Major Gift Donors

In 1999, Edmund T. Pratt Jr. '47 gave $35 million to endow Duke's School of Engineering.

At the time, it was the second-largest gift in Duke's history.

"What better thing to do with the resources one has than to help a great university to become even greater," said Pratt, the former chief executive of Pfizer Inc.

Pratt first arrived on the Duke campus as a 17-year-old naval officer trainee. He began his career at IBM Corp. He served in the Kennedy Administration as an assistant secretary of the Army. He joined Pfizer in 1964, became its president in 1971 and its chairman and CEO in 1972.

Pfizer established the Pfizer Inc.-Edmund T. Pratt, Jr. University Professorship upon his retirement. In 1997, the university named the Jinny and Ed Pratt Commons at the Levine Science Research Center, following their $1 million gift. That space is the home of the Duke Engineering Design Pod.

In 1999, Duke's School of Engineering was renamed in his honor.

Pratt died on Sept. 5, 2002, at age 75.

Michael J. E'70 and Patricia W. Fitzpatrick W'69 gave $25 million in 2000 to establish an innovative center for advanced photonics and communications.

The Fitzpatrick Center and the Fitzpatrick Institute for Photonics are named in their honor.

Michael received a bachelor's degree in engineering from Duke in 1970. Patty graduated from Duke's Women's College in 1969.

Michael Fitzpatrick is the former chairman, chief executive officer, and president of E-TEK Dynamics Inc., a leading manufacturer of fiber optic components, instruments and systems for the telecommunications and cable television industries.

Patty Fitzpatrick is president of the Fitzpatrick Foundation, which supports programs for economically disadvantaged Northern California youth.

A four-decade-long relationship with leaders of the LORD Corporation led to the historic distribution of $261 million to Duke in 2019.

The LORD distribution, designated for the university's endowment to provide a permanent source of support, was the largest single outside contribution to the fund since the founding of the university in 1924.

The income from that endowment is allocated to these strategic priorities:

• Financial aid for Duke undergraduate students
• Support for science and technology programs and initiatives at the Pratt School of Engineering

In 2020, in recognition of their long-term contributions, the Duke's Board of Trustees named:

• Duke's Department of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science (a first at Duke) for the late LORD Corporation chair Thomas Lord
• The department's chair for the late LORD Corporation president and former member of the Duke Engineering Board of Visitors, Donald M. Alstadt

Julian Francis Abele Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science

Held by Kenneth C. Hall

Named for the first major African-American architect in the United States—and chief designer and draftsman of many Duke buildings, including Duke Chapel. In 1904, Abele was the first African-American to graduate from the Pennsylvania School of Fine Arts and Architecture.

He joined the firm of Horace Trumbauer, which sent him to Paris to study at L'Ecole des Beaux-Arts. By 1909, he was Trumbauer's chief designer. Along with many houses for New York and Philadephia elite, Abele is credited with the design of Harvard's Widener Library and Philadelphia's Free Library and Museum of Art. 

Abele died in Philadelphia in 1950 at age 68.

William Bevan Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science

Held by Tony Jun Huang

Named for the cognitive psychologist and former Duke provost. William Bevan spent his career researching how people perceive the world and pursuing ways to translate those insights into improvements in teaching, learning, mental health care, and public policy.

He was the founder of Duke’s Talent Identification Program (TIP), which has the mission of identifying, challenging and inspiring intellectually gifted children.

Bevan died on February 19, 2007, at age 84.

John Cocke Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Held by Krishnendu Chakrabarty

Named for the American computer scientist considered by many to be the father of RISC architecture. John Cocke attended Duke, where he received his bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering in 1946 and his Ph.D. in mathematics in 1953. Cocke spent his entire career as an industrial researcher for IBM.

Perhaps the project where his innovations were most noted was the IBM 801 minicomputer. He realized that matching the design of the architecture's instruction set to the relatively simple instructions emitted by compilers allowed high performance at a low cost. Cocke won the ACM Turing Award in 1987, the National Medal of Technology in 1991 and the National Medal of Science in 1994.

He died on July 16, 2002, at age 77.

William Holland Hall Professor of Mechanical Engineering

Held by Earl H. Dowell

Named for the first dean of the College of Engineering at Duke. William Holland Hall was an early champion of engineering education at Trinity College (later renamed Duke University). He joined the Department of Engineering faculty in 1914 and became dean in 1939.

During his early tenure, he comprised the entire engineering department staff. With perseverance and dedication, Hall consistently championed the merits of engineering education, resulting in the formation of the Division of Engineering in 1937 and the College of Engineering in 1939. Dean Hall led the college through a period of sustained growth after World War II and continued to do so until his retirement in 1954.

He died on August 18, 1977, at age 92.

James L. Meriam Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering

Held by Lawrence Carin

James L. Meriam was dean of engineering at Duke from 1963 to 1969, when many positive changes occurred, including the elevation to the School of Engineering and the graduation of the school's first African-American students. The Division of Biomedical Engineering was established in 1967, and in 1971 it became the first biomedical engineering department at a university in the United States.

