Here’s what we’ve heard around town. Send us your news, from births to awards, new biz and more, to noted@legacy.durhammag.com.
In the News
Durham Distillery was the runner-up in USA Today’s “Best Craft Gin Distillery” category of the 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards for 2016.
The Durham-Chapel Hill area was listed at No. 10 on GoodCall’s list of “Top 100 Places for Women Entrepreneurs” based on networking potential, business climate, educational values and economic health.
What an Honor
eMerging Entrepreneurs Inc.’s youth STEM program Urban Leadership Lab was selected by the White House as part of its 2016 “Computer Science for All” learning campaign for the organization’s operational commitments to advance the Obama administration’s efforts to give millions of students access to unique computer science educational opportunities.
Josephine L. Cranfill and Emma G. Friesen of Trinity School of Durham and Chapel Hill were named “Commended Students” in the 2017 National Merit Scholarship Program for their exceptional academic promise.
North Carolina Central University’s (NCCU) Patrick “9th Wonder” Douthit and Yaba Blay are featured in the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, in addition to a photograph of noted educator and presidential advisor Dr. Booker T. Washington during a visit to Durham in 1910 as well as a video from NCCU’s “Eagle Access” student web series as part of a focus on football in the museum’s Sports Gallery.
Marcia Morey was named Outstanding Judge of the Year for 2016 by the North Carolina Association of Women Attorneys.
Allan D. Kirk, Donald P. McDonnell and Robert M. Califf of the Duke University School of Medicine have been named to the National Academy of Medicine, an independent advisory organization made up of leading professionals in health, medicine, social and behavioral sciences.
And the Award Goes to …
The PBS documentary series “Twice Born,” produced by Raleigh-based Trailblazer Studios (including Durham’s own Bonnie Cutler), won an Emmy Award in September for outstanding science and technology programming.
Duke’s Center for Documentary Studies awarded the 24th Dorothea Lange-Paul Taylor Prize to Durham native, artist, illustrator and documentarian Steven M. Cozart for his proposal “The Pass/Fail Series,” which explores colorism within the African-American community.
Stacey Kirby was awarded a $200,000 Juried Grand Prize at the international 2016 ArtPrize competition for her performance and installation “The Bureau of Personal Belonging,” which was first presented at an ArtPrize Pitch Night at the 21c Museum Hotel in May.
On the Move
Thurman D. Hollins was appointed North Carolina Central University’s director of bands in September. Most recently, Thurman served at St. Augustine’s University.
Timothy A. Daniel is the new head of school at Montessori Community School.
Nicky Charles is the new chief operating officer of East Durham Children’s Initiative.
Winkie La Force, longtime president of Leadership Triangle – a coaching and engagement platform for businesses and leaders – will retire in January. Replacing Winkie will be Jesica Averhart, current engagement director at American Underground.
After five years as the executive director at the Museum of Durham History, Katie Spencer will step down from that role March 31, 2017. “I regularly receive phone calls from museums all over the country who want to build community-centric programs and exhibitions,” Katie said in the museum’s announcement. “While I plan to stay involved in curatorial work at the museum, I want to be able to take those calls.”
Marking Milestones
International Montessori School celebrated its 20th anniversary in September. The school started as a French-language preschool with four students and has grown to 108 students today, offering Spanish, French and Mandarin Chinese for primary level up to sixth grade.
In October, nonprofit Book Harvest gave away its 500,000th book.
Doug and Nelda Lay of The Persian Carpet, located on Durham-Chapel Hill Boulevard, celebrate the 40th anniversary of their business this year.
In October, Vert & Vogue released its lookbook of fall and winter fashions featuring selections photographed at The Carolina Theatre. The boutique also recently celebrated the eighth anniversary of its Brightleaf Square store.
Business Briefs
El Centro Hispano – a grassroots, community-based nonprofit dedicated to strengthening the Latino community – moved to Chapel Hill Road in October.
O’Neil Physical Therapy began accepting clients in September for its mobile and personalized treatment sessions.
Durham Performing Arts Center earned more than $6.3 million in net income, with $1.8 million distributed to its owner, the City of Durham.
Bella Trio Spa & Salon is slated to open at the beginning of March at the American Tobacco Campus.
Sports retailer Pro Image Sports has a new store at Northgate Mall.
Jonathan and Mollee Lamb have launched a startup in Durham called My Side and Yours, selling couple-customized bed sheets.
Amazon is helping to fund Durham-based Organic Transit, which develops an ultra-efficient bicycle-car hybrid called the ELF.
Kitchen and bath design business emma delon has moved from Durham to Chapel Hill.
Skin Wellness Dermatology Associates opened in Southpoint Plaza in July.
The Iron Yard, a national immersive code school (their Durham location is at the American Tobacco Campus) that offers back- and front-end engineering courses, has launched the Tech Opportunity Fund to award $100 million in code school diversity scholarships.
At press time, Triangle Circus Arts – owned by Dr. Kerry Donny-Clark – was scheduled to open late November on Hillsborough Road.
Durham Social Services (DSS) has launched DSS-MAP, a mobile app to help the 6,000 clients DSS sees per month apply, re-certify or make changes to their status in the Food & Nutrition, Medicaid and Work First programs. It is available for free on Google Play and on the website dssmobile.dconc.gov.
Mark Your Calendar
Duke Cancer Institute and Caring House host a gala Feb. 18, 2017, at the Washington Duke Inn & Golf Club to celebrate and support the partnership’s 25 years providing affordable housing, a healing environment and supportive community for patients and their families.
