The Board of Trustees appointed President Richard Brodhead to a new five-year term and approved several major building projects and programs at its weekend meeting, the last of the academic year.
The Trustees voted unanimously to reappoint Brodhead for his third term following a four-month review process, said Board Chair Richard Wagoner, former CEO of General Motors and Trinity ’75. Brodhead’s strong leadership in key areas—including the $300 million Financial Aid Initiative, DukeEngage and Duke Kunshan University—proved to the Board that he would positively impact the direction of the University in the coming years.
“Looking at next year, it would become ever clearer how valuable it is to cement the top leadership position,” Wagoner said, noting that many of the projects started under Brodhead’s term require leadership continuity.
The Trustees also approved the University operating budget for the 2012-2013 fiscal year, totaling $2.1 billion. The budget, 2.5 percent larger than the previous year’s total, allocates funds for 3 percent merit-based raises for University employees.
A presidency renewed
The reappointment review process, conducted by a committee chaired by Vice Chair Jack Bovender, former chairman and CEO of Hospital Corporation of America and Trinity ’67, occurred over a four-month period and drew input from students, faculty, staff, alumni and national higher education professionals. It was the second committee review since Brodhead took the position in 2004. Brodhead said his collegial approach to leadership will help further the University’s long-term strategic initiatives.
“We have a collaborative culture here—it’s easy to devise a course of the University,” Brodhead said. “Universities are big, cumbersome things. They don’t change at the turn of a dime, but this place is quite comfortable with the idea of innovation and change.”
In the next five years, Brodhead said he aims to strengthen student life at the Durham campus with the West Union Building renovations and to expand Duke’s global reach with the opening of DKU. Efforts for these and other goals will be bolstered by the continuing rebound of University finances from the global economic downturn of 2008.
Major approvals
The new budget reflects savings by the University in major areas such as energy conservation and centralizing purchases.
Under the new budget, undergraduate financial aid will expand to $137 million, with a 5 percent increase in institutional aid—the funds Duke provides for financial aid.
Four major construction projects received Board approval, including a 20,000 sq-ft. events pavilion to house dining facilities displaced by the West Union renovations, which is slated to begin construction this summer.
The Board also approved a Master of Science in Global Health program at DKU, the second degree program for Duke’s new China campus. A Master of Management Studies through the Fuqua School of Business was approved December 2011.
A Marine Science and Conservation Genetics Center, to be located at the Duke University Marine Lab in Beaufort, will also begin construction this summer with completion slated for Fall 2013. The Board also approved the final phase of renovations for the Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library and an expansion of the Duke Eye Center along Erwin Road.
Entrepreneurship expanding
The Board also heard presentations from Kimberly Jenkins, senior adviser to the president and provost for innovation and entrepreneurship, and student entrepreneurs about the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Initiative. Jenkins served as a Board member for nine years before stepping down to lead this initiative.
Jenkins discussed the development of the Duke in Silicon Valley program and a $15 million gift to the initiative from Vice Chair David Rubenstein, founder and CEO of the Carlyle Group and Trinity ’70. “This gift really puts Duke on the map,” Jenkins said. “Our goal is to be a top-five institution in the nation in terms of innovation and entrepreneurship, and this is the start.”
Jenkins noted that Rubenstein’s gift will help fund three major priorities outlined in the strategic plan for entrepreneurship: curriculum, co-curricular activities and translational research, which refers to moving products from the laboratory to the market.
The University aims to build a center for innovation and entrepreneurship, Jenkins said. A physical space for student entrepreneurs will provide both a facility to explore ideas and product development.
“With input from students, we’re talking about everything from whiteboards to nap chairs like they have at Google,” Jenkins said. “The students wanted nap chairs in case they were there at 3 a.m. and fell asleep.”
Strengthening the curriculum will include drawing in more faculty members with entrepreneurial backgrounds and creating internships, currently being piloted in Durham and Silicon Valley, Jenkins noted. A proposed innovation scholars program would allow students to receive academic credit for entrepreneurship coursework.
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