Duke University Alumni Magazine


PRESIDENTIAL
OCCASION


eorge Bush, who served as the forty-first president of the United States from 1989 to 1993, will deliver Duke's 1998 commencement address Sunday, May 17.

Says Duke President Nannerl O. Keohane of Bush: "His many years of service to the nation, from his combat experience in World War II to his remarkably broad career of government leadership, culminating in his election as president of the United States, give him a uniquely valuable perspective on the challenges and opportunities that our students will encounter."

During his term in office, Bush successfully fought for and signed into law the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Clean Air Act. Under his leadership, an unprecedented international coalition force, led by the United States, liberated Kuwait from Iraqi occupation, which led to a renewal of the stalled Mideast peace process. He also created the "1,000 Points of Light" program, which led to a renewed national emphasis on volunteerism.

Since leaving office, Bush has focused his time and energy on the completion of the George Bush Presidential Library, located on the campus of Texas A&M; University at College Station. He serves as the chairman of the Eisenhower Exchange Fellowship, and honorary chairman of the Points of Light Foundation, and is a member of the board of visitors at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

Bush and his wife, Barbara, who live in Houston and Kennebunkport, Maine, have helped support more than 150 charitable organizations in their community and around the country, from fighting drug abuse to promoting literacy. In 1995 and 1996, they helped raise more than $20 million for charity.



A DEVIL OF
AN IMPACT



In the paint: a colorful collection of Cameron Crazies conspire for Carolina confrontation
Photo: Les Todd


uke's annual economic impact on the city and county of Durham weighs in at an estimated $1.9 billion. According to a recent study, a tally of local spending by the university, its students, and visitors in 1996-1997 arrived at an estimated $944 million. The impact of that spending, however, is at least twice that amount, according to the study, because each dollar spent initiates at least one more round of spending before it leaves the local economy.

"Understanding the extent to which Duke is an important engine of economic activity in Durham can help all of us, both on campus and off it, appreciate the degree to which Durham and Duke are inextricably engaged with each other," says President Keohane. "It adds to our understanding of a complex and important town/gown relationship that we are committed to enhancing."

As the largest employer in Durham County and the third largest private employer in North Carolina, Duke annually infuses an estimated $1.01 billion into the community. The university employed 16,145 Durham residents out of a total workforce of 22,000 in 1996-1997. Other effects include university purchases, services, donations, and student and visitor spending.

The seventeen-page report, "Durham and Duke," was the university's first study of its economic impact on its home community. It was conducted by Duke's public affairs office, with consultation from economists at Duke and North Carolina State University as well as government and outside data models.



TWO TIERS
FOR TUITION


uke has announced the lowest tuition increase in thirty-two years for continuing students in the two undergraduate colleges--along with an extra $800 annually for new arts and sciences students. The two-tiered tuition structure is modeled after similar programs adopted in 1988-89 and 1994-95 that sparked new investments in undergraduate education and faculty development.

Thirty percent of the funds from the new two-tiered tuition plan will be invested in financial aid. The balance of the monies generated will go to support an enhancement fund for five undergraduate education programs and faculty support that, according to university officials, will have an immediate impact on the quality of undergraduate education. The targeted areas are the freshman "Focus" programs, which integrate living and learning experiences; new "capstone" seminars for seniors; more opportunities for independent research; strengthened foreign-language courses; and a Center for Teaching, Learning, and Writing, which will add to and consolidate existing programs. With support from other sources, the plan will allow Duke to hire some thirty new faculty appointments in arts and sciences and engineering over the next five years.

Under the plan, approved at the board of trustees' February meeting, tuition for continuing students in Trinity College of Arts and Sciences in 1998-99 will go up 4 percent to $22,420; for new students, tuition will be $23,220, a 7.7 percent increase. Continuing and new students in the School of Engineering will see their tuition rise by 4 percent to $23,310.



ELEVATION
IN ATHLETICS


oe Alleva, Duke's associate athletics director since 1987, succeeded Tom Butters as director of athletics in March, concluding a four-month-long national search. The forty-four-year-old Alleva joined the athletics staff in 1980 and was named assistant athletics director in July 1986. As associate director, he has been responsible for fiscal and budgetary management in the department and over time, at Butters' direction, had assumed responsibility for many of the department's day-to-day operations. He was also assistant director of the Iron Dukes, the athletic scholarship fund-raising group that raises more than $4 million annually and endows 146 scholarships for Duke student-athletes.

Alleva was an All-America quarterback at Lehigh in 1974 and was the team captain in 1975, his senior year. He also lettered in baseball during his college career. He began working at Duke in 1976 in the office of the vice president and later as an administrator at Duke Hospital before joining the athletics department.

The search, which concluded in late February, was highly public, with sportscaster Dick Vitale, for example, calling Alleva the best choice in a national broadcast. Men's basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski had also made clear his support for Alleva. Along the way, a number of publicly-identified candidates removed themselves from consideration. The Chronicle, in a highly critical editorial, called the search process "sloppy and indecisive" and pointed to "a power struggle showing for everyone to see."

