New Trustees Tapped

 



A noted civil-rights attorney, a leader in educational technology, a former professional basketball player, a health-care economist, the head of General Motors, a medical researcher, and a May graduate have been elected to Duke’s board of trustees.

Julius L. Chambers Hon. ’96; Kimberly Jenkins ’76, M.Ed. ’77, Ph.D. ’80; Gary Melchionni ’73, J.D. ’81; Uwe E. Reinhardt; G. Richard Wagoner Jr. ’75; Lewis T. “Rusty” Williams M.D./Ph.D. ’78; and Jordan Bazinsky ’01 began their first terms on the thirty-seven-member governing body July 1.

Five current board members were re-elected to six-year terms. They are Paula Phillips Burger ’67, A.M. ’74, vice provost at Johns Hopkins University; philanthropist Melinda French Gates ’86, M.B.A. ’87; Rebecca Trent Kirkland ’64, M.D. ’68, professor of pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine; Ernest Mario, chair and chief executive officer of Alza Corp.; and Charles M. Smith ’62, M.Div. ’65.

Five trustees retired with emeritus status: Samuel H. Barnes Ph.D. ’57, director of Georgetown University’s Center for German and European Studies; Paul Hardin ’52, J.D. ’54, chancellor emeritus and law professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Susan Bennett King ’62, former Steuben Glass president; Wilhelmina Reuben-Cooke ’67, law professor at Syracuse University; and A. Morris Williams Jr. ’62, M.A.T. ’67, president of Williams & Co. Also, Christopher Lam ’98 stepped down after his three-year term as Young Trustee, as did Gwynne A. Young ’71, past president of the Duke Alumni Association, who completed her two-year term as a representative of the alumni association.

Chambers is the past chancellor of North Carolina Central University and was a civil-rights attorney for a quarter century. He graduated from UNC Law School first in his class of 100 in 1962 and received a master’s of law degree from Columbia University in 1963. As an attorney in Charlotte, he helped successfully litigate landmark U.S. Supreme Court civil-rights cases, including the school-busing decision Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education in 1971. In 1992, he resigned as chief executive of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund to become chancellor of NCCU, from which he graduated in 1958. As its chief administrator, Chambers launched a major capital construction effort, still in progress, with substantial renovations to all student residence halls and most classroom facilities. He retired June 1.

Jenkins is president of the Internet Policy Institute and an advocate for innovative uses of technology in education. She began her high-tech career in 1983 at Microsoft as a software developer, where she is credited with convincing Bill Gates of the use of personal computers in education. After four years, she moved to Steve Jobs’ NeXT as director of market development. Before joining the Internet Policy Institute, a nonprofit research and educational institute studying Internet economic, social, and policy issues, she founded and chaired Highway 1, a nonprofit corporation helping government work more effectively with information technology. In 1999, Jenkins funded a professorship at Duke focusing on the effect of technology, particularly the Internet, on society. She has been a member of Duke’s Trinity College board of visitors and the Council on Women’s Studies and serves on the Campaign Steering Committee.

Melchionni is president of the Duke Alumni Association. As an undergraduate, he played basketball for the Blue Devils and was captain of the team for two years. He won All-ACC First Team honors in 1973. He went on to play for the Phoenix Suns in the National Basketball Association from 1973 to 1977. Melchionni is a member of the Stevens & Lee law firm, working in its Lancaster, Pennsylvania, office. He is a member of the Rotary Club of Lancaster and a volunteer coach and organizer for youth basketball programs in the area. During his term as DAA president, he will be a non-voting observer on the board, and he will be a voting member next year.

Reinhardt, James Madison Professor of Political Economy, teaches economics and public affairs at Princeton University, where he is a specialist on health-care policy. From 1985 to 1996, he served on a number of government committees and commissions, including three consecutive three-year terms on the Physician Payment Review Commission, established by Congress. In 1999, he was appointed to the National Advisory Council on Health-Care Policy, Research, and Evaluation. He is a member of the Council on the Economic Impact of Health Reform and the board of advisers of the National Institute of Health-Care Management. In 1997, he was appointed to the World Bank’s external advisory panel for Health, Nutrition, and Population. He has been a member of the board of the Duke University Health System since 1997.

Wagoner is president and chief executive officer of General Motors. He earned his M.B.A. from Harvard in 1977. He is a member of the board of visitors for Duke’s Fuqua School of Business and serves on the university’s Campaign Steering Committee. He joined GM in 1977 as an analyst in New York and then held a number of international positions. In 1988, he became director of strategic business planning for the former Chevrolet-Pontiac-GM of Canada Group and, within the year, finance vice president of General Motors Europe. In 1991, he was named president and managing director of General Motors of Brazil. He was promoted to chief financial officer of GM in 1992, and in April 1994 was given the additional role as head of worldwide purchasing. He was elected president, chief operating officer, and a member of GM’s board of directors in 1998 and took on the additional responsibilities of CEO in June 2000.

Williams is president of research and development and chief scientific officer of Chiron Corp. Before joining Chiron, he was a professor of medicine at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF), where he had been a faculty member since 1984. From 1993 to 1995, he was director of the Daiichi Research Center at UCSF and, from 1992 to 1994, he directed the university’s Cardiovascular Research Institute. He also served on the faculties of Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. In 1988, he co-founded COR Therapeutics. He has received numerous awards and honors, including the American Heart Association’s recent Basic Research Prize. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is also a member of the American Federation for Clinical Research, the American Society of Clinical Investigation, and the International Society of Heart Research.

Bazinsky is former president of Duke Student Government. As a “young trustee” for a three-year term, he will be a non-voting member the first year and a voting member the next two years. A native of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, he majored in public policy studies at Duke and helped found Durham Direction, a local volunteer organization. He was honored for his volunteer work with a William J. Griffith Award during his senior year. Bazinsky also was a volunteer in a communal orphan village in Kitesh, Russia, in May 2000. He plans to serve a one-year teaching position at Academia Cotopaxi in Quito, Ecuador, later in the fall.

Share your comments

Have an account?

Sign in to comment

No Account?

Email the editor