Medical Center
$250,000 from Frederic and Marlene Malek P’90 to the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center to create the Malek Family Endowment to support promising young researchers
Arts & Sciences and Trinity College
$50,000 from Allen V. Farber T‘72 and Harrison W. Farber T‘69 to establish an unrestricted endowment in honor of their parents, Seymour and Harriet Farber
$25,000 from Eric R. Greenspan T’72 for an unrestricted endowment
Divinity
$150,000 from Joseph Lipe T’67 and Carmie Lipe T’68 for the Phil Emmanuel and Vertie Alexander Lipe Scholarship Endowment Fund, to be matched with funds from The Duke Endowment
$50,000 from Mr. and Mrs. O. W. Rhodenhiser P’85 for the Bill and Nancye Rhodenhiser Endowment for the Baptist House of Studies Program
Fuqua School of Business
$100,000 from Michael R. Hemmerich T’80, L’85, B’94 to both establish the Karl and Nancy Hemmerich Fellowship Endowment and provide support for Fuqua’s Annual Fund, in addition to Arts & Sciences and Trinity College and the School of Law
Law
$50,000 from the Archibald C. and Frances F. Rufty Foundation to establish the Law Library Endowment Fund in honor of Professor Richard Danner and former dean Pamela Gann (Frances F. Rufty is W’44 and L’45)
Nicholas School of the Environment
$100,000 unitrust from Reade Tompson G’45 and Sarah Tompson N’45, N’47 for the Duke Marine Laboratory
$25,000 from Mrs. Frances Tanaka to establish an endowment in memory of her husband, Yasuomi Tanaka F’67, G’70 to support international students, to be matched with funds from The Duke Endowment
Pratt School of Engineering
$50,000 from Dorcas Maynor Bucher for scholarships
$33,000 from W. John Swartz E’56 for undergraduate scholarships, to be matched with funds from The Duke Endowment
Libraries
$100,000 from Douglas G. Beckstett T’74 and R. Elise Bideaux T’75 for an endowment to acquire and preserve U.S. government documents
$100,000 from Harry H. Harkins, Jr. T’73 for an endowment to purchase books, manuscripts, periodicals, and other resources pertaining to gay and lesbian history, culture, biography, literature, and political activism
Athletics
$500,000 from Julian S. “Bill” Jessup T’39 for capital improvements to the Jack Coombs Baseball Stadium
$100,000 from Marshall T. Spears T’47 and Sally McWhorter Spears W’50 for an athletic scholarship in honor of retiring track coach Al Buehler
The combined efforts of thousands of Duke alumni, parents, friends, and staff members propelled the Duke Annual Fund past its $15.9 million goal to a 1999-2000 total of more than $16.7 million, a 23 percent increase over its record-breaking previous year. A critical ingredient to the overall success of the Campaign for Duke and to the University’s strength, the Annual Fund has partnered well with the campaign’s momentum and the strong economy to bring in tens of thousands of unrestricted gifts to its programs.
Trinity College and Arts and Sciences raised $8.4 million this year, which will help support signature programs like the freshman FOCUS seminars, and fully implement the new curriculum.
Duke Chapel’s Annual Fund, its Development Fund, and the Friends of the Chapel combined to raise more than $159,000 that will help keep the Chapel’s doors open daily and sponsor over 100 services and concerts.
Duke’s Museum of Art raised nearly $67,000 this year in gifts to both the DUMA Annual Fund and the Friends of the Art Museum. These gifts will help bring exhibits and events to the museum as it prepares to break ground for the Nasher Museum of Art, an architect and site for which were selected this year.
Duke’s Divinity School has become a place where disciplines such as ethics, law, medicine, nursing, the humanities, and religious thought converge. Alumni and friends contributed more than $385,000 to Divinity’s Annual Fund this year, a 13 percent increase.
The Pratt School of Engineering’s $1.3 million total echoes its unprecedented success thus far in the Campaign for Duke, and mirrors the overall annual giving increase. The funds will help support student aid, faculty enhancement, and innovative programming initiatives.
The Fuqua School of Business netted more than $1.2 million this year, helped by a $200,000 challenge from its board of visitors to alumni and friends to increase their annual gifts or make new ones. The funds will support improved information technology, student aid, and faculty enhancement.
The Sarah P. Duke Gardens raised nearly $200,000 this year, a 30 percent increase over last year’s total. One of the country’s most beautifully landscaped spots according to the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Gardens welcomes more than 350,000 visitors annually.
Duke’s Graduate School raised more than $162,000 in annual support this year, a 15 percent increase over last year, which will help enhance its top-ranked programs.
Duke School of Law posted its best year ever, garnering more than $1.2 million that will support development in such areas as intellectual property, internet law, and global commerce.
Duke University Libraries booked annual gifts totaling more than $320,000, including contributions to the Library Annual Fund, Friends of the Library, and Friends of the Library/Book Fund. These funds will help repair and preserve the collections, digitize resources for the internet, and add new areas of knowledge.
The School of Medicine’s Annual Fund generated gifts in excess of $1.5 million and includes contributions to the Medical Families Fund as well as the Care and Discovery Fund. These gifts will help support a new Professionalism and Wellness Center for Duke medical students, and explore advanced educational technology programs as part of the school’s curriculum revision.
The School of Nursing secured annual gifts totaling more than $205,000, an increase of more than 10 percent over its previous year, which will support student scholarships and expanded academic initiatives.
The Nicholas School of the Environment and the Duke Marine Laboratory combined to reel in gifts totaling nearly $500,000, their best year. A challenge from The Home Depot earned materials to construct outdoor classrooms, garden beds, or greenhouses at three Durham Public School campuses, involved NSoE students in the local community, and integrated environmental science projects into these schools’ curriculums.
When Benchmark asked Jake T’73, P’00 and Jody T’75, P’00 Akers why they have led such active volunteer lives for Duke for over 25 years, Jake responded from his office at Crystal Tissue Company in Middletown, Ohio, where he is president and CEO: “We want to give something back to the University that gave us so much, and we get to interact with world class people who share our interest in continuing Duke’s excellence for generations to come.”
Spoken like a true volunteer leader. Jake has served on Duke’s Annual Fund Executive Committee since 1995, and talked about becoming involved in the Alumni Association when his term expires in 2001. He has also been an Annual Fund class chairman, class president, and True Blue Chair. Founders Society and President’s Council members, the Akerses served their class reunion committees and were involved with the Parents’ Program during their daughter’s (Alexandra T’00) undergraduate career. The Akers family recently celebrated Jody’s 25th reunion and Alexandra’s graduation.
Jody Akers, who graduated magna cum laude in English, said that their involvement with Duke gives them an opportunity to reminisce, to relive their experience vicariously through the young, vibrant students they encounter, and to revisit the place where they met and “grew up together.” From their first meeting in the traffic circle where Jake had put up a sign directing all sorority rushees (Jody included) to stop for instructions, to their first date at a Duke football game, to their graduations and marriage, the Akerses have been true Duke blue.
Like her father, who graduated from Duke magna cum laude before attending Miami University Graduate School of Business, Alexandra earned her bachelor’s degree in economics. The only daughter of six children, she recently went to work as a securities analyst with Merrill Lynch in New York.
Before Alexandra decided to attend Duke, Jake told her that he and Jody would support whatever decision she made, but that they wanted her to have the Duke experience they cherished. They are thrilled with her decision.