Duke University

INTRODUCTION ON DUKE UNIVERSITY

Duke University has been a private research university situated  in Durham, North Carolina, USA. This university was founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in the year 1892. In the year 1924,  electric power and tobacco  industrialist James Buchanan Duke established the Duke Endowment, at the same time the institution switched its name to honor his deceased father, Washington Duke.

The university's campus spans over more than 8,600 acres (3,500 hectares) on three neighboring campuses in Durham as well as a lab for marine  in Beaufort. Duke's main campus,  executed largely by architect Julian Abele—incorporates Gothic architecture also with the 210-foot Duke Chapel at the institution' middle and highest point of elevation. The 1st year-populated East Campus has a  Georgian-style architecture, while the primary Gothic-style West Campus 1.5 miles (2.4 km) away is adjacent to the Medical Center. Duke is the seventh richest private research university in United States with over $11.4 billion in cash and investments in fiscal year 2014.

CAMPUSES OF DUKE UNIVERSITY

Duke Chapel, an icon of  the university, can seat nearly 1,600 people and contains a 5,200-pipe organ.
Duke University owns approximately 254 buildings on 8,547 acres (34.59 km2) of land, which includes the 7,044 acres (28.51 km2) Duke Forest. The university has been divided into four main areas: West, East, and Central campuses and the Medical Center, which are all connected with each other via a free bus service. On the Atlantic coast in Beaufort, Duke owns 15 acres (61,000 m2) as part of its marine lab. One main public attractions on the main campus is the 54-acre (220,000 m2) Sarah P. Duke Gardens, ingrained in the 1930s.

Duke students often refer to the campus as "the Gothic Wonderland," 
a nickname which refers to the Collegiate Gothic architecture of West Campus. Much of the campus was designed by Julian Abele, who is one of the 1st prominent African-American architects and the chief designer in the offices of architect Horace Trumbauer. The residentiary quadrangles are of an early and somewhat unadorned design, while the buildings in the 
academic quadrilateral buildings show influences of the more elaborate late French and Italian styles. The freshmen campus (also known as "East Campus") is comprised of many buildings in the Georgian architecture style. In 2011, Travel+Leisure listed Duke among the most beautiful and attractive college campuses in the whole United States.

ATHLETICS AT DUKE UNIVERSITY

Duke University teams are known as the Blue Devils. Blue Devils has always been competing as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for the Division I level (Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) sub-level for football), mainly participating in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) for all sports since the 1953–54 season. Men's sports include  basketball, baseball,  fencing, football, golf, cross country,  soccer, lacrosse, swimming & diving, tennis, track & field and wrestling aswell; whereas  women's sports include  cross country, basketball, fencing,  golf, lacrosse,field hockey, rowing,  swimming & diving, soccer, tennis, track & field and finally volleyball. Duke plans to add softball as its 27th varsity sport in spring the year 2018.

Duke university's teams have already won 16 NCAA team national championships—the women's golf team has won six  in the year 1999, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2014, also the men's basketball team has won five in the year 1991, 1992, 2001, 2010, and 2015, the men's lacrosse team has won three (2010, 2013, and 2014), and the men's soccer (1986) and women's tennis (2009) teams have won one each.