Alleva was one of four finalists brought to President Keohane by a search committee. In announcing the appointment, Keohane said of Alleva: "His accomplishments at Duke and the support he's received from people within the athletics department demonstrate the very high regard with which he is held by his colleagues, those who know him bestÉ. I am confident that under Joe's leadership we will continue the tradition of excellence and support for student-athletes, both on the fields and in the classrooms, that is a hallmark of Duke."

Butters, who had held the position for thirty-one years, said, "It has been a wonderful ride for me." None of the accomplishments during his tenure would have been possible "without the guidance and support of Joe there," he added.



WEED
STUDY


n what will be the National Institutes of Health's first large-scale test of a health-food store product, Duke has received a $4.3-million grant to study the herbal depression "remedy" St. John's wort.

The roadside weed St. John's wort, or Hypericum perforatum, grows prolifically and contains a combination of chemicals that reputedly offer therapeutic treatment for depression. St. John's wort has been widely used for centuries among practitioners of phytotherapy, or plant-based medicine, and is already an accepted remedy for depression in Europe, particularly in Germany, where 66 million doses of the herb were prescribed in 1994. American interest in the plant has skyrocketed in the past several years as word of its availability and cost-effectiveness spread. But, up until now, there have been no studies of long-term effects on diagnosed sufferers of depression who use the drug.

Winning the much sought-after contract will offer Duke Medical Center researchers a chance to demonstrate the strengths of the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, as well as the Clinical Research Institute, which has organized huge clinical trials around the world.

Physicians at Duke are coordinating with officials from as many as twelve other centers around the country to enroll 336 psychiatric outpatients with moderate depression. Patients will be divided into three groups--those receiving either doses of St. John's wort, a placebo, or a commonly prescribed drug for depression--and results following six months of therapy will be compared.

Researchers hope to answer questions about exactly how the plant's chemicals work on the brain. The plant's alkaloid extracts likely affect the action of at least two neurotransmitters--dopamine and GABA. Both are linked to depression or anxiety, but to what extent is unknown.



ROADSIDE
REMINDERS



o some, they are an eyesore. To others, they are a window to the past of our American landscape. All debate aside, a donated collection of one dozen historic billboards and hundreds of thousands of other outdoor advertisements has joined the university's Special Collections Library.

In October, a scale-model presentation of six of the billboards was displayed in the front lobby of Perkins Library on West Campus, "advertising" the new holdings, a gift from the Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA). The collection features subway placards, wartime posters, and bus displays, among other items. The materials, now located in Duke's John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising, and Marketing History, were previously housed at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Rutherford, New Jersey.



EX-SKINHEAD
SPEAKS



erhaps the most dramatic moment in a March campus speech came when ex-skinhead Tom Leyden displayed his tattoo-covered arm to his audienceĐevidence of the extent to which he was involved with the Hammer Skin Nation, an international racist skinhead movement. A year and a half ago, Leyden re-evaluated his beliefs, and he now speaks for the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human-rights organization.

Addressing a crowd of about 250 in the Griffith Film Theater, Leyden discussed his involvement in the movement and why he quit. In high school, he had become involved in the punk rock scene. It was at that point when he first began associating with racist skinheads. "White-power rock is the equivalent of gangster rap," he said. "Music is the most powerful weapon on the face of the planet."

After working his way up the hierarchy of the Hammer Skin Nation, witnessing and participating in many acts of violence, and spending so much time in county jail that the people knew him "on a first-name basis," Leyden began to rethink his racist ideology. Although a number of factors made him reconsider his beliefs, ultimately his children caused the turnaround. "For the first time, they held a mirror up to my face," Leyden said of his sons. "They would be ten times tougher, meaner, and more loyal because they would be second generation neo-Nazi skinheads."

Now, Leyden travels around the country with the Simon Wiesenthal Center, sharing his experiences. "The reason I talk," Leyden told his audience, "is because if I didn't, I would be just as much to blame."



COMPASSIONATE
MERGER


he boards of Triangle Hospice and Duke University Health System have entered final negotiations on a proposed merger that will enhance and expand the options for "end-of-life care" for terminally-ill patients.

The agreement will formalize a long-standing relationship between Triangle Hospice and the Duke Medical Center. During their nineteen-year affiliation, Duke has provided curative care to medically ill patients while Triangle Hospice has focused on pain management and quality-of-life issues.

"The merger will allow Triangle Hospice to serve a much broader range of patients by providing the stability and patient referral base of a large academic health system, while introducing hospice care as a critical component of managed health-care delivery," says Terry Fisher, president of the board of Triangle Hospice.

Under the terms of the proposed merger, Triangle Hospice will retain its name and its mission, with community program direction coming from a Triangle Hospice Community Advisory Committee. The committee will have significant representation from the current Triangle Hospice board of directors as well as from Duke and the community at large. The fifty-five-member Triangle Hospice staff will become employees of the Duke University Health System.



