This summer [June 2026], the Duke University Office of Climate and Sustainability welcomed the Duke Lemur Center as part of its integrated unit—six teams working across the university to build a strong future.
Duke University recently was awarded $4.4 million from The Duke Endowment for DLC support, including a newly created academic director position. Primatologist and Duke alumna Elizabeth Lonsdorf will join the DLC and the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology in this new role on Aug. 1.
Working with Executive Director Greg Dye, Lonsdorf will work with Duke faculty and the world’s lemur specialists on research priorities and campuswide engagement.
Lonsdorf’s appointment coincides with the shift in the Lemur Center’s administrative oversight to Toddi Steelman, vice president and vice provost for climate and sustainability at Duke, and to the DLC joining the Office of Climate and Sustainability.
Lonsdorf began studying primates as an undergraduate student at Duke University and completed her Ph.D. at the Jane Goodall Institute’s Center for Primate Studies at the University of Minnesota. She joins the DLC coming from the Department of Anthropology at Emory University.
Dye joined the Duke Lemur Center in 2008 and has served as executive director since July 2019. He received the Duke University Presidential Award in 2017. As executive director, Dye oversees the DLC and leads its tripartite mission of noninvasive research, education, and conservation of lemur habitats in Madagascar.
Steelman welcomed the DLC and its leadership into the Office of Climate and Sustainability.
“I look forward to working with Elizabeth, Greg and the entire Duke Lemur Center team as we welcome them to the Office of Climate and Sustainability. The Duke Lemur Center is a natural fit to join our team because of its extraordinary contributions to research, education, conservation and community engagement. Together, we have an exciting opportunity to strengthen connections across the university, expand the center’s research and engagement footprint, and inspire new collaborations that advance our shared commitment to a more sustainable future,” Steelman said.
Steelman added: “Elizabeth is a world-class primate expert whose impressive scholarly record and experience leading research collaborations will help catalyze partnerships between the Duke Lemur Center and colleagues across Duke. Greg is a passionate, knowledgeable and dedicated leader whose deep commitment to the Duke Lemur Center has helped steward its people, resources and mission with exceptional care. I am excited to work alongside both as we build on the center’s remarkable legacy and look toward an even brighter future.”
In 1966, the Duke Primate Center was created, later becoming the Duke Lemur Center, the world’s largest and most diverse collection of lemurs outside of Madagascar. The DLC was established as a collaboration between Peter Klopfer, who joined Duke in 1958, and Yale researcher John Buettner-Janusch. Klopfer, professor emeritus of Biology, civil rights activist and co-founder of the Duke Lemur Center, died in June at the age of 95.
The DLC now houses more than 200 lemurs and bush babies across 13 species.
The DLC’s non-invasive research spans a remarkable array of disciplines, from behavior and genomics to physiology and paleontology; and the Center is recognized as a global authority on lemur veterinary medicine. Conservation biology is also a major focus, providing the conceptual and operational bridge between the living collections of the DLC and its conservation activities in Madagascar.
The DLC is open to the public and welcomes more than 35,000 visitors annually for tours and educational programs. Its highly successful conservation breeding program seeks to preserve endangered species.
The Office of Climate and Sustainability includes:
Duke Campus Farm
Duke Forest
Duke Gardens
Duke Lemur Center
Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment and Sustainability
Office of Climate and Sustainability core team
Learn more about the Office of Climate and Sustainability.
Originally released by the Office of Climate and Sustainability on June 29, 2026.