The Terry Sanford Institute provides a dynamic campus hub for interdisciplinary research centers exploring vital policy questions in the field and in the classroom. Listed are both Sanford-affiliated centers and programs, as well as university-wide centers in which public policy faculty are active.
Research Centers and Programs Affiliated with the Sanford Institute
Center for the Study of Philanthropy and Voluntarism promotes the exchange of ideas among students, scholars, policymakers and practitioners in the nonprofit sector. It operates the Duke Foundation Research Program.
DeWitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy continues to be a leader in encouraging democratic media policies and practices around the world through research, education, policy development and professional training. The Center manages the Policy Journalism and Media Studies Certificate.
Duke Center for Child and Family Policy seeks to solve problems facing children in contemporary society by bringing together scholars from many disciplines with policymakers and practitioners. This center is headquartered in the Institute’s Rubenstein Hall.
Duke Center for Health Policy, also headquartered in the Institute’s Rubenstein Hall, bridges science, law and public policy to provide policy and legal solutions to crucial public health issues.
Duke Center for International Development addresses specific policy issues associated with globalization and international development through training, graduate-level education, advisory programs and related research.
Duke University Program in History, Public Policy and Social Change uses a variety of scholarly and pedagogical initiatives to foster historical perspective among policymakers and awareness among historians of how their work can inform today’s challenges.
Hart Leadership Program is the first endowed undergraduate program at a major university to emphasize ethics, service, social entrepreneurship and the responsibilities of leadership as part of its curriculum.
Samuel and Ronnie Heyman Center for Ethics focuses its teaching and research activities on ethical issues in public policy decisions. The Center sponsors symposia, speakers and conferences.
Population, Policy & Aging Research Center provides the overall mechanism for several multi-disciplinary research projects, both within the U.S. and abroad, focusing on the demography and biodemography of aging, with special emphasis on advanced aging.
Program on Civil Society (Fleishman Civil Society Fellows) focuses on the changing public policy roles of philanthropic foundations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), social enterprises, and other organizations and participants in the non-profit sector.
Program on Global Health and Technology Access, directed by Dr. Anthony So, supports scholarship, policy engagement and teaching on issues of globalization and health. Its initial work has focused on alternative models of innovation for health and improving access to essential medicines, particularly for the developing world.
Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security, headed by David Schanzer, former staff director for the U.S. House Select Committee on Homeland Security, was launched in 2005 to stimulate cross-disciplinary discussion and scholarship on military, diplomatic and domestic counter-terrorism strategies and policies for preventing and protecting against terrorist attacks. It is co-sponsored by Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill, and RTI International.
Triangle Institute for Security Studies is an interdisciplinary consortium founded in 1958 and sponsored by Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill and NC State University to advance research and education concerning national and international security, broadly defined.
United States – Southern Africa Center for Leadership and Public Values is a binational partnership between the Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy at Duke University and the Graduate School of Business at the University of Cape Town.
Duke University Research Centers and Institutes Related to Public Policy
Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University teaches, engages in and presents documentary work grounded in collaborative partnerships and extended fieldwork. CDS promotes documentary work that cultivates progressive change by amplifying voices, advancing human dignity, engendering respect among individuals, breaking down barriers to understanding and illuminating social injustices.
Center for Genome Ethics, Law and Policy was created to foster ethically responsible and socially beneficial uses of genome science, while addressing the complex ethical, legal, social and policy impacts of the genome revolution.
Center on Law, Ethics and National Security encourages and sponsors teaching, research and publications concerning national security law topics, as well as conducting conferences and seminars in the national security field. Additionally, it seeks to provide a focus on national security decision-making from an ethical perspective.
Duke Center for Environmental Solutions is a university-wide initiative seeking creative solutions to complex environmental challenges through multidisciplinary research and analysis.
Institute of Statistics and Decision Sciences activities include campus wide teaching of entry-level statistics courses for undergraduates and some graduate students, and statistical consulting for the Schools of Arts and Sciences, and Environment and Earth Sciences at Duke University.
Kenan Institute for Ethics is a university-wide initiative that supports the study and teaching of ethics and promotes moral reflection and commitment in personal, professional, community and civic life. The Institute’s work is guided by the conviction that universities have a responsibility to prepare students for lives of personal integrity and reflective citizenship by nurturing their capacities for critical thinking, compassion, courage and their concern for justice.
Program in Public Law promotes better understanding of our nation’s public institutions, of the Constitutional framework in which they function, and of the principles and laws that apply to the work of public officials.
