2024-2025 LLCs
Duke University offers numerous opportunities for interested students to partake in intentionally designed Living Learning communities (LLCs) that incorporate the residential component of the college experience along with other academic and social pursuits. While membership in these groups may be limited, activities offered are often open to the general student population. LLCs are sponsored, resourced, and facilitated by a university department or office, often in conjunction with faculty partners. Students apply to join these communities and are selected by the sponsoring office.
Baldwin Scholars
The Alice M. Baldwin Scholars Program inspires and supports undergraduate students to become engaged, confident and connected leaders in the Duke community and beyond. Each year, 18 female-identified first-year students are selected to join the four year program which includes living together, an internship, two academic seminars, community service, and a retreat among other opportunities.
Cognitive Neuroscience & Law
The Duke FOCUS Program is the premiere living-learn academic program for first year, first semester students at Duke University. Building on the living-learning community during the first semester of the first year, the Cognitive Neuroscience and Law LLC brings a deepening and augmentation to former Focus students during their sophomore year at Duke. Programming includes participation in the Mellon Sawyer series, interactions with new Focus students matriculating in 2021, involvement in educational enhancement opportunities, including research and labs in the cognitive neurosciences, neuroimaging and linguistics (sociolinguistics, law and language, cognitive neurolinguistics, etc.), off-campus activities, and connections to related teams in Bass Connections and Duke Engage. If space permits, we will accept applications from rising juniors as well.
Kenan Global Citizenship & Ethics
The Ethics LLC provides a unique space on-campus, in which students ethically engage the world locally and globally. The LLC offers students the opportunity to explore the meaning of living as a global citizenship off-campus through funded house trips and on-campus through dinners, social events, and discussions with faculty and guests.
Marsha's Home
Marsha’s Home helps to facilitate an understanding of various gender identities as well as sexual and romantic orientations. As an LLC, Marsha’s Home connects members of the Duke LGBTQIA+ community and allies with each other to create a safe space for exploration, curiosity, and engagement. We aim to support queer leaders and cultivate their individual and collective strengths while also centering intersectional identities along with queer and trans joy. Marsha’s Home LLC seeks to improve the Duke community’s understanding of gender and sexuality and improve the living and learning experiences of LGTBQIA+ students.
Wellness Community
The Wellness LLC provides a home for students who want to explore wellness through a variety of programs and events aimed at developing a rich understanding of wellness from a global perspective. You'll be joining a community devoted to developing and experiencing daily wellness practices to help manage stress, reduce anxiety, and glean the most positive Duke experience. The Wellness LLC is a safe space for those wishing to have a healthy relationship regarding substances; either living substance-free or practicing moderation and supporting peers living substance-free.
The Fouling Community
Established in 1938, the Duke Marine Lab (DUML) has been a place where Duke Students could have the experience of diving into the world of conservation efforts. The purpose of the Fouling Community is to provide a space for students to begin and continue their DUML experience while in Durham. This LLC’s mission is to provide a space for Marine Lab scholars to bridge their experiences between DUML and Durham to engage with the Ocean and Marine life. This LLC is open to all students who have an interest in Marine life and Sciences.
Mitchell-White House
A small group of Black student leaders organized and founded the Mitchell-White House, a Black Cultural Living and Learning Community at Duke University. The House is named after Mary Mitchell-Harris and Nathaniel White, two of the first five Black students who integrated Duke University in 1963. Mary Mitchell-Harris and Nathaniel White are both Durham natives who graduated valedictorian and salutatorian, respectively. As a Black Cultural Living and Learning Community, our mission is to learn about the people of the African diaspora and cultivate community amongst its members and allies. The Living and Learning Community seeks to facilitate an exchange of culture and history between its members.
Smart Home
The Smart Home residential program is a dynamic and vibrant living and learning community. The vision of the program is to have a diverse and interdisciplinary group of students living in the Duke Smart Home. The Smart Home is operated by the Duke University Pratt School of Engineering.
SPIRE
SPIRE is a deeply responsive mentoring and academic support program for high-achieving undergraduates from diverse backgrounds with interests in pursuing majors and/or careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. Duke SPIRE—which stands for STEM Pathways for Inclusion, Readiness, and Excellence—seeks to create a sense of academic belonging among students who have historically been marginalized in scientific communities. The LLC is a group of sophomores, juniors and seniors who are dedicated to making Duke a more inclusive and friendly place for students who are pursuing their degrees in the sciences through study groups, wellness activities, academic enrichment funding, tutoring and mentoring.
The Cube
The Cube is a community of students interested in partnering with faculty, staff, and community partners pursuing innovation and entrepreneurship in their professional careers. The Cube seeks to lower the barrier of entry to entrepreneurship and provide members with the skills and resources necessary to pursue their own ventures. The Cube is dedicated to promoting entrepreneurship of any form within the Duke and surrounding community, including all forms of startups, social ventures, and venture capital.
Visions of Freedom
The Visions of Freedom LLC is community of upperclassmen with a common passion for politics, philosophy, and economics, though its members major in a diverse range of disciplines. The group holds optional events like weekly group dinners focused around a controversial topic, a book club, the John Locke speakers program, and more. Its recent house courses have focused on topics like Progress and Preservation, Community and Individualism, and Unpacking 2020. The LLC also takes an annual trip in line with its academic focus. It is sponsored by the Program in American Values and Institutions of the Department of Political Science.
LangDorm
LangDorm is a community of students passionate about experiencing and sharing different languages and cultures. We seek to promote an open-minded attitude and curiosity towards the lived experiences of others, so that we can open up meaningful dialogue about language and culture.
Cardea Fellows
Cardea Fellows Program is a four-year undergraduate fellowship committed to supporting students who are underrepresented in health-related careers on their journey to entering the medical field. The LLC is a group of inducted fellows who are dedicated to uplifting their peers and creating a more equitable Duke through academic and community support. SAGE learning communities provide a foundation on learning strategies in STEM courses and the Cardea house course addresses issues faced by pre health students as they work through their academic identity at Duke. Community members of the Cardea LLC participate in mentoring, wellness and social activities for a supportive and successful pre health journey.
Transformative Ideas
Are you looking for a place where you can explore your life’s purpose? Do you want to belong to a community free from the pressures to perform and pretend you have life all figured out? Can you imagine belonging to a living and learning community where your closest friends disagree with you about politics, ethics, and religion—and you treasure your friendship precisely because you are free to disagree? Are you looking for a space where you are encouraged to pursue the truth wherever it may lead you? If so, then you may want to consider the Transformative Ideas LLC, where you can enjoy candid dinner conversations, engaging speakers, house courses on important topics usually not discussed at Duke, and personal connections with some of Duke’s best professors. You will join a vibrant and close intellectual community of over 45 TI student fellows from first years through seniors.