Everything about Duke University totally explained
Duke University is a
private coeducational
research university located in
Durham,
North Carolina,
United States. Founded by
Methodists and
Quakers in the present-day town of
Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist
James Buchanan Duke established
The Duke Endowment, prompting the institution to change its name in honor of his deceased father,
Washington Duke.
The University is organized into two
undergraduate and eight
graduate schools. The undergraduate student body, which includes 40% racial or ethnic
minorities, comes from all 50
U.S. states and 106 countries. while ranking the
medical,
law, and
business schools among the top 11 in the country.
Duke's research expenditures are among the largest 20 in the U.S. and its
athletic program is one of the nation's elite. Competing in the
Atlantic Coast Conference, the athletic teams have won nine
national championships, including three by the
men's basketball team.
Besides academics, research, and athletics, Duke is also well known for its sizable campus and
Gothic architecture, especially
Duke Chapel. The forests surrounding parts of the campus belie the University's proximity to downtown Durham. Duke's 8,610 acres (35 km²) contain three contiguous campuses in Durham as well as a marine lab in
Beaufort. Construction projects have updated both the freshmen-populated
Georgian-style East Campus and the main Gothic-style West Campus, as well as the adjacent
Medical Center over the past five years.
History
Beginnings
Duke University started as Brown's Schoolhouse, a private subscription school founded in 1838 in
Randolph County in the present-day town of
Trinity. The school was organized by the Union Institute Society, a group of
Methodists and
Quakers, and in 1841 North Carolina issued a charter for Union Institute Academy. The academy was renamed Normal College in 1851 and then Trinity College in 1859 because of support from the Methodist Church.
In 1924, Washington Duke's son,
James B. Duke, established
The Duke Endowment with a $40 million ($434 million in
2005 dollars) trust fund. The annual income of the fund was to be distributed to hospitals, orphanages, the Methodist Church, three colleges, and Trinity College.
William Preston Few, the president of Trinity College, insisted that the university be named Duke University, and James B. Duke agreed that it would be a memorial to his father.
Duke University Hospital was finished in 1980 and the student union was fully constructed two years later. In 1986, the men's
soccer team captured Duke's first
NCAA championship, and the men's
basketball team followed with championships in
1991,
1992.]]
Duke University's growth and academic focus have contributed to the university's reputation as an academic and research institution. The school has regularly sent three-member teams to the
William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition, earning the title of the best collegiate undergraduate math team in the United States and Canada in 1993, 1996 and 2000. In nine out of the past ten years, Duke's team has finished in the top three, the only school besides
Harvard to do so.
Construction continued on campus, with the
Levine Science Research Center (LSRC) opening in 1994 to house
interdisciplinary research, and
construction has continued. These projects have updated both the freshmen-housed
Georgian-style East Campus and the main Gothic-style West Campus, as well as the adjacent
Medical Center in the past five years. Other projects are underway on all three campuses, including a 50- to 75-year overhaul of Central Campus, the first phase of which is expected to be completed in early 2011.
In 1998, Duke President
Nan Keohane initiated a five-year $1.5 billion Campaign for Duke fundraising effort.
Edmund T. Pratt, Jr. ('47) endowed the
Pratt School of Engineering with a $35 million gift in 1999. The Campaign for Duke ended in 2003 with $2.36 billion raised, making it the fifth largest campaign in the history of American higher education.
In the 2004 fiscal year, research expenditures surpassed $490 million, leading to myriad important breakthroughs. The first working demonstration of an
invisibility cloak was unveiled by Duke researchers in October 2006. In 2005, three students were named
Rhodes Scholars, a number only surpassed by one university. Overall, Duke is fifth among private universities in the number of Rhodes Scholars it has produced. Since 1990, 19 students have been honored with this scholarship.
In 2006, three lacrosse team members were
falsely accused of rape; charges against the players were later dropped, the initial prosecutor was disbarred for ethical improprieties, and the incident garnered
significant media attention.
