Duquesne University Achievements 2003-2004

• Duquesne is attracting students who are extraordinarily prepared for the University's rigorous academics. The average Duquesne freshman SAT score is 40 points higher than three years ago; the admissions acceptance rate has been lowered to 85 percent; and the average high school GPA of accepted students is at an all-time high of 3.6.

• Enrollment continues to climb, with record enrollment for the past three years, showing the entire University­from academics to athletics to all of the facets of campus life­is matching the needs of a growing number of talented students.

• The freshman retention rate is at its highest rate in a decade. A vast majority- almost 90 percent—of fall 2003 freshmen returned to Duquesne for their sophomore year. Duquesne's rate far surpasses the national freshman retention rate of 73.5 percent.

• The Honors College continues to build a reputation of prestige, with the minimum SAT score required for entry being raised a full 100 points. Honors College students this year boast an average score of just below 1350.

• The acquisition of a two-acre block of Forbes Avenue directly below The Bluff and the purchase of Brottier Hall expand Duquesne's campus by nearly 10 percent. Plans for the Forbes Avenue property call for mixed-use development of retail, education and housing facilities that will help fulfill needs outlined in the 10-year Campus Master Plan, improve the appearance of the campus "front door" and contribute to the development of the neighborhood.

• The decision to partner with the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth resulted in vast improvements to Duquesne's Italian campus. The campus has moved to Boccea, west of Vatican City and closer to the heart of metropolitan Rome. The new site has additional classrooms, a seminar room/library and room for 60 students.

• National symposiums are bringing esteem to Duquesne and attracting scholars from around the country. With topics such as the John F. Kennedy assassination, the ethics of stem cell research, fighting cybercrime, the legacy of Brown vs. Board of Education and tracking terrorism, Duquesne has established itself as a center of enlightened discourse on topics of national and global importance.

• As part of the University's Strategic Plan to attain a more diverse undergraduate student body, Admissions hired an Assistant Director of Diversity Recruitment.

• Gumberg Library launched a self-checkout, making it more convenient for students and faculty to use the library. The Library also eliminated interlibrary loan fees for faculty.

• The Dukes won the mid-major national football championship, took the Atlantic 10 season in men's soccer, ranking as high as 17th nationally, and won the lacrosse Atlantic 10 season championship. Academically, our athletes ranked among the best in the league, with 240 of them making the Atlantic 10 commissioner's honor roll.

• A spirit leader program was developed to assist in the development of student leaders.

• The University became a graduate Stafford loan lender, netting new revenues at more than $400,000.

• The University raised the entry requirements for the Spiritan program.

• Private voluntary support—cash received in gifts and grants—increased by 17 percent or $1.6 million over FY2003.

• More than 7,500 students, faculty and staff members gave their time and talent volunteering in the DUV program—an all-time participation record.

• Our distinguished alumnus Dr. Robert Gussin and his wife, Dr. Patricia Gussin, have committed $1.5 million to name and endow the Spiritan Program Division.

• A new print and broadcast advertising campaign launched designed to increase Duquesne's reputation for educating the mind, heart and spirit. This fall's efforts are focused on recruitment and feature current Duquesne students. The campaign is centered around the concept "Do More...for the Mind, Heart and Spirit."

School Highlights
The following highlights were provided by individual schools and edited for length.

McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts

• McAnulty faculty published 14 books through such prestigious presses as Stanford, Iowa, Georgetown, Oxford and Johns Hopkins.

• Together, the faculty presented 145 conference papers, and authored 89 scholarly articles and 27 book chapters.

• Graduate students in the McAnulty College presented 87 papers at academic conferences.

• Revisions were made to various majors and minors, and new concentrations in English, Modern Languages and Literature, Psychology and Sociology were established.

• McAnulty faculty were awarded more than $1 million in grants.

• The Graduate Center for Social and Public Policy hosted its first annual conference, "Public Policy and Conflict Resolution."

• The Pastoral Ministry program, housed in the theology department, established a new satellite location in cooperation with the Greensburg Diocese for its graduate certificate program.

