Divinity School Names New Facilities

Point of pride: detail from Westbrook Building Photo:Duke Divinity School

The Divinity School celebrates its past and its future in choosing the name for its 47,000-square-foot addition, and in renaming two existing structures. The addition, to be completed this spring, will be named in honor of the Reverend Hugh A. Westbrook M.Div. '70, who co-founded and is former CEO of VITAS Healthcare Corporation of Miami. He and his wife, Carole Shields Westbrook, have given or arranged for gifts of nearly $20 million in recent years to support a variety of projects in the school, most notably the Duke Institute on Care at the End of Life.

Two other facilities, now known as New Divinity and Old Divinity, have been renamed the Thomas A. Langford Building in honor of the former school professor and dean who was later Duke provost. Langford '54, Ph.D. '58, who died in 2000, was associated with the university for five decades.

The portion of the school known as the Gray Building, which also houses the university's religion department, remains unchanged. The new names were approved by the Duke trustees in December.

The Westbrook Building will include Goodson Chapel, classroom space, and offices for the Duke Institute on Care at the End of Life. The $22-million addition will provide student-life offices, a refectory, and other spaces to accommodate learning and prayer. The institute, begun in 2000 with gifts arranged by Westbrook, works to improve research, education, and practice in the care of those near death through multi-disciplinary study and collaboration across campus and beyond. Activities include research; classroom teaching; training for health professionals, pastors, and other caregivers; and information and education programs for the public.