President Nan Keohane announced Tuesday that The Duke Endowment has awarded a series of gifts, totaling more than $20 million, in support of such University priorities as an expansion of the School of Nursing, improvements to Perkins Library and growth of the undergraduate science initiative.
The gifts from the Endowment--a non-profit, charitable trust that supports programs of higher education, health care, children's welfare and spiritual life throughout the Carolinas--came in December and were counted toward the recently concluded Campaign for Duke. The Campaign for Duke brought in a total of $2.36 billion, more than $300 million of which came from the Endowment.
"The Duke Endowment has been the largest single supporter of Duke through the years," said John Burness, senior vice president for public affairs and government relations. "Duke University would not be the internationally recognized university it is today were it not for The Duke Endowment's consistent leadership and support. At the same time, it always helps the University remember its roots in North Carolina."
The Endowment's December gifts include $1 million for the School of Nursing, with a plan to donate $2 million more by 2005. Mary Champagne, dean of nursing, said the money will go to the construction of a new building on Trent Drive, behind the school's current facilities.
The Board of Trustees approved the scope of the new building--a three-story classroom and laboratory facility--early last year. To date, the school has raised $8 million of the $12 million needed to break ground on the building.
"We are thrilled to receive this endorsement from The Duke Endowment for our critically needed expansions," Champagne said in a statement. "Our growth--both in size and in the caliber of our faculty and programs--is in direct response to societal needs."
The Endowment also awarded $6 million to Perkins Library to support the creation of the new Information Commons, a centralized public service area that will be built as part of the $55 million project to renovate the library.
"With the Information Commons, we will attempt to bring together all the various service points of the library into one place," said University Librarian David Ferriero. "Right now, if you need to do a variety of tasks, you [might] have to go to seven different service points on four different floors. The new layout will be more user-friendly."
Ferriero said the Information Commons will be located on the first floor of the library, extending from Perkins to a new, adjacent building, the Bostock Library. Construction is already well underway.
In addition to donating to the School of Nursing and Perkins Library, the Endowment gave $6 million for the undergraduate science initiative, bringing its total donations to the initiative to $13 million.
With the new French Sciences Building as its hub, the science initiative will foster close interaction among the natural science. The initiative will also create new opportunities for teaching and research in interdisciplinary fields.
"The University is fortunate to have in The Duke Endowment such a generous partner," Keohane said in a statement. "These funds will bolster programs and facilities that faculty and students have told us they very much need to be successful in their teaching, research and learning."
The Endowment awarded gifts to a number of other University programs in December, including $1 million to the Center for Genome, Ethics, Law and Policy; $500,000 to the Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership; and $200,000 to encourage collaboration among the four libraries of schools supported by the Endowment.
Ferriero said he thought the support of collaboration between the libraries at Furman and Johnson C. Smith universities, Davidson College and Duke was especially fitting for the goals of industrialist and philanthropist James B. Duke, who founded the Endowment in 1924.
"When Mr. Duke first created The Duke Endowment, these were the four institutions that were very important to him in terms of support," Ferriero said. "I'm glad the libraries have had and will have the opportunity to create collaborations between the four institutions. Mr. Duke would be very proud."
Another of the Endowment's December gifts will go to commemorate the legacy of William Few, president of Trinity College from 1910 to 1924 and president of Duke University from 1924 to 1940. The $10,000 gift will be used toward the creation and installation of a bass relief plaque of Few in the Allen Building. Executive Vice President Tallman Trask said the president's likeness will be installed in the building's north stairwell.
Duke University Medical Center also received more than $7 million, in 18 separate allocations, from the Endowment in 2003.
"This year's grants run the gamut--students, faculty, arts, science, medicine, law and policy," said Elizabeth Locke, president of the Endowment. "This is typical of the breadth and depth of the Endowment's support for Duke University."
Burness said the past year of giving was a testament to the remarkable partnership the University and the Endowment have formed "It's even more remarkable because I think it's exactly what was envisioned by James B. Duke when he founded both institutions," he said.
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