Issues Confronting Our Nation (ICON) – a Durham grassroots, nonprofit organization founded by six women, recently announced its 2017 lecture series. Five speakers will participate throughout the year, discussing topics such as national security, health care reform, energy and more. The first speaker will be Mike Adams, a professor of criminology at UNC-W, on March 7, 2017. All the talks take place at Extraordinary Ventures in Chapel Hill. For more information, visit iconlectureseries.com.
Giving Back
In June, the Debutante Ball Society helped sort 7,500 pounds of food at the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina in Durham, which equals 6,648 meals. Chair-Elect Sue Ann Glower also presented the food bank with a gift of $1,500, which will provide another 7,500 meals.
The Triangle Nonprofit & Volunteer Leadership Center held its annual Tomorrow’s Community Leaders Award Ceremony in October at the N.C. School of Science and Mathematics to recognize students for 53,470 total hours of community service.
Durham Academy fourth-grader Cadence Adamson spearheaded a Hurricane Matthew relief effort and collected supplies to help the thousands of flood victims in North Carolina. Within days, she had accumulated hundreds of paper towel rolls, toilet paper rolls, sponges and more.
Nearly 2,000 walkers turned out in force at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park this September to take part in the 2016 Walk to End Alzheimer’s sponsored by Edward Jones, raising more than $225,000 for the cause.
In October, 108 Bronto Software employees volunteered their time to area charities including Urban Ministries of Durham, Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina, Habitat for Humanity of Durham and SEEDS (pictured above). A part of Bronto parent company Netsuite’s annual Global Impact Week, the employees pulled weeds, sorted clothing, restocked pantries, rebuilt computers and assisted with Hurricane Matthew flood recovery efforts for a total of 416 volunteer hours.
Read All About It
The New York Times bestselling author John Darnielle (also the singer-songwriter behind the band The Mountain Goats) has released his second novel, “Universal Harvester,” about a small-town video store set in 1990s Iowa that suddenly becomes full of mystery.
Chancellor Emeritus of Duke University, James B. Duke Professor of Medicine and Director of the Duke Center for Research on Personalized Health Care, Ralph Snyderman has published a memoir titled, “A Chancellor’s Tale: Transforming Academic Medicine,” through Duke University Press.
Durhamites Tom Rankin, Emily Wallace and Michael McFee contributed essays to “The Carolina Table: North Carolina Writers on Food,” edited by UNC’s Randall Kenan and published by Eno Publishers in Hillsborough.
Also through Duke University Press, poet, independent scholar and activist Alexis Pauline Gumbs (who appeared on our February/March 2011 cover with her partner, Julia Wallace) has published “Spill: Scenes of Black Feminist Fugitivity,” collection of scenes depicting fugitive Black women and girls seeking freedom from gendered violence and racism.
Rebecca Brewster Stevenson published her first novel, “Healing Maddie Brees,” through Durham’s Light Messages Publishing. The book explores “the questions of honesty and commitment, of disease and isolation, and of the many shapes healing takes.”
Durhamite David Bockino’s recently published e-book, “Greetings from Myanmar,” was featured in an interview with Kai Ryssdal on NPR’s Marketplace in September. David is an assistant professor at Elon University.
On her quest to discover the stories behind Durham’s bull icon, writer Sheila Amir chronicles her journey as it unfolds on her blog medium.com/@sheilaamir.
In Memoriam
Duke School of Medicine professor of neurobiology and Chapel Hill’s Zinfandel Pharmaceuticals CEO, Dr. Allen David Roses passed away September 30 at 73. He was known for his work establishing genetic links to Alzheimer’s disease and also served as American Dance Festival’s board chairman.
Rep. Paul Luebke passed away October 29 at 70. The Democrat represented Durham in the state House of Representatives for 25 years and was running for re-election to a 14th term in November when he suffered a sudden re-occurrence of lymphoma, which he had been diagnosed with last fall.
Lessons Outside the Classroom
Durham Public Schools (DPS) and the Museum of Life and Science partnered up in October to bring immersive, curriculum-based STEM learning adventures, called STEM Days, to more than 1,500 DPS fourth-grade students on the museum’s campus.
In October, Bell and Howell – which delivers service and technology solutions that enrich customer communications and fulfillment for finance, industry and public sector enterprises – hosted a Manufacturing Day open house for guests from local state and community colleges, as well as community members and elected officials. Bell and Howell gave a tour of its Research Triangle Park headquarters, along with demonstrations of systems used for pharmaceutical material handling and tracking, robotic security patrol, automated vision inspection, 3-D printing and more.
Nasher Museum of the Art at Duke University recently presented a matinee performance of Southern hardcore punk rock for an all-ages crowd. Organized by musician Mac McCaughan, co-founder of Merge Records and member of indie rock band Superchunk, the event featured punk rock bands Pipe, Blackball and Natural Causes with punk DJs spinning in between sets.
New Developments
Plans are in the works to transform the Erwin Building (on the corner of North Buchanan Boulevard and Trinity Avenue) into Wheatland, a complex of 10 residences – ranging from 1,200 to 2,000 square feet – designed by Alliance Architecture in collaboration with local stakeholders including Robert and Fida Ghanem of Mad Hatter’s/Saladelia and Kenneth P. Lawhorn. Additionally, the team has brought in Durham notables to fuel the design of specific spaces, like chef Matthew Kelly for inspired kitchens and Stone Bros. & Byrd for the building’s landscaped rooftop garden. Construction is expected to begin late 2016, with residents scheduled to move in fall of 2017.
North Carolina Central University’s site for its new School of Business at the northeast corner of campus was approved by the Board of Trustees in September.
The same developer that brought Solis to Ninth Street plans to build a 200-unit apartment complex on the Howerton & Bryan Funeral Home site at 1005 W. Main St. next to Brightleaf Square. Charlotte-based Terwilliger Pappas proposed seven-story complex, which includes a two-level parking garage and offers studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartment options.
