This list of Duke University people includes alumni, faculty, presidents, and major philanthropists of

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

, which includes three undergraduate and ten graduate schools. The undergraduate schools include

Trinity College of Arts and Sciences Trinity College of Arts and Sciences is the undergraduate liberal arts college of Duke University. Founded in 1838, it is the original school of the university. Currently, Trinity is one of three undergraduate degree programs at Duke, the others ...

Pratt School of Engineering The Pratt School of Engineering is located at Duke University in the United States. The school's associated research, education, alumni and service-to-society efforts are collectively known as Duke Engineering. Research expenditures at Duke Engin ...

Sanford School of Public Policy The Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University is named after former Duke president and Governor of North Carolina Terry Sanford, who established the university's Institute for Policy Sciences and Public Affairs in 1971 as an interdiscipli ...

, and

Duke Kunshan University Duke Kunshan University (DKU) is a Wuhan University–Duke University joint venture, independently accredited university in Kunshan, Jiangsu, China. In 2018, Duke Kunshan University welcomed their first inaugural undergraduate class. Histo ...

. The university's graduate and professional schools include the

Graduate School Postgraduate or graduate education refers to Academic degree, academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by higher education, post-secondary students who have earned an Undergraduate education, un ...

, the

Nicholas School of the Environment The Nicholas School of the Environment is one of ten graduate and professional schools at Duke University and is headquartered on Duke’s main campus in Durham, N.C. A secondary coastal facility, Duke University Marine Laboratory, is maintained ...

, the

School of Medicine A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, or part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS, MB ...

, the

School of Nursing Nurse education consists of the theoretical and practical training provided to nurses with the purpose to prepare them for their duties as nursing care professionals. This education is provided to student nurses by experienced nurses and other med ...

, the

Fuqua School of Business The Fuqua School of Business (pronounced ) is the business school of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. It enrolls more than 1,300 students in degree-seeking programs. Duke Executive Education also offers non-degree business education and ...

, the

School of Law A law school (also known as a law centre or college of law) is an institution specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for becoming a lawyer within a given jurisdiction. Law degrees Argentina In Argentina, ...

, the

Divinity School A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...

, the

, and

. Famous alumni include

U.S. President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

;

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

an President

Ricardo Lagos Ricardo Froilán Lagos Escobar (; born 2 March 1938) is a Chilean lawyer, economist and social-democratic politician who served as president of Chile from 2000 to 2006. During the 1980s he was a well-known opponent of the Chilean military di ...

; former cabinet member and former

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

Elizabeth Dole Mary Elizabeth Alexander Hanford Dole (née Hanford; born July 29, 1936)Mary Ella Cathey Hanford, "Asbury and Hanford Families: Newly Discovered Genealogical Information" ''The Historical Trail'' 33 (1996), pp. 44–45, 49. is an American attorn ...

; philanthropist

Melinda French Gates Melinda French Gates (born Melinda Ann French; August 15, 1964) is an American philanthropist and former multimedia product developer and manager at Microsoft. French Gates has consistently been ranked as one of the world's most powerful women ...

; the chief executive officers of

Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...

(

Tim Cook Timothy Donald Cook (born November 1, 1960) is an American business executive who has been the chief executive officer of Apple Inc. since 2011. Cook previously served as the company's chief operating officer under its co-founder Steve Jobs. ...

Procter and Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational Final good, consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, founded in 1837 by William Procter (industrialist), William Procter and James Gamble (industr ...

( David S. Taylor),

Bear Stearns The Bear Stearns Companies, Inc. was a New York-based global investment bank, securities trading and brokerage firm that failed in 2008 as part of the global financial crisis and recession, and was subsequently sold to JPMorgan Chase. The compa ...

(

Alan Schwartz Alan David Schwartz is an American businessman and is the executive chairman of Guggenheim Partners, an investment banking firm based in Chicago and New York. He was previously the last president and chief executive officer of Bear Stearns when ...

Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment management and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in more than 41 countries and more than 75,000 employees, the fir ...

