The faculty of the Sanford School of Public Policy lead or collaborate with a wide variety of on-campus interdisciplinary research centers that are exploring vital policy questions and bringing provocative and timely speakers to campus. These research hubs can offer students opportunities to work with faculty on ground-breaking research, and to engage with leaders in many fields.
Listed below are institutes, centers and programs housed at the Sanford School, as well as other Duke centers in which public policy faculty members are active. Those led by Sanford School core or secondary faculty members include the faculty director’s name.
Children & Families
Duke Center for Child and Family Policy
Director: Ken Dodge
Associate Directors: Leslie Babinski, Jane Costello, Rick Hoyle, Candice Odgers and Barbara Pollock
The James B. Hunt Institute for Educational Leadership and Policy
Ethics and Leadership
The Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity
Director: William “Sandy” Darity
DukeEngage
Executive Director: Eric Mlyn
Highlight for Basic Page
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A Nurse Home-Visiting Program
Durham Connects nurse Liz Stevens visits with a Durham parent and her child. The Duke Center for Child & Family Policy launched the nurse home visiting program in 2008 as part of research into ways to prevent child neglect. Durham Connects has grown into a Durham nonprofit agency that offers home visits to all Durham County parents. The intervention was tied to reduced emergency visits and an estimated 3-to-1 return on investment.
Learn more about the research.
Learn more about the Durham Connects organization on their website.
Hart Leadership Program
Director: Alma Blount
Samuel and Ronnie Heyman Center for Ethics, Public Policy, and the Professions
Director: Joel Fleishman
Kenan Institute for Ethics
Director: Noah Pickus
Environment
Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions
Director: Timothy Profeta
Food
Behavioral Economics and Healthy Food Choice Research (BECR Center)
Director: Peter Ubel
Health
Center for Health Policy & Inequalities Research
Director: Kathryn Whetten
Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy
Expert: Don Taylor
International
Duke Center for International Development
Director: Indermit Gill
Duke University Population Research Institute
Director: Seth Sanders
Associate Director: M. Giovanni Merli
Law
Center for Law, Economics and Public Policy
Director: Matthew Adler
Duke Law Program in Law & Entrepreneurship
Director: Kip Frey
Media
DeWitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy
Director: Bill Adair
Duke Reporters' Lab
Director: Bill Adair
National Security/ Foreign Policy
Counterterrorism and Public Policy Fellows Program
Director: Tim Nichols
Duke Program on American Grand Strategy
Director: Peter Feaver
Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security
Director: David Schanzer
Triangle Institute for Security Studies
Director: Peter Feaver
Politics
Polis: The Center for Politics, Leadership, Innovation & Service
Director: Frederick "Fritz" Mayer
Philanthropy
Center for Strategic Philanthropy and Civil Society
Director: Joel Fleishman
Center for the Study of Philanthropy and Voluntarism
Director: Charles Clotfelter
Social Science
Global Inequality Research Initiative
Director: Jay Pearson
Research Network on Racial and Ethnic Inequality
Co-directors: William “Sandy” Darity and Robert Korstad
The Social Science Research Institute
Director: Thomas Nechyba
Featured Faculty Member: Judith Kelley
Judith Kelley is a professor and senior associate dean at Sanford. She researches how to promote reforms in countries where leaders are not observing political and human rights. "It's something I've felt passionate about for a very long time," she says. Her book Scorecard Diplomacy: Grading State to Influence Their Reputation and Behavior (Cambridge University Press, 2017) shows that public grades are potent symbols that can evoke countries’ concerns about their reputations and motivate them to address problems. Watch: