Niobe Duke - Black UCI Alumni Oral History Project

Niobe Duke is a recent alumnus of UCI, Class of 2018 within a B.A. Economics. Among her many roles as a student leader on campus she has served in the following capacities: Special Assistant for Financial Affairs at the Center for Black Cultures, Resources and Research at UC Irvine; Outreach Student Coordinator for SOAR at UC Irvine; and IRISE Student Coordinator at UC Irvine. Within these leadership roles, she was able to focus on underserved underrepresented, first-year, and first-generation students by designing, developing, and implementing educational programs and events. Her role encompassed program planning while serving as a liaison and resource for Black student organizations and other centers on campus. Niobe worked closely with student organizations and taught seminars that promoted leadership training, but also supported student-initiated outreach projects, fostering leadership development and empowerment, and addressed educational access needs of underrepresented and underserved students. Niobe's goal is to strengthen the Black community on the campus and brings a breadth and depth of student service and student programming experience to her role as program coordinator for the center. She is the Vice-President of the Black Faculty and Staff Association at UC Irvine developing programs and events to establish a consistent, positive and respectful rapport with the Black community on campus. Niobe is also a member of the most illustrious sorority in the world ~~ Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.