Fuqua School of Business building
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Duke University

Fuqua Announces Creation Of The Darryl T. Banks HBCU Scholarship

As part of Fuqua’s commitment to address issues of racial inequity, Dean Bill Boulding announces the formation of The Darryl T. Banks HBCU Scholarship. This merit-based award will support Fuqua students who matriculate from an historically Black college or university (HBCU).

“We can collectively commit to leading the way in our industry, our community, and in each of our lives in being anti-racist,” Boulding said. “We can make this the moment we begin dismantling systemic racism. Our community prides itself on decency. Now, more than ever, we need to let our decency shine through and fully hold ourselves accountable to living our values every day.”

The scholarship represents an early success to Fuqua’s diversity efforts. A minimum investment of $300,000 is needed to restrict an endowed scholarship at Duke and the initial objective was to secure 10 commitments of $30,000 towards the effort. Within six months of the launch of this initiative, a group of 15 Fuqua graduates have committed a total of $372,500 to the scholarship with hopes of expanding the total contributed to the fund.

“We award a number of scholarships annually to underrepresented minority students, both restricted endowed scholarships and general scholarships,” said Boulding. “The Darryl T. Banks HBCU Scholarship will enhance our efforts to recruit a diverse class each year and will help us bring outstanding students of many backgrounds to Fuqua. We are proud to honor a distinguished member of our community with the naming of the scholarship.”

Darryl Banks MBA ’88 was a highly respected Fuqua student, alumnus and professor who passed away in 2016. Darryl graduated from North Carolina Central University, an HBCU, in 1986. He earned his MBA from Fuqua in 1988, before moving on to get his PhD from Wharton in 1998. He joined Fuqua’s marketing faculty and taught from 1998 to 2003. Following a stint on the faculty at North Carolina State University, he returned to the business school at North Carolina Central as a professor from 2007 to 2015.

Fuqua alumni Ken Burton MBA ’98 and Horatio Jones MBA ’13 were early supporters of the scholarship effort. Both earned their undergraduate degrees from HBCUs, and they reflected on why this initiative moved them to make a commitment.

"As an alum of North Carolina A&T, I'm forever grateful for the firm foundation of competence and confidence my undergraduate experience provided me,” said Burton, a member of the Daytime MBA Class of 1998. “However, many of my peers didn't have the opportunity to pursue learning at the next level—not because of intellectual ability, but due to a lack of financial access. My support of this scholarship is a tangible way I can help change that. I benefitted from receiving the Susan S. and David S. Bagwell Minority Scholarship during my Fuqua experience. I now want to pay it forward for the benefit of future members of the Fuqua family."

"I could not think of a better endeavor to support,” added Jones, who graduated in 2013 from the Weekend MBA program. “My undergraduate experience at Winston-Salem State University was life changing. Without my experiences at WSSU, I would not have been prepared to successfully matriculate through and appreciate my graduate studies at Fuqua. I welcomed the opportunity to help other HBCU alumni in their transition to Duke."

Fuqua seeks philanthropic support for merit scholarships across its programs to attract the best and brightest students whose diversity of experience, background, culture and thought bring richness to classroom conversations and the Fuqua community. To learn more about supporting scholarships, please contact Tom Kosempa, Assistant Dean, Development and Alumni Relations, at thomas.kosempa@duke.edu.