City: Durham, NC

Category: Education

Telephone: (919) 684-3214

Address: 2301 Erwin Rd.

Description: Consistently ranked among the best institutions of higher learning in the country, Duke University enrolls about 6,500 undergraduates and 7,000 graduate students. Previously Trinity College, the school took the Duke name in 1924 when industrialist James Buchanan Duke endowed the school with millions and set off a building campaign that included the landmark Duke Chapel. The private school’s graduate programs in law, divinity, medicine, nursing, and business are acclaimed. Duke scholars and scientists undertake ambitious research that ranks its medical facilities among the best in the world. Its beautiful campus was built in neo-Gothic and Georgian style and sprawls across much of Durham. The school is known as well for its excellent men’s basketball program as for its academics, and the town’s most famous resident is probably Coach Mike Krzyzewski, Coach K for short.