Duke to Recognize Abele; Board Updated on Academic, Financial Issues

The Duke University Board of Trustees reviewed a range of academic and campus topics at their meeting that concluded Saturday afternoon, and also heard from President Richard Brodhead on plans to commemorate a significant figure in Duke history.

Brodhead reported to the board that he has initiated a process to recognize the contributions of Julian Abele, the African American architect who led the design of the Duke campus from its original construction in the 1920s through the 1940s.

“Julian Abele envisioned the physical world of Duke University,” Brodhead said. “It is time to ensure that his legacy is clearly known so that future generations of students and faculty can be inspired by his genius.”

Abele’s portrait was placed in the lobby of the Allen Building, the university’s main administration building, in 1988. Earlier this year, another portrait was hung in the newly renovated Gothic Reading Room in Rubenstein Library, joining former Duke presidents and board chairs and other university dignitaries, including historian John Hope Franklin.

Under the process outlined by Brodhead, Executive Vice President Tallman Trask III has been charged with convening an advisory group of students, faculty, alumni and others to recommend to the president how best to recognize Abele’s legacy at Duke. The president has asked Trask to report to him and the Board of Trustees’ Committee on Facilities and Environment at its February 2016 meeting.

In other activity, the trustees received an update on the Nicholas School of the Environment after a visit to Environment Hall, the school’s new home, which recently received LEED Platinum certification.  The board also heard reports on campus safety and security, information technology issues, financial aid and other matters.

The trustees also approved a master’s degree in international environmental policy (IMEP) for Duke Kunshan University in China. The joint degree program, supported by the Nicholas School of the Environment and the Sanford School of Public Policy, is designed to train global environmental leaders versed in both Chinese and international environmental issues and policies. The program, which received Academic Council approval in November, will begin in the fall of 2017.

The four-semester, 16-course program will allow Duke Kunshan students to spend one semester at Duke. The program will simultaneously create a one-semester program in China for public policy and environment masters students at Sanford and Nicholas. 

The proposed IMEP program also will strengthen the international training of Duke students through access to a broader array of classes, internship opportunities, networking and a distinctive study abroad experience.

Duke Kunshan has three other master’s degree programs in place: medical physics, global health and management studies.

The trustees also:

-- approved tributes to Duke seniors Laura Roberts and John “Jay” Ruckelshaus for being named Rhodes Scholars.

-- met with Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the nation’s highest-ranking military officer. In 2016, Dempsey will be in residence at Duke as a Rubenstein Fellow. In the spring, he will co-teach a course in the Sanford School of Public Policy on American civil-military relations with Duke political scientist Peter Feaver. In the fall, Dempsey will teach a course on management and leadership at The Fuqua School of Business.

In addition, Dempsey will deepen his existing ties to the Duke Program on American Grand Strategy, the Fuqua/Coach K Center on Leadership & Ethics (COLE) and Duke Athletics, and speak to student and faculty groups. Dempsey earned a master’s degree in English from Duke in 1984.

The Rubenstein Fellows, a university-wide initiative to bring thought leaders to Duke to share insight and spark discussion on current and future global challenges, was established by Board of Trustees Chair David M. Rubenstein. Current fellows include Jim Rogers, former chairman and CEO of Duke Energy, and Jack Matlock, who served as U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia and as director of European and Soviet Affairs at the National Security Council during the Reagan administration.

-- marked the 25th anniversary of the founding of DUMAC, the university’s investment arm.

In 1989, Duke's Board of Trustees approved the creation of Duke Management Company as a separate, nonprofit support corporation of the university. The organization began operating in July 1990, and over time evolved into DUMAC Inc.

DUMAC has a staff of about 50 employees and works with the assistance of more than 250 investment advisory firms and partnerships to help the university meet its investment goals. As of June 30, 2015, the university’s endowment comprised more than 4,400 individual funds totaling approximately $7.3 billion. For more information about DUMAC, click here.