Garden Gateway project now complete
A $30 million Garden Gateway project at Sarah P. Duke Gardens opened on April 8. The Garden Gateway was designed to create a safer, more accessible entrance to the Gardens, and includes a new welcome center with a cafe, gallery, upgraded restroom amenities and outdoor gathering space that will deepen visitor engagement. It also features expanded green spaces for events and expanded classroom and learning areas that will strengthen university and community education and partnerships as well as renovated event facilities in the Doris Duke Center that will increase capacity for rentals, events and weddings and support the long-term financial stability of the Gardens. The project was funded by private contributions, including lead gifts from The Duke Endowment.
5 new trustees join board
Five new members joined the Duke University Board of Trustees on July 1. They are Janine Brown, Chris Kempczinski, Scott Raney, Belton Moore and Kaitlyn Williams. Brown, Kempczinski and Raney will serve six-year terms. Moore and Williams will serve two-year terms, serving their first year as observers.
Brown J.D.’86 serves as partner-in-charge of the Atlanta office of Alston & Bird, a global law firm. She earned a J.D., with high honors, from Duke University School of Law and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan.
Kempczinski ’91 is chair and chief executive officer of McDonald’s Corp., a global restaurant company with almost 50,000 locations generating about $150 billion in sales. He earned undergraduate degrees in public policy studies and economics at Duke. He also received a master of business administration from Harvard Business School.
Raney B.S.E.E.’91 is a managing director at Redpoint Ventures, where he partners with founders building leading technology companies. He earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the Pratt School of Engineering. He also holds a master of business administration from Harvard Business School.
Moore M.B.A.’26, M.P.P.’26 was nominated by the Graduate and Professional Young Trustee Nominating Committee. He graduated from Duke in May with a master of business administration and master of public policy. He grew up on a family farm in Robeson County, North Carolina, and is an enrolled citizen of the Lumbee Tribe. He will join Boston Consulting Group as a management consultant this fall.
Williams ’26 was nominated by the Undergraduate Young Trustee Nominating Committee. She graduated from Duke in May with a program II major in inequality in education and completed a senior thesis examining the experiences of first-generation, low-income students. This fall, Williams will pursue a master’s in education at Harvard.
Duke University Heath System welcomes new CEO
Dr. David Zaas, M.D., M.B.A., a seasoned academic health care executive and physician scientist with a long history in Durham, started his new role as chief executive officer of Duke University Health System on May 1. Zaas returns to Duke after serving as president and CEO of Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist and spending nearly 20 years in various leadership roles within Duke Health. Zaas also previously served as president of Duke Raleigh Hospital from 2014 to 2020, as well as chief medical officer for the Duke Private Diagnostic Clinic. He succeeded Dr. Craig Albanese, who stepped down from the role in the fall of 2025. As CEO, Zaas is tasked with operational oversight of the entire system as it expands clinical services across North Carolina, reporting directly to the DUHS Board of Directors and University President Vincent E. Price.
DeShazo named new Sanford School dean
JR DeShazo was named the Joel L. Fleishman Dean of Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy. He started in this role on July 1. DeShazo came to Duke from the University of Texas at Austin, where he served as dean of the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs since 2021. A distinguished scholar and public policy expert, DeShazo specializes in clean technology policy, environmental equity and environmental economics. He was previously an adviser to the World Bank and the United Nations, as well as U.S. federal agencies such as the National Science Foundation and the Environmental Protection Agency.
DeShazo (pronounced de-SHAY-zo) is the first to hold Sanford’s endowed deanship honoring the school’s founding director. He succeeded Judith Kelley, who stepped down and returned to the faculty at the end of the 2023-24 academic year.
Mohanan is new vice provost for interdisciplinary programs
Manoj Mohanan has been appointed Duke’s vice provost for interdisciplinary programs. In this role, he will advance interdisciplinary research, teaching and external engagement across Duke, with strategic oversight of the university’s 11 institutes, initiatives and centers, including Bass Connections. Mohanan is the Creed C. Black Professor of Public Policy, and previously served as interim dean of the Sanford School of Public Policy. He holds faculty appointments in economics and global health.
Two Duke faculty elected to the National Academy of Sciences
Professors Robert Calderbank and Amy Gladfelter were named to the ranks of the National Academy of Science, joining the latest elected class of 120 members and 25 international members “in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.”
Calderbank is the Charles S. Sydnor Distinguished Professor of Computer Science and professor of mathematics at Trinity College of Arts & Sciences. He is also a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Pratt School of Engineering, an associate of the Duke Initiative for Science & Society, and a member of the Duke Quantum Center. An information technology pioneer, Calderbank has made important contributions to communications technology. He developed voiceband modem technology used in more than a billion devices worldwide. He also developed signal coding for wireless standards incorporated into 3G, 4G, and 5G, and theoretical frameworks for quantum computation.
Gladfelter is the Duke Health Distinguished Professor of Cell Biology and Biomedical Engineering and professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Duke University School of Medicine. She is also professor of biomedical engineering at Pratt School of Engineering and a member of the Duke Cancer Institute. Gladfelter uses a cross-disciplinary approach to investigate how cells that have multiple nuclei organize and function. These kinds of multi-nucleated cells are important components of human muscles and the placenta, as well as in some cancers and in fungi.
Siang receives Ellis Island Medal of Honor
Sanyin Siang B.S.M.E.’96, M.B.A.’02, the executive director of the Fuqua/Coach K Center on Leadership and Ethics and a member of the Pratt School of Engineering faculty, received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor at gala ceremonies held in New York City. The award honors the contributions of immigrants and their descendants. Siang came to the U.S. when she was 7 from Taiwan. Recipients of the award are recorded in the Congressional Record.
Trinity computer scientists win $100K grant
A team of Trinity researchers received an honorable mention and a $100,000 grant from the Laude Institute Moonshots competition to develop an AI-powered system for improving civic discourse on social media. The team is led by Jun Yang and includes fellow Duke computer scientists Bhuwan Dhingra, Brandon Fain and Cynthia Rudin, sociologist Christopher Bail, and statistical scientist Alexander Volfovsky. The Laude Institute backs computer science researchers turning research into real-world impact through grants and hands-on support.