(

John J. Mack John J. Mack (born November 17, 1944) is a senior advisor to the Investment company, investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and the former CEO and chairman of the board at Morgan Stanley, the New York City, New York-based investment bank and brok ...

Pfizer Pfizer Inc. ( ) is an American multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation headquartered on 42nd Street in Manhattan, New York City. The company was established in 1849 in New York by two German entrepreneurs, Charles Pfizer ...

( Edmund T. Pratt, Jr.),

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...

(

Chris Kempczinski Christopher John Kempczinski (born 1968) is an American business executive, and the president and chief executive officer (CEO) of McDonald's Corporation. Early life Christopher John Kempczinski was born in Boston, and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio ...

) and

General Motors Corporation The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...

(

Rick Wagoner George Richard "Rick" Wagoner Jr. (born February 9, 1953) is an American businessman and former chair and chief executive officer of General Motors. Wagoner resigned as chairman and CEO at General Motors on March 29, 2009, at the request of the W ...

); and the first

United States Chief Performance Officer Chief Performance Officer of the United States (CPO) is a position in the Office of Management and Budget (within the Executive Office of the President of the United States), first announced on January 7, 2009, by then President-elect Barack Obam ...

Jeffrey Zients Jeffrey Dunston Zients (born November 12, 1966) is an American business executive and government official who served as Counselor to the President and the White House COVID-19 Response Team, White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator from Janu ...

. Notable alumni media personalities include

Dan Abrams Daniel Abrams (born May 20, 1966) is an American media entrepreneur, television host, legal commentator, and author. He is currently the host of the prime-time show ''Dan Abrams Live'' on NewsNation, ''On Patrol: Live'' on Reelz and ''The Dan Ab ...

, the former general manager of

MSNBC MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and political ...

;

Jay Bilas Jay Scot Bilas (born December 24, 1963) is an American college basketball analyst who currently works for ESPN. Bilas is a former professional basketball player and coach who played for and served as an assistant under Mike Krzyzewski at Duke Uni ...

, a commentator on

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

; Sean McManus, the president of

CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs '' CBS News Sunday Morning'', '' 60 Minutes'', and '' 48 H ...

and

CBS Sports CBS Sports is the sports division of the American television network CBS. Its headquarters are in the CBS Building on W 52nd Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, with programs produced out of Studio 43 at the CBS Broadcast Center on W 5 ...

;

Charlie Rose Charles Peete Rose Jr. (born January 5, 1942) is an American former television journalist and talk show host. From 1991 to 2017, he was the host and executive producer of the talk show '' Charlie Rose'' on PBS and Bloomberg LP. Rose also co-an ...

, the former host of '' his eponymous PBS talk show'' and a ''

60 Minutes ''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who chose to set it apart from other news programs by using a unique styl ...

'' contributor; and

Judy Woodruff Judy Carline Woodruff (born November 20, 1946) is an American broadcast journalist who has worked in network, cable, and public television news since 1976. She is the anchor and managing editor of ''PBS NewsHour''. Woodruff has covered every presi ...

, an anchor at

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...

William DeVries William Castle DeVries (born December 19, 1943) is an American cardiothoracic surgeon, mainly known for the first transplant of a TAH (total artificial heart) using the Jarvik-7 model. Early years and Medical School William DeVries was born ...

(GME 1971–79) was the first doctor to perform a successful permanent artificial heart implantation, and appeared on the cover of ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' in 1984. Current notable faculty include Manny Azenberg, a Broadway producer whose productions have won 40

Tony Awards The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual cer ...

;

Adrian Bejan Adrian Bejan is an American professor who has made contributions to modern thermodynamics and developed his constructal law. He is J. A. Jones Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Duke University and author of the books Design i ...

, namesake of the

Bejan number There are two different Bejan numbers (Be) used in the scientific domains of thermodynamics and fluid mechanics. Bejan numbers are named after Adrian Bejan. Thermodynamics In the field of thermodynamics the Bejan number is the ratio of heat transfe ...

