Dean of the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences Norm Christensen received a pleasant surprise at his goodbye gala Sunday night: the announcement of a scholarship named in his honor and the renaming of the school's first reading room as the Norman L. Christensen, Jr. Reading Room.
The endowed scholarship will help fund students in the Nicholas School's master of environmental management and master of forestry programs. Officials will begin distributing the money as soon as the scholarship begins to generate revenue.
Four members of the Nicholas School's board of visitors began the drive to create the Christensen scholarship, making initial donations of $100,000 each.
The remainder of the scholarship funds was provided by members of the faculty and staff, as well as friends and colleagues of Christensen.
"It is common for departing deans to be honored with a named professorship; however, the board of visitors felt so strongly about Norm's devotion to the students that we decided a scholarship endowment would be a more meaningful way to honor him," said Douglass F. Rohrman, chair of the board of visitors.
Christensen will step down at the end of June after serving 10 years as dean. He will be replaced by William L. Schlesinger, James B. Duke Professor of Biochemistry.
The School of the Environment was formed in 1991 to merge Duke's on-campus School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and the Duke Marine Laboratory in Beaufort. During Christensen's time as dean, the school developed an undergraduate program, grew its endowment by nearly $90 million, relocated to the Levine Science Research Center, procured a $20 million name-changing gift and became renowned for its commitment to interdisciplinary study and research.
Christensen, the school's first dean, will spearhead the school's distance learning initiatives. He also hopes to return to teaching and research.
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