Building on West Campus after Wilhelmina Reuben-Cooke, ’67. Learn more about Wilhelmina Reuben-Cooke, one of the first five African-American undergraduates admitted to Duke in 1963, in the video tribute below.

15. C-TEAM HELPS FIGHT COVID

Duke’s Secret Weapon in the fight against COVID-19: Two by two, Duke employee volunteers traverse campus to encourage mask wearing and physical distancing. The group of employees, known as the C-Team, works in four-hour shifts during the morning, evening and night to remind students, employees and visitors to wear masks and practice physical distancing. See video and more photos of the C-team in action here.

16. DUKE VOTES IN RECORD NUMBERS

Duke surpasses the record turnout for early voting due to organized, university-wide efforts that brought out 12,694 masked and physically-distanced voters to the Karsh Alumni and Visitors Center. Check out our short video below and the Duke Votes website for more information about participation in the Nov. 2020 election.

17. VIRTUAL VETERANS DAY

Duke hosts a virtual Veterans Day ceremony on November 11, 2020, to recognize and honor those who have served or are serving in the United States Armed Forces. You can watch the 13-minute 2020 Veterans Day ceremony here.

18. A GRATEFUL FALL SEMESTER

During a most unusual semester, our entire Duke University community made contributions: Some contributed on campus, teaching, researching, supporting our students and faculty, and keeping our transportation running, our buildings and grounds safe, and our classrooms and labs open. Some contributed remotely, adapting to the new challenges and opportunities of working from home. Some have taken on new responsibilities in the face of the pandemic, shifting from office work to assisting with testing and tracing. And many made these adjustments while caring for children or other relatives at home or volunteering in their neighborhoods and wider communities. As the 2020 fall semester comes to an end, here’s a moment of gratitude to everyone who helped keep the university safe and healthy.

19. A VACCINE: HOPE ARRIVES

Frontline health care employees get access to the COVID-19 vaccine as the first shipment arrives at Duke. Learn more about how this historic moment played out at Duke in this story with video.

20. A SEASON OF HOPE AND PEACE

We recognize the significance of this year, this time, this moment. Sending everyone a little bit of light in what is a dark time for many. Wishing you a warm holiday season of peace, joy, and hope.