; and David Brooks, a columnist for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''.

Walter E. Dellinger III Walter Estes Dellinger III (May 15, 1941 – February 16, 2022) was an American attorney and legal scholar who served as the Douglas B. Maggs Professor of Law at Duke University School of Law. He also led the appellate practice at O'Melveny & My ...

, formerly the

United States Solicitor General The solicitor general of the United States is the fourth-highest-ranking official in the United States Department of Justice. Elizabeth Prelogar has been serving in the role since October 28, 2021. The United States solicitor general represent ...

Assistant Attorney General Many of the divisions and offices of the United States Department of Justice are headed by an assistant attorney general. The president of the United States appoints individuals to the position of assistant attorney general with the advice and ...

, and head of the

Office of Legal Counsel The Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) is an office in the United States Department of Justice that assists the Attorney General's position as legal adviser to the President and all executive branch agencies. It drafts legal opinions of the Attorney ...

under

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

, serves as a law professor. Novelist and playwright

Ariel Dorfman Vladimiro Ariel Dorfman (born May 6, 1942) is an Argentine-Chilean-American novelist, playwright, essayist, academic, and human rights activist. A citizen of the United States since 2004, he has been a professor of literature and Latin American ...

won the 1992

Laurence Olivier Award The Laurence Olivier Awards, or simply the Olivier Awards, are presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognise excellence in professional theatre in London at an annual ceremony in the capital. The awards were originally known as ...

, while Peter Feaver was a member of the

National Security Council A national security council (NSC) is usually an executive branch governmental body responsible for coordinating policy on national security issues and advising chief executives on matters related to national security. An NSC is often headed by a na ...

under Clinton and

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

David Gergen David Richmond Gergen (born May 9, 1942) is an American political commentator and former presidential adviser who served during the administrations of Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton. He is currently a senior political ...

served as an advisor to Presidents

Gerald Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. ( ; born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected ...

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

, and

John Hope Franklin John Hope Franklin (January 2, 1915 – March 25, 2009) was an American historian of the United States and former president of Phi Beta Kappa, the Organization of American Historians, the American Historical Association, and the Southern Histo ...

was awarded the

Presidential Medal of Freedom The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award of the United States, along with the Congressional Gold Medal. It is an award bestowed by the president of the United States to recognize people who have made "an especially merito ...

by Bill Clinton, while

William Raspberry William Raspberry (October 12, 1935 – July 17, 2012) was an American syndicated public affairs columnist. He was also the Knight Professor of the Practice of Communications and Journalism at the Sanford Institute of Public Policy at Duke Uni ...

, a syndicated columnist for ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', won the

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...

in 1994. 15

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

winners have been associated with the university. Statue of James B Duke

International academic prizes

Nobel laureates

As of 2019, 15 Nobel laureates have been affiliated with Duke University. The following list includes only those who have graduated from Duke or spent at least one year as a

postdoctoral researcher A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). The ultimate goal of a postdoctoral research position is to p ...

medical resident Residency or postgraduate training is specifically a stage of graduate medical education. It refers to a qualified physician (one who holds the degree of MD, DO, MBBS, MBChB), veterinarian ( DVM or VMD) , dentist ( DDS or DMD) or podiatrist ( ...

visiting professor In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic for which the visitor ...

or two years as a faculty member at Duke.

Turing Award laureates

In the absence of a Nobel Prize in

Computer science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...

, the

Turing Award The ACM A. M. Turing Award is an annual prize given by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) for contributions of lasting and major technical importance to computer science. It is generally recognized as the highest distinction in compu ...

generally is recognized as the highest honor in the subject and the "Nobel Prize of computing". As of 2015, 3 Turing Award laureates have been affiliated with Duke University. *

Frederick P. Brooks Frederick Phillips Brooks Jr. (April 19, 1931 – November 17, 2022) was an American computer architect, software engineer, and computer scientist, best known for managing the development of IBM's System/360 family of computers and the ...

