Three New Members Join Duquesne University’s Century Club

The Century Club of Distinguished Duquesne University Alumni welcomed three new members as part of the Sept. 23 President’s Dinner.

The Century Club, established during Duquesne’s 100th anniversary in 1978, recognizes alumni with exemplary records of professional achievement and service to the University and to their communities. Of the more than 100,000 alumni, only 330 have been admitted to the Century Club’s elite ranks.

The 2016 inductees are:

Robert S. Barker, Arts 1963, Law 1966, Graduate Arts 1974

Distinguished professor emeritus, Duquesne University School of Law

Robert S. Barker earned his undergraduate degree at Duquesne, where he majored in history and political science, and was captain of the debate team. He graduated in 1966 from the School of Law, where he was case editor of the Duquesne University Law Review.

Following his admission to the bar, Barker served for two years as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer in Panama, where his experience included promoting community development in impoverished squatter communities and providing legal services to the residents.

Upon his return to western Pennsylvania, Barker worked as an attorney for Neighborhood Legal Services, an official of the City of Pittsburgh’s Model Cities Program, an associate of the law firm of Rose, Schmidt and Dixon, and as assistant dean and assistant professor at Duquesne’s law school.

In 1974, Barker earned a master’s degree in American history at Duquesne. Thereafter, as assistant Allegheny County solicitor, he was legal counsel to the Pittsburgh International Airport for six years and served as vice chairman and, later, chairman of the American Bar Association Committee on Airport Law.

Barker returned to the full-time Duquesne Law faculty in 1982. Since then, he has written and lectured—in English and Spanish—throughout the Western Hemisphere on a wide range of constitutional law topics. He served 12 years as chairman of the Constitutional Law Committee of the Inter-American Bar Association (IABA) and for five years was the IABA’s general reporter. In 1995, Barker was a Fulbright scholar and visiting professor of constitutional law at the University of Buenos Aires.

In addition to his legal activities, Barker has served as an officer and director of Partners of the Americas, a nonprofit organization promoting economic, social and cultural development through voluntary cooperation among citizens of the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean.

In 2001, Barker was awarded the rank and title of Duquesne University distinguished professor of law, and in 2014, he was awarded an honorary degree by the Universidad Nacional de Cajamarca in Peru.

The Honorable Maureen P. Kelly, Law 1987

Chief magistrate judge, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania

Chief Magistrate Judge Maureen P. Kelly earned her undergraduate degree at the University of Notre Dame before attending Duquesne University School of Law. Following law school, Kelly worked at Thorp, Reed & Armstrong, where she specialized in commercial and employment litigation. In 1999, she joined Babst, Calland, Clements & Zomnir, chairing the Employment and Labor Services Group.

Kelly was inducted into the American College of Trial Lawyers in 2007 and the Litigation Council of America in 2008. She was elected to the Academy of Trial Lawyers of Allegheny County in 1996 and is a fellow in the Academy of Trial Advocacy.

She was appointed by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to serve as chair of the Interest on Lawyers Trust Account Board and recently completed a five-year term. Kelly also served as an appointed member of the Lawyers Advisory Committee to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit as well as Chair of the Merit Selection Panel for the Selection and Appointment of Magistrate Judge for the Western District of Pennsylvania.

Kelly has been dedicated to the delivery of civil legal aid to those in need. She served as president of the Neighborhood Legal Services Association and chaired the annual Equal Justice Under Law Campaign for many years. Kelly also was a member of the board of directors of Pennsylvania Legal Services from 1996 to 2003.

Among awards recognizing Kelly’s professional accomplishments are the Sylvia H. Rambo Award from the Penn State Dickinson School of Law; the Outstanding Leadership in Support of Legal Services Award from the Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network; the Women’s Bar Association’s Susan B. Anthony Award; and the Dorothy Ann Richardson Award from the Neighborhood Legal Services Association.

Kelly also was named Woman of the Year in May 2004 by the Women’s Law Association of Duquesne’s School of Law and was presented with the school’s 1999 Outstanding Alumni Achievement Award.

Francis S. Marchilena, Natural Sciences 1967

Retired executive vice president and general manager, Raytheon Company

Francis S. Marchilena majored in mathematics at Duquesne, but also took a range of scientific coursework—especially in physics—that prepared him to join the Raytheon Company immediately after graduation.

Marchilena began his career developing sophisticated global tracking systems to detect incoming enemy missiles, rockets that could intercept enemy aircraft and computers that enabled America’s space program, including the Apollo missions that landed men on the moon.

Intrigued by the complex and challenging problems of surface-to-air defense, Marchilena was assigned to Raython’s SAM-D project, which became known as the Patriot missile system. Developed in the 1970s and deployed in 1984, Patriot first saw combat in the Persian Gulf War of 1991, successfully intercepting Iraqi missiles fired at Israel and Saudi Arabia. While the world watched on television, Marchilena and his Raytheon colleagues were in the field analyzing the results after each launch.

Marchilena was appointed to a task force on 21st Century Defense Technology Strategies and twice testified before Congress on proposals to modernize our nation’s air traffic control system. More than a scientist, he held top leadership positions within the corporation, managing a division with more than 20,000 employees and retiring as an executive vice president.

While at Raytheon, Marchilena championed the cause of drawing more women and minorities to pursue careers in math, science and technology, and provided support that would help them succeed. He facilitated a partnership between Raytheon and Merrimack College—where he served on the board of directors—to help middle school students develop their math and science skills through after-school and summer programs.

Marchilena and his wife, Marlene, have endowed a scholarship for underserved engineering students at Merrimack and a scholarship at Duquesne, which provides intensive mentoring and internship experiences for talented women and minorities enrolled in the Bayer School of Natural and Environmental Sciences.

The Marchilenas are also active supporters of the Massachusetts Science Museum, the Greater Boston Food Bank, the AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts and the American Textile History Museum.