Academics
Profile
Duke's student body consists of 6,247 undergraduates and 6,744 graduate and professional students (as of Fall 2007). come from all 50
U.S. states and 106 countries (as of 2007-08). For the undergraduate class of 2012, Duke received 20,337 applications, and accepted 18% of them. For the class of 2012, 96% of admitted students ranked in the top 10% of their high school class. The average
SAT score was 1490 (old scale) or 2210 (new scale), and the
ACT average was 32. In 2007 the
School of Medicine received 5,076 applicants for 100 spots (2.0% of applicants), while the average
GPA and
MCAT scores for accepted students were 3.88 and 36, respectively. The
School of Law accepted approximately 21% of its applicants for the class of 2010, while enrolling students had a median GPA of 3.74 and median
LSAT of 169.
Duke University has two schools for undergraduates:
Trinity College of Arts and Sciences and
Pratt School of Engineering.
In the past decade, Duke has had the sixth highest number of
Fulbright,
Rhodes,
Truman, and
Goldwater scholarships in the nation among private universities. The University practices
need-blind admissions and meets 100% of admitted students' demonstrated need. More than 40% of students in 2007–08 received financial aid, with the average
grant being $26,700. Roughly 60 merit-based scholarships are also offered, many of which are geared toward students in North Carolina, African-American students, and high achieving students requiring financial aid.
Duke University's
endowment was valued at
US $5.9
billion in 2007.
Undergraduate
Duke offers 36 arts and sciences
majors, five engineering majors, and 46 additional majors that have been approved under Program II, which allows students to design their own interdisciplinary major. Sixteen certificate programs also are available. Students may pursue a combination of a total of up to three majors/minors/certificates. Eighty percent of undergraduates enroll in the
Trinity College of Arts and Sciences, while the rest are in the
Pratt School of Engineering.
Trinity's
curriculum operates under the revised version of "Curriculum 2000". It ensures that students are exposed to a variety of "areas of knowledge" and "modes of inquiry." The curriculum aims to help students develop critical faculties and judgment by learning how to access, synthesize, and communicate knowledge effectively, acquiring perspective on current and historical events, conducting research and solving problems, and developing tenacity and a capacity for hard and sustained work. In addition, freshmen can elect to participate in the
FOCUS Program, which allows students to engage in an interdisciplinary exploration of a specific topic in a small group setting.
Pratt's curriculum, on the other hand, is narrower in scope, but still accommodates double majors in a variety of disciplines. The school emphasizes undergraduate research—opportunities for hands-on experiences arise through
internships,
fellowship programs, and the structured curriculum. Furthermore, for the class of 2007, more than 27% of Pratt undergraduates
studied abroad, small compared to the percentage for Trinity undergraduates (46%), but much larger than the national average for engineering students (1.5%).
Research
Duke University’s research expenditures topped $490 million in 2004. Throughout history, Duke researchers have made several important breakthroughs, including the
biomedical engineering department's development of the world's first real-time, three-dimensional
ultrasound diagnostic system and the first engineered
blood vessels. In the
mechanical engineering department,
Adrian Bejan developed the
constructal theory, which explains the shapes that arise in nature. Duke has pioneered studies involving
nonlinear dynamics,
chaos, and complex systems in
physics. In May 2006, Duke researchers mapped the final human
chromosome, which made world news as the
Human Genome Project was finally complete. Reports of Duke researchers' involvement in new
AIDS vaccine research surfaced in June 2006. The biology department combines two historically strong programs in
botany and
zoology, while the divinity school's leading theologian is
Time's 2001 "America's Best Theologian",
Stanley Hauerwas. The graduate program in literature boasts several internationally renowned figures, including
Fredric Jameson,
Michael Hardt, and
Alice Kaplan, while philosophers Robert Brandon and
Lakatos Award-winner
Alexander Rosenberg make Duke a leading center for research in
philosophy of biology.
Rankings
In the 2008
U.S. News & World Report ranking of undergraduate programs at doctoral granting institutions, Duke ranked eighth. In the past decade,
U.S. News has placed Duke as high as third and as low as eighth. Duke was ranked the 13th-best university in the world in 2007 by the
THES - QS World University Rankings. Duke was ranked 32nd globally and 24th nationally by
Shanghai Jiao Tong University in 2005 in terms of quality of scientific research and number of Nobel Prizes.
