2013 was filled with memorable events for Duke University. Baldwin Auditorium on East Campus was transformed. The football team recorded its best season in decades. The university celebrated its African-American alumni. Students and faculty addressed society’s problems through a campus-wide academic initiative. And perhaps you saw President Brodhead on The Colbert Report? Here are a baker’s dozen of Duke’s most memorable moments and events from the past year — 13 for ’13.
Duke medical education has a beautiful new home. Dedicated in February, the Mary Duke Biddle Trent Semans Center for Health Education (pictured) has modern simulation labs, teaching auditoriums and classrooms that promote team-based learning. A few months later, in June, Duke Medicine opened the adjacent Medical Pavilion with 160 critical care rooms, 18 operating rooms and an imaging suite.
The $3.25 billion capital campaign went traveling in 2013 to drum up support for critical Duke initiatives. Nobel laureate Robert Lefkowitz, behavioral economist Dan Ariely (pictured) and other faculty members inspired audiences from Atlanta to London. They discussed their teaching and research and shared their vision for translating their work in ways that will improve people’s lives. Duke plans more events in 2014, including in Miami, Philadelphia and New York.
A campus hub for Duke student artists received a makeover in April. Its building-wide mural was just part of the new look for the building that holds rehearsal, studio and programming spaces for student artists and organizations. Along with the recent renovation of a section of the Steam Plant for students in Duke’s MFA program, campus artists now have great new spaces in which to develop their creativity.
More than 5,000 students received their degrees at Duke’s commencement in May. One of those diplomas was 60 years in the making. 80-year-old Robert Becker received his bachelor’s degree after finishing up the last two courses he needed. Becker was an undergraduate in the 1950s but left Duke just shy of graduation for careers in the military and the airline industry. Philanthropist Melinda French Gates delivered the commencement address.
The Duke men’s lacrosse team fought back from an early 5-0 deficit to defeat top-ranked Syracuse 16-10 in May. It was their second national title in four years under Coach John Danowski.
A summer 2013 project involving faculty, graduate students and undergraduates studying pollution from Peruvian gold mining was among the first examples of the new Bass Connections program. The campus-wide initiative brings together teams across disciplines to tackle real-world problems. By the end of the year, more than three dozen faculty-student teams were studying everything from poverty in Appalachia to new options for climate policy.
Duke President Richard H. Brodhead got some laughs and the humanities got some love during his August appearance on Comedy Central’s popular “The Colbert Report.” Brodhead, co-chair of a national commission on the humanities, traded wit with the comedian Stephen Colbert while delivering a serious message: The humanities are an essential part of a strong education, but they need support.
Peter Lange, the longest-serving provost in Duke history and the architect of many of the university’s signature academic initiatives, announced in August he will step down in June 2014. He plans to return to the faculty. President Brodhead appointed a committee chaired by Pratt Professor George Truskey to search for Lange’s successor.
After a two-year, $15 million renovation, East Campus’ signature arts venue reopened to great acclaim in September with a gala concert. The reopening was just one of several changes in the campus landscape. The year also saw the opening of the Penn Pavilion on West Campus and the start of major renovations to West Union and Perkins Library.
As part of an arts festival exploring issues of sustainability, more than 400 Duke students and community members built the world’s largest cardboard fort in September, in front of Duke Chapel. They used more than 3,500 boxes, all of which were recycled afterwards. Their message: Recycling a ton of cardboard boxes saves about 700 gallons of water and nearly 50 gallons of oil.
Nine months of a university celebration of the 50th anniversary of the first African-American undergraduates at Duke concluded in October with a special performance including pianist Alma Jones (pictured) and a commissioned work by Grammy-winning jazz composer, bandleader and pianist Billy Childs. In April, during reunion weekend, Duke alumnus and then-U.S. Sen. “Mo” Cowan highlighted a special ceremony paying tribute to the African-American “firsts.”
It’s amazing what students can do in 24 hours. At the November Duke Hackathon, first prize went to a team of Duke students whose device translates sign language into speech. During the competition, students from dozens of schools produced more than 100 innovative projects.
It was a year of firsts for Duke football. For the first time ever, the team will appear in a bowl game in consecutive years. It also set a school record with 10 wins, and it won its first ACC Coastal Division title with a Nov. 30 win over rival UNC. Duke plays in the Chick-fil-A Bowl on Dec. 31.
