Investing in the Future of the Environment
$70 Million Gift from Pete and Ginny Nicholas Will Support
New Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions p.5
As it has grown and developed, the Nicholas School
has centered its activities in three areas: Ecosystem Science
and Sustainability—to improve understanding of how natural
ecosystems function, the human impacts on them, and strategies
to provide a sustainable future for all life on Earth; Environmental
Health—to improve understanding of the linkage between environmental
quality and human health and to forecast changes to human
health as a result of global environmental change; and Business
and the Environment—to work within the corporate sector to
promote sustainable business activities, based on the principles
of industrial ecology, use of renewable sources of energy,
and material-use efficiencies.
“The Nicholas School is already a leading force
in environmental education. This extraordinary gift will make
it possible for the school to become the premier institution
in which research, teaching and policy development are powerfully
combined to develop solutions to a wide range of environmental
problems, and to share these solutions broadly throughout
the world,” says Duke President Nannerl O. Keohane. “It is
a most fitting capstone to the Campaign for Duke, a remarkable
fund-raising effort that has been led magnificently by Pete
and Ginny Nicholas. Our campaign has strengthened all of Duke
and its capacity to serve society.”
Peter and Ginny Nicholas and their family have
a long history in support of Duke and the Nicholas School.
Ruth Virginia “Ginny” Lilly Nicholas W ‘64 has
volunteered over the years as an admissions adviser, chair
of the executive committee of the Duke Annual Fund and reunion
class chair. She is the founder and president of Open Market
of Concord, Mass., and has served many Boston-area charitable
organizations.
Peter M. Nicholas T ‘64, who holds an MBA from
the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business,
co-founded the Boston Scientific Corp. in 1979 and is the
company’s chairman. Boston Scientific has become a leader
in developing minimally invasive therapy devices and therapies.
He has served the university in a variety of capacities, including
as university trustee since 1993, as a charter member and
chair of Duke's Trinity College board of visitors, as reunion
class chair and as a member of the Duke University Health
System board.
The Nicholases’ three children— Katherine, Peter
and J.K.—and J.K.’s wife, Virginia Shannon, all earned degrees
from Duke. J.K. Nicholas now serves on the Nicholas School’s
Board of Visitors; Peter Nicholas Jr. is a member of Fuqua’s
Board of Visitors.
Scottee Cantrell is the Nicholas School’s
assistant dean for marketing and communications.
Some information and quotes for this story
were contributed by Duke University's Office of News and Communications.
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