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Former names | Pittsburgh Catholic College of the Holy Ghost (1879–1911) |
|---|---|
| Motto | Spiritus est qui vivificat (Latin) |
Motto in English | "It is theSpirit that gives life." |
| Type | Privateresearch university |
| Established | October 1, 1878; 147 years ago (1878-10-01) |
| Founder | Rev.Joseph Strub, C.S.Sp. and the Congregation of the Holy Spirit |
| Accreditation | MSCHE |
Religious affiliation | Catholic -Spiritan Fathers |
Academic affiliations | |
| Endowment | $472.1 million (2020)[1] |
| Chairman | John R. McGinley Jr. |
| President | Ken Gormley |
| Students | 9,344[2] |
| Undergraduates | 6,074[2] |
| Postgraduates | 3,270[2] |
| Location | ,, United States 40°26′10″N79°59′35″W / 40.43611°N 79.99306°W /40.43611; -79.99306 |
| Campus | Large City, 50 acres (0.20 km2) |
| Other campuses | Rome |
| Newspaper | The Duquesne Duke |
| Colors | Red Blue |
| Nickname | Dukes |
Sporting affiliations | |
| Mascot | TheDuke |
| Website | www |
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| Designated | October 5, 1978[3] |
Duquesne University of the Holy Spirit (/djuːˈkeɪn/dew-KAYN; also known asDuquesne University orDuquesne) is aprivateCatholicresearch university inPittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded by members of theCongregation of the Holy Spirit, Duquesne first opened as thePittsburgh Catholic College of the Holy Ghost in October 1878 with an enrollment of 40 students and a faculty of six. In 1911, the college became the first Catholic university-level institution in Pennsylvania. It is named for an 18th-century governor ofNew France,Michel-Ange Duquesne de Menneville.
Duquesne has since expanded to over 9,300 graduate and undergraduate students within a self-contained 49-acre (19.8 ha) hilltop campus in Pittsburgh'sBluff neighborhood. The school maintains an associate campus in Rome and encompasses ten schools of study. The university hosts international students from more than 80 countries,[4] although most students—about 80%—are from Pennsylvania or the surrounding region.[5] Duquesne isclassified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity".[6] There are more than 93,000 living alumni of the university[2] ranging from twocardinals and thecurrent bishop of Pittsburgh to a former director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
TheDuquesne Dukes compete inNCAA Division I. Duquesnemen's basketball appeared twice in national championship games in the 1950s and won theNIT championship in 1955.
ThePittsburgh Catholic College of the Holy Ghost was founded on October 1, 1878, byFr. Joseph Strub and the Holy Ghost Fathers, who had been expelled from Germany duringOtto von Bismarck'sKulturkampf six years earlier.[7] When the college was founded, it had six faculty members and 40 students.[8] The college obtained its state charter in 1882.[7] Students attended classes in a rented space above a bakery on Wylie Avenue in downtown Pittsburgh. Duquesne established itself at its current location on the Bluff and built the original five-story red brick "Old Main" in 1885. At the time, it was the highest point on the Pittsburgh skyline.[8]
On May 27, 1911, under the leadership ofFr. Martin Hehir, the college became the first Catholic institution of higher learning in Pennsylvania to become a university. It was subsequently renamedDuquesne University of the Holy Ghost, afterAnge Duquesne de Menneville, Marquis du Quesne, the French governor ofNew France who first broughtCatholic observances to the Pittsburgh area. The year 1913 saw the university record its first woman graduate, Sister M. Fides of theSisters of Mercy.[9] In 1914, the graduate school was established.[9]
The 1920s were a time of expansion for the developing university. The campus grew to include its first single-purpose academic building, Canevin Hall, as well as a gymnasium and a central heating plant. Institutionally, the school grew to include theSchool of Pharmacy in 1925, aSchool of Music in 1926, and aSchool of Education in 1929.[9] Hard times, however, came with theWall Street Crash of 1929; plans for expansion had to be shelved.[9]
The beloved Fr. Hehir was succeeded in 1931 byFr. J. J. Callahan.[9] Though Fr. Callahan was not as able an administrator as Fr. Hehir, his tenure did see the university add numerous new programs, a short-lived School for the Unemployed, and, in 1937, theNursing School.[9] The university's sports programs also thrived during the Depression era, with some of the greatest triumphs of the basketball and football teams occurring in that time period—a 6–0 football defeat ofPitt in 1936 was a high point of student exuberance.[9] A university library was completed in 1940.[9]
