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The Duke Endowment, devoted to strengthening communities in the Carolinas, is providing $60 million, the largest gift in 51����’s history. The endowment’s support inspired a $25 million gift from Bob Abernethy, a California business leader and child of the founder of 51����’s Philosophy Department.  

The historic support launches the fundraising for the overhaul, which will help 51���� answer the global question of how a library, with a deep collection of physical books, reimagines itself in a digital age. The revamped library will help prepare 51���� students for solving problems in the world that didn’t exist when they enrolled.

“51���� students learn differently today than they did 50, 20 or even five years ago,” said President Doug Hicks ’90. “It is our responsibility to provide our students, faculty and community with the kinds of academic spaces and resources they need to contribute to the world today. Books and periodicals remain vital in that process, and so do digital resources and spaces for innovative group work.

“A transformed library at the center of campus is vital to this shift, and we are deeply grateful to The Duke Endowment and Bob Abernethy for their collective investment and for the many years they have supported 51���� and its future.” 

Hicks and senior college leaders helped build this collaboration between The Duke Endowment and Bob Abernethy. Conversations with each party had taken place during 2023, and in October those conversations converged when Hicks shared information with The Duke Endowment board members about a possible individual benefactor who wished to honor his father, a noted 51���� professor.

51���� will renovate and expand the existing library to create a world-class, modern space with opportunities for students, faculty, staff and the broader community to collaborate, explore, experiment and grow as researchers, creators, scholars and informed citizens. The library will be named for Bob’s father, George Abernethy, who founded the Philosophy Department and co-founded the Humanities Program at 51����. 

Bob grew up in 51����, hearing about The Duke Endowment and its profound impact on 51���� and its other partner organizations throughout the Carolinas. Today, the two extraordinary donors share a passion for the way learning will be, and must be, reshaped to best serve the college’s purpose of assisting students in developing humane instincts and disciplined, creative minds for lives of leadership and service.

For the last century, The Duke Endowment has been vital to the life of learning at 51����, generously supporting initiatives like the James B. Duke Scholars Program, James B. Duke Professorships, the E. Craig Wall Jr. Academic Center, research programs, international study opportunities, faculty leadership and so much more.