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DURHAM, N.C. -- Enhancements to Duke University students'
undergraduate experience and support for a number of priority programs
and new facilities will be made possible by nearly $15 million in grant
awards from The Duke Endowment, university President Richard H.
Brodhead announced Wednesday.

Brodhead said The Duke Endowment's
latest gifts reflect a "unique partnership" between The Duke Endowment
and Duke University that has been crucial to the university's
development as one of the nation's leading teaching and research
universities.

"The Duke Endowment's generosity to the university
has been, and continues to be, remarkable," Brodhead said. "The
projects supported by The Duke Endowment all are strategic priorities
for the university and are of utmost importance to the excellence of
our programs -- particularly in our undergraduate curriculum -- in the
future."

The $14,990,000 total from the Charlotte, N.C.-based
charitable trust includes $4.25 million for undergraduate education
initiatives that build on previous programs to create a new
undergraduate model at Duke, one that is based on smaller classes and
one-on-one mentoring experiences. These initiatives will involve both
of Duke's undergraduate colleges -- Trinity College of Arts and
Sciences and the Pratt School of Engineering. Undergraduate programs
and other initiatives supported by The Duke Endowment include:

--
the expansion of FOCUS, a program that exposes first-year students to
cutting-edge ideas from across the humanities, sciences and social
sciences. FOCUS students work closely with distinguished faculty in
small classes built around a common theme, and have frequent contact
with their instructors and classmates outside the classroom.

--
an increase in the number of undergraduate students, particularly those
in the humanities and social sciences, who engage in summer research.

--
more opportunities for seniors to write honor theses, an experience
that teaches students to manage large-scale intellectual projects,
become experts about their subject matter and obtain intensive
experience in research, analysis and writing.

-- the expansion of
an existing program in the Pratt School of Engineering that will allow
all undergraduate engineering students to participate in a
team-oriented design project.

-- additional support for
certificate programs -- integrated, interdisciplinary courses of study
around a common theme that consist of at least six classes, including
entry courses and capstone courses in the senior year, with most
programs requiring a research experience or apprenticeship.

Other
awards from the Endowment include $4 million to support Perkins
Library, $2 million for the Duke Law School Library, $1.7 million in
support of Goodson Chapel at Duke Divinity School and $1.5 million to
support new priority initiatives identified by Brodhead. Brodhead
became Duke's ninth president in July 2004.

Duke Provost Peter
Lange, the university's senior academic officer, said the grant
"reinforces Duke's commitment to providing as fine an educational
program for undergraduates as any university in the country while
strengthening our divinity and law schools and helping to modernize our
world-class library."

Other university programs or initiatives
receiving funding include $515,000 for the Duke-Durham Neighborhood
Partnership, Duke's principal program for community collaborations with
12 Durham neighborhoods and seven public schools near its campus;
$500,000 for the Baldwin Scholars Program, a new undergraduate women's
leadership program; $325,000 for the Center for Genome Ethics, Law and
Policy; and $200,000 for "Durham: A Self Portrait," a documentary film
about Durham, its history and culture.

The Duke Endowment also is
providing support for a number of medical and health initiatives of the
Duke University Health System, including:

-- $563,900 for the development and implementation of measures to improve patient safety;

--
$266,344 to develop Community Pathways: Early Intervention for
Hospitalized Children and Improve Post-Discharge for High-Risk Infants
and Children;

-- $107,981 for a domestic violence/sexual assault hospital response program;

-- $150,000 to Duke University Health System to help establish an Institute for Prospective Health Care;

--
$59,982 to support expansion of a health clinic at The Community Family
Life and Recreation Center at Lyon Park, serving seven Southwest
Central Durham communities in the Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership;
and

-- $181,000 to support the establishment of a new medical
clinic serving the Walltown community, an historically African-American
community near Duke's East Campus, another Duke-Durham Neighborhood
Partnership community.

"This is an outstanding example of the
importance of partnerships," said Victor J. Dzau, M.D., Duke's
chancellor for health affairs. "The generosity of The Duke Endowment
has enabled Duke University Health System to collaborate with the
community to take critically needed health care services out into
convenience community settings. The goal of each partner in this
venture is to improve the quality of health for the citizens of Durham."
_ _ _ _

The
Duke Endowment, started in 1924 by industrialist, philanthropist and
Duke University founder James B. Duke, is one of the nation's largest
foundations. Duke Endowment officials announced in December that the
Endowment had passed the $2 billion mark in grants to its principal
beneficiaries in North and South Carolina: Duke, Davidson College,
Furman University and Johnson C. Smith University; nonprofit hospitals
and other health care institutions; rural United Methodist churches and
pastors; and not-for-profit children's homes and other programs that
support adoption or prevent child abuse and neglect.