The Wall Street Journal ranked Duke sixth (fifth among universities) in its "feeder" rankings in 2006, analyzing the percentage of undergraduates that enroll in what it considers the top five medical, law, and business schools. A survey by the
Journal of Blacks in Higher Education in 2002 ranked Duke as the best university in the country in regard to the integration of African American students and faculty.
In
U.S. News & World Report's "America's Best Graduate Schools 2009," Duke's
medical school ranked 6th for research and tied for 41st for
primary care, while the
law school ranked 10th. Among business schools in the United States, the
Fuqua School of Business was ranked 12th by
U.S. News in 2007 and 9th by
BusinessWeek in 2006. The graduate program for the
Pratt School of Engineering was ranked 30th by
U.S. News and 2nd by
The Princeton Review in 2006 among national engineering schools. In the rankings of doctoral programs by
U.S. News & World Report in its 2008 edition, Duke ranked 1st in
literary criticism and
theory, 5th in
ecology and
evolutionary biology, 5th in
biomedical engineering, tied for 12th for doctoral programs in the
sciences, tied for 21st in
mathematics, tied for 25th in
computer science, tied for 29th in
physics, and ranked 38th in
chemistry.
Political science,
sociology,
history,
economics, and
cultural anthropology departments also frequently rank in the top 20 of their respective disciplines among U.S. universities.
The Philosophical Gourmet Report placed Duke's philosophy program as the 27th best in the nation in 2006, while ranking Duke as the best program in the U.S. in
philosophy of biology.
Campus
Duke University owns 220 buildings on 8,611 acres (35 km²) of land, which includes the 7,200 acre (29 km²) Duke Forest. The campus is divided into four main areas: West, East, and Central campuses, and the Medical Center. All the campuses are connected via a free bus service that runs frequently throughout the week. On the
Atlantic coast in
Beaufort, Duke owns 15 acres as part of its Marine Lab. One of the major public attractions on the Duke Campus is the 55 acre
Sarah P. Duke Gardens, established in the 1930s.
Duke students often refer to the campus as "the Gothic Wonderland," a nickname referring to the
Gothic revival architecture of West Campus. Much of the campus was designed by
Julian Abele, one of the first prominent
African American architects. The residential quadrangles are of an early and somewhat unadorned design, while the buildings in the academic quadrangles show influences of the more elaborate late
French and
Italian styles. Its freshman campus (East Campus) is composed of buildings in the
Georgian architecture style.
The stone used for the West Campus has seven
primary colors and 17 shades of color. The university supervisor of planning and construction wrote that the stone has "an older, more attractive antique effect" and a "warmer and softer coloring than the
Princeton stone" that gave the university an "artistic look". James B. Duke initially suggested the use of stone from a quarry in
Princeton,
New Jersey, but later amended the plans to use stone from a local quarry in
Hillsborough to reduce costs.
Duke Chapel stands at the heart of West Campus. Constructed from 1930 to 1935, the chapel seats 1,600 people; and, at 210 feet (64 m), is one of the tallest buildings in
Durham County.
As of
November 1 2005, Duke had spent $835 million dollars on 34 major construction projects initiated since February 2001. At that time, Duke initiated a five-year strategic plan, "Building on Excellence." Completed projects since 2002 include major additions to the business, law, nursing, and divinity schools, a new library, an art museum, a football training facility, two residential buildings, an engineering complex, a public policy building, an eye institute, two genetic research buildings, a student plaza, the
French Family Science Center, and two new medical-research buildings.
Libraries and museums
With more than 5.5 million
volumes, the Duke University Library System is one of the ten largest private university library systems in the U.S. It contains 17.7 million
manuscripts, 1.2 million public documents, and tens of thousands of
films and
videos. Besides the main William R. Perkins Library, the university also contains the separately administered Ford (
business),
Divinity School,
Duke Law, and
Medical Center Libraries.
