Duke's pioneers are the people and organizations who push the University forward, relentlessly reimagining every aspect of our community with boundless energy and passion. They question the status quo and refuse to accept anything that is unjust or unsatisfactory.
The pioneers of this year's Chron15 list revolutionized academic programs and initiatives and facilitated safe community building across our campus.
Mary Frances Luce, interim dean of the Fuqua School of Business and Fuqua '94, is paving the way for women in leadership.
In August 2024, she became the first woman and the first alumna to serve as interim dean of Duke University's Fuqua School of Business. She currently serves as a member of the Duke Kunshan University Board of Trustees and as the Robert A. Ingram professor of business administration.
Luce's leadership journey doesn't end there. She also spent six years as associate and senior associate dean of faculty at Fuqua, where she oversaw faculty development and academic affairs. She has centered interdisciplinary research at Fuqua and served as associate vice president at Duke's Office of Research & Innovation, where she focused on supporting scholars in the social sciences, humanities and arts. Luce also served as president of the Association for Consumer Research and co-editor of the Journal of Consumer Research.
Beyond administrative roles, Luce is an expert in behavioral marketing, particularly in the impacts of negative emotions on decision-making.
As Duke's Centennial celebrations took center stage across campus this year, one person worked tirelessly behind the scenes to bring moments from 100 years of University history to light.
Ani Karagianis serves as centennial archivist at the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library, a role she assumed only a year after completing her graduate
program. She has worked at Duke Libraries since 2022.
When not manning the desk in Rubenstein Library's reading room or teaching students how to conduct archival research, Karagianis spent her time over the past two years combing through University records to find materials for projects celebrating Duke's 100th anniversary.
Karagianis edited hundreds of articles spotlighting previously hidden pockets of Duke history, and her work was integral in the development of the "Permanent Good" documentary and the Centennial book "Duke University: The First One Hundred Years."
She also served as project manager of the "Our Duke" exhibit in Perkins Library, supporting student curators in designing the display, in addition to helping faculty members develop their own Centennial exhibits and providing guidance to numerous academic courses drawing on University history.
Alex Schlessinger, T '26, and Nate Drebin, T '26, served as co-presidents of the 10th annual Shave & Buzz Club fundraiser, leading the effort to raise over $266,000 in support of fertility preservation and psychosocial programs for adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer patients within Duke's Teen & Young Adult Oncology Program. Under their leadership and a revitalized publicity strategy, the event surpassed previous fundraising totals by more than $50,000.
The Shave & Buzz fundraiser was created in 2016 by members of Pi Kappa Alpha to support their fraternity brothers, Mark Schreiber and Bobby Menges, following their simultaneous cancer diagnoses. While Schreiber beat the disease shortly afterwards, Menges passed away in September of 2017. The fundraiser has been held ever since in collaboration with the I'm Not Done Yet Foundation (INDY), formed in Bobby's memory by his parents.
Through the significant funds raised by Shave & Buzz, the Duke Cancer Institute has been able to offer innovative and specialized care options for AYA patients. In partnership with INDY, Duke established a Nurse Navigator position dedicated to guiding young patients through complex treatment decisions. This includes access to unique fertility preservation therapy, a critical and often overlooked concern for young cancer patients. Beyond clinical care, the fundraiser sustains monthly social programming that fosters community among AYA patients. It also supports Bobby's Coaches, a peer-to-peer counseling initiative that helps patients balance the transition between treatment and student life, a struggle Bobby himself experienced.
Thanks to strong leadership from students like Alex and Nate, the Shave and Buzz Club will continue to grow its impact and Bobby's spirit of resilience and compassion will inspire students and support young cancer patients across campus and beyond.
Jack Regan is fighting to reshape how Duke University approaches sexual culture. As co-director of Sexual Harassment and Assault Prevention and Education (SHAPE) and as president of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, Regan has taken charge of the conversations and culture on campus surrounding sexual assault.
Regan advocated for the University to conduct a comprehensive campus-wide survey on sexual culture and student experiences, which it launched in March 2025 and marked the first survey on campus sexual misconduct since 2018. This survey aimed to translate student perspectives into hard data, which SHAPE hoped would be impossible for University leaders to brush aside. Regan has also worked closely with senior University officials, including Mary Pat McMahon, vice provost and vice president of student affairs, Alex Whicker, associate director of gender violence education & outreach and Deputy Title IX Coordinator Adrienne Allison, with the goal of collaboration between students and administration.
Regan continues to work in his positions to fight for a safer and healthier sexual culture on the University's campus with a goal of holding a stronger presence for SHAPE, until there is no need for the club at all.
Pediatric surgeon Dr. Ryan Antiel is leading a paradigm shift in how surgical trainees at Duke prepare for a life both inside and outside the operating room. In a field known for its intensity and hierarchy, he has created The Good Surgeon, a model of small group gathering focused on moral formation, practical wisdom and the discovery of the good life.
Meeting monthly over shared meals, surgical residents and faculty engage enduring questions of life and practice, often absent from formal curricula: "What am I aiming for? Who are my people? How do we live with failure? How do we respond to brokenness? How should we then practice surgery?" This setting -- intentionally separate from clinical evaluation -- cultivates friendship, community and mentorship across levels of training.
Rather than offering a checklist approach to wellness or a quick fix to burnout, The Good Surgeon provides what residents need: time, space and trusted relationships that support honest reflection on who they are becoming and who they want to be.
The Good Surgeon will expand next year, featuring partnerships with institutions such as the University of North Carolina, Rutgers University, Wake Forest University, the University of Pittsburgh and Washington University in St. Louis.
Thanks to Antiel's leadership, Duke is setting a new standard for how surgical education can shape not just skilled, but also grounded and enduring surgeons.