Duke to Honor Three with University Medals

Headshots of three people
Dan Brooks '96, Duke’s Duan Family Women’s Golf Coach; Jacqueline Looney, former senior associate dean associate vice provost of The Graduate School; and Trustee Emerita Laurene Sperling ’78

The 2026 University Medals for Distinguished Meritorious Service, Duke’s highest honor, will be awarded to Dan Brooks, Duke’s Duan Family Women’s Golf Coach; Jacqueline Looney, who retired in 2022 as senior associate dean and associate vice provost of The Graduate School; and Trustee Emerita Laurene Sperling, who served on the Board of Trustees from 2010 to 2025, including four years as chair. 

The medals will be presented during Founders’ Weekend, September 25-27.

“I am delighted to present this year’s University Medals to Dan Brooks, Jackie Looney and Laurene Sperling,” said President Vincent E. Price. “Through their leadership in athletics, graduate education and university governance, they have each strengthened Duke in enduring ways. I am honored to recognize their remarkable contributions to our community.”

Founders’ Weekend provides an opportunity each year for the Duke community to reflect on the university’s history and recognize the leadership, contributions and impact that students, faculty, administrators, staff, trustees and alumni have made. 

A complete list of previous University Medal recipients is available on the Duke Founders’ Day website. 

Dan Brooks

For more than four decades, Dan Brooks has shaped the Duke women’s golf program into one of the nation’s premier collegiate teams. He has led the Blue Devils to seven NCAA championships, the most by any head coach in Duke and NCAA Division I women’s golf history. 

Headshot of Dan Brooks
Dan Brooks

Since joining Duke in 1984, Brooks has guided the Blue Devils to 21 ACC Championships, while his 145 team victories are the most ever by any NCAA Division I women’s golf coach. 

Beyond the team’s success, Brooks has mentored 28 All-Americans and 43 All-ACC selections. Twenty-six Duke women’s golfers have also earned All-American Scholar honors.

A seven-time National Coach of the Year and 16-time ACC Coach of the Year, Brooks was inducted into the Duke Athletics Hall of Fame in 2016 and the Women’s Golf Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2001. He is also a member of the Carolinas Golf Association Hall of Fame and the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame.

Brooks earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Oregon State University and a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies from Duke. In addition to coaching, he serves as a PGA teaching professional at the Duke Golf Club and directs the Duke Academy of Golf, a summer youth instructional program.

Jacqueline Looney 

When Duke established the Office of Graduate Student Affairs in 1999, Jacqueline Looney was recruited to build and lead the new unit. Looney had previously served as Duke’s assistant dean for graduate recruitment before joining the Mellon Foundation in 1994.

Headshot of Jacqueline Looney
Jacqueline Looney

From 1999 until her retirement in 2022, Looney’s leadership helped transform the graduate student experience by expanding mentoring, professional development and student support across The Graduate School.

Among her many contributions were the expansion of professional development offerings and financial support programs, including the childcare subsidy and hardship assistance grants; mentoring workshops and the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Mentoring; and the introduction of the of the Ph.D. hooding ceremony.

In 2017, she helped secure a $1 million grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to establish the Duke University Center for Exemplary Mentoring (Duke UCEM), which supports cohorts of STEM doctoral students from a wide range of backgrounds.

Upon her retirement in 2022, former Graduate School Dean Paula D. McClain lauded Looney’s “indelible mark on The Graduate School.” During Looney’s tenure, she was honored with the 2014 Meritorious Presidential Award for her distinctive contributions to the university and the Mary Lou Williams Center’s Julian Abele Award for Graduate Mentor of the Year in 2020. 

Looney earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology and master’s degree in educational psychology from the University of Tennessee, followed by a Doctor of Education from Vanderbilt University.

Laurene Sperling 

A 1978 Duke graduate with a bachelor’s degree in management science, Laurene Sperling has devoted decades of leadership, service and philanthropy to advance her alma mater’s mission.

Laurene Sperling
Laurene Sperling

Elected to the Board of Trustees in 2010, Sperling served as vice chair from 2017 to 2021 before becoming the first woman to chair the board, a position she held from 2021 to 2024. She also helped shape the university’s leadership and governance through her work on the 2016 Presidential Search Committee and as chair of the 2017-2018 Ad Hoc Task Force on Governance, which led to several key governance changes, including the creation of the Governance Committee.

Sperling has served on the boards of directors for Duke University Health System (DUHS) and Duke University Management Company (DUMAC), as well as the Library Advisory Board, Women’s Impact Network (WIN) Leadership Council, Duke Kunshan University Advisory Board, Made for This Campaign Council and Duke Forward Campaign Steering Committee.

Sperling and her husband, Scott, have been generous philanthropic supporters of Duke, providing support for the Perkins Library renovation and the All Babies and Children Thrive projects through Bass Connections. In 2026, the Sperlings participated in the Made for This Campaign to name the Sperling Center for Jewish Studies, endowing two professorships in Jewish Studies and dedicated funds for faculty support, graduate education, postdoctoral support, and lectures. They are also the parents of two Duke graduates.

In addition to her Duke degree, Sperling earned an MBA from Harvard Business School. She is president of the Sperling Family Charitable Foundation and has an extensive background in foundation and nonprofit leadership in education, early childhood development, health care and poverty alleviation.