The William R. Perkins Library system has 11 branches on campus. In addition to Perkins Library, the system contains the
Biological &
Environmental Science Library, Bostock Library, the
Chemistry Library, the Library Service Center, Lilly Library (which houses materials on
fine arts,
philosophy, film & video, and
performing arts), the
Music Library, Pearse Memorial Library (located at the
Marine Lab), and Vesic Library (collection focuses on engineering, mathematics, and physics). The University
Archives and Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections are also considered part of the Perkins Library system.
Bostock Library, named for Board of Trustee member
Roy J. Bostock, opened in the fall of 2005 as part of the University's strategic plan to supplement Duke's libraries. It contains 87 study carrels, 517 seats, and 96 computer stations, as well as 72,996 linear feet of shelving for overflow books from Perkins Library as well as for new collections.
Nasher Museum of Art opened in the fall of 2005, replacing the undersized Duke University Museum of Art (DUMA). The museum, designed by
Rafael Viñoly and named for Duke alumnus and art collector
Raymond Nasher, contains over 13,000 pieces of art, including works by
Andy Warhol,
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and
Pablo Picasso.
West, East, and Central Campuses
West Campus, the heart of Duke University, houses all the sophomores, along with some juniors and seniors. In addition, most of the academic and administrative centers reside there. "Main" West Campus, with
Duke Chapel at its center, contains the majority of residential quads to the south, while the main academic quad, library, and
Medical Center are to the north. The campus, spanning, includes Science Drive, which consists of science and engineering buildings. Most of the campus eateries and sports facilities including the historic basketball stadium,
Cameron Indoor Stadium, are on West.
East Campus, the original location of Duke University, functions as a freshman campus as well as the home of several academic departments. Since the 1995-96 academic year, all freshmen—and only freshmen except for upperclassmen serving as Resident Assistants—have lived on East Campus, to build class unity. The campus encompasses 97 acres and is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) away from West Campus. The
Art History,
History,
Literature, Music,
Philosophy, and
Women's Studies Departments are housed on East. Programs such as
dance,
drama,
education,
film, and the University
Writing Program also reside on East. East Campus, a fully self-sufficient campus, contains the freshman dormitories, a dining hall, Lilly Library, Baldwin Auditorium, a theater, Brodie Gym, tennis courts, and several academic buildings. Separated from downtown by a short walk, the area was the site of the Women's College from 1930 to 1972.
Central Campus, consisting of between East and West campuses, houses around 850 juniors and seniors and 200
professional students in
apartments. It is home to the
Nasher Museum of Art, the Freeman Center for
Jewish Life, the Duke Police Department, the Duke Office of
Disability Management, a
Ronald McDonald House, and administrative departments such as Duke Residence Life and Housing Services. Central has several recreation and social facilities such as basketball courts, tennis courts, a sand
volleyball court, a
swimming pool,
barbecue and picnic shelter as well as barbecue grills, a general gathering building called Devil's Den, and a convenience store.
At present, there's a 20- to 50-year plan to restructure Central Campus. The idea is to develop an "academic village" as a key center for the Duke community. The first phase, costing $240 million, involves replacing the outdated apartments. Other additions in the first phase include dining, academic, recreational, and service facilities. A key goal of the Central renovations is to reintegrate the area with the rest of the Duke campus, as it's connected to the other campuses by a circuitous, inefficient bus route.
Key places
Established in 1931, the Duke Forest today consists of 7,200 acres (29 km²) in six divisions just west of Duke University's West Campus. Duke Forest is one of the largest continually-managed forests in the U.S. and demonstrates a variety of forest stand types and
silvicultural treatments. The forest is used extensively for research and includes the Aquatic Research Facility, Forest Carbon Transfer and Storage (FACTS-I) research facility, two permanent towers suitable for micrometerological studies, and other areas designated for animal behavior and ecosystem study. More than 30 miles (48 km) of trails are open to the public for hiking, cycling, and horseback riding.
Located inside the Duke Forest, the
Duke Lemur Center (DLC) is the world's largest sanctuary for rare and endangered
prosimian primates. Founded in 1966, the Duke Lemur Center spans 85 acres (3.44 km²) and contains nearly 300 animals of 25 different species of
lemurs,
galagos and
lorises.
