PUBLISHED:October 17, 2016

Gottschalk ’90 and Shea ’10 honored with DAA’s “Forever Duke” awards for volunteer service

Caroline Gottschalk ’90 and Katherine “Kat” Shea ’10 were honored by the Duke Alumni Association on Oct. 1 with “Forever Duke” awards.

Presented during Duke’s Homecoming weekend, the awards honor alumni who demonstrate ongoing dedication to the university and who advance the Duke ideal of knowledge in service to society.

Gottschalk, a partner at Simpson Thacher in New York who specializes in mergers and acquisitions, has served on the Duke Law Board of Visitors since 2009 and is a tireless Law School volunteer. She served on the Law Alumni Association Board of Directors from 2005 to 2009, serves on the Duke Forward campaign committee for the Law School, and has served on several of her class reunion committees, chairing the reunion committee in 2015. An active member of Duke’s new Women’s Impact Network Leadership Council, Gottschalk also is a founding member and on the board of advisors for the Duke Law Club of New York.

“It is a privilege to be able to give back to the institution that has provided me with so much,” Gottschalk said. “I love having the opportunity to connect with and support students and young alumni as they learn and explore their own career paths and personal interests. Duke offers such a wide range of opportunities for alumni engagement that I have found it easy to find fulfilling ways to become and remain involved.”

Shea, an assistant federal public defender at the Office of the Federal Public Defender in Raleigh, served as chair of the LAA’s New Lawyers Division from 2013 to 2015. During that time, she spearheaded an initiative to recruit alumni with recent clerkship experience to volunteer to hold mock interviews for students aspiring to clerk and to answer questions about the experience. She co-chairs the reunion committee for her class. Shea’s volunteer record during her student days at Duke Law includes serving as the co-chair of the class gift committee, Innocence Project training director, and Street Law co-chair. She also was editor-in-chief of Law & Contemporary Problems.

“Honestly, it’s a privilege and a pleasure to serve Duke Law as a volunteer,” she said. “Duke instilled in me a love and passion for the law. It led me to a career that challenges and inspires me. It gave me professors who continue to serve as mentors and friends. Duke introduced me to some of my very best friends, including my husband. I am so indebted to this institution that gave me so much, and in some small way, it’s an honor to give back.”