Gift Impact.

Donor Stories

Tim and Mary Frances Jeffries

Tim and Mary Frances Jeffries

Donor Stories

Tim and Mary Frances Jeffries

Faith communities are an important part of life at Duke, so Tim M.B.A.’03 and Mary Frances P’19 Jeffries invested $250,000 to ensure that the Duke Catholic Center (DCC) has the resources to support any student who walks through its doors. Their $100,000 gift established the Jeffries Family Endowment and a $100,000 bequest will ensure its future strength. An additional $50,000 provided unrestricted operating funds for the DCC’s present-day needs. It is important to the family that the necessary staff and facilities are in place to support weekly services, dinners, retreats, and interfaith activities, as well as occasional visitors in need of a priest or other assistance.

“It is with thanksgiving, joy, and love that we invest in the Duke Catholic Center and their transcendent work. It is with humility and gratitude that we honor the Duke family’s saintly commitment to the eternal link between faith and reason, and scholastic efforts that advance the common good.”

CoraLynn Harward Marshall

CoraLynn Harward Marshall

Donor Stories

CoraLynn Harward Marshall

CoraLynn Harward Marshall ’46, J.D.’78 felt perfectly happy with her career as a CPA in Durham when her close friend, Duke Law School Dean A. Kenneth Pye, encouraged her to apply to his school. She had an empty nest, and she had just turned 50. Marshall decided to take on her friend’s challenge, and she eventually worked as an attorney for more than 20 years before retiring.

From her undergraduate days at Duke to this day, Marshall has supported Duke as a volunteer, parent, and donor. Her husband, Stephen Harward, served as University Treasurer, and one of her sons and two of her grandsons attended Duke. Marshall’s rich 72-year relationship with the university inspired a $1.5 million bequest: $1 million will establish the Stephen and CoraLynn Harward Scholarship Fund at the law school, while $500,000 will supplement the existing Thurman Lando & Carol Strong Young Endowment for the Duke Marine Lab in memory of her parents.

Danny and Nancy Katz

Danny and Nancy Katz

Donor Stories

Danny and Nancy Katz

When their daughter Liza graduated from Duke last spring, Danny ’80 and Nancy Katz P’15 saw an opportunity. Liza’s experience showed them that there was room to enhance leadership training for women at the university, so they committed $750,000 in operating funds for the Kenan Institute for Ethics and to endow the Katz Family Women, Ethics, and Leadership Fund for a new program at the institute. (A portion of their gift also supported Duke Gardens and Athletics.)

The Katz family’s new fund leverages the existing structure of the Fuqua/Coach K Center on Leadership and Ethics to bring in prominent female leaders for talks and residencies. This places undergraduate women in close contact with role models and creates professional school programming for undergrads.

“The goal of this program is to enable Duke students to gain further awareness and understanding of what is required to rise above traditional stereotypes. Kenan attracted our attention and enthusiasm because it is integrally involved with topics that are not covered in typical coursework. The result of this moral emphasis allows students to be more compassionate and understanding, which in our opinion is a very worthy cause.”

Elizabeth Harden and Richard Hoefer

Elizabeth Harden and Richard Hoefer

Donor Stories

Elizabeth Harden and Richard Hoefer

Elizabeth Harden M.D.’78, HS’84 says her Duke medical education and training influence her every day.

“The Duke colleagues I met and continue to work with and the excellence demanded of us made me the doctor I am today.”

She and her husband, Richard Hoefer, regularly collaborate. She is a medical oncologist, and he is a surgical oncologist. Together, they made an $8 million bequest to support Duke Cancer Institute’s mission to bridge boundaries to advance multidisciplinary cancer care.

Their gift supports both of their passions: it will create an endowed pilot fund for research and a professorship within the institute. “Research that gets translated to the bedside gives me the tools I need to take care of my patients,” says Harden.

Jeff and Laurie Ubben

Jeff and Laurie Ubben

Donor Stories

Jeff and Laurie Ubben

BEYOND THE CLASSROOM

$10M—activities in Duke’s new arts center

$2.5M—split between club sports program and Duke Athletics

$2.5M—alumni programming

Total: $15M

Jeff ’83 and Laurie Ubben ’84, P’15, P’19 know how to make a wide-ranging yet well-balanced gift. Their $15 million commitment enhances curricular and co-curricular priorities that make the undergraduate and alumni experiences at Duke rich, meaningful, and fun. Jeff, who played club football at Duke, and Laurie, the co-founder of a music school, designated $10 million to support activities in the new arts center. A $2.5 million portion of the gift is for Duke Alumni Association programming. The remaining $2.5 million is split between the Duke club sports program, which offers 37 different teams, and the athletics department and its 27 varsity teams.

“Laurie and I saw a unique opportunity to support areas at Duke that are important to us. We are excited about the new center as a permanent home for the wonderful arts programs at Duke. Club sports brought me together on a team with a different group of students—I really believe in the value of Athletics at Duke and the spirit it builds across the entire university. And of course, we love the alumni association and look forward to continuing to support their efforts to bring alumni closer to the university.”

Bill and Renie McCutchen

Bill and Renie McCutchen

Donor Stories

Bill and Renie McCutchen

William McCutchen Jr. B.S.C.E.’62 and his wife, Irene Lilly McCutchen ’62, P’86, believe deeply in the guiding hand of God in their lives. Their $1.5 million gift endowing the Irene and William McCutchen Professorship was just the latest in their long history of philanthropy to the university. With it, Christena Cleveland was named the new director of the Center for Reconciliation (CFR) at Duke Divinity School. The professorship will provide financial stability and a foundation for future growth of the CFR, which was founded in 2005 to support faith leaders who work toward reconciliation in the United States and abroad.

“We have been blessed by our involvement with the center for the last decade, and we believe its work is vital in the United States and around the world. From our own personal experience we are convinced that, working with the exceptional theological education and ministerial training offered by Duke Divinity School, the CFR offers both superb preparation for ordained and other ministries and hope for people seeking reconciliation within a Christian framework.”