Situated between West Campus and the apartments of Central Campus, the
Sarah P. Duke Gardens, established in the early 1930s, occupy 55 acres (2.2 km²) divided into four major sections: the original Terraces and their surroundings, the H.L. Blomquist Garden of Native Plants (devoted to
flora of the
Southeastern United States), the Culberson Asiatic Arboretum (housing plants of
Eastern Asia), and the Doris Duke Center Gardens. There are five miles (8 km) of allées, walks, and pathways throughout the Doris Duke Visitor’s Center and the surrounding gardens.
Directly north of West Campus,
Duke University Medical Center (DUMC) combines one of the top-rated hospitals and one of the top-ranked
medical schools in the U.S. Founded in 1930, the Medical Center occupies 7.5 million square feet (700,000 m²) in 91 buildings on 210 acres (8.5 km²).
Although located in the town of
Beaufort, North Carolina, Duke University Marine Lab on Pivers Island is part of Duke's campus. The marine lab is situated on the
Outer Banks of North Carolina, only across the channel from Beaufort. Duke's interest in the area began in the early 1930s and the first buildings were erected in 1938. The resident faculty represent the disciplines of
oceanography,
marine biology, marine
biomedicine, marine
biotechnology, and coastal marine policy and management. The Marine Laboratory is a member of the National Association of Marine Laboratories (NAML).
Athletics
Blue Devils, are members of the
NCAA's Division I Atlantic Coast Conference. Duke's teams have won nine NCAA team national championships—the women's
golf team has won five (1999, 2002, 2005, 2006 and 2007), the men's
basketball team has won three (1991, 1992, and 2001), and the men's
soccer team has won one (1986). Historically, Duke's major
rival has been the
Tar Heels of the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, especially in basketball.
The rivalry has led people to identify the two differing shades of blue in relation to their respective university—calling the lighter powder blue "Carolina blue" and the darker blue "Duke blue."
In the past ten years, Duke has finished in the top 30 every year in the
NACDA Director's Cup, an overall measure of an institution's athletic success. In the past three years, Duke has finished 11th (2007), eighth (2006), and fifth (2005). Duke teams that have been ranked in the top ten nationally in the 2000s include men's and women's basketball, men's and women's
tennis, men's and women's soccer, men's and women's fencing, men's and women's
cross country running, men's and women's lacrosse, women's
field hockey, and men's and women's golf. Eight of these teams were ranked either first or second in the country during 2004–05. Women's golf has been particularly dominating, compiling a record of 796-45-3 (.945) in the 2000–2005 seasons. The men's lacrosse program has been one of the most successful in the nation recently—it has ranked in the top 15 in the country in five of the last six last participating seasons and reached the national championship game in 2005 and 2007, losing to
Johns Hopkins by a single goal and accumulating season records of 17-3 both times.
According to a 2006 evaluation conducted by the NCAA, Duke's student-athletes have the highest graduation rate of any institution in the nation. In 2005, 2006, and 2007, Duke ranked first among Division I schools in the National Collegiate Scouting Association Power Rankings—a combination of the institution's Director's Cup standing, its athletic graduation rate, and its academic rank in
U.S. News & World Report.
Men's basketball
Duke's men's basketball team, a traditional powerhouse, is the fourth most victorious program of all time. The team has captured three
National Championships, while attending 14
Final Fours and nine Championship games. Duke has the second most Atlantic Coast Conference championships with 16 and have had the most National Players of the Year in the nation with 11. Seventy-one players have been selected in the
NBA Draft, while 55 players have been honored as
All-Americans. Duke's program is one of only two to have been to at least one Final Four and one National Championship game in each of the past five decades. The program's home facility is historic
Cameron Indoor Stadium, considered one of the top venues in the nation.
The team's success has been particularly outstanding over the past 25 years under coach
Mike Krzyzewski (often simply called "Coach K"). Their successes include becoming the only team to win three national championships since the
NCAA Tournament field was expanded to 64 teams in 1985, ten
Final Fours in the past 21 years, and eight of nine ACC tournament championships from 1999 to 2006.
