Ken Canion, a former contestant on TV's "The Biggest Loser," will speak at Duke Tuesday.

He'll speak at the Searle Center at 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. More info here.

Duke University's endowment made money in fiscal 2008. That's a good thing given the current financial times and the fact that holdings at many universities aren't doing that good.

So said Duke President Richard Brodhead earlier this week in a letter to the Duke community. In it, he reports that the endowment, with a value of about $6 billion, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education, increased 6.2 percent last year. That's a far cry from the usual annual rate of growth, but not bad given the economic slowdown.

"Indeed, though the past few months' results have not been positive, over the past 10 years the Duke University endowment has grown at an average annual rate of 15.6 percent, which places it among the top performers of all university endowments," Brodhead said. 

The endowment's steady growth has allowed the university to invest in financial aid, faculty, programs and facilities, Brodhead added.  

Several Duke University professors have weighed in on the effect Colin Powell's endorsement of Barack Obama will have as the presidential campaign nears its conclusion.

Here are some of their thoughts, via a Duke press release:

• Political scientist Kerry L. Haynie says Obama has been unable to broach the topic of bias against Muslim Americans the way Powell did in his endorsement.

"No candidate wants to be seen openly courting Muslim votes, although they very much want and need them," says Haynie. "There is a long history of white Democrats behaving in a similar way toward blacks. For example, they never wanted to be photographed with Jesse Jackson, but they wanted all the black and brown voters he registered to vote for them."

"Muslim Americans may be the new African-Americans in American politics. Both political parties are afraid to embrace Muslim-American voters like they are afraid to reach out for black voters. Statistics show that if political parties rely on or reach out to black voters, they ultimately lose white voters."

• Jen'nan Read, an associate professor of sociology and global health at Duke, argues that Powell’s comments about Muslims could be a turning point for the negative rhetoric that has marked the campaign.

“Colin Powell is the first voice on either side of the aisle to articulate a point that is long overdue by decisively stating that it is un-American to use the term ‘Muslim’ to discredit and slander a presidential candidate," says Read, a Carnegie scholar who is currently studying the political integration and activity of U.S. Muslims.

“Since 9/11, Muslims have been vilified and generalized as a monolithic group tied to Islamic extremism. The reality is that Muslims are very much like the rest of the American public -- generally diverse and politically integrated, and in step with the rest of the American public on today’s most divisive political issues. It is important to know the facts about Muslim Americans before lumping them all into one group.”

• Paula D. McClain, a professor of political science, public policy and African and African American studies, finds some of the recent media commentary to be offensive.

"What it says is that if a prominent black American -- one who is of the opposite political party and has served two Republican administrations -- after a great deal of deliberation comes out in favor of the black presidential candidate, that it has to be racial," says McClain.

 

"What all of these people have done is to racialize Colin Powell and his endorsement, essentially saying that regardless of his stature and past accomplishments and prominence, his skin color is the explanation, regardless of the long and eloquent argument he laid out for his endorsement."

Motorists heading north on 15-501 may hit brief delays over the next few weeks near the exit for N.C. 751 (Cameron Boulevard).

The Exit 17 ramp is narrowed to one line due to a road improvement project overseen by Duke University's facilities management department. Motorists are urged to use extra caution and consider other routes.  

The work is part of a project to modify lanes and traffic signals at several intersections along Erwin Road and N.C. 751. Work will continue next month at the Erwin Road/LaSalle Drive intersection.  

Bill Ayers, the controversial radical militant-turned-university professor whose ties to Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama are under scrutiny, is getting some support from the American professoriate.

An online petition in support of Ayers has more than 3,200 signatures from faculty members across the country. More than a dozen signatories are from local universities here in the Triangle.

One is Lawrence Grossberg, a communications studies professor at UNC Chapel Hill. He said he signed the petition because he believers Ayers should not be demonized for his actions 40 years ago, and he respects the work Ayers does now as an education professor at the University of Illinois-Chicago. Ayers is a school reform advocate who has edited or written 15 books.

Duke President Richard Brodhead is leading a group of university official this week on a trip to India. Brodhead is speaking there to educators, journalists and business executives and the university is chronicling the trip on this blog.

The blog touches on some of Duke's current ties with India. A snippet:

 * Nearly 300 Indian-born undergraduate and graduate students attend Duke, the most from any country except China.
* The new Fuqua School of Business Cross-Continent program will have a hub in New Delhi.
* Duke’s summer offerings for students include service-learning and study abroad programs in India.
* Duke hosts vibrant Indian cultural programs on its campus, such as the annual Awaaz celebration.
* Duke’s Sanford Institute has for many years worked closely with the Indian Administrative Service on professional education for civil servants.
* Duke’s Talent Identification Program (TIP) conducted its first international program for gifted middle- and high-school students last summer in Ahmedabad and plans to expand in India in the next year.

Haven't yet tired of college rankings? Well then here ya go. Duke University is the 13th best university in the world, according to a (London) Times ranking of 200 institutions.

Even with the added competition from Cambridge, Oxford and the like, Harvard tops the list.

A recent Chapel Hill decision to restrict its massive annual Halloween celebration is putting a major dent in party plans for students...at Duke.

There will be no bus service from Duke to Chapel Hill this Halloween, an acknowledgement that Chapel Hill town leaders want to tamp down on the celebration. But one Duke student posits that it may actually put more students in danger since it removes a safe ride for drunken revelers.

The first phase of the next Duke campus will have about 500 bed spaces for undergraduate students and space for a slew of arts and hunanities departments.

Campus trustees have signed off on the size and general vision for the first phase of this new campus, which will run along Campus Drive in the central core of the university.

The general plan, approved by trustees earlier this year, shifted the massive building plan from the area of Anderson Street and Erwin Road further south to a strip of woodlands along Campus Drive.

Talk show host Oprah Winfrey will be Duke's next commencement speaker.

You may have heard of her; she's put together a relatively successful little career on television. She'll speak Sunday, May 10 and collect an honorary doctorate of humane letters for her efforts.

No word on whether she'll give everyone in attendance a free car.