The Campaign for Duke reached its long-awaited $2 billion goal last week, bringing about the latest milestone in the ambitious capital campaign that began only a few very short years ago.
President Nan Keohane kicked off the quiet phase of the campaign in 1996, speculating privately that the campaign would bring in far less than it eventually did. By the time the administration was ready to go public with the campaign, its early success prompted the administration to raise the goal to $1.5 billion.
Two years later, flush with cash in a campaign that had been even more successful in a charged economy, the University raised its goal again to $2 billion and raised many of the individual goals for each school and other key targets, such as athletics, libraries and financial aid.
With more than 11 months left before the campaign ends in December, and some of those targets - such as Arts and Sciences and the libraries - not quite at their goals, it is nevertheless safe to declare that the campaign has been a sweeping success.
All over campus, members of the University community can tell how the capital campaign has already made a difference - from the buildings that have been constructed to those that will soon be finished, to the rapidly growing faculties of many schools and the implementation of the strategic plan that will hopefully strengthen Duke's sciences and engineering and make Duke more of an international player in higher education.
No one deserves more praise for the campaign's success than Keohane, whose tireless efforts have been the hallmark of her tenure as president. Virtually equalling her work is John Piva, senior vice president for alumni affairs and development, the architect of the campaign. Although Piva has remained firmly behind the scenes for the campaign, his planning has brought together every unit at Duke into a cohesive and marvelously efficient network.
Impressively, none of the senior development officers have left the school in mid-campaign and Piva's team has remained singularly focused throughout the entire process.
In addition, Duke's investment team has been incredible in its investment of the endowment - especially while the economy was still going strong - thus extending the power that Duke's campaign funds have had.
As the campaign pushes forward into its final thrust, it should work to fill the final buckets that it has not filled and even look toward raising funds for initiatives that have surfaced in recent years, such as renovations to West Campus student space and providing more fellowships for graduate students.
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