Douglas T. Breeden - Duke University's Fuqua School of Business

22 exchange
Highlights of
Douglas T. Breeden’s
Deanship (2001–2007)
faculty increased from 79 to 96 with improved
teaching/research depth
number of distinguished professorships increased
from 13 to 23, with 10 more in the process of being
funded
PhD student body grew from forty-seven to more
than eighty
sixth section was added to The Duke MBA—Daytime
program, increasing class size from 345 to 410
three new centers were established: the Center for
Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (CASE); the
Fuqua /Coach K Center of Leadership and Ethics (COLE);
and the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Health Sector Management (HSM) expanded to The Duke
MBA—Weekend Executive and Global Executive programs
multifaceted alliance, including a dual degree master of
management studies (MMS), was established with Seoul
National University
the Duke Goethe Executive MBA program was established
in partnership with Frankfurt University, and the
inaugural class graduated in 2007
annual fund increased from $1.3 million to $2.5 million
in the past five years
Fuqua endowment increased from $121 million to over
$200 million
necessary funding, including a generous personal gift
from the Breedens, was raised to begin construction on
the new classroom and library addition
Doug “Elvis” Breeden at
Celebrate Fuqua, 2004
bigger than just business
What Breeden likes best about that concept is the good that
Duke alumni will be doing in so many places, that notion of
positive world impact that he says is “what it’s all about to me.”
That’s not just lip service to Breeden and wife, Josie, who
have been monumentally instrumental to the life of Fuqua
in their passion for education. Whether beginning a children’s
library in Breeden’s hometown to advance young
dreams or donating $5 million of their own money to make
sure Fuqua’s dreams become reality; whether housing students
at the Fox Center during an ice storm or holding dance
lessons on campus to add spirit to academia, the Breedens
have led first by their hearts and by their examples.
“If you help people out, later on they’ll remember that
and help others out,” he said. “That’s what we believe.”
Something as simple as investing $10,000 in a DVD library
for the Fuqua community has brought untold smiles in return.
As Elizabeth Hogan, director of alumni relations, points out,
“Some faculty now joke that the Journal of Psychology has
been pushed off the shelves by Sleepless in Seattle.”
Sometimes, of course, making the world a better place
has meant dressing up as Elvis for students and alumni and
adding some hip-swivel to his choir-boy days. More importantly,
it has meant pursuing an entirely new pathway for
students to show off their own talents. Soon after he began
as Dean, Breeden laid the groundwork for the Center for the
Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (CASE) at Fuqua,
where the public good meets private enterprise, where nonprofits
get MBA treatment.
CASE, as a dedicated center
to social entrepreneurship at
Fuqua, is one of the most
established among business
schools— and was an idea for
which students were thirsting.
It is now one of the admissions
office’s biggest selling points
on the road and has helped
earn Fuqua a top-ten ranking
among U.S. News & World
Report’s best graduate schools
in nonprofit management.