• The first-ever International Milton Congress was held at Duquesne University, welcoming scholars from around the world to address John Milton in context.

• The Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies hosted the Eighth National Communications Ethics Conference.

• More than $1 million in renovations were made to College Hall in order to better house the McAnulty College, which now inhabits the building completely for the first time in its history.

• For the first time, all entering first-year students in the McAnulty College enrolled in either the Honors College or in one of the school's first-year learning communities.

School of Law

• For the second consecutive year, the entering class has the strongest academic credentials in the school's history. As part of a targeted enrollment strategy, the Law School is increasing selectivity.

• The Law School's Wecht Institute hosted a major international conference marking the 40th anniversary of the John F. Kennedy assassination. More than 1,200 attendees from 41 states and nine countries participated.

• Duquesne hosted a national commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court's landmark ruling in Brown vs. Board of Education. Participants in the case and other pioneers in school desegregation recalled the historic events and legal issues before more than 1,000 attendees and a national C-SPAN television audience.

• Duquesne law students placed first and second in the Gourley Cup Moot Court Competition.

• Several renovations and improvements were made to the Law School, including new furniture in the Java City/Student Lounge area, upgraded lighting and seating in the School's lobby and $100,000 in updates to the second floor's two amphitheater classrooms with new seating and audio-visual enhancements.

A.J. Palumbo School of Business Administration and
John F. Donahue Graduate School of Business

• The Graduate School is one of the few schools in the nation offering a graduate-level concentration in forensic accounting.

• The Graduate School is the only accredited business school in Pittsburgh offering a Master of Accountancy degree.

• The schools partnered with the FBI and the Law School to present the "Protecting Business from Cyber Crime" conference.

• The Graduate School of Business held "A New American Steel Industry?" conference with the Economic Club of Pittsburgh to discuss the industry's competitiveness and the effectiveness of tariffs.

• The Graduate School is launching an advanced degree in digital forensics.

• The Business School graduated its first students from BSBA Economics program in May.

• The School of Business' two satellite organizations, Small Business Development Center and Institute for Economic Transformation (IET), last year alone generated nearly $4 million in grants and operational revenue.

• The Business School's IET provided programs and educational training to more than 1,800 individuals.

• Through the Industrial Growth Works and Workforce Development programs, IET launched two new and exciting programs focused on the training and development of low income individuals for the financial services industry.

• The Business School has created a new curriculum and new courses to establish an innovative major in Leadership and Change Management. An agreement has been reached with Development Dimensions International (DDI), the world's premier training and assessment company, which will permit the school to differentiate our program from all others in the country.

• A survey of 2004 accounting graduates shows that 100 percent of the graduating class accepted positions in accounting or accounting-related positions by mid-summer, 2004.

Mylan School of Pharmacy and
Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences

• The Mylan School ranked third in the country among all private schools of pharmacy in funding from the National Institutes of Health.

• The Mylan School was recognized as a national model by the Association of Chain Drug Stores, an industry leader in community pharmacy, for the Wellness Program of the Center for Pharmacy Care.

• The Center for Pharmacy Care provided more than 50 health and wellness events and 16 health education seminars, and served over 1,000 individuals from the campus community. This year, the Center is extending its services to nearby communities.

• The Mylan School pioneered the country's first Post-Baccalaureate Weekend Doctor of Pharmacy Program, slated to begin in August 2005.

• The School supported the development of a pioneering new journal in pharmacy administration.

• "Operation Immunization," a student-led project in spring of 2003 to prepare and distribute information on the importance of vaccinations, received a national award from the American Pharmacy Association.

• Second Annual Scholars Day was hosted by Rho Chi service fraternity to honor and mentor top high school students who are interested in pharmacy.

• Established a new community residency program in partnership with Giant Eagle Pharmacy and Pfizer to prepare residents to become community pharmacy practitioners with advanced practice, leadership, teaching and research skills.

• Established the Duquesne Center for Pharmaceutical Technology to advance research of pharmaceutical manufacturing technology.

Mary Pappert School of Music

• The School of Music has earned final approval for its highly successful bachelor's degree program in music technology and plan approval for a new Master of Music Technology program from its national accrediting agency.

