Duke-Durham Community Members Named 2012 "Sammie" Winners

Six members of the Duke-Durham community have been selected as 2012 "Sammie" award winners, named for Samuel DuBois Cook, a political scientist, educator and human rights activist and the first African-American faculty member at Duke. All honorees were chosen in appreciation of their work in furthering Cook's legacy.

The honorees are: Dr. Evelyn Schmidt, the director of Lincoln Community Health Center in Durham; William J. Griffith, Duke's vice president for student affairs emeritus; Allison Curseen, a doctoral candidate at Duke who researches 19th century American literature; Alexandra Swain, a Duke junior and Durham native, is majoring in political science and music; Chandra Guinn, director of Duke's Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture since 2005; and Rev. William C. Turner Jr., a professor of the practice of homiletics and the pastor of Mt. Level Baptist Church in Durham.