With the Kenan-Biddle Partnership gearing up for a second year, former grant recipients said the relationship between UNC and Duke University is stronger after the inaugural effort.
The program allots $50,000 annually between 10 group projects that are proposed by teams of UNC and Duke students.
“Last year, 10 teams formed that were bi-campus to work on projects that didn’t exist before,” said Ron Strauss, executive associate provost and chief international officer.
“For the amount of the investment, there is a lot of bang for the buck for this project.”
Last year, 91 projects were submitted for grant approval. Only 10 projects were chosen, which ranged from contemporary poetry to sustainable agriculture.
“I was impressed by the quantity and the quality of the applications last year,” said Larry Moneta, vice president for student affairs at Duke University.
For some students, the grant opened up opportunities they wouldn’t have had otherwise.
“We would have never met otherwise,” said Duke junior Praveen Tummalapalli about members of his group, the Bhutanese Empowerment Project, which was made up of students from both campuses.
Another group used the grant to plan a weeklong celebration of biodiversity conservation called Primate Palooza. Members said they connected their project to the Jane Goodall appearance at Duke in March.
