We are not just renovating a building—we are elevating the student experience and transforming business education. The redesigned floors of Rockwell Hall are enhancing our School’s reputation, reflecting our values, and aligning with our mission. Our goal in creating top-notch facilities is to enhance the student and faculty experience, demonstrate our competitiveness, and boost alumni, business, and community engagement.
Rockwell Hall Renovations Align with Mission
Over the past few years, we have renovated the first, third, fourth, fifth and ninth floors of Rockwell Hall. For example, our fourth floor was completely renovated and now houses Centers of Excellence in Entrepreneurship, Professional Selling and Supply Chain Management. These cutting-edge learning spaces better support applied project work ranging from solving problems for corporate clients to prototyping new products or services.
Sixth Floor Redesigned for Impact
In August 2019, the School of Business opened its new sky bridge and renovated sixth floor to students, debuting nearly 9,000 square feet plus the addition of a soaring two-story atrium. Three institutes are the focal points for both student learning and academic research: the Albert P. Viragh Institute for Ethics in Business, the Investment Strategy Institute and the Institute for Sustainable Business Innovation. In addition, the sixth floor has sophisticated tech-ready classrooms geared toward analytics and financial software, an expansive lobby, state-of-the-art conference rooms and a café—the Business Leader Bistro.
“More than ever, our brand of business education focuses on giving students impactful, real-world projects to tackle with the latest cutting-edge technology, both inside and outside the curriculum. Our facilities need to accommodate this increasing focus and that’s the thinking behind our most recent floor redesigns. Our new spaces are flexible, high-tech, and designed to promote project work, ideation, prototyping and using business analytics to make sense of information and make good decisions.” – Dean B. McFarlin, Ph.D., Dean, Palumbo-Donahue School of Business
Albert P. Viragh (B’27) Institute for Ethics in Business
The vision of the Albert P. Viragh (B’27) Institute for Ethics in Business (VIEB) is to be internationally recognized as a pioneer and leader in business ethics scholarship, education and practice. This research-oriented institute aligns closely with our values as a Spiritan university. Thanks to generous anonymous donors, the VIEB houses elegant offices for faculty, visiting faculty and researchers as well as a new professorship. Also housed in VIEB is the John and Becky Surma Library as well as the Anna and Frank Balaban director’s office, gifted by granddaughter, Elizabeth A. Balaban (B’81).
Fortunately, our faculty are already leveraging their extensive network of scholarship contacts worldwide and are pursuing large-scale, impactful research projects relevant to our vision for the VIEB and strategic imperatives related to business ethics and corporate social responsibility.
Editorship of Prestigious Business and Society Journal
Effective in January 2020, the editorship of Business and Society Review (BASR), one of the leading journals in the business and society field, is now in the Albert P. Viragh Institute for Ethics in Business. BASR is a peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes original research on a wide range of ethical issues concerning the relationships between business, society and the public good. The journal publishes papers from researchers and business professionals, members of the legal profession and government administrators, among others. Dr. David Wasieleski, Albert Paul Viragh Professor in Business Ethics, has been named as editor-in-chief, while Dr. James Weber, professor of business ethics and management, serves as managing editor.
“It is an honor for us to take over the editorship of this prestigious journal. We intend to continue the fine legacy of BASR as one of the top journals in the business and society field. Under our stewardship, it is our goal to raise its profile and reputation internationally for publishing impactful research.” – David Wasieleski, Ph.D., Albert Paul Viragh Professor in Business Ethics, Executive Director, Albert Paul Viragh Institute for Ethics in Business
Bringing the editorship of BASR into the School of Business is a tremendous accomplishment and a testament to the impact of our faculty in business ethics and related areas. This journal is a fitting addition to the growing portfolio of scholarly activities in the Albert P. Viragh Institute for Ethics in Business. BASR was founded in 1972 and is published by Wiley.
For more information, contact Dr. David Wasieleski at 412.396.1092 or wasieleski@duq.edu
Investment Strategy Institute
Over 20 years ago, the School opened an Investment Center—one of the first in the country—to support students’ real world investing experiences. The Center has always offered a wide range of analytical software allowing real-time access to stocks, bonds, futures, currencies and options markets around the world. Recently, however, the School added Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS) to its portfolio of tools, the most powerful software platform anywhere for collecting financial data and conducting financial research.
Fast forward to 2020, our brand new Investment Strategy Institute (ISI) is a real game changer. More than twice the size of the original Investment Center, ISI includes an expanded high-tech classroom with double the number of Bloomberg terminals, allowing for a complete integration of Bloomberg software tools into the finance program. Additionally, research and collaborative areas within ISI provide a venue for students and faculty to work on high-impact investment projects, including the David R. Warco (B’79) & Kimberly J. Warco Investment Strategy Institute Conference Room.
