DUQUESNE UNIVERSITY

'Duquesne University of the Holy Spirit' is a private Catholic university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. Founded by members of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, Duquesne () 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 six. The University has since expanded to over 10,000 students within a self-contained 50-acre hilltop campus in the "bluff" neighborhood of downtown Pittsburgh.

Contents

History

Today

Academics

Performance art

Athletics

Basketball

Football

Other Varsity Sports

Club Sports

Atlantic 10 Championships

Shooting incident

Notable alumni

Notes

External links/Sources

History

The Pittsburgh Catholic College of the Holy Ghost was founded on 1 October 1878 by Fr. Joseph Strub and the Holy Ghost Fathers, who had been expelled from Germany during Bismarck's ''Kulturkampf'' six years earlier.^[1] When the College was founded, it had six faculty members and 40 students.^[2] The College began offering instruction in 1881, obtaining its state charter in 1882. Students attended classes in a rented space above a bakery on Wylie Avenue in downtown Pittsburgh. Duquesne established itself at its current campus 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.
On 27 May 1911, the College became the first Catholic institution of higher learning in Pennsylvania to be called a university and was renamed as "Duquesne University of the Holy Ghost," after the Marquis Duquesne, the French governor of New France who first brought Catholic observances to the Pittsburgh area. In 1914, the graduate school was established.

Today

Today, Duquesne University is a progressive, educational community that has more than tripled in size from its early 12.5 acres (51,000 m²) to its present 50-acre (202,343 m²) campus. Several recent renovations have added to Duquesne's campus, including a state-of-the-art health sciences facility, two recording studios, two parking garages, a multi-purpose recreation center, a Victorian campus throughway, and a theater-classroom complex.
Recently named one of the top ten Catholic universities in the U.S., Duquesne's academic programs are recognized both nationally and internationally. In May 2001, Charles J. Dougherty, Ph.D., was elected president of Duquesne University by the board of directors. He succeeded John Murray, Jr., who was president from 1988 to 2001.

Academics

Duquesne has a student enrollment of over 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students. The University comprises several undergraduate and graduate schools and offers degree programs on the baccalaureate, professional, masters and doctoral levels. The following institutions combined to form Duquesne University.

★ McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts (1878)

★ Bayer School of Natural and Environmental Sciences

★ Duquesne School of Law (1911)

★ A.J. Palumbo School of Business Administration (1913)

★ Mylan School of Pharmacy (1925)

★ Mary Pappert School of Music (1926)

★ School of Education (1929)

★ School of Nursing (1937)

★ Rangos School of Health Sciences (1990)

★ Leadership and Professional Advancement (2001)
As a result of its academic excellence, the University has signed agreements with institutions around the globe including schools in Belgium, Germany, France, Spain, Ireland, England, China, Japan and Italy as well as the new Commonwealth of Independent States.

Performance art

Duquesne is the home of the Tamburitzans, the longest-running multicultural song and dance company in the United States. Their shows feature an ensemble of talented young folk artists dedicated to the performance and preservation of the music, songs, and dances 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.^[3]
The University also maintains three theater groups: the Red Masquers, the Renaissance and Medieval Players, and Spotlight. Spotlight is a musical theatre company that puts on two musicals per academic year, while the Red Masquers put on a variety of plays throughout the year. The Masquers annually perform three main-stage plays, generally one classical, one modern, and one contemporary. In addition, the group performs two sets of one-act plays. "Premieres," which are student-written, are performed in the winter, while the spring brings "One Acts for Charity" selected from the works of professional playwrights. In recent years, they have also participated in the Pittsburgh Monologue Project. The Renaissance and Medieval Players offer audiences a truly Medieval experience, performing religious plays, morality plays, and farces from the English Medieval and Early Renaissance periods, sometimes working in conjunction with the Red Masquers.

Athletics

NCAA logo

''For season-by-season men's basketball and football results, see Duquesne Dukes.''
The Duquesne Dukes of Duquesne University play varsity men's and women's basketball, baseball, and cross country; men's golf; men's and women's soccer, swimming, diving, tennis, and outdoor track & field; and women's indoor track & field, lacrosse, rowing, and volleyball at the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I level and in the Atlantic 10 Conference. In 2008, the Dukes will play varsity football in the NCAA Division I Northeast Conference, although they currently play in the NCAA Division I Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. Wrestling is offered at Duquesne as an Independent NCAA Division I sport.

