The University renewed its long-term commitment to the Primate Center, officials announced Thursday, promising an investment of more than $4 million to improve its infrastructure over the next few years.
In addition to its financial commitment, Duke will also start a search for a leading primatologist to serve as the next director of the center, which houses more endangered primates than any other facility in the world.
"The Primate Center is here to stay," Vice Provost for Research James Siedow said. "We're in it for the long-haul."
The center's existence has been in limbo since an internal review revealed in 2000 that the center was overly concerned with conservation and education at the expense of research.
In 2001, Provost Peter Lange removed then-director Elwyn Simons, James B. Duke professor of biological anthropology and anatomy, and appointed his colleague William Hylander, professor of BAA, to the position, charging him to make substantial improvements to the center's research and teaching programs.
"At that time, the center was not fulfilling its research and teaching responsibilities in a way that made it a real contributor to the University's mission. We needed to see substantial progress if we were going to commit," Lange said.
An announcement last year that the BAA department--which prior to 2000 accounted for nearly all research in the primate center--would contract to two-thirds its size further called the center's existence into question. However, administrators pledged at that time to evaluate the Primate Center on its own merits and not in the context of that department.
Under Hylander's direction, the center witnessed a three-fold increase in research, which Hylander said is sustainable "without question," and a significant rise in independent student research. After Hylander submitted the center's progress report last spring and the facilities report over the summer, Siedow and Lange presented a proposal to President Nan Keohane and Executive Vice President Tallman Trask last month with the recommendations for the research facility.
"We're really pleased with the fact that the administration has committed significant funding for the long-term survival of the Primate Center," Hylander said.
The plans for the Primate Center call for the construction of a winterized, free-range habitation building, as well as renovation of the existing facility. Financial support will stem from various University funds and external fundraising, which will be one of the responsibilities of the future director.
The continued success of the center is largely dependent on the arrival of a world-renowned primatologist. The search for the new director will be led by faculty in BAA.
"We reserved a slot in the Arts and Sciences search plan were we to need it, and we now are going to act on that," Lange said.
The search for a director will likely be completed by the end of the academic year so the new director can assume the position when Hylander steps down July 1. If a suitable replacement is not found in time,
Hylander will continue to serve as director and will only return to his faculty position in BAA when the center is situated.
"We are all grateful to Professor Hylander for his strong leadership in rebuilding the center's work," Keohane said.
The Primate Center's turnaround over the past three years has solidified its role in the University's greater mission and secured its future indefinitely.
"We feel that the Primate Center is now making contributions to the research and teaching mission of the University and that it also represents a significant asset to the research community," Lange said.
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