• The Duquesne Wind Symphony performed at one of the world's most prestigious performance venues: Carnegie Hall in New York City.

• The Duquesne Opera Workshop became the first American musicians to perform American music at the May Opera Festival in Bulgaria.

• The School of Music (David Allen Wehr, Hillman Distinguished Professor of Piano) presented the Complete Beethoven Piano Sonata Cycle, a monumental artistic achievement, completing a series of eight concerts over a two-year period.

• The Music School had extensive renovations that will dramatically improve the school's interior, both in terms of appearance and acoustics.

• A 2004 graduate of the Music School received a Silver Congressional Award Medal for her volunteer efforts, one of many students and faculty who justify the school's strong reputation for community service.

• The music school released a new CD, Christmas at Duquesne, the first major collaboration among virtually every department in the school, which represents thousands of hours of music-making contributed by faculty and students.

• The Mary Pappert School of Music made a notable musical contribution at the Convocation celebrating the 125th anniversary of Duquesne's founding and the 300th anniversary of the founding of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit. The Trees of Righteousness was composed by faculty composer Lynn Emberg Purse and performed by the Chamber Singers with faculty soloist Guenko Guechev.

• Music faculty enjoyed exceptional scholarly productivity. Overall scholarly production has increased from 67 to 85 with an impressive list of quality indicators. International performances by school professors resulted in increased international visibility for the Music School.

School of Education

• After a rigorous evaluation process, the School of Education gained membership in an elite group, the University Council for Educational Administration. Only one in 10 universities that grant doctorates in educational leadership can meet the standards required for membership.

• The School earned the honor of hosting the 2005 Improving University Teaching (IUT) conference, which will bring university educators from around the world to campus next summer.

• The Department of Foundations and Leadership created a partnership with the American Evaluation Association and landed a Kellogg Foundation Grant in order to establish the Graduate Diversity Internship Program, which brings graduate students of color from across the nation to Duquesne to launch their careers as professional evaluators.

• Through the School's efforts, Duquesne earned the honor of hosting the triennial national conference of the Association of Counseling Education and Supervision, which will bring approximately 1,000 counseling practitioners and academics to campus in October 2005.

• A new program was launched to certify practicing educators for Pennsylvania's new standards to teach English as a second language, the only program of its kind in Southwestern Pennsylvania.

• The doctoral program in Counselor Education and Supervision won accreditation by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP), making Duquesne the only Catholic university in the United States that can offer a nationally accredited doctorate in that field.

• A group of 22 students from the Interdisciplinary Doctoral Program for Educational Leaders (IDPEL) were invited to participate in a prestigious conference at Oxford University in England.

• The School is preparing to celebrate its 75th anniversary of educating leading teachers.

School of Nursing

• To meet dramatically increasing enrollment, the School of Nursing moved into the completely renovated 5th floor of Fisher Hall, nearly doubling available space and adding state-of-the-art nursing labs and learning resources.

• Nurse Managed Wellness Centers operated and staffed by faculty and students expanded operations, adding a new center on Pittsburgh's South Side to the highly successful existing Hill District and Mt. Washington operations.

• The Center for International Nursing launched new initiatives for men's health care and for training grass roots-level health care providers in Nicaragua, in partnership with the Ministry of Health in that country.

• The Second Degree BSN program, which allows students possessing a bachelor's degree to obtain a nursing degree in a shortened length of time, restructured the curriculum, cutting program length from 18 months to one year and increasing enrollment more than tenfold.

• The School of Nursing landed a grant from Highmark to provide Second Degree BSN students with personal digital assistants (PDAs) and to study their utility in nursing education.

• The School offered the first systematic training to help local nurses obtain credentials as sexual assault nurse examiners.

• The School celebrated the 10th anniversary of its online Ph.D. program, the first such program in the nation, and initiated a new master's concentration in psychiatric-mental health nursing.

• The School acquired a high-tech patient simulator called SimMan, which mimics symptoms, providing students with challenging and realistic clinical exercises.