Some of the darkest years of the university's history passed duringWorld War II, when the university was led by the youngFr. Raymond Kirk. The school's enrollment, which had been 3,100 in 1940, dropped to an all-time low in the summer of 1944, with a mere one thousand students enrolled.[9] Fr. Kirk's health broke under the strain of leading the school through such struggles, and he was relieved of his duties byFr. Francis P. Smith in 1946.[9] After the war, the school faced a wave of veterans seeking higher education. In contrast to the lean war-time years, the 1949 enrollment peaked at 5,500, and space became an issue. Fr. Smith took advantage of theLanham Act, which allowed him to acquire three barracks-type buildings from Army surplus. The science curriculum was expanded, and theSchool of Business Administration saw its enrollment rise to over two thousand.[9] Also during this time, a campus beautification project was implemented andWDUQ, Pittsburgh's first college radio station, was founded.[9]
An ambitious campus expansion plan was proposed byFr. Vernon F. Gallagher in 1952. Assumption Hall, the first student dormitory, was opened in 1954, and Rockwell Hall was dedicated in November 1958, housing the schools of business and law. It was during the tenure ofFr. Henry J. McAnulty that Fr. Gallagher's ambitious plans were put to action. Between 1959 and 1980, the university renovated or constructed various buildings to form the academic infrastructure of the campus. Among these are College Hall, the music school and the library, as well as a new Student Union and Mellon Hall, along with four more dormitories. Although Fr. McAnulty's years as president saw tremendous expansion, a financial crisis in 1970 nearly forced the closure of the university. Students rallied to the cause, however, and set a goal of raising one million dollars to "Save Duquesne University". Students engaged in door-to-door fundraising and gathered nearly $600,000, enough to keep Duquesne afloat until the end of the crisis in 1973.[10] It was also during Fr. McAnulty's time as president that Duquesne University played an important role in the shaping of theCatholic Charismatic Renewal, which has its roots in a retreat of several faculty members and students held in February 1967.[11]
McAnulty was succeeded byFr. Donald S. Nesti. Fr. Nesti's tenure in the 1980s saw construction begin on theA. J. Palumbo Center, which was dedicated in 1988, as well as an expansion of the law school. It was under the presidency ofJohn E. Murray Jr., the university's first lay president, that the university developed into its modern institutional and physical form.[12] Between 1988 and 2001, the university opened its first new schools in 50 years, including theRangos School of Health Sciences, theBayer School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, and theSchool of Leadership and Professional Advancement.[13][14] Duquesne University continues to expand with its completion of the Power Center, a mixed-use development project on Forbes Avenue, and a new residence hall, which was completed in 2012.[15]
The university established an osteopathic medical school which admitted its first class in the summer of 2024.[16]
Duquesne University has more than tripled in size from its early 12.5-acre (50,590 m2) site on Boyd's Hill to its present 49-acre (198,300 m2) main campus in Pittsburgh'sUptown neighborhood.[17] Of the 31 buildings that make up the Bluff campus,[citation needed] several are recent constructions or renovations, including a health sciences facility (Rangos Hall), two recording studios, two parking garages, a multipurpose recreation center (Power Center), and a theater-classroom complex (Bayer Hall).
The "Old Main" Administration Building was the first structure to be constructed on campus. TheVictorian Gothic structure is still used to house the administrative offices of the university. Canevin Hall, named after bishop of PittsburghRegis Canevin, was constructed in 1922 and is the oldest classroom building on campus; it was renovated in 1968 and again in 2009. These two buildings, as well Bayer Hall, the Richard King Mellon Hall of Science (designed byLudwig Mies van der Rohe), and theVictorian Laval House, are at the west end of Academic Walk, a thoroughfare that provides pedestrian-only access to most of the campus, including the Student Union. The Union, which houses meeting rooms, three dining facilities, aStarbucks, aPNC branch, a recreation center, and an art gallery, is the center of campus life and student activities.[18] Located on the northern side of campus is theGumberg Library, a five-story structure opened in 1978 and holding extensive print and electronic collections.
