Polly Duke

Polly has taught French language / French and Francophone literature and cultures, since 1986, first at the Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at Oxford University, then at Andover (Phillips Academy), then as a doctoral fellow at Columbia University, and between 2001 and 2023, as Head of World Languages and Cultures at Friends Academy, a Quaker school on the north shore of Long Island. Along with teaching French at FA, Polly also teaches a Quaker-based senior reflections course, serves as Co-Clerk of Westbury Monthly Meeting, Coordinator of New York Yearly Meeting’s JYM (Junior Yearly Meeting), member of NYYM’s Ministry and Counsel Committee, member of NYYM’s Gun Violence Prevention Committee, and board member of both Friends Council on Education and the Westbury Friends School. Polly is President of the New York-Metropolitan Chapter of the American Association of Teachers of French. She has received numerous awards, including Columbia University’s Presidential Award for Outstanding Teaching, Friends Academy’s Master Teacher Award, AATF’s Evelyn Popper Memorial Award for Excellence in Teaching, and the AATF Outstanding Chapter Officer Award. In 2018, she was awarded Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques.