Duquesne University Athletics

Located on a hilltop campus in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Duquesne University boasts a strong academic atmosphere that also fosters a rigorous athletic program. Today Duquesne University is a progressive, educational community found as a self-enclosed 40-acre campus on the "Bluff." USA Today cited Duquesne as having the safest campus in Pennsylvania and one of the safest campuses in the nation. Duquesne was ranked as one of the 100 “Most Wired” colleges in the United States. Duquesne is ranked among the Top 10 Catholic universities in the nation according to U.S. News and World Report.

Duquesne's recent growth has been tremendous with more than 8,000 students in nine schools of study. These include the McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts, Bayer School of Natural and Environmental Sciences; and the Schools of Law, Business and Administration, Pharmacy Music, Education, Nursing, Rangos School of Health Sciences and the School of Leadership and Professional Advancement. Duquesne's ten schools offer degree programs on the baccalaureate, professional, masters and doctoral levels. Duquesne prides itself as a teaching university, with professors conducting classes daily. DU has a 16-1 teacher-student ratio, and 94 percent of full-time faculty hold doctorates.

Student-athletes at Duquesne compete in the Atlantic 10 Athletic Conference while the football team competes in the Metro Atlantic Athletics Conference (MAAC) Football League. The rifle teams compete in the Middle Atlantic Conference and the wrestling team is independent from any conference.

Recent Highlights:

• Senior cross-country runner Sam Shea was named the Atlantic 10 Conference’s Men's Cross County Student Athlete of the Year. Brian Blackburn was also named to the Atlantic 10 Academic All-Conference team.
  
  
• Duquesne University was cited among the nation’s Top 15 in highest athletics graduation rate by U.S. News & World Report in its March 18 edition. DU’s student-athlete graduation rate of 80 percent was +8 percentage points better than that of the general student body.
  
  
• Five Dukes soccer players were named to the Pre-Season All A-10 Team. Senior goalkeeper Terry McNelis junior midfielder Damien Pottinger were named to the All-Conference men's soccer team. Freshmen Erica Carey and Caitlin McCarter were named to women's All-Rookie Team while Zachary Varga was named to the men's All-Rookie Team.
  
  
• Leigh Bodden won first place in the men’s long jump with a mark of 23-0 for 10 points at the 2002 Atlantic 10 Conference Track and Field Championships held at the University of Richmond.
  
  
• Duquesne University women's volleyball program was named a 2001-02 AVCA/Molten Team Academic Award honoree as announced by the American Volleyball Coaches Association. The Dukes ranked in a tie for fourth out of 47 Division I programs with their 3.58 GPA for the 2001-02 academic year.
  
  
• Wide Receiver, Jeremy Conley, was named 2002 preseason offensive player of the year in the MAAC Football League.

Recent Conference Championships:
1977 Atlantic 10 Conference Men's Basketball
1995, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2001 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Football

Duquesne’s athletic facilities include: the A.J. Palumbo Center for basketball, wrestling and volleyball; the Arthur J. Rooney Athletic Field where football, soccer and lacrosse compete; the newly built Duquesne Baseball Field; Towers Pool; Rooney Bubble used November through April over top of Rooney Field; and the campus tennis courts. View more information on Duquesne’s athletic facilities.

More info on Dukes Athletics can be found here: Duquesne Athletics Homepage