The newest campus construction is the Power Center, named in honor ofFather William Patrick Power, the university's first president. The multipurpose recreation facility on Forbes Avenue between Chatham Square and Magee Street, across from the university'sForbes Avenue entrance, adds to the student fitness facilities on campus. Other spaces include aBarnes & Noble bookstore containing a Starbucks café, Freshens, Red Ring Restaurant, and a conference center and ballroom.[19] The 125,000-square-foot (11,600 m2) building was completed in early January 2008, and is the first stage of a development that aims to serve both the campus community and the surrounding neighborhood.[14][20] In October 2010 the university announced the purchase of the eight-story, 100,000-square-foot (9,300 m2) building at 600 Fifth Avenue from Robert Morris University, which had been RMU's Pittsburgh Center. This adds an additional 87 classrooms, 1,100 seats and new music facilities. Duquesne plans to utilize this building to allow further expansion of its graduate programs as applications have doubled since 2005. Duquesne also owns four other buildings along Fifth Avenue bordering on thePPG Paints Arena where the university now plays some of its home basketball games. The university announced plans on August 1, 2019, to build an 80,000-to-100,000-square-foot (7,400 to 9,300 m2) building along Forbes Avenue to house its new osteopathic medical school.University owned WDUQ, NPR and jazz station, has relocated to offices in the Cooper Building and studios in Clement Hall.
Until 2009, Duquesne University had an extension of theSchool of Leadership and Professional Advancement inWormleysburg.[21][22] Classes were also available atFort Indiantown Gap.
Since 2001, Duquesne has offered an Italian campus program. The facility, part of extensive grounds owned and managed by theSisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth, is west of downtown Rome and just beyondVatican City.[23] University materials describe the campus as "a walled property enclosing beautiful gardens and walkways, [with] classrooms, computer facilities (including Internet), a small library, dining hall, recreational areas, and modernized living quarters complete with bathrooms in each double room."[24]
The curriculum at the Italian campus includes history, art history,Italian language, philosophy, theology, sociology and economics, appropriate to the historical and cultural setting of Rome. The faculty of the program, largely constituted by visiting professors and resident scholars, is supplemented by a few distinguished professors from the home campus.[25]
| Academic rankings | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Forbes[26] | 282 |
| U.S. News & World Report[27] | 165 |
| Washington Monthly[28] | 157 |
| WSJ/College Pulse[29] | 273 |
| Global | |
| U.S. News & World Report[30] | 1659 |
Duquesne has a total student enrollment of 9,344 undergraduate and graduate students.[2] The university has grown to comprise ten schools and other institutions, offering degree programs at the baccalaureate, professional, masters and doctoral levels in 189 academic programs.[31] It is the only Spiritan institution of higher education in the world,[citation needed] and hosts international students from more than eighty countries.[4] The following institutions, along with their dates of founding, comprise Duquesne University:
More than 3,600 students live at Duquesne University in five residence halls and one apartment complex. Assumption Hall, built in the 1950s, was the first residential hall on Duquesne's campus, and can accommodate 300 residents. Freshman residence halls include St. Ann's Hall and St. Martin's Hall, which were opened in the 1960s. The largest facility is Duquesne Towers, which houses 1,200 students, including Greek organizations. Other facilities include Vickroy Hall, built in 1997, and Brottier Hall, which was formerly an apartment complex before its purchase by the university in 2004.[32]
On March 10, 2010, the university announced plans to construct a new residence hall. The need for a new residence hall was explained in a news release as being as the result of "retention rates well above national averages and a desire voiced by students to remain on campus during their junior and senior years".[15] The new hall was constructed on the former site of Des Places Hall, an academic building named afterClaude Poullart des Places, the founder of the Spiritan congregation. The hall retained its name and was opened for the fall 2012 semester.[33]
Duquesne University hosts more than 150 student organizations,[34] including 19fraternities and sororities. Media organizations include a student radio station, WDSR (Duquesne Student Radio). Founded in 1984, it broadcasts solely through the Internetstreaming audio.[35] Other student media organizations includeThe Duquesne Duke campus newspaper andL'Esprit Du Duc, the university's yearbook.[36] Duquesne also hosts a Student Government Association, a student-run Program Council, a Commuter Council, a representative Residence Hall Association, an Interfraternity Council, Panhellenic Council, theKnights of Columbus, and numerous departmental Honor Societies.[36]
There are several fraternities and sororities on campus.[37] Most Duquesne chapters have suites or wings in the Duquesne Towers on campus, but some chapters are housed off campus.[38]
Duquesne is the home of theTamburitzans, the longest-running multicultural song and dance company in the United States.[39] Their shows feature an ensemble of talented young folk artists dedicated to the performance and preservation of the music, songs, anddances of Eastern Europe and neighboring folk cultures. The performers are full-time students who receive substantial scholarship awards from the university, with additional financial aid provided by Tamburitzans Scholarship Endowment Funds.[39]
The Mary Pappert School of Music hosts in-house and guest performers on a regular basis.
