Sanford School of Public Policy

Big news! A former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is to be executive-in-residence at Duke, with a joint appointment at Sanford and the Duke University Pratt School of Engineering.

As the 21st chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 2023 to 2025, Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr was the principal military advisor to the U.S. President, Secretary of Defense and National Security Council. He will co-teach a course linked to the Duke Program in American Grand Strategy, an interdisciplinary program that helps to prepare students for careers in U.S. foreign policy and national security.

Sanford's interim dean Manoj Mohanan said this of the appointment: "Gen. Brown’s record of leadership at the highest levels of service to our country and his deep engagement with innovation and national security strategy bring extraordinary value to our community. His experience and global expertise will be an enormous asset to Sanford as we continue to grow our programs in national security, and I look forward to the dialogue and collaboration his residency will inspire among students and faculty alike.”

From all of us at Duke, have a safe and meaningful Fourth of July. 🇺🇸

Wait - it's the first week of the month...where is my Memo? The Sanford Memo, your monthly alumni newsletter, is taking a summer break for July. We will be back in August - Happy Summer!

"Tony Brown challenged his Duke students with hard questions about their values and what they wanted to do with their lives. At 82 and facing Stage 4 cancer, he’s still pushing them to be their best selves." - Beautiful story by John Drescher for The Assembly about beloved Sanford professor Tony Brown.

He keeps up with 1,000 former students (really!) and a hundred came to campus recently to pay tribute to him.

Bonjour Sanford Family! My name is Pearl Teiko and I am a recently graduated student from the Sanford Master’s of Public Policy Program. This past week, I had the honor of participating in the Global Health track of the Duke in Geneva Program. During this course, I had the opportunity to visit various organizations, connect with trailblazers in the global health and humanitarian spaces, and meet the next generation of public health practitioners. I enjoyed this experience immensely not only for its immersive components, but also because of our fabulous instructor, Nina Sun.

Stay tuned for a brief Instagram Takeover led by yours truly!✨

Ni-hao-dy from Geneva, Switzerland! 🤠🇨🇭My name is Nicole Ma and I’m a rising third year dual master’s student between Sanford and Duke Divinity School. I am incredibly grateful for the honor of being part of the Duke Geneva Program this summer on the Humanitarian Action track. It is truly a privilege, in more ways than one, to engage with high-level practitioners, and learn from some of the most incredible minds with the biggest hearts in the field- including it being led by Professor Amy Hepburn, and from my fellow cohort.

Stay tuned for a brief Instagram takeover where I will be walking through a day of programming and class, highlighting some site visits and incredible speakers, and also uplifting some of my incredibly amazing and bright classmates and friends!

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Location: Duke's Sanford School of Public Policy
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Learn more: https://duke.is/pfd2025

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Former Duke University President Terry Sanford (and our namesake!) has been honored with a North Carolina Highway Historical Marker on the edge of Duke’s campus.

The dedication ceremony, held at the intersection of NC 751 and Science Drive, across from the Washington Duke Inn, celebrated Sanford’s monumental contributions to the state, including terms as governor and U.S. senator, and his transformative impact on Duke University, where he founded the institution that would become the Sanford School of Public Policy.

Duke University President Vincent Price shared his pride in being a faculty member at the Sanford School of Public Policy and lauded Sanford’s enduring influence.

“Terry Sanford was a true visionary whose presidency helped define Duke’s outrageous ambitions for our first century, and whose extraordinary public service inspired countless people across our state,” President Price remarked.

Former Congressman David Price, a professor emeritus at the Sanford School of Public Policy, was recruited by Terry Sanford to be one of the original institute’s first faculty members. Reflecting on Sanford’s far-reaching legacy, he said, “Let this marker, and the extraordinary life it memorializes, serve as a reminder every time we pass this way that citizenship and principled leadership are high callings and that politics, as Terry Sanford practiced it, is an essential instrument for achieving our common purpose.”

Howard Lee, former mayor of Chapel Hill and a former North Carolina state legislator, recounted how Sanford served as an early inspiration for his own life and career.

“This man had the courage to stand up for what was right,” Lee said of Sanford. “This man had the commitment to ensure that all people had a chance at opportunity in life. He created the kind of model that we all should emulate.”