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Quick Facts About Duke

Download a PDF version of the Duke at a Glance guide here.

DUKE UNDERGRADS' TOP FIVE (Fall 2012)

HISTORY

Duke University was created in 1924 by James Buchanan Duke as a memorial to his father, Washington Duke. The Dukes, a Durham family that built a worldwide financial empire in the manufacture of tobacco products and developed electricity production in the Carolinas, long had been interested in Trinity College. Trinity traced its roots to 1838 in nearby Randolph County when local Methodist and Quaker communities opened Union Institute. The school, then named Trinity College, moved to Durham in 1892, where Benjamin Newton Duke served as a primary benefactor and link with the Duke family until his death in 1929. In December 1924, the provisions of indenture by Benjamin’s brother, James B. Duke, created the family philanthropic foundation, The Duke Endowment, which provided for the expansion of Trinity College into Duke University.

As a result of the Duke gift, Trinity underwent both physical and academic expansion. The original Durham campus became known as East Campus when it was rebuilt in stately Georgian architecture. West Campus, Gothic in style and dominated by the soaring 210-foot tower of Duke Chapel, opened in 1930. East Campus served as home of the Woman's College of Duke University until 1972, when the men's and women's undergraduate colleges merged. Both men and women undergraduates now enroll in either the Trinity College of Arts & Sciences or the Pratt School of Engineering. In 1995, East Campus became the home for all first-year students.

Duke maintains a historic affiliation with the United Methodist Church.

For more information about Duke's history, see the Duke University Archives.

"A New Model of Education: Collaboration and Connection." Read Duke's Strategic Plan.

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ADMINISTRATION

Financial Aid
Duke is committed to a need-blind admission policy, which means it admits undergraduates without consideration of their families' ability to pay tuition and other college costs and meets 100 percent of students' demonstrated financial need for four years. About 50 percent of all Duke students receive some form of financial aid, which includes need-based aid, athletic aid and merit aid. The average need-based grant for 2011-2012 was more than $37,400. For more information, see Duke Financial Aid.

Endowment
The provisions of James B. Duke's $40 million indenture in 1924 created Duke University's initial endowment. Those funds had a market value of $5.6 billion in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2012.

Operating Revenues, Operating Expenditures
Patient service revenue generated by Duke University Health System represented 51 percent of Duke's overall $4.6 billion in operating revenues in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2012. Other major revenue sources included: governmental agencies, 13 percent; investment income, 8 percent; tuition and fees (less aid), 8 percent; private grants, 8 percent; auxiliary enterprises, 4 percent; contributions, 2 percent; Private Diagnostic Clinic, 2 percent; other, 4 percent.

Duke Fundraising
The university is counted among the most successful fundraisers in American higher education. In 2008 Duke reached the $300 million goal of its Financial Aid Initiative. For more information about giving, see Giving to Duke.

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ACCREDITATION
Duke University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award baccalaureate, masters, doctorate, and professional degrees. Contact the Commission on Colleges at 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, Georgia 30033-4097 or call 404-679-4500 for questions about the accreditation of Duke University.

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HIGHLIGHTS

Duke Athletics teams compete in the 12-member Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and field teams in 26 NCAA Division I varsity sports. Duke has won national championships in men's basketball (1991, 1992, 2001, 2010), men's soccer (1986), men's lacrosse (2010), women's golf (1999, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007), and women's tennis (2009). More information: www.goduke.com. 

Cameron Indoor Stadium is considered the crown jewel of college basketball. Conceived on the back of a matchbook cover in 1935, Cameron was renovated in the late 1980s and underwent a series of improvements in 2009 to enhance the game-day experience. More information: http://www.goduke.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=4200&ATCLID=218099.

The Full Frame Documentary Festival and the internationally renowned American Dance Festival are among the ways Duke supports the arts in Durham. More information: http://visualstudies.duke.edu.

Duke Medicine, which includes the Duke University Health System, the Duke University School of Medicine and the Duke University School of Nursing, combines research, clinical care and education at many different sites throughout the region and beyond. Duke Hospital is the flagship of the broader Duke University Health System, which includes two community hospitals (Durham Regional Hospital and Duke Raleigh Hospital), affiliations with other hospitals in the region, community-based primary care physician practices, home care, infusion services and hospice care. More information: http://www.dukehealth.org/about_duke. 

