Duquesne University is a private Catholic university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. 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. In 1911, the college became the first Catholic university-level institution in Pennsylvania. It is the only Spiritan institution of higher education in the world. It is named for an 18th-century governor of New France, Michel-Ange Duquesne de Menneville.
The Duquesne University coat 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 by Pierre de Chaignon la Rose, a prominent ecclesiastical heraldic artist at the time.
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’s Uptown neighborhood. Of the 31 buildings that make up the Bluff campus, 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).
600 Forbes Ave, Pittsburgh
PA 15282
- Duquesne is a top tier university among 1,400 American institutions surveyed by U.S. News & World Report.
- No. 1 worldwide among schools of its size and No. 8 overall by the Aspen Institute Center for Business Education for integrating social and environmental issues into its MBA program. The University has a specific MBA for Sustainability program.
- No. 16 among small research universities, according to a Chronicle of Higher Education index measuring faculty productivity in more than 7,300 U.S. doctoral programs.
- No. 17 ranking of the Duquesne University School of Law’s Legal Research and Writing Program, according to the U.S.News’ America’s Best Graduate Schools 2010, ahead of 170 other American Bar Association-accredited law schools.
- Duquesne’s graduate programs have won praise for innovation and continued high quality.
- Students benefit from small classes (rarely exceeding 20 students), active participation in academics, research and community outreach.
- Students get direct interaction with professors, creating the opportunity to personalize your studies.
- Duquesne achieve more than $13 million in grant funding.
- Recognition for community involvement, both by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll.
