The Duke University Board of Trustees voted unanimously to rename the sociology-psychology building after Wilhelmina Reuben-Cooke, a 1967 graduate of the university.
Reuben-Cooke was a member of the first class of Black undergraduates at Duke, and had an extraordinary career as an attorney, professor of law, and senior administrator at Syracuse University, Georgetown University, and the University of the District of Columbia. She was also a member of the Board of Trustees from 1989-2001.
Reuben-Cooke also served as a trustee of the Duke Endowment until she passed away in 2019.
“This iconic building — which predates our campus’s integration by three decades — has stood on Davison Quad as our university has evolved to more fully realize its inclusive values, thanks in no small part to the efforts of Wilhelmina Reuben-Cooke and her classmates,” wrote Dr. Vincent Price, president of the university, in an e-mail to the campus community.