Football
The Blue Devils have won seven
ACC Football Championships, have had ten players honored as ACC Player of the Year (the most in the ACC), and have had three
Pro Football Hall of Famers come through the program (second in the ACC to only
Miami's four). In addition, the Blue Devils have produced 11 College Football Hall of Famers which is tied for the 2nd most in the ACC. Duke has also won 17 total conference championships (7 ACC, 9 Southern Conference, and 1 Big Five Conference). That total is the highest in the ACC.
The most famous Duke
football season came in 1938, when
Wallace Wade coached the "Iron Dukes" that shut out all regular season opponents; only three teams in history can claim such a feat. Duke reached their first
Rose Bowl appearance, where they lost 7-3 when
USC scored a
touchdown in the final minute of the game. Wade's Blue Devils lost another Rose Bowl to
Oregon State in 1942, this one held at Duke's
home stadium due to the
attack on Pearl Harbor. The football program also proved successful in the 1950s and 1960s, winning six of the first ten
ACC football championships from 1953 to 1962 under coach
Bill Murray; the Blue Devils wouldn't win the ACC championship again until 1989 under now revered coach
Steve Spurrier.
However, the program has been one of the least successful in
Division I-A over the past ten years. Duke hasn't had a winning season since 1994, and has only three such seasons in the past 20 years. In the 2006 campaign, the Blue Devils failed to win any games. The recent struggles have led the program to have an overall record of 433-402-31 despite its early successes.
The graduation rate of Duke's football players is consistently among the highest among Division I-A schools. Duke's high graduation rates have earned it more
American Football Coaches Association's Academic Achievement Awards than any other institution.
Student life
Residential life
Duke requires its students to live on campus for the first three years of
undergraduate life, except for a small percentage of second semester juniors who are exempted by a
lottery system. This requirement is justified by the administration as an effort to help students connect more closely with one another and sustain a sense of belonging within the Duke community. Thus, 85% of undergraduates live on campus. All freshmen are housed in one of 14
dormitories on East Campus. These buildings range in occupancy size from 50 (Epworth—the oldest dorm, built in 1892 as "the Inn") to 190 residents (Gilbert-Addoms). Most of these are in the
Georgian style typical of the East Campus architecture, although a few newer ones differ in style. Two learning communities, the Performing Arts Community and East Campus Wellness, incorporate the residential component of East Campus with students of similar academic and social interests.
Sophomores are required to reside on West Campus, again to build class unity. Juniors and seniors can elect to live on West Campus, space permitting. West Campus contains six quadrangles—the four along "Main" West were built in 1930, while two newer ones have since been added. West Campus is home to four learning communities including West Campus Wellness and the Leadership and
Civic Engagement communities. These groups are allocated "sections" of the quadrangles, thereby living close to one another, but still within the context of a larger community. Also, 25 "selective living groups" are housed within sections on West, including 15
fraternities. Nine of the ten non-fraternity selective living groups are coeducational. Central Campus provides housing for approximately 1,050 students (of which about 850 are undergraduate juniors or seniors) in 45 apartment buildings. The majority of seniors, however, choose to live off campus. Students living on campus are represented by the elected officials of Campus Council whose mission is to enhance campus life by implementing policies, provide quality programming, and ensure a safe, educational, and enjoyable experience for residents.
Greek and social life
Fraternities and sororities enjoy a presence as 29% of men and 42% of women pledge a Greek group. Fraternities not recognized by IFC typically have houses off-campus.
The nearby bars and clubs on Durham's Ninth Street and the surrounding areas are a popular outlet for Greek and "independent" students alike. Students sometimes refer to their social life as occurring within the "Duke Bubble"—emphasizing the isolation of the Duke campus from the surrounding community and the relatively low levels of interaction between Durham residents and Duke students. Fraternity chapters frequently host parties in their sections, which typically are more open to non-members than similar functions at other institutions due to the fact that independents live in the same building as the fraternity members.