Meriam was well known for his long association with the Mechanics Division of ASEE. He was a past division chair and recipient of the Division Outstanding Educator Award. In 1992, ASEE bestowed upon him the Benjamin Garver Lamme Award. Meriam received his three degrees from Yale University, served in the Coast Guard during World War II, and had early industrial experience with both Pratt & Whitney Aircraft and General Electric. Recognition of his superb teaching abilities followed him wherever he went. He began his Engineering Mechanics textbook series in 1950.

The Statics and Dynamics texts reconstructed undergraduate mechanics and became the definitive textbooks in the field for the next five decades, and several are in use today. In addition to American versions, the books have appeared in SI versions and have been translated into several foreign languages. In addition to his professional accomplishments, Meriam will long be remembered for his friendliness, gentlemanly demeanor, mature judgment and leadership, generosity, and absolute commitment to high educational standards.

He died on July 18, 2000.

Theo Pilkington Professor of Biomedical Engineering

Held by Kathy Nightingale

Named for the founder of Duke's Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME). Theo Pilkington received his engineering doctorate from Duke and used computers and mathematics to study the heart's electrical activity. By the end of the 1960s, he was heading a biomedical engineering program in Duke's electrical engineering department.

Then in 1971, biomedical engineering became its own department, with Pilkington as its first chairman. Pilkington went on to found and lead another pioneering Duke-based program: the Engineering Research Center for Emerging Cardiovascular Technologies, funded by the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health and industrial affiliates.

He died in 1993 at age 57.

Robert Plonsey Professor of Biomedical Engineering

Held by Gregg E. Trahey

Named for an important early leader in the emerging field of biomedical engineering. Robert Plonsey served as president of two of the field's most important societies: the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS) and the Biomedical Engineering Society.

Plonsey joined the Duke biomedical engineering faculty in 1983. At Duke, he and his collaborators were among the first to apply the bidomain model to study the propagation of electrical impulses in the heart and proposed the sawtooth mechanism of defibrillation. After his retirement in 1996 as the Pfizer Inc./Edmund T. Pratt Jr. University Professor Emeritus of Biomedical Engineering, he continued to be available to faculty and students.

In 2004, he received a distinguished service award from the BME Society and the prestigious Ragnar Granit Prize for his contributions to promoting bioelectromagnetism and biomedical engineering at an international level. He was a fellow of AAAS and a member of the National Academy of Engineering. He received a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1956.

He died on March 14, 2015, at the age of 90. Read a remembrance of Bob Plonsey »

Aleksandar S. Vesic Professor of Civil Engineering

Held by Michael Rubinstein

Aleksandar Vesic was a professor of civil engineering at Duke before serving as dean of the College of Engineering, 1974-1982.

To honor his efforts in expanding the engineering college, Duke named the Vesic Library for Engineering, Mathematics and Physics.

He died on May 3, 1982, at age 57.

• Anonymous Scholar
• William M. Boyer Scholar
• Jack B. and Mallary M. Chaddock Fellow
• William G. Gardner Family Scholar
• E. Michelle Gipson & Randall L. Corn Scholar
• Coy M. Glass Fellow
• Al & Jeannette Gore Scholar
• Quincy & Ina Hocutt Scholar
• Ellen E. Mack Scholar
• Capers and Marion McDonald Scholar
• Stephen M. & Tracy A. Nickelsburg Scholar
• Elizabeth N. and George S. Plattenburg, Jr. Scholar
• Ernest D. & Gloria H. Taylor Scholar
• Trutna Family Scholar
• Eric V.  & Carolyn J. Witt Scholar
• Frederick P. & Thalia H. Witt Scholar

• John T. Chambers Engineering Fellow
• Sam Y. & Rose S. Feng Fellow
• Michael J. and Patricia W. Fitzpatrick Fellow
• Garda Graduate Engineering Fellow
• W.H. Gardner, Jr. Society of Engineering Fellows
• Kristina M. Johnson Fellow
• Ram and Nalini Krishnan Fellow
• Michael Rhodes Fellows
• Teinlie "Danny" & Victoria H. Tai Fellow
• Thurstone Medical Imaging Fellow
• Wilkinson Family Fellow

The James B. Duke Society recognizes individuals who have followed the example and generosity of Duke University's founder, James B. Duke, by providing cumulative gifts exceeding $100,000.

Duke University, to acknowledge membership in the society, commissioned Tiffany & Co. to create a limited edition porcelain box inspired by the original architect's drawings of the West Campus Union and dormitory buildings. Each member receives one of these boxes and is invited to Duke's annual gala donor recognition weekend.

Each member's name is permanently inscribed at a prominent campus location. The Wall of Recognition in the atrium of the Fitzpatrick Center permanently records the names of Duke Engineering members of the society.

The Founders Society, active from 1980 to 2004, honors those who made gifts of $25,000 or more.

Members received bronze replicas of The Sower—which symbolizes the farsighted individual who sows seeds today for harvest tomorrow.

The Wall of Recognition in the atrium of the Fitzpatrick Center lists the names of society members.