Rick Wagoner Elected Chair of Duke Trustees

G. Richard Wagoner, Jr., the former chairman and CEO of General Motors and a 1975 Duke graduate, was elected chair of the university's Board of Trustees Saturday. 

He succeeds Dan Blue, who served as chair from 2009-11 and was elected trustee emeritus after 16 years on the board.

Wagoner was first elected to the Board of Trustees in 2001 and has served as vice chair since 2007. He joined GM in 1977 after earning an MBA from Harvard University, and over the next three decades rose from a financial analyst to eventually lead the company before retiring in 2009. 

He and his wife Kathy, a 1977 Duke graduate, live in Birmingham, Mich., and are the parents of Trip, a 2006 Duke graduate; Scott, a 2008 graduate; and Matt, a rising senior at Duke.  Wagoner assumes the new role on July 1.

The trustees also elected two new vice chairs: Jack O. Bovender and David M. Rubenstein.  Bovender, from Nashville, Tenn., is the retired chairman and CEO of HCA Healthcare, a global hospital owner and operator. He graduated from Duke in 1967 and received a master's of hospital administration in 1969. Rubenstein, from Bethesda, Md., is co-founder and managing director of The Carlyle Group, one of the world's largest private equity firms. He is a 1970 Duke graduate who earned a law degree from the University of Chicago in 1973.

In addition to Blue, the board recognized the following retiring members by electing them to emeritus status: James J. Kiser III, Kimberly J. Jenkins, John Mack, J. Lawrence McCleskey and Nancy A. Nasher.

In other action, the board adopted a budget for the 2011-12 fiscal year that will provide merit-based raises for faculty and staff for the first time in two years, resume planning for significant capital projects and selectively invest in new program initiatives.

The new $2.1 billion budget, which covers the fiscal year beginning July 1, represents a 4.2 percent increase from the FY 2010-11 budget.  This includes operating expenses of $1.4 billion, a 3.6 percent increase from last year, and expenditures for sponsored research that are expected to total $667 million, a 5.4 percent increase.

Greater than anticipated investment returns, increased philanthropic support and a significant reduction in operating costs have put Duke on a more sustainable financial path, said Tallman Trask III, the university's executive vice president.

"The university's financial situation has improved over the past two years, but significant challenges remain," Trask said. "Despite that reality, signs of Duke's strength and progress abound, and we remain optimistic about prospects for the years ahead."

Over the past two and a half years, Duke has saved tens of millions of dollars by taking actions ranging from energy-conservation measures to modernizing telecommunications. It also reduced staff costs by offering voluntary early retirement incentives, limiting hiring and suspending base salary increases for most faculty and staff.

The budget reflects Duke's continuing commitment to financial aid and other strategic priorities, including the hiring of outstanding faculty, support for interdisciplinary research, and investments in facilities, libraries, student programs and technology, said Provost Peter Lange, the university's chief academic officer. "It also includes balanced budgets in all of our schools and resumed planning for capital projects, most of which will require major gift support," Lange said. "It took a collective effort across the university to bring our revenues and expenses into alignment, and I would like to thank the entire Duke community for their efforts in helping us weather the recent economic crisis."

Duke's new budget grows undergraduate financial aid to $133 million.  This includes a 10.8 percent increase in institutional aid, to $120 million, which is nearly three times the previously announced tuition increase of 3.9 percent. In addition, the university budget anticipates external support of $13 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 more than $35,000.

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.

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 budget adopted by the trustees includes the School of Medicine and the School of Nursing, but excludes Duke Hospital and other clinical components of the Duke University Health System, which are budgeted separately.

In other business, the trustees received detailed updates on athletics, new initiatives in entrepreneurship and translational research, campus culture and student life issues, and the Duke-National University of Singapore School of Medicine, which will award M.D. degrees to its first graduating class in July.