In the mid-1990s, the administration significantly reduced the number of on-campus
kegs by requiring students not only to purchase kegs directly from the university, but also to hire expensive university bartenders. According to administrators, the rule change was intended as a way to increase on-campus safety, but many students see the administration's increasingly strict policies as an attempt to undermine social life at Duke. As a result, off-campus parties have become more frequent in the past few years as they're not under the umbrella of Duke's policies. However, these off-campus parties have come under fire as they've escalated in debauchery. In 2005, one of the off-campus fraternities hosted a heavily attended baby oil wrestling party, which garnered national media attention. The widely reported
lacrosse scandal broke in 2006. Many of these houses are situated in the midst of family homes, prompting neighbors to complain about excessive noise and other violations. Police have responded by breaking up parties at several houses, handing out citations, and arresting party-goers. The administration, in an attempt to increase the number of on-campus social events, reduced the price of kegs by 59% in August 2006. They also purchased 15 houses that Duke students typically rent off East Campus in March 2006; they plan to sell these homes to single families.
The athletics program, particularly men's basketball, is a significant component of Duke's social life. Duke's students have been recognized as some of the most creative, original, and abrasive fans in all of collegiate athletics. Students, often referred to as
Cameron Crazies, show their support of the men's basketball team by "tenting" for home games against key
ACC rivals, especially
UNC. Because tickets to all varsity sports are free to students, they'd line up for hours before the game, often spending the night on the sidewalk. The total number of participating tents is capped at 100 (each tent can have up to 12 occupants), though interest is such that it could exceed that number if space permitted. Tenting involves setting up and inhabiting a tent on the grass near
Cameron Indoor Stadium, an area known as
Krzyzewskiville, or K-ville for short. There are different categories of tenting based on the length of time and number of people who must be in the tent. At night, K-ville often turns into the scene of a party or occasional concert. The men's basketball coach,
Mike Krzyzewski, is known to buy pizza on occasion for the inhabitants of the tent village.
Activities
Approximately 400 student clubs and organizations run on Duke's campus. These include numerous
student government,
special interest, and
service organizations. Duke Student Government (DSG) charters and provides most of the funding for these organizations, and represents students' interests when dealing with the administration. One of the most popular activities on campus is competing in sports. Duke has 35 sports clubs and 29 intramural teams that are officially recognized.
According to
The Princeton Review, Duke is one of 81 institutions in the country with outstanding community service programs. In February 2007, Duke announced plans for DukeEngage, a $30 million civic engagement program that will allow every undergraduate to partake in an in-depth service opportunity over the course of a summer or semester. The program's scope is "unprecedented in U.S. higher education," allotting about $6,200 to every individual who chooses to participate. Duke's Community Service Center (CSC) oversees 31 student-run service organizations in Durham and the surrounding area. Examples include a weeklong camp for children of cancer patients (
Camp Kesem) and a group that promotes awareness about sexual health, rape prevention, alcohol and drug use, and eating disorders (Healthy Devils). The Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership, started by the Office of Community Affairs, attempts to address major concerns of local residents and schools by utilizing university resources. Another community project, "Scholarship with a Civic Mission," is a joint program between the Hart Leadership Program and the Kenan Institute for Ethics. Other programs include: Project CHILD, a tutoring program involving 80 first-year volunteers; Project HOPE, an after-school program for at-risk students in Durham that was awarded a $2.25 million grant from the
Kellogg Foundation in 2002; and Project BUILD, a freshman volunteering group that dedicates 3300 hours of service to a variety of projects such as schools, Habitat for Humanity, food banks, substance rehabilitation centers, and homeless shelters. Some courses at Duke incorporate service as part of the curriculum to augment material learned in class such as in psychology or education courses (known as service learning classes).
The Chronicle, Duke's independent undergraduate daily
newspaper, has been continually published since 1905 and has a readership of about 30,000. Its editors are responsible for coining the term "
Blue Devil". The newspaper won Best in Show in the tabloid division at the 2005 Associated Collegiate Press National College Media Convention.
Cable 13, established in 1976, is Duke's student-run television station. It stands as a popular activity for students interested in film production and media.