Duke University Libraries, one of the nation's top 10 private research library systems, consist of the William R. Perkins Library and its four branches, the Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library, and separately administered libraries serving the schools of Business, Divinity, Law and Medicine. More information: http://library.duke.edu. 

University Archives, part of the Perkins Library system, is the official repository for printed and written materials and photographs that chronicle Duke's past. More information: http://library.duke.edu/uarchives. 

Duke Performances hosts between 60 and 70 professional performing arts events, including music, theater, dance and talks, on campus each year. Many events are held in Page Auditorium, others are held at Reynolds Industries Theater, Baldwin Auditorium, the Nelson Music Room and other venues.  More information: http://dukeperformances.duke.edu. 

Duke University Press publishes about 120 new books each year, as well as more than 30 scholarly journals. The publications are mainly in the humanities and social sciences, but some cover aspects of law, medicine, the sciences and mathematics. More information: http://www.dukeupress.edu. 

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POPULAR SITES

The 900-seat Baldwin Auditorium, whose domed roof gives the historic East Campus one of its most unique architectural elements, was built in 1927. An $80 million gift from The Duke Endowment in 2011 will pay for major renovations to Baldwin, Page Auditorium and West Union. More information: http://architect.duke.edu/architecture/buildings%201930-1961/Baldwin%20Auditorium.html. 

Bryan Center is the hub of student activity. It serves as an expanded student union and is home to student organizations and the University Union, which oversees student-run cultural and social activities. The center contains theaters, restaurants, a coffeehouse, book and merchandise stores, an information desk, post office, ATM machines and more. More information: http://maps.oit.duke.edu/building/44. 

Duke Chapel, an iconic symbol of the university, is at the center of the Gothic West Campus. Built in 1932, the chapel is dominated by a 210-foot tower housing a 50-bell carillon. Washington Duke and his sons Benjamin and James are entombed in the Memorial Chapel. More information: http://www.chapel.duke.edu/. 

Duke Forest, established in 1931, covers more than 7,000 acres in the north-central Piedmont. It serves as a natural outdoor laboratory for Duke and neighboring universities, and its trails are popular with local walkers and runners. The forest is managed for multiple uses, including education, research, protection of wildlife and rare plant species, and demonstration of timber management practices. http://www.dukeforest.duke.edu. 

Sarah P. Duke Gardens, 55 acres of landscaped and woodland gardens in the heart of Duke's West Campus, is open to the public daily from 8 a.m. to dusk. Each year more than 300,000 visitors enjoy the gardens' five miles of walkways and more than 8,000 species and varieties of plants. More information: http://www.hr.duke.edu/dukegardens. 

The Duke Lemur Center, the only university-based facility in the world devoted to the study of prosimian primates, is home to the world's largest colony of endangered primates, including more than 200 lemurs, bush babies and lorises. More than 85 percent of the center's inhabitants were born on site. Tours available. More information: http://lemur.duke.edu. 

The Duke Marine Laboratory, at coastal Beaufort, N.C., is a campus of Duke University and a unit within the Nicholas School of the Environment. Its mission is education and research in basic ocean processes, coastal environment management, marine biotechnology and marine biomedicine. http://www.nicholas.duke.edu/marinelab. 

Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture, established in 1983 and located on the second floor of the West Union Building on West Campus, features an art gallery, performing space, a library and lounge, and sponsors speakers and events on race, ethnicity and social difference. More information: http://www.studentaffairs.duke.edu/mlw. 

The Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, designed by architect Rafael Viñoly, opened in 2005 and is a major center for the arts on campus. The museum serves the university, Research Triangle and surrounding region with an ambitious schedule of exhibitions and educational programs. More information: http://www.nasher.duke.edu. 

Page Auditorium is Duke's largest theater, with a capacity of 1,200 seats. It has been the site of thousands of performances and lectures since its opening in 1930, including speeches by Sen. John F. Kennedy in 1959 and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1964. More information: http://dukeperformances.duke.edu/directions/page-auditorium.

Duke Sports Hall of Fame showcases all of Duke's sports in a public museum featuring video, audio, trophy cases and a theater. The 10,400-square-feet hall is located on the second floor of the Schwartz-Butters Athletic Center next to Cameron Indoor Stadium on Duke's West Campus. More information: http://www.goduke.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=4200&ATCLID=227342. 

West Campus Plaza, which opened in fall 2006, is a gathering spot for informal meetings, relaxing, dining and enjoying artistic performances. More information: http://architect.duke.edu/landscape/places/plaza.html. 

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