The university maintains three theater groups: theRed Masquers, Spotlight Musical Theatre Company,[40] and the Medieval and Renaissance Players.[41] In recent years, the Masquers also participated in the Pittsburgh Monologue Project.[42] Spotlight is a musical theatre company that produces two full-lengthBroadway musicals each year.[43] The Renaissance and Medieval Players perform religious plays,morality plays, andfarces from the English Medieval and Early Renaissance periods, sometimes working in conjunction with the Red Masquers.[44]
The Duquesne Dukes play varsity football, men's and women's basketball, women's bowling, men's and women's cross country, men's and women's soccer, women's swimming & diving, men's and women's tennis, men's and women's outdoor track & field, women's indoor track & field, women's lacrosse, women's rowing, and women's volleyball at theNational Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)Division I level and in either theAtlantic 10 Conference[45][46] or theNortheast Conference (football and bowling). In recent years, Duquesne football was a member of the NCAA Division IMetro Atlantic Athletic Conference.[47] Duquesne started varsity women's triathlon in the 2023-24 academic year and will start varsity women's golf and acrobatics and tumbling in 2024-25.
Duquesne has two notable club ice hockey teams that play in theACHA as members ofCollege Hockey Mid-America (Division 1) andCollege Hockey East (Division 3).
The Duquesne Universitycoat of arms was modified from that of the family of its namesake, the Marquis du Quesne. A red book was added to adapt the arms of a French governor to that of a university. The coat of arms was designed by a Spiritan father and alumnus, Father John F. Malloy. They were then examined and partly revised byPierre de Chaignon la Rose, a prominentecclesiastical heraldic artist at the time. The design was adopted early in 1923 and used for the first time carved inhigh relief above Canevin Hall, then under construction. The first time the arms were incorporated into the seal of the university was for the commencement program of 1926.[48]
The formalheraldicblazon of the arms is as follows:Argent, a lion sable armed and langued gules holding a book of the same edged or; on a chief party per pale azure and of the third, a dove displayed of the first, areoled of the fourth; motto, "Spiritus est qui vivificat."[49]
AlumnusJoseph Carl Breil, class of 1888, notable as being the first person to compose a score specifically for a motion picture, also composed the music for Duquesne University's alma mater. Father John F. Malloy, who also designed the university coat of arms, wrote the lyrics. The first performance of the song was in October 1920.[50]
The Duquesne Universityclass ring was first adopted in the 1920s, the same decade as the seal and alma mater. The first incarnation was approved by a 1925 student committee, and was an "octagonal deep blue stone held in place by four corner prongs."[51] Two years later, another student committee replaced the blue stone with asynthetic ruby. The ring's design continued to evolve until 1936, as the prongs were replaced with a continuous metalbezel. The words "Duquesne", "University", and "Pittsburgh", accompanied the graduation year around the four sides of the bezel, and the shank on both sides was decorated with a motif adapted from the university's coat of arms. Originally an option, the embossed goldGothic initial "D" became standard in the late 1930s. The Duquesne alumni website notes, "The golden initial, oversized stone and octagonal shape make the Duquesne ring stand out from those of other colleges and universities."[51]
Duquesne was the first university in Pennsylvania to receive theEPA's Energy Star Combined Heat and Power Award for itsnatural gas turbine located on campus. Duquesne also uses an innovative ice cooling system that cools buildings and reduces peak energy demand. Duquesne's new Power Center facility has also achieved aLEED Silver Rating.[52] Furthermore, Duquesne's Center for Environmental Research and Education (CERE) offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in environmental science and management.[52] Duquesne has been evaluated by the 2009 and 2010 College Sustainability Report Card.[53]
