Duke Graduate Academy

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Duke University graduate and professional students can build skills, tools and knowledge to augment their regular coursework and research.

Courses in the Duke Graduate Academy cover topics not typically included in a graduate curriculum, or they provide an intensive introduction for graduate students who might not have the time or inclination to pursue a full course in a subject. Instructors are Duke faculty as well as highly trained Duke staff. 

Program Information

Who Can Participate

Participation is open to current Duke graduate students, including Duke law, master’s and professional students. Some courses are also open to postdocs with consent from instructor.

Fuqua students, please note: Duke Graduate Academy courses are available to Fuqua students active in an MSQM program or in the Daytime MBA program.

Cost

There is no cost for Duke participants.

About the Courses

Courses are not for credit and are not graded, but they will appear on Duke graduate student transcripts. No offerings require prerequisites or assume areas of knowledge. Each course meets regularly for one to three weeks.

Classes are offered online with synchronous and asynchronous elements. Instructors emphasize interactive discussion and group activities/projects to maintain a high level of student engagement.

Most courses will enroll 30 students. Courses with fewer than eight enrolled students may be canceled.

Registration

Registration for the Summer 2026 Graduate Academy begins on February 16, 2026. Summer Term 1 runs May 13 – June 22. Summer Term 2 runs June 29 – August 7. Registration and drop/add follows the Duke Academic Calendar for Summer Term 1 and 2. The deadline to register for any course is by the drop/add date of its respective term: Summer Term 1: May 15, 2026; Summer Term 2: July 1, 2026.

• Graduate and professional students should register through DukeHub. 
• Fuqua students must obtain proper permission from their program dean (MSQM) or the Fuqua registrar (MBA).
• Interested postdocs should complete a course registration request. 

For questions, contact dukegradacademy@duke.edu.

Location

All classes meet online/virtually. Individual class schedules are noted in the course descriptions below and in DukeHub. Meeting details and coursework materials will be confirmed by instructor email or through course sites.

Questions

Summer 2026 Duke Graduate Academy Course Listings

Summer term 1 (May 13 – June 22)

Getting (and Giving) Transformational Mentoring

Summer Term 1 GS990 Section 01; offered May 13-29; no class on Friday 5/22 and Monday 5/25; MWF 2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. EDT 
Instructor: Maria Wisdom, Assistant Vice Provost for Faculty Advancement  
Eligibility: Open to all graduate and professional students; open to postdocs with consent from instructor

Are you getting enough or the “right” kind of mentoring to reach your academic and professional goals? And if you’re mentoring someone else, how can you develop the knowledge and confidence to do it well? In this course, we’ll tackle the most burning questions about mentoring, including:

• What is mentorship, anyway?
• How can I distinguish between a “good enough” mentor and a potentially transformative one?
• As a mentee, how can I get the most out of a current or future mentoring relationship?
• How can I become the kind of mentor people will remember as having “made a difference” for them?

We’ll discuss how to establish strong working relationships from day one, how to support another person’s learning and growth, and how to create a dynamic for constructive feedback. We will also explore systemic challenges facing both mentees and mentors in sustaining strong, effective relationships. These challenges include mentoring across generational and other differences, preventing mentor burnout and balancing mentoring commitments with other demands of a busy life and career.

Science Communication

Summer Term 1 GS990 Section 08; offered May 13-29; no class on Friday 5/22 and Monday 5/25; MTWTHF 11:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. EDT
Instructor: Emily Edwards, Associate Research Professor
Eligibility: Open to all graduate and professional students; open to postdocs with consent from instructor

The goal of this course is to equip students with techniques to communicate science and technology toward different audiences. Students will learn about the role of science communication in contexts such as policy and public engagement. Students will be taught practical communication skills, with an emphasis on communicating for different audiences and in different formats, including op-eds, white papers, infographics and short-form pitches. This is a project-driven class where students will be asked to bring their own interests/projects, and taught the skills for the effective communication of these complex topics.

By the end of the course, students should be able to:

• Understand science communication methods and challenges
• Articulate central ideas/messages for science and technology topics in the context of different audiences using different modalities
• Understand and determine the needs/interests of different audiences
• Understand different roles for science communicators
• Develop presentations on a scientific or technology topic of interest for a nonexpert audience

Business and Organizational Fundamentals for Entrepreneurial Action

Summer Term 1 GS990 Section 02; offered May 18 – June 5; no class on Monday 5/25, make-up class on Wednesday 5/27; MTTH 4:15 p.m. – 6:20 p.m. EDT  
Instructor: Shep Moyle, Senior Lecturing Fellow, Duke Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program  
Eligibility: Open to all Ph.D. students and students enrolled in the I&E Graduate Certificate; this course fulfills a core requirement in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship Graduate Certificate

Using innovation and entrepreneurship as a core theme, this course provides a broad overview of business, including strategy and leadership, negotiation, entrepreneurial finance, building culture and talent management, and practical business tools to apply in any organization and business. Students will experience the early stages of entrepreneurship, examine the basis for startup success and failure including funding, learn how to manage and inspire innovation within an organization, and evaluate the ethical implications of managing an enterprise. Coursework will be case-driven with several online simulations and expectations for participation and engagement.