EXAMINING
ARTHRITIS


multidisciplinary team of Duke University Arthritis Center researchers will spend the next four years, with the support of a $4.3-million grant from the National Institutes of Health, piecing together possible answers to the puzzling disease rheumatoid arthritis.

As the nation's only Specialized Center of Research (SCOR) on rheumatoid arthritis, the Duke center will be taking a four-pronged approach to understanding the basic mechanisms that trigger joint destruction in the chronic inflammatory disease that affects more than one million Americans.

"The idea behind a center-based approach is to bring scientists and clinicians together to try to understand the key steps in the disease," says professor of immunology David Pisetsky, the primary investigator for the study and chief of rheumatology, allergy, and clinical immunology at Duke. "Each of the four projects under the grant has a physician and a basic researcher to try to use new techniques to address clinically relevant research. We want both to understand the disease process and to find new therapies for patients."

The first of the four projects will focus on the molecules that regulate trafficking of cells to the joints and the interaction between cells and joint tissue. The researchers will continue to explore the inflammatory role of CD44, a receptor found on T-cells in joint fluid. The second study will examine the relationship between rheumatoid arthritis and nitric oxide, which has been found in high levels in affected joints. The third study will target adhesion molecules, a group of proteins connected to the early stages of immune cell migration to joints. The final project will study the array of chemokines and chemokine receptors in the joints and their role in regulating cell activity.

The four studies involve researchers from rheumatology, immunology, hematology, orthopedics, and biomedical engineering, all focused on the critical steps in the activation and migration of immune cells to the joint, Pisetsky says. The current project builds on Duke research conducted under SCOR grants over the past ten years.



GIVING
HIGHLIGHTS


wo recent gifts are meant to make a campus impact in varying ways. Thanks to $1.5 million in contributions from the Glaxo Wellcome corporation and foundation, Duke Medical Center has established the Glaxo Wellcome Professorship of pharmacology and cancer biology. Anthony Means, chairman of the department, says the professorship gives the medical center an opportunity to recruit a pre-eminent senior scientist who applies modern techniques to the detection, prevention, or cure of cancer. The addition of "a leading cancer biologist" to the department, he says, "will speed our progress even more toward unraveling the mechanisms that underlie this hugely complex series of diseases."

Researchers in the department use basic concepts of biology and chemistry to determine how cells integrate signals received in response to drugs, growth-promoting or growth-inhibitory substances, from the molecular level to the whole animal. Their research brings an integrated perspective to an understanding of how molecules, cells, organ systems, and organisms function.

An individual with a long-standing connection to the medical center--who also admires the corporate stewardship of board of trustees chairman Randall L. Tobias--is behind another gift. Corporate newsletter publisher Evelyn Y. Davis and the Evelyn Y. Davis Foundation are giving Duke $100,000 to assist seniors who have expressed a career interest in business journalism.

The Evelyn Y. Davis Scholarship Endowment Fund will support up to five $1,000 scholarships each year for seniors who are in need of financial assistance, have demonstrated superior academic achievement, and are interested in a career in business or political journalism. "I think it is very important to do what you can to help people," says Davis, who lives in Washington, D.C. Tobias, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Eli Lilly and Company, says, "I am particularly pleased that [the gift] will go to help deserving students who hope to report on business and its role in society."

Davis' late father, Herman DeJong, taught at Duke Medical School. She edits and publishes Highlights and Lowlights, a Washington-based newsletter for corporate chief executive officers. She has been described by news media as a "corporate gadfly" who owns stock in 110 corporations and who attends dozens of stockholders' meetings annually.




IN BRIEF


  • The Samuel DuBois Cook Society was inaugurated in February to commemorate trustee emeritus Samuel DuBois Cook, who in 1966 joined Duke's political science faculty. He was the first African-American professor named to the faculty of a predominantly white university in the South. The society--open to students, faculty, and staff--recognizes new leaders on campus who are working toward the advancement of African Americans and improved race relations. Cook delivered the keynote address and presided over the founders' dinner inaugurating the society, which was named by President Keohane last year.

  • Robert E. Reinheimer and Wanda T. Wallace have been named associate deans for executive education at the Fuqua School of Business. The former managing directors for Fuqua's executive programs will share administrative responsibility for the school's open-enrollment and customized, company-specific executive programs.

  • Jean Spaulding M.D. '72, adjunct faculty member in the psychology department, has been appointed vice chancellor for health affairs. The Durham psychiatrist, well-known for her community involvement, will serve as a senior member of Duke Medical Center's leadership team recruiting and mentoring medical center faculty, students, and alumni, with a focus on under-represented minorities and women. Spaulding was the first African-American woman to attend Duke's medical school.

  • John Arnold Board B.S.E. '82, M.S. '82, associate professor of computer science and electrical and computer engineering, and Eric John Toone, associate professor of chemistry, have been named to the first two chairs in the Bass Program for Excellence in Undergraduate Education. The Bass Program is a $40-million initiative to endow faculty chairs and recognize faculty who are both gifted teachers and scholars. The program was created by a gift from Anne and Robert Bass.




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