Sterly Wilder '83
Associate Vice President for Alumni Affairs
(919) 684-5114

Sterly Wilder ’83, of Durham, N.C., is the associate vice president for alumni affairs at Duke, where she oversees alumni engagement and programming and directs the Duke Office of Alumni Affairs. She also serves as secretary-treasurer of the Duke Alumni Association board of directors.

A lifelong Blue Devil, Sterly started her career with Duke’s Office of Alumni and Development Records shortly after earning her Duke degree. In 1985, she began working with the Duke Annual Fund, where she ran the phonathon program, the young alumni program, the 55th reunion gift drive, and the Parents' Fund before becoming director of the Annual Fund in 1991. In 2004, she was named executive director of alumni affairs and was promoted to associate vice president in 2009.

Duke is integral to Sterly's life, and she views her work as a way to give back to an institution that has done so much for her and her family. Her father, Pelham Wilder, was a professor of chemistry and pharmacology on Duke’s faculty for more than 50 years and served for more than two decades as university marshal. Sterly has carried on the family tradition, serving as assistant marshal.

Sterly is also an academic advisor for first-year and sophomore students, has served on the DukeTriangle alumni board, and volunteered as an alumni interviewer, as well as helping to organize the Class of 1983’s fifth, 10th, 15th, 20th, 25th and 30th reunions. She has also served as president of the Ronald McDonald House board of directors, the Durham Academy alumni board, the Durham Academy board of trustees and the board of the Council of Alumni Association Executives. She was actively involved with the Volunteer Center of Durham as a board member and volunteer and is a sustaining member of the Junior League of Durham and Orange Counties.