• The Durham Bulls were named the Triple-A Minor League Team of the Year by MLB.com.
• Durham architect Phil Freelon was named Tar Heel of the Year by the News & Observer. Freelon's firm is designing the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of African American History and Culture to be built in Washington, DC.
• Sports Illustrated selected an All-Decade basketball team which featured Duke's Shane Battier, J.J. Redick, and Jason Williams in its starting lineup.
• Latino Community Credit Union won first prize for its feature length film Angelica's Dreams from the Credit Union National Association.
• Entertainment Weekly named Bull Durham the 5th sexiest movie ever.
• The Durham, NC MSA posted the highest per capita real GDP for 2008 in the Southeast region consisting of West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida.
• Durham County Novelist Zelda Lockhart was chosen as the second Piedmont laureate.
• Student U, Durham Housing Authority, and Durham Cooperative extension office all received grants of more than $170,000 from the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.
• Arrowhead Inn Bed and Breakfast in northern Durham County is celebrating its 25th anniversary.
• Durham Public Schools recently announced the accreditation of 37 of its teachers by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards who will be honored at a dinner in February; this brings the total to 310 teachers certified while in Durham.
• Duke football wide receiver Conner Vernon was named to the Freshman All-America team by Sporting News; in addition to Vernon, Brian Moore and Desmond Scott were selected for the Sporting News Freshman All-ACC squad.
• Self-Help Credit Union CEO Martin Eakes was presented the Ned Gramlich Lifetime Achievement Award for Responsible Lending from The Opportunity Finance Network. Self-Help Credit Union also won second place in the national Dora Maxwell Social Responsibility Award for collaborating on the revitalization of Durham's Walltown Community.
• Durham native and Penn State senior Megan Hodge was named the American Volleyball Coaches Association Division I National Player of the Year for 2009 after leading her team to a third straight NCAA Volleyball Championship.

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• John Hope Franklin was remembered with a Fond Farewell by Time Magazine in their annual Person of the Year edition.
• Duke University President Richard H. Brodhead will ring the Closing Bell at the NASDAQ MarketSite on Friday, December 18.
• Kay Phillips, with the Durham-based Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Campaign of North Carolina, was named community champion of the year by the North Carolina School Community Health Alliance.
• Keep Durham Beautiful received the Keep America Beautiful President's Circle Award for the fifth year in a row.
• Sporting News named Duke senior defensive tackle Vince Oghobaase third team -All America.
• The Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce raised $3.1 million for economic development efforts during their Vision 3D campaign.
• Cree Inc.'s LED lights were installed in the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum in the "Moving Beyond Earth" exhibit.

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• The Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations awarded the 2009 National Award for Outstanding Achievement in Metropolitan Transportation Planning to the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization and the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization for its collaboration on three regional planning efforts.
• Charles "Chuck" Davis, the internationally renowned founder and artistic director of the African American Dance Ensemble, received an honorary doctorate from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
• North Carolina Central University received reaffirmation of its accreditation as a degree-granting institution of higher education from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
• Durham ranked #30 in Men's Health Magazine's list of most charitable cities.
• Duke University will expand their presence in China in 2011 when they open a Fuqua School of Business complex in Kunshan including a conference center, an academic building, faculty housing, student dormitories and a research incubator facility.
• Durham resident Delores Evans will ride on the "Donate Life" float, featuring a picture of her son made out of flowers, in the 121st Rose Parade.
• Training Magazine named BOWE BELL + HOWELL to its "Top 125" list for excellence in corporate training and development programs for the eighth year.

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• The North Carolina Central University Women's Center received a three-year grant for $300,000 from the Department of Justice for the awareness and prevention of domestic violence and sexual assault.
• Durham based Geomagic Studio has developed technology to convert 3D scans into realistic digital models of cities for a totally immersive 3D experience.
• Janeen Gingrich was appointed to the state Domestic Violence Commission.
• Durham's Krista and Mo Staten will be featured on the Style Network show "Clean House".
• Hillside New Tech High School is one of 19 New Tech schools honored nationally by the New Tech Network and will serve as a learning model for other schools.
• William Greenlee, president and CEO of the Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences, received the Benjamin Rush Award at Dickinson College.
• Lanair Lett of the NC School of Science and Mathematics finished in fourth place in the individual category of the National Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology.
• Syngenta Biotechnology Inc. is celebrating its 25th year in Durham's Research Triangle Park.

Five ways to use this information. For more great things, visit www.wheregreatthingshappen.com.

• Cranky Creative, located in Durham, is the preferred graphics provider for The Boston Globe's mobile advertising.
• After 50 years, the State of North Carolina officially recognized a major civil rights event and installed a historical marker at the site of the 1957 Royal Ice Cream sit-in.
• DPAC collected nearly 3,000 pounds of food on Thanksgiving weekend during a special promotion for Phantom of The Opera which will provide more than 2,400 meals for people in need.
• Duke graduate Andrew Cunningham was one of more than 40 people to receive the prestigious Marshall Scholarship which provides two years of graduate level studies in the United Kingdom.
• Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie, the first female bishop in the history of the African-America Methodist Church, will deliver the fall commencement address at North Carolina Central University on December 12.
• Six Duke football players received All-ACC honors; first team Donovan Varner, second team Thaddeus Lewis, Vincent Rey, and Will Snyderwine, and honorable mention Vince Oghobaase and Leon Wright.
• Blake Williams of Northern Durham qualified for the boys Foot Locker National Cross Country Championships in San Diego, California.

Five ways to use this information. For more great things, visit www.wheregreatthingshappen.com.