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After more than 25 years in public health, Wanda Woods decided the time had come to “put aside” her career.
Woods had served in meaningful roles with such organizations as the N.C. Division of Public Health, the N.C. Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities, the Durham County Health Department, and the University of North Carolina’s Gillings School of Global Public Health.
Increasingly, though, Woods did not feel at peace in her work. She was being called somewhere else.
Should she go back to school, she wondered? Pursue a doctorate in public health or leadership? Earn a master’s degree in adult education or medical sociology?
For Woods, there were many logical career choices, but none of them felt right.
“I had a keen sense that I needed to do something else with my life,” Woods says.
Surfing Duke’s website late one night, Woods came across a description of the Duke/UNC dual degree M.Div./MSW program. She immediately knew this was the answer.
“My heart exploded,” she says. “This was just the place I needed to be.”
In April 2008 Woods attended a student interest orientation at Duke Divinity School and sat in on a New Testament class.
“As I listened to the lecture, I knew I belonged in this place,” she recalls. “A sense of peace settled over my spirit and I heard, ‘This is the way, walk in it.’ I had found my home.”
Woods joins the Duke Institute on Care at the End of Life and Duke Divinity School as its newest Westbrook Scholar this fall.
As a Westbrook Scholar, Woods will have an opportunity to deepen her theological knowledge and wisdom through the Master of Divinity degree program. In addition to her classes at Duke Divinity School, Woods will undergo field education experiences specifically linked to end-of-life care.
Through the Westbrook Scholars program, ICEOL provides students entering the Divinity School with financial support amounting to one third of tuition for three years –the typical length of the M.Div. program.
The Institute has supported a dozen students through the Westbrook Scholars program since its inception in 2000.
“With the Westbrook Scholars program, the Duke Institute on Care at the End of Life is helping to cultivate a new generation of pastors, physicians, nurses, chaplains, and others with a deep commitment to end-of-life care,” says Bebe Guill, ICEOL director of development. “The program supports theological education for students who, like Wanda Woods, already have a strong interest in improving care for people at the end of life. Westbrook Scholars are encouraged to ground their calling to alleviate suffering with a rich theological tradition. As a result, these scholars are better prepared to make significant contributions to the field.”
For more information about ICEOL and the Westbrook Scholars program, contact us at iceol@div.duke.edu or 919.660.3553.