(A.B. 1953), software engineer and computer scientist, known for managing the development of IBM's

System/360 The IBM System/360 (S/360) is a family of mainframe computer systems that was announced by IBM on April 7, 1964, and delivered between 1965 and 1978. It was the first family of computers designed to cover both commercial and scientific applica ...

family of computers;

National Medal of Technology and Innovation The National Medal of Technology and Innovation (formerly the National Medal of Technology) is an honor granted by the President of the United States to American inventors and innovators who have made significant contributions to the development ...

laureate in 1985,

IEEE John von Neumann Medal The IEEE John von Neumann Medal was established by the IEEE Board of Directors in 1990 and may be presented annually "for outstanding achievements in computer-related science and technology." The achievements may be theoretical, technological, or ...

laureate in 1993 and

laureate in 1999 *

Edmund M. Clarke Edmund Melson Clarke, Jr. (July 27, 1945 – December 22, 2020) was an American computer scientist and academic noted for developing model checking, a method for formally verifying hardware and software designs. He was the FORE Systems Professor ...

(M.A. 1968; faculty, 1976 to 1978), computer scientist; academic; developed

model checking In computer science, model checking or property checking is a method for checking whether a finite-state model of a system meets a given specification (also known as correctness). This is typically associated with hardware or software systems ...

; Turing Award laureate in 2007 * John Cocke (B.S. 1945, Ph.D. 1956), considered the father of the

RISC In computer engineering, a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) is a computer designed to simplify the individual instructions given to the computer to accomplish tasks. Compared to the instructions given to a complex instruction set comput ...

computer architecture, Turing Award laureate in 1987,

laureate in 1991 and

National Medal of Science The National Medal of Science is an honor bestowed by the President of the United States to individuals in science and engineering who have made important contributions to the advancement of knowledge in the fields of behavioral and social scienc ...

in 1994

Alumni

Government, law, and public policy

:''Note: individuals who belong in multiple sections appear in the most relevant section.''

Heads of state

(Ph.D. 1966), former

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

(J.D. 1937), 37th

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...

Cabinet members and White House staff

Members of Congress

=U.S. senators

=U.S. representatives

Governors

Diplomats

Military

Law

=Judges

=Attorneys

Public policy

Mayors

State officials

Foreign officials

Foreign royalty

* Hashim bin Al Hussein (X), Prince of

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

* Al-Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani (B.A. 2005), 14th child of Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the current

Emir of Qatar The Emir, or Amir, of the State of Qatar ( ar, أمیر دولة قطر) is the monarch and head of state of the country. He is also the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces and guarantor of the Constitution. He holds the most powerful positio ...

Prince Charles-Henri de Lobkowicz Prince Marie Charles-Henri Hugues Xavier Benoît Michel Edouard Joseph Balthazar de Lobkowicz (born 17 May 1964) is a French nobleman and member of the House of Lobkowicz. Early life Prince Charles-Henri is the third child of four siblings, son ...

(B.A.), third son of

Prince Edouard de Lobkowicz Prince Edouard de Lobkowicz (12 June 1926 – 2 April 2010) was an Austrian-American diplomat and investment banker. A member of the House of Lobkowicz, he served as the ambassador of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta to Lebanon. Early life ...

and

Princess Marie-Françoise of Bourbon-Parma Princess is a regal rank and the feminine equivalent of prince (from Latin ''princeps'', meaning principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for the consort of a prince, or for the daughter of a king or prince. Princess as a subst ...

Other

Business

Education

University presidents and administrators

Professors and academics

History

* William Baskerville Hamilton

Medicine, science and technology

Literature

Fine arts

Entertainment

Journalism and media

Athletics

American football

Baseball

Basketball

Golf

Other

Fictional

Faculty

Current

Former

Men's basketball head coaches

Football head coaches

Duke University presidents

Major philanthropists

''Donors who have contributed at least $20 million to the university or founding donors:''

References

External links

Duke University
{{Duke University

People A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of pr ...

Duke University people Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are rank ...