Contact Information

The Focus Program at Duke University

Box 90697, Durham, NC 27708
phone: 919.684.9370, 919.684.9371 fax: 919.684.4515

The Focus Program offices are located in 225 – 227 Academic Advising Center on Duke’s East Campus.

focus@duke.edu
http://focus.duke.edu/

Angela O’Rand, PhD

Focus Program Faculty Director

Angela M. O’Rand is Professor of Sociology at Duke University.  She has been on the faculty since 1979.  Her areas of research include the demography of aging and health, the sociology of science and social stratification.  Her latest research expands on the cumulative impact of economic adversity on midlife health risks.

She is currently Faculty Director for the Focus Program and has been involved with the program since its inception, as Chair of the Arts & Sciences Committee on the Freshman Year (1987-1989) that designed the Focus Program.  She has taught frequently in the program in science-related clusters on biology, biotechnology and evolution.

Dr. O’Rand’s research record includes grants from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and the Russell Sage Foundation. She has published three books and over 70 articles and chapters in her research fields. Dr. O’Rand is a Duke University Trinity College Teaching Award recipient.

More information on Dr. O’Rand and her research can be found at the Sociology Department web site.
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Amy Feistel

Senior Program Coordinator

Amy Feistel is responsible for management of the Focus Program clusters and educational enhancement activities, including new cluster development.  She serves as a liaison from the Focus Program office to departments, interdisciplinary academic units, Student Affairs, and Residential Life & Housing Services.  Amy also participates in the Focus Program as an interdisciplinary course coordinator.

Ms. Feistel has been administering interdisciplinary programs at Duke University for seven years.  Amy has an interdisciplinary A.M. degree in East Asian Cultural Politics from Duke University’s Asian/Pacific Studies Institute.

Ms. Feistel serves on University committees and is an academic advisor for first-year and sophomore undeclared students. She is also the web manager for the Administrative Women’s Network.

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Lauren A. Braun

Staff Assistant

Lauren Braun is a staff assistant in the Focus Program.  She helps coordinate the Focus Program’s larger events and educational enhancement activities for the Focus clusters.

Before she came to Focus, Lauren began her academic administrative career as a temporary office assistant in the United States–Southern Africa Center for Leadership in Public Values.  She also enjoyed working as a graduate teaching assistant in Women’s Studies.

Lauren moved to Durham, North Carolina in August 2004 when she became a graduate student in the Graduate in Liberal Studies Program at Duke. She completed her interdisciplinary Masters Degree in May 2007.  In her free time, Lauren volunteers as an Allocations Committee member for the Durham Partnership for Families and Children.  She also enjoys visiting her family back in South Georgia, and playing with her cat Matty and her dog Bear.
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