Centennial Celebration Resources

Duke’s Centennial Celebration will begin in January 2024. Throughout 2024, the celebration will include a robust array of events, activities, and programs planned by faculty, staff, students, and alumni. Duke’s Centennial Celebration will culminate with Commencement in May 2025 – the 100th anniversary of the commencement of the first Duke University graduating class.

The Centennial is a perfect opportunity to recognize the people and milestones that have had a great impact on Duke University and will launch us into our second century.

Resources: For Internal Use Only

Centennial Task Force Recommendations

• The Centennial is an enormous opportunity for Duke to articulate its remarkable trajectory—unparalleled in the history of higher education in America. A joyful celebration will deepen understanding of Duke’s history, inspire pride in Duke’s astonishing first century, and lift up Duke’s unique identity and characteristics.
• At the same time, the celebration should be balanced with a forthright acknowledgment of challenges in Duke’s history and periods of discrimination and exclusion. This is an opportunity for candid reflection and meaningful reckoning.
• The focus should be on the people who have built the Duke community—including the famous as well as previously overlooked or under-examined legacies.
• There should be an effort to communicate Duke’s impact, discoveries, and leadership across the university—in research, teaching, clinical care, the arts, athletics, innovation, service, global connections, and more.
• Events should project and reflect Duke’s academic excellence and institutional aspirations to serve society and address local and global challenges.
• The approach to the Centennial must be creative and incorporate multimedia technology.
• The Centennial should acknowledge Duke University’s deep historic connection to The Duke Endowment and its enduring and transformational support of the university’s strategic priorities.
• Duke and Durham: Duke’s history is intertwined with Durham’s. We should emphasize that the people of Durham built Duke, highlight Duke’s investments in downtown Durham and imagine how Duke will engage in the Durham of the future.
• The Centennial should extend a compelling avenue for alumni, parents, and friends to engage more deeply with Duke.
• To create momentum for Duke’s next campaign, Duke will use its centennial as a pivotal moment to celebrate the accomplishments in its first century and paint a bold and inspiring vision for Duke’s impact on the world in its second century.