ThePalumbo-Donahue School of Business offers a full-time MBA-Sustainable Business Practices. ThisSustainable MBA integrates sustainability-oriented coursework and consulting projects into the curriculum.[54] This program has earned considerable recognition since its launch. In 2008, the program was awarded the Page Prize for excellence in business sustainability education.[55][56] In 2018,Robert Sroufe received theAspen Institute "Ideas Worth Teaching" award, which recognizes professors and classes that redefine business education and practice.[57] In 2020, the program was recognized as the top sustainability-focused MBA in the United States and the fourth best program in the world byCorporate Knights magazine.[58]
Like many US universities, Duquesne has faced criticism for what has been described ashire-and-fire treatment of academics not ontenure track.Adjunct faculty have complained that they are paid approximately $12,000 annually for full-time work without the right to receive or buy intobenefits or healthcare, and with the risk of their anticipated work being terminated with as little as two weeks' notice.[59] Following concern that any complaints to administratorscould lead to adjunct professors being dismissed, adjunct faculty have sought to unionize by joining theUnited Steelworkers union.[60] Particular criticism was applied to the university after the death ofMargaret Mary Vojtko, an adjunct who was removed by campus police from her office, where she had been sleeping as she could not afford to heat her house while paying for chemotherapy.[61] On a contract that did not pay for insurance, her pay had recently been cut by approximately a third.
The university has resisted attempts by adjunct faculty to join unions,[62] arguing that its academic staff are exempt from employee rights due to its status as a religious institution. Former university president Charles Dougherty suggested that unionization "could lead to the compromise or loss of our Catholic and Spiritan identity".[63]
Duquesne has over 93,000 living alumni,[2] and theSchool of Law reports that almost 30 percent of the practicing lawyers in western Pennsylvania are graduates of Duquesne.[47]
Duquesne has many alumni in the media and sports fields. These include the lateJohn Clayton, a writer and reporter forESPN; actorTom Atkins; andTerry McGovern, the television actor, radio personality, voice-over specialist, and acting instructor. German filmmakerWerner Herzog attended Duquesne, but did not graduate.[64] Sports personalitiesLeigh Bodden,Chip Ganassi,Mike James, baseball hall-of-famerCumberland Posey, andChuck Cooper, the first African-American basketball player to be drafted in theNBA, all graduated from Duquesne, as did both the founder and his principal owner son of thePittsburgh Steelers,Art andDan Rooney. SingerBobby Vinton,MLB pitcherJoe Beimel, and big-band composerSammy Nestico are also alumni.Norm Nixon, who holds the all-time assist record for the Duquesne Dukes, played for theLos Angeles Lakers.Indiana Pacers point guardT. J. McConnell spent two years playing for the Dukes.WWE superstar Roman Macek, ring nameLuca Crusifino, graduated from Duquesne University and also attendedThomas R. Kline School of Law of Duquesne University.
Duquesne has graduated at least three bishops and two cardinals in the Roman Catholic Church, including bishopDavid Zubik, the current ordinary of theRoman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh; former bishop of PittsburghVincent Leonard; andDavid Bonnar, the bishop of theRoman Catholic Diocese of Youngstown; and cardinalsDaniel DiNardo andAdam Maida. Figures in politics includeDonald A. Bailey,Father James Cox, Retired United States Air Force four-star general and former director of the National Security Agency, principal deputy director of National Intelligence, anddirector of the CIAGeneral Michael V. Hayden , former lieutenant governor of PennsylvaniaCatherine Baker Knoll, Pittsburgh Mayor ElectCorey O'Connor, U.S. representative from PennsylvaniaBud Shuster, and United States ambassadorsThomas Patrick Melady and Dan Rooney. Duquesne has many alumni in the sciences, includingGeorge Delahunty.Miftah Ismail, federal Minister of Finance and revenue in Pakistan, is also an alumnus.
[Sara] Sawick played the lead role in Spotlight Musical Theatre's production of Seussical in 2012.
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