EduCo - Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James B. Duke established The Duke Endowment, at which time the institution changed its name to honor his deceased father, Washington Duke.
In its 2012 edition, U.S. News & World Report ranked the university's undergraduate program 10th among national universities, while ranking the medical, law, public affairs, nursing and business graduate programs all among the top 12 in the United States. In the 2011 QS World University Rankings, Duke ranked among the top 20 universites worldwide.
The university has "historical, formal, on-going, and symbolic ties" with the United Methodist Church, but is a nonsectarian and independent institution. Duke's research expenditures in the 2010 fiscal year topped $983 million, the fifth largest figure in the nation. Competing in the Atlantic Coast Conference, Duke's athletic teams¡Xknown as the Blue Devils¡Xhave captured twelve national championships, including four by its high profile men's basketball team.
The university's campus spans over 8,600 acres (35 km2) on three contiguous campuses in Durham as well as a marine lab in Beaufort. Duke's main campus¡Xdesigned largely by the prominent African American architect Julian Abele¡Xincorporates Gothic architecture with the 210-foot (64 m) Duke Chapel at the campus' epicenter and highest point of elevation. The forest environs surrounding parts of the campus belie the University's proximity to downtown Durham. Construction projects have updated both the freshmen-populated Georgian-style East Campus and the main Gothic-style West Campus, as well as the adjacent Medical Center over the past five years.
