Topic: Duke University

Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James Buchanan Duke established The Duke Endowment, prompting the institution to change its name in honor of his deceased father, Washington Duke.

The University is organized into two undergraduate and nine graduate schools. The undergraduate student body comes from all 50 U.S. states and 106 countries. In its 2009 edition, U.S. News & World Report ranked the university's undergraduate program eighth among national universities, while ranking the medical, law, and business schools among the top 12 in the country. Duke University was ranked as the thirteenth best university in the world in the 2008 THES - QS World University Rankings of universities worldwide.

Duke's research expenditures are among the largest 20 in the U.S. and its athletic program is one of the nation's elite. Competing in the Atlantic Coast Conference, the athletic teams have won ten national championships, including three by the men's basketball team.