Basketball

The Dukes men's basketball team has had great success over the years, playing twice in national championship games in the 1950s and winning the National Invitation Tournament championship in 1955. (At the time, the NIT was the premier collegiate basketball tournament in the country.)
Duquesne also won the 1976–77 Eastern Collegiate Basketball League championship (the forerunner to the Eastern Athletic Association—now known as the Atlantic 10 Conference) and 1979–80 and 1980–81 Eastern Athletic Association regular season co-championships.
Duquesne is the only school to have back-to-back first overall picks in the National Basketball Association Draft (Dick Ricketts by the Saint Louis Hawks in 1955 and Sihugo Green by the Rochester Royals in 1956). The Dukes men's basketball program can also claim the first African-American player selected in an NBA draft (Chuck Cooper by the Boston Celtics in 1950).
The 1939–40 Dukes basketball team finished with a 20-3 record and appeared in the final four of both the NIT and NCAA Tournaments.
No team has had as many Atlantic 10 men's basketball scoring champions as Duquesne.
The men's basketball Dukes annually play their cross-town rival, the University of Pittsburgh Panthers, in Pittsburgh's much anticipated and highly attended City Game. The Dukes women's basketball team also plays the University of Pittsburgh every year in the women's version of the City Game.

Football

Duquesne plays football in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, winning or sharing ten conference titles, including eight in a row and 10 of the past 12. (The only shared conference title came in 2006 with Marist College, whom the Dukes defeated earlier in the season.)
Duquesne was the ECAC Bowl champions and NCAA Division I FCS Mid-Major National Champions in 2003. (The team was the 1995 ECAC Bowl Champions as well.)
The Dukes also had NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) success in the past, winning the 1934 Festival of Palms Bowl (played on January 1, 1934, but part of the 1933 season) and 1937 Orange Bowl (played on January 1, 1937, but part of the 1936 season). (There was only one level of major college football at the time.)
From 1933–42, Duquesne was among the elite college football teams in the United States, garnering the sixth-highest winning percentage (71-22-2, 0.762) in the nation behind Alabama, Tennessee, Duke, Fordham, and Notre Dame. In 1941, Duquesne finished the season undefeated and untied, earning a No. 8 Associated Press ranking and leading the nation in scoring defense, rushing defense, and total defense.
Duquesne is noted for establishing numerous firsts in collegiate football. Former head coach Elmer Layden is credited with devising the system of hand signals that officials use today. The signal system was put to use for the first time on November 11, 1928, when Duquesne hosted Thiel College at Pitt Stadium. Layden was also the first coach to use two sets of uniform jerseys for home and away contests. In 1929, graduate student manager John Holohan conceived the idea of Pittsburgh's first night game at Forbes Field. On the evening of November 1 that year, the Dukes made history by defeating Geneva College, 27-7, in front of more than 27,000 spectators.
At the club level, Duquesne won the 1973 National Club Football Association National Championship and was runner-up in 1977.
The Dukes football team also boasts the greatest all-time intraconference winning streak in NCAA Division I FCS history with 39 straight wins in the MAAC. The 39-game streak also ties for the second-longest intraconference winning streak in NCAA Division I Football history, five games shy of the all-time record.
Beginning in 2008, the Dukes will offer football scholarships as it moves to the Northeast Conference as an associate member. The Dukes will still, however, be in consideration for the NCAA Division I FCS Mid-Major National Championship as awarded by the Sports Network, at least until further notice.
The National Football League's Pittsburgh franchise, the Steelers, has drafted more players out of Duquesne University than any other institution.

Other Varsity Sports

The Dukes wrestling squad has also been immensely successful, although it competes as an Independent in NCAA Division I. The Dukes wrestlers have won two NCAA Division I East Regional Championships (2000 and 2005) and have sent at least one wrestler to the NCAA Championships every year during John Hartupee's nine seasons as head coach, the position he currently holds.
Duquesne fielded an NCAA varsity rifle team for many years (a coed sport). This team competed in the Middle Atlantic Rifle Conference, claiming a share of the conference title in the 2001–2002 season. The team officially disbanded after the 2003–2004 season.
Recently, Duquesne's Olympic (non-revenue) sports have been led by distance runner Tom Slosky, a member of the University's cross-country and indoor and outdoor track and field teams. Slosky is a three-time Atlantic 10 champion—winning a team cross country title in 2005 and the conference's 3,000-meter steeplechase as a member of Duquesne's outdoor track and field program in 2005 and 2006—-as well as a two-time IC4A champion in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (2006 and 2007). Slosky also was a 3,000-meter steeplechase competitor in the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships in 2006 and 2007—advancing to the final heat in 2007.

