History Duke University was created in 1924 by James Buchanan Duke as a memorial to his father, Washington Duke. The Dukes, a Durham family who built a worldwide financial empire in the manufacture of tobacco and developed the production of electricity in the two Carolinas, long had been interested in Trinity College. Trinity traced its roots to 1838 in nearby Randolph County when local Methodist and Quaker communities joined forces to support a permanent school, which they named Union Institute. After a brief period as Normal College (1851-59), the school changed its name to Trinity College in 1859 and affiliated with the Methodist Church. The college moved to Durham in 1892 with financial assistance from Washington Duke and the donation of land by Julian S. Carr. In December 1924, the trustees gratefully accepted the provisions of James B. Duke's indenture creating the family philanthropic foundation, The Duke Endowment, which provided, in part, for the expansion of Trinity College into Duke University.
As a result of the Duke gift, Trinity underwent both physical and academic expansion. The original Durham campus became known as East Campus when it was rebuilt in stately Georgian architecture. West Campus, Gothic in style and dominated by the soaring 210-foot tower of Duke Chapel, opened in 1930. East Campus served as home of the Woman's College of Duke University until 1972, when the men's and women's undergraduate colleges merged. Both men and women undergraduates attend Trinity College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Engineering. In 1995, East Campus became the home for all first-year students.
HIGHLIGHTS Duke Chapel, a symbol of the university, is at the center of the Gothic West Campus. Built in 1932, the chapel is dominated by a 210-foot tower housing a 50-bell carillon. Washington Duke and his sons Benjamin and James are entombed in the Memorial Chapel. Duke Chapel is open to visitors 8 a.m.-10 p.m. during the academic year and 8 a.m.-8 p.m. during the summer. Ecumenical worship services are held every Sunday at 11 a.m. See http://www.chapel.duke.edu/.
Duke University Medical Center, established in 1930, comprises clinical, training and research programs. The medical center has one of 40 federally funded comprehensive cancer centers, an eye center, a general clinical research unit and other highly advanced treatment and research facilities. Duke University Hospital is licensed for 1,050 beds. Life Flight, Duke's air ambulance service, flies more than 1,100 times a year to transport critically ill patients.
Duke Hospital is also the flagship of the broader Duke University Health System, which includes two community hospitals - Durham Regional Hospital and Raleigh Community Hospital - and affiliations with other hospitals in the region, community-based primary care physician practices, home care, infusion services and hospice care. For more information, see http://dukehealth.org.
The Duke libraries, with more than 5 million volumes, rank among the top 10 private research libraries in the United States. The William R. Perkins Library system comprises a main library, seven branch libraries and a state-of-the-art shelving facility. There are also four professional school libraries. Duke's main library houses government documents, maps, newspapers and microforms. Its special collections library contains 11 million manuscripts and other printed and pictorial matter. See http://www.lib.duke.edu/.
The University Archives, part of the Perkins Library system, is the official repository for printed and written materials and photographs that chronicle Duke's past. See http://www.duke.edu/web/Archives/.
The John Hope Franklin Center for Interdisciplinary and International Studies, named after the acclaimed historian and civil rights advocate, is home to 18 Duke programs in the humanities and social sciences. At the center, scholars, artists and members of the community have the opportunity to engage in public discourse on such issues as race, social equity and globalization. The center is located at Erwin Road and Trent Drive, between Duke's north campus and the medical center, and includes gallery space, state-of-the-art rooms for classes and lectures, and digital and video-editing facilities. See http://www.duke.edu/web/jhfcenter/main.html.
The Blue Devils compete in the nine-member Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and field teams in 26 varsity sports. Duke's men's basketball team consistently is ranked among the nation's elite and won the national championship in 1991, 1992 and 2001. The football program has participated in all four major bowl games and has won or shared the American Football Coaches Association's academic achievement award a nation-leading 10 times for the highest graduation rate in the country. The men's soccer team won the national championship in 1986 and reached the NCAA final in 1996. The Duke women's programs are just as exceptional. The women's basketball team has won three consecutive ACC championships and reached the Final Four in 1999 and 2002. The women's golf team won the national championship in 1999 and 2002. The women's tennis team, which has won 14 of the past 15 ACC championships and 13 consecutive NCAA tournament bids, reached the NCAA final in 1998. See http://goduke.ocsn.com/.
Crews broke ground on the 322,000-square-foot, $97 million Center for Interdisciplinary Engineering, Medicine and Applied Sciences in spring 2002. The two-building complex on Science Drive will house the research and teaching activity of bioengineering, the Fitzpatrick Center for Photonics and Communications, and materials science and materials engineering, as well as a new emerging initiative in remote sensing and instrumentation. A portion of the building will be occupied by the new Institute for Genome Science and Policy, a partnership between the School of Medicine and the Pratt School of Engineering. The construction is scheduled to be completed in fall 2004. See http://www.egr.duke.edu/Facilities/cieas.html.
The Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy brings together scientists, engineers and physicians who are working to advance the fundamental basic knowledge of genome science and technologies with Duke scholars in business, ethics, economic, law, public policy, religion and the environment. The institute seeks to ensure that the ethical and policy issues arising from the unraveling of the genetic code are fully explored to the betterment of society, integrate those discoveries into the nation's health care system and transfer effectively the intellectual property from biomedical discoveries to the private sector. The university has already begun construction or planning for two major facilities that will support the work of the genomics institute - a $41 million Center for Human Disease Models building and a $35 million Center for Human Genetics - and launched research initiatives that utilize genome analysis. See http://www.genomics.duke.edu.