Community-Engaged and Community-Partnered Research

Summer Term 1 GS990 Section 03; offered June 15-18 and June 22; no class on Friday 6/19, make-up class on Monday 6/22; MTWTHF 9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. EDT 
Instructor: Jessica Sperling, Director, Applied Research, Evaluation, and Engagement, Social Science Research Institute 
Eligibility: Open to all graduate and professional students; open to postdocs with consent from instructor

Engaging community members and organizations in research — often through community-engaged research (CER, CEnR) and research practice partnerships (RPPs) — helps ensure research is grounded in real-world context and supports social change. However, community-engaged research is complex and can be challenging in both theory and practice. This session will examine what “community-engaged research” means, why it matters for researchers and communities, and how to address common ethical and logistical challenges. We will build a conceptual foundation for community-engaged research, identify and discuss steps for designing and implementing projects, and include a focus on practical implementation tips. Throughout, participants will apply their learning through active exercises to develop a community-engaged research design.

Narrative Design

Summer Term 1 GS990 Section 04; offered June 15-June 22; no class on June 19, make-up class on June 22; MTWTHF 2:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. EDT 
Instructor: Aaron Dinin, Senior Lecturing Fellow, Duke Innovation & Entrepreneurship 
Eligibility: Open to all Ph.D. students and students enrolled in the I&E Graduate Certificate; this course fulfills a core requirement in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship Graduate Certificate

Students will learn to communicate why others should value their ideas and innovations, using both verbal and nonverbal elements. The first sessions will focus on common principles of storytelling and the ways in which stories have, historically, been the cornerstone of disseminating new ideas and information as far back as Homeric epics to as recently as Instagram and TikTok. Students will spend time in small groups to practice communication and design by creating and workshopping a variety of narrative materials (e.g., essay, podcast, video, presentation) related to their primary work or scholarship in another discipline.  

Summer term 2 (June 29 – August 7)

Qualitative and Mixed Methods Research

Summer Term 2 GS990 Section 05; offered July 13, 14, 16, 20 and 21; MTTH 2:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. EDT 
Instructors: Marissa Personette and Erin Haseley, Senior Research Analysts, Applied Research Evaluation and Engagement, Social Science Research Institute (SSRI) 
Eligibility: Open to all graduate and professional students; open to postdocs with consent from instructor

This course presents an introduction to qualitative research methods with a lens on combining qualitative and quantitative data (i.e., mixed methods). The course will emphasize qualitative research methods, examining their uses — when they are appropriate, what unique strengths they offer, what challenges they can introduce. In addition, we will explore when it is useful and valuable to utilize a research design that combines qualitative and quantitative data.

AI for Qualitative Data Analysis

Summer Term 2 GS990 Section 06; offered July 13-17; MTWTHF 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. EDT 
Instructors: Lorrie Schmid, Lead, Data Analytics, Social Science Research Institute (SSRI); Adrian Brown, Assistant Director, Applied Research Evaluation and Engagement, SSRI 
Eligibility: Open to all graduate and professional students; open to postdocs with consent from instructor

This course provides an introduction to the use of AI for analyzing qualitative data. The course will emphasize qualitative research methods, focusing on the nature and process of analyzing qualitative data. The course also provides an overview of AI, including LLMs and AI tools that can be used to analyze qualitative data. Finally, we will consider various approaches to using AI to analyze qualitative data from existing research projects, including a discussion of the benefits, challenges and ethical considerations for using AI in qualitative research. This course includes lectures and active discussion. 

Introduction to Society-Centered AI

Summer Term 2 GS990 Section 07; offered July 14, 21, 28 and August 4; T 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. EDT  
Instructors: Chris Bail, Professor of Sociology, Computer Science, Political Science and Public Policy; Brinnae Bent, Executive in Residence in the Engineering Graduate and Professional Programs; Brandon Fain, Assistant Professor of the Practice of Computer Science; Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, Chauncey Stillman Distinguished Professor of Practical Ethics 
Eligibility: Open to all graduate and professional students; open to postdocs with consent from instructor

AI is transforming research across every discipline — but using it well requires more than technical know-how. This course helps graduate students develop both a practical understanding of how AI systems work and the critical reasoning skills to use them responsibly. Participants will explore foundational AI concepts, engage with real-world ethical dilemmas and gain hands-on experience with contemporary tools like large language models. Through interactive exercises and a small final project, students will learn to evaluate AI’s capabilities and limitations while applying these tools thoughtfully. No technical background required.