About
Offering some of the most popular and sustained faculty and student engagement opportunities such as FLUNCH, Duke Conversations, and Spring Breakthrough, the Student-Faculty Engagement Office curates and maintains programs that foster relationship building for faculty and students.
The office is predicated on the belief that student and faculty interactions beyond the classroom are crucial to the Duke Academic Strategic Plan and that every student deserves this promise.
We curate spaces framed around our Duke Values in order to build and maintain opportunities that are inclusive, anti-racist, and welcoming for all students and faculty. Our mission is to break down barriers of belonging for our students and faculty. Join us in the connection movement!
Our Team
Theo Cai
Program Coordinator, Office of Student-Faculty Engagement
Theo Cai, ’21, hails from Dallas Texas. He majored in Environmental Science and Policy and minored in Creative Writing, and worked at the Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity as a student. After graduation, Theo spent two years as the Nowicki Fellow for Student Engagement in OUE, and since 2023 works as a program coordinator in the Office of Student-Faculty Engagement in the Division of Intellectual Community. In his free time, he loves reading poetry and playing pickleball.
Jenny Li
Spark Fellow
Jenny Li joins the Student-Faculty Engagement Office as the new Spark Fellow. Jenny graduated from Duke in 2023 with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology. At Duke, she was a Peer Success Leader and involved in America Reads America Counts, DukeEngage Boston, Women’s Club Basketball, and Bass Connections. Jenny’s senior thesis explored how app-based food delivery drivers formed networks of solidarity through online communities to challenge the platform’s algorithms.
Previously, Jenny worked for Duke’s Office of Community Affairs where she was the Interim Site Manager for Duke Jumpstart, a national early education organization that pairs teams of college students in Pre-K classrooms. In her free time, she enjoys playing and watching basketball, making laser cut prints at the Innovation Co-Lab, and trying different ice cream shops in Durham with friends.