In 2023, the Rev. Dr. Benjamin Chavis, an esteemed civil rights, faith, and environmental justice leader and Duke Divinity School alumnus, was named the inaugural Environmental Justice and Racial Equity Fellow. Chavis, who coined the term “environmental racism” in the 1980s while protesting the state’s dumping of contaminated soil into predominantly minority neighborhoods in Warren County, NC, has spent his career organizing for a variety of social, environmental, and political justice causes. He joined Provost Alec Gallimore in January 2024 for conversations on building community, his work in environmental activism, and combating racial inequity. As part of his fellowship, Chavis also co-convened UNIV 101: The Lived Experience of Race and Racism, alongside Jay Pearson, Associate Professor in the Sanford School of Public Policy, in Spring 2024.