Duke's New Sanford School of Public Policy Receives $5.75 Million Gift

DURHAM, N.C., October 20, 2009 — A $5.75 million gift from Duke University trustee David Rubenstein allowed the Sanford School of Public Policy to meet a $40 million fundraising target in time for its inauguration as Duke’s 10th school, President Richard H. Brodhead announced Tuesday.

Rubenstein’s gift will strengthen three programs at the Sanford School. It will provide $3.5 million in endowment to support the school’s Program in Environmental and Energy Policy, $1.125 million to fund a distinguished speakers series, and $1.125 million to provide internship support for public policy master’s degree students. It also marks the completion of the first phase of an endowment initiative for the Sanford School, with a final goal of $65 million in new endowment.

“David Rubenstein has been the greatest single supporter of the Sanford School, and it’s right that he should be the one to put us across the goal line,” Brodhead said. “I am deeply grateful for his wisdom as a trustee and his leadership in this historic development. Duke’s newest school will be a source of trained intelligence on the major issues facing this country and the world.”

Added inaugural Sanford Dean Bruce Kuniholm, “Every problem has a policy dimension. As a school, we’ll be able to engage more deeply in the university’s commitment to bringing together experts from different fields to address the challenges facing our world. David Rubenstein has long recognized Sanford’s distinct role at Duke, and his gift in support of our faculty and students adds strength to the university.”

The Sanford Institute of Public Policy was ranked 10th among the nation’s schools of public policy in the most recent US News and World Report graduate school rankings. In addition, in the past two years, its faculty ranked first one year and second the other in research productivity among all U.S. public policy faculties, according to analyses published in the Chronicle of Higher Education.

“I have always had the greatest admiration for its faculty and students and look forward to seeing the Sanford School broaden its impact, on campus and in the world,” Rubenstein said. “I am proud to join the many other donors who have made it possible for the Sanford School to establish a global reputation for excellence in a very short time.”

A Baltimore native, Rubenstein is co-founder and managing director of The Carlyle Group, one of the world’s largest private equity firms. He graduated from Duke in 1970, serves as a Duke trustee, and is an emeritus member of Sanford’s Board of Visitors. The school’s Rubenstein Hall, which opened in 2005, was named in recognition of a $5 million gift to the project.

Rubenstein is an active civic leader and serves on numerous boards, including those of the Smithsonian Institution, Johns Hopkins University, the University of Chicago, the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Rubenstein and his wife, Alice Rogoff Rubenstein, have three children.