Club Sports

Duquesne fields many club or nonvarsity teams that compete regularly against other schools. Club sports offered at Duquesne are men's indoor track and field, rowing, ice hockey, and roller hockey.
The men's indoor track and field program practices and competes alongside Duquesne's varsity women's indoor track and field program during the winter months and is affiliated with the Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America. The men's team is recognized as varsity during the spring months when it becomes an outdoor track and field program and competes in the Atlantic 10, although it maintains its affiliation with the IC4A.
The men's rowing program generally practices and competes alongside Duquesne's varsity women's rowing team members.
The men's ice hockey team is affiliated with the Division I level of the American Collegiate Hockey Association, competing in the College Hockey Mid-America conference. The team was CHMA champions during the 2006–07 season.
The men's roller hockey team competes as a Division II team in the National Collegiate Roller Hockey Association (NCRHA)'s Eastern Collegiate Roller Hockey Association (ECRHA), specifically in the Central Conference.

Atlantic 10 Championships

''For a complete list of the University's Atlantic 10 champions, both team and individual, see Duquesne University Atlantic 10 Champions.''
Duquesne's first full/"postseason" Atlantic 10 team championship came in 1977 with a men's championship in the Eastern Collegiate Basketball League (the forerunner to the Eastern Athletic Association—now known as the Atlantic 10 Conference. The Dukes' only other full/"postseason" Atlantic 10 team championship came in 2005 by way of men's cross country, but the Dukes have also won numerous regular season Atlantic 10 team championships. Men's basketball was co-champion of the league's regular seasons in both 1980 and 1981 when it was known as the Eastern Athletic Association. 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 seasons in both 2004 and 2005.
The Dukes have crowned numerous full Atlantic 10 individual champions in women's rowing (3), men's and women's swimming and diving [10 (men), 4 (women)], women's indoor track and field (8), and men's and women's outdoor track & field [10 (men), 8 (women)].

Shooting incident

At 2:15 a.m. EST on September 17, 2006, a shooting incident took place at the University campus near Vickroy Hall, after a dance party sponsored by the Black Student Union that several nonstudents were attending. Five members of the Duquesne Dukes basketball team were injured including one who sustained critical injuries after an argument between one outsider and two students. Among the injured was a Canadian-born player, Sam Ashaolu from Toronto, who is the cousin of former NBA and Houston Rockets star Hakeem Olajuwon. This incident occurred only days after two other school incidents, including the Dawson College shooting in Montreal that killed two people and injured 19, and a pellet gun shooting incident at the University of Ottawa that caused no injuries, as well as a foiled shooting attempt at a school in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
According to the University president Charles Dougherty, there were reports by witnesses of two guns being seen at the dance site, but there has been no confirmation as to whether both of them were used during the shooting. The shooter sought by several witnesses fled the scene after the shots were fired.^[4][5][6][7] It was confirmed later that a second shooter was involved in the incident. Police confirmed the identities of the suspects as Brandon Baynes and William Holmes, both 18 years old. Neither was a student at Duquesne and no motives were found, but reports from ESPN revealed that one of the victims said that one of the gunmen was jealous that his girlfriend admired a Duquesne player.^[8]
On September 18, police arrested Brittany Jones, a Duquesne student, and charged her with weapons-related offenses. She helped six men, including the shooters, reach the school dance party despite the fact that some of them were armed. According to Jones, the doorman would not search bags of any party goers, which permitted the suspects to enter with their weapons without notice.^[9] Brittany Jones has since been expelled by the university for violations of the student code of conduct. During the early morning hours of September 19, police informed the media that they had arrested Baynes, who was subsequently charged with five counts of criminal attempt homicide (attempted murder) aggravated assault, weapons count, reckless endangerment, carrying an unlicensed firearm and criminal conspiracy. Police issued similar a warrant for Holmes with the same charges.^[10] On September 20, Holmes turned himself to police and will be arraigned on the same charges.^[11]
NBA player Vince Carter visited with Duquesne students in September 2006 as a show of support after the shootings.^[12]

Notable alumni

Main articles: List of Duquesne University people

Notes

1.
2. Early History
3. Tamburitzans
4. 5 Duquesne University Basketball Players Shot
5. Five Duquesne basketball players shot
6. 5 Duquesne University Students Shot On Campus
7. Canadian college basketball player injured in Pittsburgh shooting
8. No Sign Of 2 Gunmen In Duquesne Campus Shooting
9. Arrests made in Duquesne shooting
10. Man Arrested In Duquesne Campus Shooting
11. Arrests made in Duquesne shooting
12. Vince Carter at Duquesne?

External links/Sources

★ Dukes Chat

★ Main Duquesne website

★ Duquesne University College & Graduate School of Liberal Arts

★ Duquesne University School of Business

★ Duquesne University School of Law

★ Duquesne University School of Leadership & Professional Advancement

★ Capital Region Campus (Harrisburg, PA)

★ Duquesne Gumberg Library website

★ Official Home of Duquesne University Athletics