WXDU-FM, licensed in 1983, is the University's nationally-recognized, noncommercial FM radio station, operated by student and community volunteers.
Cultural groups on campus include: the
Asian Students Association, AQUADuke (Alliance of
Queer Undergraduates),
Black Student Alliance,
Chinese Traditional Dance, Dance
Black,
Diya (
South Asian Association),
Jewish Life at Duke, Mi Gente (
Latino Student Association), International Association/International Council,
Muslim Student Association,
Native American Student Coalition, Newman
Catholic Student Center, and Students of the
Caribbean.
Alumni
Duke alumni are active through organizations and events such as the annual Reunion Weekend and
Homecoming. There are 75 Duke clubs in the U.S. and 38 international clubs. For the 2005–06 fiscal year, Duke tied for third in alumni giving rate among U.S. colleges and universities. A number of Duke alumni have made significant contributions in the fields of government, law, science, academia, business, arts, journalism, and athletics, among others.
Richard Nixon, 37th
President of the United States,
Elizabeth Dole, senior
United States Senator from North Carolina and former President of the
American Red Cross, and
Ricardo Lagos, 33rd President of
Chile from 2000 to 2006, are among the most notable alumni with involvement in politics. In the research realm, Duke graduates who have won the
Nobel Prize in Physics include
Hans Dehmelt for his development of the
ion trap technique,
Robert Richardson for his discovery of
superfluidity in
helium-3, and
Charles Townes for his work on
quantum electronics.
Several alumni hold top positions at large companies. The current or former
Chairman,
President,
Vice president, or
CEO of each of the following
Fortune 500 companies is a Duke alumnus:
BB&T (
John A. Allison IV),
Bear Stearns (
Alan Schwartz),
Boston Scientific Corporation (
Peter Nicholas),
Cisco Systems (
John Chambers),
ExxonMobil (
Rex Adams),
General Motors Corporation (
Rick Wagoner),
Medtronic (William Hawkins),
Morgan Stanley (
John J. Mack),
Norfolk Southern (
David R. Goode),
Northwest Airlines (
Gary L. Wilson),
PepsiCo, Inc. (
Karl von der Heyden), and
Pfizer (
Edmund T. Pratt, Jr.).
Kevin Martin is Chairman of the
FCC, and
Rex Adams serves as the Chairman of
PBS. Another alumna,
Melinda Gates, is the co-founder of the $31.9 billion
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the nation's wealthiest charitable foundation.
John Feinstein is a notable sportswriter for
The Washington Post, while
Charlie Rose is a former contributor for
60 Minutes II and currently hosts his
own talk show.
Judy Woodruff is a senior correspondent for
The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer on
PBS and was formerly
NBC's White House correspondent and an anchor for
CNN.
Jay Bilas is a basketball analyst for
ESPN who co-hosts
College GameDay, and also joins
CBS as a game analyst for the
NCAA Men's Basketball Championship.
Sean McManus is president of both
CBS Sports and
CBS News, while
Dan Abrams serves as the General Manager of
MSNBC.
William C. Styron won the
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1968 for his novel
The Confessions of Nat Turner and is also well-known for his 1979 novel
Sophie's Choice. The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction was also awarded to
Anne Tyler for her 1988 novel
Breathing Lessons. Rik Kirkland serves as a Managing Editor for the magazine
Fortune, while
Clay Felker is a founding editor of
New York.
John Harwood is the Chief
Washington Correspondent for
CNBC, a Senior Contributing Writer for
The Wall Street Journal, and frequent panelist on
Washington Week. In the arts realm,
Annabeth Gish (actress in the
X-Files and
The West Wing),
Randall Wallace (screenwriter, producer, and director,
Braveheart,
Pearl Harbor,
We Were Soldiers), and
David Hudgins (television writer and producer,
Everwood,
Friday Night Lights) headline the list. Finally, several athletes have become stars at the professional level, especially in basketball's
NBA.
Shane Battier,
Elton Brand,
Carlos Boozer, and
Grant Hill are among the most famous.
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