This list of Duke University people includes alumni, faculty, presidents, and major philanthropists of Duke University, which includes three undergraduate and ten graduate schools. The undergraduate schools include Trinity College of Arts and Sciences, Pratt School of Engineering, Sanford School of Public Policy, and Duke Kunshan University. The university's graduate and professional schools include the graduate school, the Pratt School of Engineering, the Nicholas School of the Environment, the School of Medicine, the School of Nursing, the Fuqua School of Business, the School of Law, the Divinity School, the Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke Kunshan University, and Duke–NUS Medical School.
Famous alumni include U.S. President Richard Nixon; Chilean President Ricardo Lagos; former cabinet member and former Senator Elizabeth Dole; philanthropist Melinda French Gates; the chief executive officers of Apple (Tim Cook), Procter and Gamble (David S. Taylor), Bear Stearns (Alan Schwartz), Morgan Stanley (John J. Mack), Pfizer (Edmund T. Pratt Jr.), McDonald's (Chris Kempczinski) and General Motors Corporation (Rick Wagoner); and the first United States Chief Performance Officer Jeffrey Zients. Notable alumni media personalities include Dan Abrams, the former general manager of MSNBC; Jay Bilas, a commentator on ESPN; Sean McManus, the president of CBS News and CBS Sports; Charlie Rose, the former host of his eponymous PBS talk show and a 60 Minutes contributor; and Judy Woodruff, an anchor at CNN. William DeVries (GME 1971–79) was the first doctor to perform a successful permanent artificial heart implantation, and appeared on the cover of Time in 1984.
Current notable faculty include Manny Azenberg, a Broadway producer whose productions have won 40 Tony Awards; Adrian Bejan, namesake of the Bejan number; and David Brooks, a columnist for The New York Times . Walter E. Dellinger III, formerly the United States Solicitor General, Assistant Attorney General, and head of the Office of Legal Counsel under Bill Clinton, serves as a law professor. Novelist and playwright Ariel Dorfman won the 1992 Laurence Olivier Award, while Peter Feaver was a member of the National Security Council under Clinton and George W. Bush. David Gergen served as an advisor to Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton. John Hope Franklin was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Bill Clinton, while William Raspberry, a syndicated columnist for The Washington Post , won the Pulitzer Prize in 1994. 15 Nobel Prize winners have been associated with the university.
As of 2019, 15 Nobel laureates have been affiliated with Duke University. The following list includes only those who have graduated from Duke or spent at least one year as a postdoctoral researcher/medical resident/visiting professor or two years as a faculty member at Duke.
In the absence of a Nobel Prize in Computer science, the Turing Award generally is recognized as the highest honor in the subject and the "Nobel Prize of computing." As of 2015, 3 Turing Award laureates have been affiliated with Duke University.
This section needs additional citations for verification .(September 2018) |
Selected Duke Alumni |
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President | Tenure |
---|---|
Brantley York | 1838–1842 [460] |
Braxton Craven | 1842–1863 [461] |
William Trigg Gannaway* | 1864–1865 |
*Appointed president pro tempore during the break in Craven's presidency | |
Braxton Craven | 1866–1882 [461] |
Marquis Lafayette Wood | 1883–1886 |
John Franklin Crowell | 1887–1894 |
John Carlisle Kilgo | 1894–1910 |
William Preston Few | 1910–1924 [462] |
University officially established as Duke University in 1924 | |
William Preston Few | 1924–1940 [462] |
Robert Lee Flowers | 1941–1948 |
Arthur Hollis Edens | 1949–1960 |
Julian Deryl Hart | 1960–1963 |
Douglas Knight | 1963–1969 [463] |
Terry Sanford | 1969–1985 [464] |
H. Keith H. Brodie | 1985–1993 |
Nannerl O. Keohane | 1993–2004 |
Richard H. Brodhead | 2004–2017 [465] |
Vincent E. Price | 2017–present |
Donors who have contributed at least $20 million to the university or founding donors:
Donor | Total Amount | Year | Purpose |
---|---|---|---|
The Duke Endowment | $1.5+ billion [466] [467] [468] [469] [470] | 1924– 2024 | Various [471] |
James B. Duke | $40 million ($1.36 billion in 2024 dollars) | 1924 | For endowment; established The Duke Endowment later that year |
Lord Corporation | $261 million | 2019 | Unrestricted [472] |
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation | $250+ million | 2002–2021 | $46.5 million for AIDS research, [473] $30 million for a new science facility and $5 million for student life initiatives, [474] $20 million for the Duke Global Health Initiative, [475] $15 million for DukeEngage, a civic engagement program, [476] $9 million for undergraduate financial aid and $1 million for Fuqua students financial aid, [477] and $4.5 million for water sanitation research. The full list of grants is available at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation website. [478] |
Peter and Ginny Nicholas | $115+ million | 1999– 2023 | $20 million for the School of the Environment and Earth Sciences; [479] $70 million pledged in 2003 for the School of the Environment fully paid by 2022; $25 million pledged in 2023 [480] |
David Rubenstein | $100+ million | 2002–2017 | More than $100 million in total, [481] including $25 million towards a new performing arts center, [482] $20 million for undergraduate scholarships, [483] $13.6 million to Duke Libraries, $20.75 million to the Sanford School of Public Policy, $10 million to Duke athletics [484] [485] |
Bruce and Martha Karsh | $85 million | 2005–2011 | For student financial aid [486] [487] [488] |
Anne and Robert Bass | $70 million | 1996–2013 | $20 million for the FOCUS program and various endowed chairs, $50 million for interdisciplinary research [489] [490] |
Disque Deane | $20 million ($56 million in 2024 dollars) | 1986 | To "establish a research institute on the human future" [491] |
J. Michael and Christine Pearson | $50+ million | 2014 | $30 million to the Pratt School of Engineering to advance engineering and science education, $15 million to the School of Nursing and $7.5 million to the Fuqua School of Business [492] |
Edmund T. Pratt Jr. | $35 million | 1999 | To endow the School of Engineering [493] |
David H. Murdock | $35 million | 2007 | For "translational medicine" research by the Duke Medical School [494] |
Dr. Steven and Rebecca Scott | $30 million | 2012-2013 | $20 million for Duke Sports Medicine [495] and $10 million for Duke athletics [496] |
Dudley Rauch | $30 million | 2021 | For medical student scholarships [497] |
Jack O. Bovender, Jr. | $27.5 million | 2006-2014 | $10 million for Trinity College, $10 million for the Fuqua School of Business Health Sector Management Program, and $5 million for School of Nursing, [498] $1.5 million for a professorship at Duke Divinity School, [499] and $1 million for a scholarship for minority students in the Health Sector Management Program [500] |
Robert Margolis | $26.5 million | 2015-2023 | For the Margolis Center for Health Policy [501] [502] |
Michael J. and Patty Fitzpatrick | $25 million | 2000 | For a center for advanced photonics and communications [503] |
William and Sue Gross | $23 million | 2005 | $15 million for undergraduate scholarships, $5 million for medical students' scholarships, and $3 million to support faculty members of the Fuqua School of Business [504] |
Bill and Melinda Gates | $20 million | 1998 | For undergraduate scholarships [504] |
Washington Duke | $385,000 ($13 million in 2024 dollars) | 1892 | For original endowment and construction |
Julian S. Carr | N/A | 1892 | Donated site of East Campus |
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