The $35 million, 344-bed West-Edens Link residence hall opened in August 2002. The four buildings, which connect the main section of West Campus with Edens Quad residence halls, are the first new dormitories on West Campus since 1990. The residence hall is part of a broader campus initiative to improve students' undergraduate experiences. In addition to moving all sophomores onto West Campus, Duke is strengthening its residential life and academic support services for students and renovating existing West Campus dormitories. The changes build upon the success of the university's 1995-96 initiative to house all first-year students on East Campus and are aimed at building a community across social, civic and academic realms. See http://www.duke.edu/web/wel/.
Duke University's Museum of Art has assembled, since its founding in 1969, an impressive collections - from Ancient to Modern, from Old Master and American to African and Contemporary Russian art. The Brummer Collection of Medieval and Renaissance art is widely regarded as one of the finest collections of its kind in any university gallery in the United States, as is the large pre-Columbian collection from Central and South America. The museum, located on East Campus, is open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday; 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday; and 2-5 p.m. Sunday. Limited parking is available. The entire collection is slated to move to the new $20 million Nasher Museum of Art building on Duke University Road and Anderson Street in 2005. See http://www.duke.edu/web/duma/.
Duke University Press, founded in 1921, publishes works in the humanities and social sciences for scholarly and general interest readers in such areas as literary studies, fiction and creative nonfiction, popular culture and contemporary affairs, gay and lesbian studies, Asian studies, Latin American studies, environmental policy, law and regional topics. Duke University Press publishes about 100 books and 36 journals per year. See http://www.dukeupress.edu/.
The Sarah P. Duke Gardens, 55 acres of landscaped and woodland gardens in the heart of Duke's West Campus, are open to the public daily from 8 a.m. to dusk. Each year more than 300,000 visitors enjoy the gardens' five miles of walkways and more than 2,000 species and varieties of plants. The terraces feature seasonal floral displays, perennials and trees. The H.L. Blomquist Garden has plants native to the southeastern United States; the Culberson Asiatic Arboretum is devoted to plants of eastern Asia. The Doris Duke Center, a 12,000-square-foot educational and visitors center opened in November 2001, also houses a gift shop. See http://www.hr.duke.edu/dukegardens/dukegardens.html.
The Duke Forest, established in 1931, covers 7,900 acres in the north central Piedmont. It serves as a natural outdoor laboratory for Duke and neighboring universities. The forest is managed for multiple uses, including education, research, protection of wildlife and rare plant species, and demonstration of timber management practices. Selected roads and fire trails are open to visitors for hiking, biking and horseback riding. Two picnic shelters off of N.C. 751 are available for rent. Forest maps showing roads and trails are also available. See http://www.env.duke.edu/forest/.
The Botany Greenhouse facilities cover more than 12,500 square feet. They house one of the most diverse collections of plants under glass in the Southeast, comprising more than 2,000 different species from many environments. Visitors may tour the greenhouses 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday- Thursday. Call (919) 660-7334 for information.
The Duke University Marine Laboratory at Beaufort, N.C., is a campus of Duke University and a unit within the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences. Its mission is education and research in basic ocean processes, coastal environment management, marine biotechnology and marine biomedicine. The faculty offer courses for undergraduate and graduate students during the regular year and two summer sessions. Modern laboratory, field and shipboard facilities are available for use by visiting researchers. See http://www.env.duke.edu/marinelab/.
Performing Arts at Duke encompass a wide spectrum of events, including music, theater, dance and literary arts presented on both East and West campuses. Page Auditorium is home to the Duke Artists Series, Broadway at Duke Series and the On Stage Series, among others. Reynolds Industries Theater hosts Theater Previews at Duke, performances by the Institute of the Arts' Living Traditions and New Directions Series, and student organizations such as Duke Players and Duke Dance. Baldwin Auditorium and the Nelson Music Room are sites for most of the musical productions by faculty artists, Duke's resident Ciompi Quartet and guest jazz, folk and world music artists. Duke also hosts the American Dance Festival, an internationally renowned celebration of modern dance featuring performances and classes. In all, the university offers more than 500 events each year. For tickets and information, call University Box Office at (919) 684-4444. See http://tickets.duke.edu or http://www.duke.edu/web/dia/.
The Primate Center, the only university-based facility in the world devoted to the study of prosimian primates, is home to the world's largest colony of endangered primates, including more than 250 lemurs, bush babies and lorises. More than 85 percent of the center's inhabitants were born on site. In 1997, the center began a program to reintroduce black and white ruffed lemurs to Madagascar, the first return of any prosimian primates to the island nation. The Primate Center is on the edge of Duke Forest along Lemur Lane off Erwin Road. Visits to the center are by appointment; call (919) 489-3364. See www.duke.edu/web/primate/.
The Joseph M. and Kathleen Price Bryan Center is the hub of student activity. The center serves as an expanded student union and home to student organizations and the University Union, which oversees student-run cultural and social activities. It contains theaters, restaurants, a coffeehouse, bookstores, an information desk, a post office, bank machines and offices.
The Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture, established in 1983, further strengthened Duke's commitment to foster an appreciation of the heritage of black Americans. The center features an art gallery, library and lounge and sponsors speakers on diverse. The center also plays a central role in planning the university's annual commemoration and celebration of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday.