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Hold for release:                               Contact: Dennis Meredith
1:30 p.m. EST Sat., Dec. 10, 1994               (919) 681-8054
                                                MeredithD@
                                                      mail01.adm.duke.edu


LEVINE CENTER DEDICATED AT DUKE


      DURHAM, N.C. -- The $80 million Leon Levine Science Research
Center -- the most ambitious construction project in Duke
University's history -- was dedicated Saturday following a two-day
round of lectures, tours and panel discussions.
      The Levine Center consists of 341,000 gross square feet of
laboratories, classrooms, offices, conference rooms and an
auditorium. That's an area the equivalent of seven football fields.
      The sprawling center houses the School of the Environment,
research centers of the School of Engineering, medical center
departments of pharmacology and of molecular cancer biology,
department of computer science, and the developmental, cell and
molecular biology group of the departments of botany and zoology.
      The center is named after the chairman and CEO of Family
Dollar Stores Inc. of Charlotte.
More than 1,000 faculty, visiting scholars, students and research
staff will work in the complex.
      "The center provides for Duke faculty and students the
nation's finest facility for science and engineering," said Duke
President Nannerl O. Keohane. "It is carefully designed to inspire
collaborations across disciplines, between student and teacher,
between science and industry."  
      Keynote speaker at the afternoon dedication ceremony was Dr.
P. Roy Vagelos, former chairman, president and chief executive
officer of Merck & Co. Inc.
      "This building is a bold statement that Duke University has
the courage and foresight to invest in the future," Vagelos said in
prepared remarks.  From his vantage point as a leader in the health
care industry, Vagelos emphasized the critical role of basic
research in the quality and cost of health care.
      "It's almost unthinkable what health care -- and health care
costs -- would be if research had not produced the medical progress
that we've seen in this century," he said.  "Today -- with the
dedication of this research center -- Duke is looking to the
future, continuing its commitment to research.
      "And when the health care debate resumes -- as it will, as it
should -- we have to break the silence on research. We have to make
the future of research a central issue in the future of America's
health care system," said Vagelos.
      "Today, we can look ahead in confidence that this important
work will continue on this campus," said Vagelos.  "Today, we can
only imagine the magnificent possibilities that, in the future,
will emerge from this beautiful building."
      In her remarks, Keohane praised Leon Levine, the center's
first major donor, saying "his generosity inspired many others to
lend their support to this effort."
      And Keohane announced that the $10 million bequest of Doris
Duke to the university will be directed toward the Levine Center
"and to its important interdisciplinary work, in which she had such
confidence." Miss Duke was the daughter of James Buchanan Duke,
whose gift in 1924 created the university. Shortly before her death
last year, she donated $2 million for AIDS research at the Levine
Center. 
      The dedication festivities also included talks and panel
discussions by Duke faculty and other nationally known scholars
discussing key issues in environmental research, computation,
biotechnology and science education. The program also included a
talk on the building's architecture and tours of the new building.
      Vagelos, who is an M.D., served as CEO of Merck for nine
years, from 1985 to 1994.  He was first elected to the company's
board of directors in 1984 and served as chairman from 1986 to
1994. 
      He currently serves as chairman of the board of the University
of Pennsylvania.  The author of more than 100 scientific papers, he
is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and has received
honorary degrees from such institutions as Washington University,
Columbia University and Princeton University.