2009 Major: History and Earth & Ocean Sciences
"Professionally, the dual History and Earth and Ocean Science majors helped me have a broad perspective going into my career. I was well versed on both human and natural history as I started law school with the goal of becoming an environmental lawyer. After six years as an environmental and then public health lawyer, I returned to business school to complete the 'triangle' - humanities, science, and economics. I am now a management consultant and pull from every part of my education, including history. Personally, I often come back to one history class in particular. While I focused on US history at Duke, I took an Islamic Civilizations course to complete my major requirements. In the post-9/11 world, my professor, Dr. Canguzel Zulfikar, took great pride in sharing the rich history of Islamic civilizations when news media was painting all Muslims as extremists. We visited the Turkish Cultural Center with Dr. Zulfikar, sampling amazing Turkish food and learning about modern Turkish culture. Two years later, I met a young Turkish man while in law school in Washington DC--we have now been married for over 8 years and have two sons together. My baseline knowledge of his culture and religion impressed him early in our relationship. Now, on our annual trips to Turkey, we often visit the historic sites which I learned about in Dr. Zulfikar's class. I also teach my young sons about their history and culture, which is informed by what I learned all those years ago."
"Take advantage of Duke's rich history offerings by going both broad and deep. Take courses that will give you a broad understanding of the history of different regions of the world and go deep into the area that most interests you."
