Curt Brockelman T’91
Greenwich, CT

With great opportunities come responsibilities.  Duke University provided me with many tremendous opportunities as a student, as an athlete, and as an alumnus.  I want the current and future students of Duke to have the same great opportunities.  I love supporting the school that has given me so much.

Erica Berg Gavin T’96
Hoboken, NJ

When the Duke Club of New York (formerly DUMAA) invited me to join their board as a community service coordinator in the spring of 1997, I was thrilled about reconnecting with Duke, a place where I had just spent four of the most rewarding and valuable years of my life. Over the past ten years as a Duke volunteer, not only have I loved planning exciting cultural, educational, philanthropic, and social events, but I also have relished the numerous opportunities to meet new people and to share my love for Duke with alumni and prospective and current students.  As a board member and most recently as president of the Duke Club of New York, I have above all enjoyed creating opportunities for Tri-State Area alumni to connect with the Duke community and to continue their own Duke experience.  It is an honor and a privilege to represent Duke, and volunteering is just one small way I can say “thank you” to a university that continues to give to me every day.

John and Kiendl Gordon P’06
New York, NY

Right from the beginning, we were very impressed with the infectious enthusiasm and positive energy that characterize Duke, so it was easy to get involved when our daughter, China, arrived on campus four years ago. While our initial motivation was to support our daughter’s new environment, we have tremendously enjoyed participating in the Duke community, and we feel this has been an exceptionally rewarding experience for us. We are very grateful for the opportunity the college has provided for us.

Roy W. Kiefer B’78
Springfield, VA

Like all Duke volunteers, I feel a deep, abiding affection for Duke, for our students, alumni, faculty, and staff members, and for our critical educational and research missions.  However, the greatest satisfaction I have received from my Duke work is the pleasure of joining with so many superb individuals – youthful and not-so-young alumni, students, and administrators from widely varying backgrounds and venues – to improve stewardship, programs, and governance at the university.  These are wonderful people – smart, giving, enthusiastic, highly capable and experienced, and exceptionally personable – who have become lifelong friends through our shared Duke volunteer efforts.

Derrick B. Mashore T’79
Arlington, VA

In 1975, I arrived at Duke, a seventeen-year-old black football player born into very humble circumstances, but with a certain potential. Duke promised to support my quest to realize that potential, and Duke did not fail me.

As I endured a difficult passage that was challenging intellectually, spiritually, and athletically, Duke made good on its promise and was committed to my success. Since then, Duke has continued to be a great resource for me, and I have been committed to Duke’s success, supporting the university’s quest to realize its potential.

For the last three decades, as Duke has made its way on its journey toward excellence, I have tried to do whatever I could, whether through the Trinity Board, the Annual Fund, or the Iron Dukes, because in America and in the world, the need for intellectual and moral leadership has never been greater.  I pray that we not fail.  The stakes for Duke, and for society at large, are enormous.