• The faculty revamped the undergraduate program, placing new emphasis on health care for the region's elderly and launched Operation ChurchBeat, a program to put qualified CPR trainers in the congregations of inner city churches.

John G. Rangos, Sr. School of Health Sciences

• Student retention rate for all disciplines was nearly 98 percent.

• Students in all allied health disciplines achieved pass rates on national licensure exams that exceeded the national average.

• Faculty contributed significantly to the body of scientific knowledge by submitting 27 grant proposals, presenting at 78 regional, national and international forums, and increasing their publication in peer-reviewed journals by 50 percent.

• The Rangos School produced national award-winning students Kristyn Labutta, who was honored as one of six outstanding allied health students in the United States for 2004, and Amy Weil, who was selected for fieldwork training in the U.S. Army Medical Corps.

• Students from Speech-Language Pathology Department provided free hearing screenings for elementary school students in private and parochial schools throughout Pittsburgh and at community health fairs.

• HMS collaborated with Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh in an NIH-funded grant to train older adults to use the Internet to obtain accurate and dependable health care information.

• The Physician Assistant department launched a new educational forum­The Steel City Symposium­to provide interdisciplinary information to PAs and other health professionals. In 2003, the symposium addressed child abuse; in 2004, it addressed medical and legal issues related to end of life decisions.

Bayer School of Natural and Environmental Sciences

• Chemistry and mathematics faculty in The Center for Computational Sciences were awarded substantial grants from the National Science Foundation and the Department of Education to dedicate two new supercomputers with large-capacity storage system valued at more than $1 million.

• The Summer Undergraduate Research Program was expanded through a competitive grant from the National Science Foundation that will fund participation by more minority students.

• Research funding for school projects totaled more than $2.75 million.

• The Bayer School has taken a leadership role in facilitating informed public debate by sponsoring events like the stem cell conference, which brought together national experts in science, religion and ethics.

• The American Chemical Society Student Affiliates Chapter was again recognized with a commendable service award from the American Chemical Society during its national convention. This marks the 21st consecutive year that the Duquesne student chapter has earned such an honor.

• The chemistry department hired two full-time female professors to a faculty that previously had only male professors in tenure-track positions. The need for providing female role models in the chemistry field has been identified as a national issue. The new professors have supported students in launching Duquesne's first Women in Science group.

• The school hosted its first official academic study-abroad program with a group of nine students traveling to China.

• More than 300 faculty, students and guests attended a Distinguished Scientist Lecture with Harvard astronomer Robert Kirshner, who pioneered the ground-breaking discovery of the accelerating universe and dark energy.

School of Leadership and Professional Advancement

• The School of Leadership and Professional Advancement partnered with the Humane Society of the U.S. to create the nation's first degree and certificate program for those working in animal care and control. More than 60 people from 25 states have applied to participate in the online programs.

• The School of Leadership and Professional Advancement expanded its online program offerings, enabling people from here and abroad to choose from five online degree programs. During the last academic year, more than 150 SLPA students were earning their Duquesne degrees entirely online and that number continues to grow. Students hail from several countries including Iceland, Germany and Nigeria.

• The pass rate for graduates from the Executive Certificate in Financial Planning program who sit for the CFP Certification Exam is now 80 percent, significantly higher than the national average of 58 percent. The pass rate for the most recent Duquesne class taking the exam was 100 percent.

• Boards-by-Design, a program of the Nonprofit Leadership Institute, matched more than 150 individuals with area nonprofit boards and more are on the way—benefiting not just the nonprofit sector but the region in general.

• Recent honors included the Creative Use of Technology and Distinguished Credit Program awards from the Association of Continuing Higher Education.

• SLPA programs are listed in the Sloan Consortium Catalog of Online Educational Programs, which recognizes high quality online degree programs for student satisfaction, access, learning effectiveness, faculty satisfaction and institutional cost effectiveness.

• In the Duquesne tradition of serving the community, the SLPA has extended its reach to the military. Students enrolled now represent all branches of the military; from Iceland to Iraq and many other locations.

• The Paralegal Institute, an American Bar Association approved program, is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. Since its inception, the institute has produced more than 1,400 paralegals.