At Duke, Keohane era winding down

Editorial

The end of the Keohane presidency at Duke University? Yes, but also the end of the Keohane Era.

From the day she became Duke's first woman president on July 1, 1993, much was expected of Nannerl Keohane, and she did not disappoint. Her record of accomplishments as president of Wellesley College -- particularly in fund-raising, but no less in vision and administrative skill -- made her a natural for Duke. Tomorrow, the Keohane Era passes into Duke lore as she hands over the presidency to Richard Brodhead.

By any measure, Nan Keohane leaves a Duke that ranks with the finest universities in the world.

Her presidency was -- nay, is -- the high-water mark of one of the nation's youngest and most precocious universities, dating from 1924. History will honor Keohane as one of Duke's greatest presidents, setting the bar high for her successor, who is coming on board with similarly high expectations.

It is customary upon the retirement of someone as distinguished as Nan Keohane to recite a litany of achievements. In her case, they were so many that doing so would become almost as tedious as reading the telephone book. Many of her accomplishments stand in Hillsborough stone and mortar -- buildings big and small. But the true measure of a university president lies more in what is unseen than what is seen. That is the academic measure of the place.

Duke was a strong institution when Keohane came 11 years ago. Today it is much stronger in its academic quality and reach, which has become international. The university's scholarship programs are more expansive than they were in 1993, and the composition of the student body is far more diverse. Keohane's faculty initiatives, especially recruitment of black academicians, bore fruit against fierce competition from Duke's peer institutions. The sciences flourish at Duke, but so do the humanities -- the divide between the "two cultures" still exists, but it is not nearly as wide as it was in 1993.

Keohane also insisted on more collaboration with other Research Triangle universities, an emphasis that helped give rise to the Robertson Scholars Program that unites Duke and UNC Chapel Hill on the academic plane, if not on the hardwood floors of Cameron Indoor Stadium and the Dean Smith Center. Keohane and her husband Bob, a member of the Duke political science faculty, are self-described basketball fanatics -- a nice characteristic for a president who so graciously shared her university with Coach K.

Fortunately for Durham, Keohane looked beyond Duke's well-defined boundary to the city on the other side. It was during her presidency that Duke launched its Neighborhood Partnership Initiative, now a national model for town-gown relations with substantive, long-lasting results. The partnership works with neighborhoods and public schools in the sphere of influence of the Duke campus. And it was in Keohane's final months that Duke agreed to make a designated payment in lieu of taxes to city government, a precedent that we hope the new president will not only continue, but expand.

Keohane did so much in 11 years, including presiding over a $2 billion fund-raising effort, that at first blush it all looks remarkably easy. Having a top-rank staff helped, of course, but the buck stopped on Keohane's desk. She went through some rough times -- the Jesica Santillan tragedy surely ranks above all others -- but her equanimity, confidence and plain old people skills always saw her through.

Now the hours tick down. Yet this is not the end of Nan Keohane's academic career -- she's only 62 -- but the beginning of another chapter. As she and Bob Keohane head to Stanford for a year of study and a more relaxed schedule, Nan Keohane leaves a wealth of friends in Durham.

She wrote her own bittersweet leave-taking in these words: "I have had one of the most challenging and fascinating administrative jobs in all of higher education, and I have learned much from it." So, it should be said, did the university and the city that today bid her farewell.

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