Committee to Conduct Regular Presidential Review

A committee chaired by Duke University Trustee Wilhelmina Reuben-Cooke has been charged with conducting the regular review of Duke President Nannerl O. Keohane, university officials announced this week. Standard practice since 1982 is for Duke to conduct reviews of the president and senior officers and deans in the fourth year of their five-year term. Keohane was appointed in 1993 and reappointed for a second term in 1998. An announcement released this week by the University Secretary's office stated that the committee's charge is to "consider initiatives and activities that have gone well and should be continued and to make suggestions for areas of improvement. It will be the responsibility of the committee to gather information and opinions widely from interested individuals, groups and constituencies of the university." Reuben-Cooke will lead the seven member panel. One of the first five African-American undergraduate students enrolled at Duke in 1963, she is now professor of law at Syracuse University and chair of the trustees' Academic Affairs Committee. Other panelists include trustees Susan King, Christopher Lam and Robert Steel; Dr. John Baillie, associate professor of medicine; Toril Moi, professor of literature; and Richard Schmalbeck, professor of law and a member of the executive committee of Academic Council. The committee members were appointed by Board of Trustees Chairman Harold L. Yoh after receiving advice from the executive committees of the trustees and the Academic Council. The committee is looking to collect information from the entire Duke community. Comments can be forwarded to any member of the committee by March 2. Comments can also be made anonymously, although all information will be kept confidential.