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Duquesne University

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Duquesne University of the Holy Ghost is a private Catholic university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Contents

Founding

Duquesne University first opened its doors as the Pittsburgh Catholic College of the Holy Ghost in October 1878 with an enrollment of 40 students and a faculty of seven. Moved from an original location on Wylie Avenue in the City's Uptown section to its present self-contained campus, Duquesne provides a hilltop vista overlooking the city.

Today

Today Duquesne University is a progressive, educational community which has more than tripled from its early 12.5 acres (51,000 m²) to its present, self-enclosed 40-acre (162,000 m²) campus on the "Bluff." Duquesne was cited by USA Today as having the safest campus in Pennsylvania and one of the safest campuses in the nation.

Several recent renovations have added to Duquesne's campus, including a state-of-the-art health sciences facility, two parking garages, a multi-purposed recreation center, a Victorian campus throughway, and a theatre classroom complex.

Recently named one of the top ten Catholic universities in the US, Duquesne's academics are recognized both nationally and internationally. As a result of its academic excellence, the University has signed agreements with institutions around the globe including Belgium, Germany, France, Spain, Ireland, England, China, Japan and Italy as well as the new Commonwealth of Independent States.

Charles J. Dougherty, Ph.D., was elected president of Duquesne University by its Board of Directors in May 2001. He succeeded John Murray, Jr., who served as president from 1988 to 2001.

Faculties

Duquesne's recent growth has been tremendous with more than 10,000 students in ten schools of study, including the McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts (1878), Bayer School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, and the Schools of Law (1911), A.J. Palumbo School of Business Administration (1913), Mylan School of Pharmacy (1925), Mary Pappert School of Music (1926), Education (1929), Nursing (1937), Rangos School of Health Sciences (1990) and the School of Leadership and Professional Advancement (2001). Duquesne's ten schools offer degree programs on the baccalaureate, professional, masters and doctoral levels.

Performance Art

Duquesne is the home of the Tamburitzans, the longest-running multicultural song and dance company in the United States.

Athletics

The Duquesne Dukes of Duquesne University play most NCAA Division I sports in the Atlantic 10 conference. Their men's basketball team has had great success in the past, playing twice in national championship games in the 1950s, winning the NIT in 1955. (At the time, the NIT was the premier collegiate basketball tournament in the country.) Duquesne is the only school to have back-to-back first picks in the NBA Draft (Dick Ricketts by Milwaukee in 1955 and Sihugo Green by Rochester in 1956). The Dukes men's basketball program can also claim the first African-American player selected by an NBA draft in Chuck Cooper (by the Boston Celtics in 1950). The 1939-40 Dukes, who finished with a 20-3 record, appeared in both the NIT (second place) and NCAA Tournaments (Final Four). Also, no men's basketball team has had as many Atlantic 10 scoring champions than Duquesne. The men's basketball Dukes annually play their cross-town rival University of Pittsburgh Panthers in Pittsburgh's much-anticipated and highly-attended City Game. The Lady Dukes basketball team also plays the Lady Panthers of the University of Pittsburgh every year in the women's version of that game.

Duquesne plays football in the NCAA Division I-AA Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, winning, to date, nine conference titles, seven in a row, and nine of the last 11. Duquesne was the ECAC Bowl champions and NCAA Division I-AA Consensus Mid-Major National Champions in 2003. (The team was the 1995 ECAC Bowl Champions as well.) The Dukes also had regular NCAA Division I success in the past, winning the 1934 Festival of Palms Bowl and 1937 Orange Bowl. (There was only one level of major college football at the time.) At the club level, Duquesne won the 1973 National Club Football Association National Championship. The NFL's Pittsburgh franchise has drafted more players out of Duquesne University than any other institution.

Duquesne's first full Atlantic 10 team championship came in the fall of 2005 in men's cross country, but the Dukes were also men's basketball champions of the Eastern Athletic Association in 1977. (This association was the forerunner to the current Atlantic 10 Conference.) The Dukes have also won numerous regular season Atlantic 10 team championships. Men's soccer was co-champion of the league's regular season in 2003, sole champion in 2004, and again co-champion in 2005. Women's lacrosse was co-champion of the league's regular season in both 2004 and 2005.

The Dukes have also crowned numerous full Atlantic 10 individual champions in women's rowing (1), men's and women's swimming & diving [6 (men) - 2 (women)], women's indoor track & field (5), and men's and women's outdoor track & field [8 (men) - 10 (women)].

Notable alumni

Arts, Entertainment, Literature and Humanities

Religion

Government and Military

Other

Sports

Football

Basketball

Baseball

Other

External links

 

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