Trustees Reappoint Brodhead, Approve Budget, Projects

The Duke University Board of Trustees announced Saturday the appointment of President Richard H. Brodhead to a new five-year term starting July 1.

"President Brodhead has provided inspired leadership to Duke University over the past eight years, successfully navigating through a period of great change and challenge, and positioning Duke extraordinarily well for the future," said Board of Trustees chair G. Richard Wagoner Jr. "The Board of Trustees wants to continue that positive momentum, and is unanimous and enthusiastic in asking President Brodhead to serve a new five-year term."

Brodhead's reappointment comes after a thorough review conducted by a committee of trustees and faculty chaired by Jack O. Bovender, vice chair of the board. Over a four-month period earlier this year, the committee solicited and analyzed feedback from students, faculty, staff, alumni and national leaders in higher education.  "We sincerely appreciate the comprehensive work of the review committee and found its input to be very helpful," Wagoner said.

He added: "The board is grateful for President Brodhead's willingness to lead Duke during what will be a period of significant changes in higher education and health care, as well as transitions on campus. The board is committed to sustaining, and indeed advancing, Duke’s position as a preeminent research university that will be a destination for the best students and faculty. We are confident that President Brodhead will help us fulfill that vision."

As Duke's ninth president, Brodhead conceived and led a $300 million fundraising campaign for financial aid endowment, launched the DukeEngage civic engagement program, and began the revitalization of campus life, including the opening of Duke's first new residence hall in seven years. He has made globalization a major strategic priority for the university, overseeing the creation of the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School in Singapore and forging a partnership for Duke Kunshan University in China. Brodhead also has strengthened Duke's ties to the community, and enhanced Duke's programs in the arts and athletics. In 2011, he was named co-chair of the National Commission on the Humanities and Social Sciences.

Brodhead came to Duke in 2004 from Yale University, where he started as an undergraduate and rose to Dean of Yale College, with responsibility for all aspects of academic and student life.

In other business at their regular meeting in advance of commencement, the trustees approved the construction of a Marine Science and Conservation Genetics Center and an events pavilion, expansion of the Duke Eye Center and continued renovations of Perkins Library; a new master's degree in global health; and a $2.1 billion budget for FY 2012-13 that funds strategic growth in several schools and merit-based raises for faculty and staff.

The new Marine Science and Conservation Genetics Center, at the Duke Marine Lab in Beaufort, N.C., will allow faculty and students to apply new genetic methods toward understanding marine systems and helping solve problems in the marine environment. The center will feature a molecular biology research laboratory; a teaching lab for molecular-based coursework; and office space and meeting areas for faculty, students, research associates and visiting scientists. The environmentally sustainable building will be designed with sensitivity to the changing coastal environment.

The 20,000-square-foot events pavilion will serve as a dining facility while West Union undergoes renovation and will be converted to an events space once West Union is completed. Located near the Bryan Center along Union Drive, the pavilion will be accessible via an expansion of the West Campus plaza and a walkway from Towerview Drive.

The improvements to Perkins Library will rehabilitate and renovate the sections of the building that were constructed in 1928 and 1948, and will house the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library and associated support spaces. This is the last phase of a multi-year library renovation and expansion of 500,000 square feet of space, including  stacks, reading rooms, study space, meeting rooms for collaboration, exhibition spaces, staff work areas and significant public areas.

Duke's political science department, which is now located on upper floors of the library, will relocate to Paul M. Gross Hall, which is itself undergoing renovations and improvements.

The new 127,000-square-foot, four-story Duke Eye Center building will house expanded clinical services designed to improve workflow, patient care and convenience. Designed to achieve a LEED sustainable rating of silver or above, the building will be constructed in the parking lot adjacent to the current Wadsworth Eye Center along Erwin Road. A new circular, covered drop-off area will connect the new facility to the parking deck, and a new outdoor courtyard is planned between the current and new buildings.

During the past five years, the Duke Eye Center has grown 8 percent annually in both surgical procedures and clinic visits. Today, roughly 50 physicians have more than 80,000 patient visits each year.

In other action, the board adopted a $2.1 billion operating budget for FY 2012-13 that provides a 3 percent pool for merit-based raises for faculty and staff and promotes strategic growth in several schools. The budget includes the School of Medicine and the School of Nursing, but excludes Duke Hospital and other clinical components of the Duke University Health System.

The operating budget, which covers the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2012, reflects 2.5 percent growth from FY 2011-12, including operating revenues of $2 billion. The budget calls for a drawdown of $116 million from university reserves to address the anticipated difference between annual revenues and expenses.

The trustees also approved the FY 2012-13 capital budget, which includes planned expenditures of $255 million for major projects such as the renovation of Baldwin Auditorium and Gross Hall, the construction of a new Environment Hall for the Nicholas School, the events pavilion, and the conversion of the West Campus Steam Plant to natural gas.

The budget illustrates how significant cost-saving measures over the past several years -- from energy conservation to centralizing purchases -- have positioned the university to pursue its most important strategic priorities, said Tallman Trask III, the university's executive vice president.

The budget also reflects Duke's continuing commitment to excellence in its faculty, research programs, libraries and other facilities, as well as to maintaining a need-blind policy for undergraduate admissions, which attracted more than 30,000 applications this year for the first time, said Provost Peter Lange, the university's chief academic officer.

Duke's new budget increases undergraduate financial aid to $137 million. This includes a 5 percent increase in institutional aid, to $126 million, which is above the previously announced 3.9 percent increase in the total cost of attendance (undergraduate tuition, room and board) for the 2012-13 academic year.

In addition, the university budget anticipates external support of $11 million for scholarships and need-based aid. About half of undergraduates receive financial support to attend Duke, the vast majority of which is need-based aid. The annual average need-based grant to a financial aid recipient for the current academic year was about $37,000.

Duke admits U.S. undergraduates based on their academic accomplishments and potential without regard to their ability to pay and then meets all of their demonstrated financial need. Only about two dozen private institutions in the nation maintain "need-blind" policies for admissions and financial aid. Duke also provides need-based aid to a limited number of international students as a result of private contributions.

In addition to supporting undergraduate aid, the new budget increases university financial aid and stipend support to students in graduate and professional school programs.

The trustees also approved a new Master of Science in Global Health (MSc-GH) program to be offered at Duke Kunshan University (DKU) in Kunshan, China. The program will be led by the Duke Global Health Institute (DGHI), which has offered the MSc-GH degree in Durham for three years.

The program is expected to enroll students from China and throughout Asia, and to attract researchers, policymakers, physicians and others planning to pursue doctoral studies in a global health-related discipline. The China-based program will have the same course work and field requirements as its counterpart in Durham.

On Thursday, Duke's Academic Council voted 52-7 to endorse the new master's program for DKU.

"DGHI has strong collaborations with some of the leading universities in China and we currently offer a two-week global health diploma program at Peking University each summer," said Michael Merson, DGHI's founding director. "DKU offers an ideal setting to strengthen and build upon these education and research collaborations."

The Master of Science in Global Health is the second degree program that the trustees have approved for DKU; in December 2011 the board approved a Master of Management Studies degree offered by the Fuqua School of Business. DGHI also will offer undergraduate courses in global health at DKU and establish a global health research center there.