Notable figures

Julian Abele

Prominent African-American architect who designed Duke.

The First Five

First five Black undergraduates at Duke: Wilhemina Reuben-Cooke, Mary Mitchell Harris, Gene Kendall, Cassandra Smith Rush, and Nathaniel White Jr.

Yao-ju “Charlie” Soong

Trinity College’s first international student from China in 1881.

Joseph S. Maytubby

First Native American student to graduate from Trinity College in 1896.

Alice M. Baldwin

Inaugural Dean of Women and the first woman to have full faculty status at Duke.

Andres Rodriguez-Diago y Gomez

First Latinx student at Duke who came from Colombia in 1925.

Reginaldo Howard

First African American President of Associated Students of Duke University and namesake of the Reginaldo Howard Leadership Program.

Lisa Borders '79

President of the WNBA.

Tim Cook MBA’88

CEO of Apple.

Melinda French Gates ‘86, MBA ‘87

Co-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Grant Hill '94

Seven-time NBA All-Star and broadcaster for Turner Sports and NBA-TV.

Ken Jeong ’90

Comedian and TV/film actor known for The Hangover and Knocked Up.

Ibtihaj Mohammad ‘07

Bronze medalist in fencing at the 2016 Olympics.

Richard Nixon JD’37

37th president of the United States.

Mike Posner ’09

Singer/songwriter.

David M. Rubenstein ’70

Philanthropist and co-founder of The Carlyle Group; recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Adam Silver ’84

Commissioner of the NBA.

Retta Sirleaf ‘92

Comedian and actress known for Parks and Recreation.

Luis von Ahn ’00

Inventor of CAPTCHA security system and CEO/co-founder of Duolingo.

Jeff Zients ‘88

White House Chief of Staff.