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April 4, 2007
Why Duke Alums Opt to Call Bull City HomeBy Gabby McGlynn, Reprinted With Permission from the Duke Chronicle
Kim Hanauer is still surprised when she hears of a Duke classmate moving back to Durham.
Although Hanauer, Trinity '02, moved back herself after spending several years in Boston and serves as the Director of the Young Alumni and Student Program, she said she still instinctively wonders, "Why go back?"
Regardless, Dukies migrate back every year to make Durham their home after graduation. Roughly 20 percent of Duke alumni live in North Carolina—nearly half of whom reside in the [Triangle] area.
So what exactly is the allure of Durham and what keeps Dukies coming back after their four undergraduate years?
The hassles of big city living, affordable housing and congested transportation and parking frustrations generally draw alumni back, Hanauer said. After spending a few years in a big city, she said people want something different.
"When you walk into the James Joyce [Irish Pub and Restaurant] on a Monday night and you know the Monday night crowd and the bartenders and the wait staff and everyone is connected in some way, I think that's pretty neat," Hanauer said.
For some, Durham presents the best of both worlds, Hanauer said-a modern city with a small town charm.
"Like everyone else, I interviewed and looked around for things up in D.C. and Boston and some other areas," said Jordan Capps, Trinity '02. "I never intended to stay in Durham, but this has become home."
Other Duke grads accredit their return to Durham to the weather, the comfortable lifestyle and the increased job opportunities created by Research Triangle Park and the Duke University Medical Center.
"There wasn't really another place that said 'move here' to me," said Kathy World, Trinity '72, operations manager of the Gothic Bookshop. "Most of the people I see regularly are the people I've known since college. In my group of friends and at that period of time, we were primarily transplants who have stayed."
Although the changing city dynamic attracts young alumni, some older local graduates said they feel the city's growth has altered the relationship between returning Dukies and the city they live in.
Tom Campbell, Trinity '70 and co-owner of the Regulator Bookshop, said Durham has expanded from the quiet sleepy town he remembers and the relationship between the city and students has worsened.
"Duke students have somehow absorbed the message that Durham is dangerous and they interact with the community far less than students did when I went to school," he said.
With graduates moving in and out of town after medical school, law school and job searches, the alumni circuit in Durham is in a state of continuous flux with a "nice flow of friends in and out and a good core of folks who never left," Sterly Wilder, Trinity '83 and director of Alumni Affairs, wrote in an e-mail.
Still, Durham continues to foster Duke bonds after graduation, Hanauer said. She and three friends who lived together in the Wannamaker Dormitory during their sophomore and junior years still get together on Thursdays to hang out. The only difference is that instead of watching episodes of "Friends," they now watch "Grey's Anatomy."
Reprinted with permission of The Duke Chronicle
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Due
in part to alumni who return for graduate school, making up one-fifth of the
University's graduate population, the area comprises the largest percentage
of young Duke alumni, topping even New York City.