Duke University Athletics

Duke University was created in 1924 by James Buchanan Duke as a memorial to his father, Washington Duke. The Dukes, a Durham family who built a worldwide financial empire, had long been interested in Trinity College. Trinity traced its roots to 1838 in nearby Randolph County when local Methodist and Quaker communities joined forces to support a permanent school, which they named Union Institute. After a brief period as Normal College (1851-59), the school changed its name to Trinity College in 1859 and affiliated with the Methodist Church. The college moved to Durham in 1892 with financial assistance from Washington Duke and the donation of land by Julian S. Carr. In December 1924, the trustees gratefully accepted the provisions of James B. Duke's indenture creating the family philanthropic foundation, The Duke Endowment, which provided, in part, for the expansion of Trinity College into Duke University.

Duke, located in Durham, NC, enrolls approximately 12, 800 undergraduate and graduate students. The University is divided into nine schools and colleges: Trinity College of Arts and Science, Divinity School, The Fuqua School of Business, School of Law, School of Medicine, Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, School of Nursing, Pratt School of Engineering, and The Graduate School

Duke University Medical Center, established in 1930, comprises clinical, training and research programs. The medical center has one of 40 federally funded comprehensive cancer centers, an eye center, a general clinical research unit and other highly advanced treatment and research facilities. Duke Hospital is also the flagship of the broader Duke University Health System, which includes two community hospitals - Durham Regional Hospital and Raleigh Community Hospital - and affiliations with other hospitals in the region, community-based primary care physician practices, home care, infusion services and hospice care.

The Duke libraries, with more than 5 million volumes, rank among the top 10 private research libraries in the United States. The William R. Perkins Library system comprises a main library, seven branch libraries and a state-of-the-art shelving facility. There are also four professional school libraries.

The 322,000-square-foot, $97 million Center for Interdisciplinary Engineering, Medicine and Applied Sciences (CIEMAS) opened in June 2004. The two-building complex houses the research and teaching activity of bioengineering, the Fitzpatrick Center for Photonics and Communications, and materials science and materials engineering, as well as an emerging initiative in remote sensing and instrumentation.

The athletic teams at Duke compete in the NCAA Division I Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).

Recent Highlights:

• October 26, 2004. . .The Duke field hockey team holds onto the third spot in the STX/NFHCA National Coaches poll.
  
  
• October 21, 2004. . .The women’s Cross Country Team is ranked Number 5 by the FinishLynx women’s poll. The men’s Cross Country Team is ranked Number 26 in the latest coaches’ poll.
  
  
• October 18, 2004. . . The men’s Golf Team set a new tournament record at the Coca-Cola Duke Golf Classic, posting a four-under-par 860 to win the event by 13 shots over North Carolina at the par-72 Duke Golf Club.
  
  
• October 10, 2004. . . For the eighth straight year, the Duke women's golf team won the team title at the Franklin Street Partners Invitational as the Blue Devils carded a three-day total of 865 to win by nine strokes at the 6,285-yard, Par 72 Finley Golf Course in Chapel Hill, N.C.
  
  
• Fencing freshman Benjamin Hendricks finished 15th in the men's foil and junior Nathan Bragg placed 18th in the men's epee at the 2004 NCAA Fencing Championships hosted by Brandeis University
  
  
• The Duke University women's lacrosse team earned IWLCA Merit Squad honors after leading Division I with a 3.46 team GPA.
  
  
• The Duke football and wrestling squads recently won The Atlantic Coast Conference Sportsmanship Award. Teams receiving the award have conducted themselves with a high degree of character and good sportsmanship, as determined by a vote of the league's teams.
  
  
• The Duke football program has participated in all four major bowl games and has won or shared the American Football Coaches Association's academic achievement award a nation-leading 11 times for the highest graduation rate in the country.

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