Duke University - Alumni

Alumni

Duke's active alumni base of more than 145,000 devote themselves to the university through organizations and events such as the annual Reunion Weekend and Homecoming. There are 75 Duke clubs in the U.S. and 38 such international clubs. For the 2008–09 fiscal year, Duke tied for third in alumni giving rate among U.S. colleges and universities according to U.S. News & World Report. Based on statistics compiled by PayScale in 2011, Duke alumni rank seventh in mid-career median salary among all U.S. colleges and universities. A number of alumni have made significant contributions in the fields of government, law, science, academia, business, arts, journalism, and athletics, among others.

Richard Nixon, 37th President of the United States graduated with a law degree in 1937. Former U.S. Senator and Secretary of Transportation Elizabeth Dole, 33rd President of Chile Ricardo Lagos, former U.S. Secretary of Commerce Juanita M. Kreps, congressman and three-time presidential candidate Ron Paul, U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs and former Chief of Staff of the United States Army Eric Shinseki, and the first United States Chief Performance Officer Jeffrey Zients and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey are among the most notable alumni with involvement in politics and government.

In the research realm, Dr. Robert J. Lefkowitz, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator who has spent his entire 39-year research career at the Duke University Medical Center, shared the 2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Brian K. Kobilka of Stanford University School of Medicine, who was a post-doctoral fellow in Lefkowitz's lab in the 1980s. Duke graduates who have won the Nobel Prize in Physics include Hans Dehmelt for his development of the ion trap technique, Robert Richardson for his discovery of superfluidity in helium-3, and Charles Townes for his work on quantum electronics. Other alumni in research and academia include Turing Award winners Fred Brooks and John Cocke, Templeton Prize winning physicist and religion scholar Ian Barbour, MacArthur Award recipient Paul Farmer, and former Dean of the Graduate School at Princeton Theodore Ziolkowski.

Prominent journalists include talk show host Charlie Rose, The Washington Post sports writer John Feinstein, Chief Washington Correspondent for CNBC and The Wall Street Journal writer John Harwood, CBS News President Sean McManus, chief legal correspondent for Good Morning America Dan Abrams, and CNN anchor and senior correspondent for The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer Judy Woodruff. Basketball analysts and commentators include Jay Bilas, Mike Gminski, Jim Spanarkel, and Jay Williams. Magazine editors include Rik Kirkland of Fortune and Clay Felker, founder of New York Magazine, who died in 2008.

In the area of literature, William C. Styron won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1968 for his novel The Confessions of Nat Turner and is well known for his 1979 novel Sophie's Choice. Anne Tyler also received the Pulitzer Prize for her 1988 novel Breathing Lessons. In the arts realm, Annabeth Gish (actress in the X-Files and The West Wing), Ken Jeong (actor in The Hangover and Community), Randall Wallace (screenwriter, producer, and director, Braveheart, Pearl Harbor, We Were Soldiers), Mike Posner (singer, songwriter, and producer, Cooler Than Me, Please Don't Go) and David Hudgins (television writer and producer, Everwood, Friday Night Lights) headline the list.

On the business front, the current or recent President, CEO, or Chairman of each of the following Fortune 500 companies is a Duke alumnus: Apple (Tim Cook), BB&T (John A. Allison IV), Boston Scientific Corporation (Peter Nicholas), Chesapeake Energy (Aubrey McClendon), Cisco System (John Chambers), General Motors (Rick Wagoner), JPMorgan Chase (Steven Black), Medtronic (William A. Hawkins), Morgan Stanley (John J. Mack), Norfolk Southern (David R. Goode), Northwest Airlines (Gary L. Wilson), PepsiCo (Karl von der Heyden), Pfizer (Edmund T. Pratt, Jr.), The Bank of New York Mellon (Gerald Hassell), and Wachovia (Robert K. Steel). Kevin Martin was Chairman of the FCC, and Rex Adams serves as the Chairman of PBS. Another alumna, Melinda Gates, is the co-founder of the $31.9 billion Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the nation's wealthiest charitable foundation.

Management and ownership of professional athletic franchises include John Angelos (Executive Vice President of the Baltimore Orioles), Aubrey McClendon (partial owner of the Oklahoma City Thunder), John Canning, Jr. (co-owner of Milwaukee Brewers), Danny Ferry (former general manager of the Cleveland Cavaliers), Stephen Pagliuca (co-owner of Boston Celtics), and Jeffrey Vinik (owner of the Tampa Bay Lightning).

Finally, several athletes have become stars at the professional level, especially in basketball's NBA. Shane Battier, Corey Maggette, Elton Brand, Carlos Boozer, Luol Deng, Christian Laettner, Bobby Hurley, Grant Hill, Kyrie Irving and J.J. Redick are among the most famous.