Investing for the Future
The Institute has broadened and deepened its portfolio of student managed investment funds (SMIFs). Collectively, these SMIFs provide exceptional educational experiences for students to manage real money across a range of asset classes. Our goal is to prepare graduates to make better decisions, implement investment strategies faster with less training, and be more effective as analysts, portfolio managers, and financial advisors.
The School has four SMIFs:
• Duquesne Angels – open to entrepreneurship and finance students
• Duquesne Equity Fund – open to all students interested in learning about stocks
• Duquesne Micro-Cap Fund – open to finance students
• Duquesne Values Fund (DVF) – open to finance students
Duquesne Values Fund: One of the Largest Undergraduate Funds of its Type in the Nation
In Fall 2019 we launched the Duquesne Values Fund (DVF)—a new $1 million student managed investment fund that employs socially responsible investment strategies. In keeping with the University mission and School’s strategic plan, the DVF is focusing on socially responsible investing. Consequently, the fund’s tagline—“Investing for the Greater Good”—resonates well with our students who want to positively impact the world.
Our new SMIF is enhancing the experiential learning opportunities of finance majors in the School. The fund management is designed to give students a hands-on investing experience in equities, fixed income instruments, commodities, real estate investment trusts, and other investment companies. The primary focus of the fund is investing in debt and equity instruments after screening for socially responsible firms.
The fund is run as a co-curricular activity with support and mentorship provided by faculty, staff and alumni, including:
• Dr. Philip Baird, Associate Professor of Finance
• Vashishta Bhaskar, Assistant Professor of Finance
• Jon Kinol (B’85), Executive-in-Residence Supporting Student Managed Investment Funds
• Jennifer Milcarek (B’91, MS.Ed.’07), Program Director, Carl V. Lind Investment Strategy Institute Manager’s Office
For more information, contact Jennifer Milcarek at 412.396.5642 or milcarekj@duq.edu
Institute for Sustainable Business Innovation
Sustainability is intrinsic to Duquesne University’s mission—a charge that encompasses what the Spiritans call the “integrity of creation,” a profound respect for God’s gift of the world. One of the many ways that Duquesne advances this mission is through its full-time, one-year MBA Sustainable Business Practices degree.
Building on our top-ranked MBA program, the Institute for Sustainable Business Innovation (ISBI) is expanding pedagogical innovations, marketplace impacts and thought leadership. The ISBI is focusing on the broader challenges that have risen to the top of C-Suite agendas in progressive, growing organizations, notably quantification of social and environmental assets and risks, analysis of big data for decision-making, and leveraging sustainability for innovation and competitive advantage.
By integrating cross-functional faculty strengths, in research and the delivery of content across the curriculum, the ISBI is magnifying our reputation for scholarship and teaching excellence in all critical areas that hundreds of business schools have endorsed in signing the six Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME).
Visionary Design
The ISBI’s visionary design connects spaces, disciplines and people to create a new paradigm for learning. It includes a flexible classroom for sustainability-related courses, a multi-purpose room for student-faculty project work, and an array of display technologies to illustrate building performance. Stephan Schenk (MBA’99) & Jannette Cano de Schenk (MBA’99, MIS’00) made the new director’s office possible.
Strengthening Corporate and Community Partnerships
The ISBI is also expanding partnerships with a wide range of institutions from fledgling start-ups to small and medium businesses to non-profit organizations to Fortune 500 corporations. Our students and faculty are demonstrating the potential of business and sustainability principles to transform companies and communities while making a difference in the lives of others.
Your organization can tap into the talent and knowledge of our students, who work on identifying, researching, proposing and/or implementing solutions for real business problems faced by client organizations. Offered as part of graded coursework in the MBA Sustainable Business Practices program, partnership projects are completed under the guidance of Dr. Robert Sroufe, Murrin Chair of Global Competitiveness and are sponsored by organizations that face important sustainability issues and have a vested interest in the outcome. Our students have completed more than 100 consulting projects, applying their skills in finance, business strategy, marketing, information systems and supply chain management to help client organizations with specific business challenges related to sustainability.
To apply for a company project, contact Dr. Karen Donovan, Associate Dean of Graduate Programs and Executive Education at 412.396.5788 or donovan6@duq.edu.
State-of-the-Art Steven N. Costabile Conference Room
The Steven N. Costabile (B’88, MBA’89) Conference Room has a great view and is a popular, welcoming place for the School’s high-level advisory council meetings, formal presentations and special events. The conference room accommodates 16 people, includes the latest videoconferencing technology and offers built-in staging spaces for catering and food presentation.
Without dedicated alumni and friends, none of this would have been possible.
We are very grateful to all our generous sixth floor donors:
• Anonymous Donor,
Albert P. Viragh (B’27) Institute for Ethics in Business
• John Surma (Honorary ’09), Former Executive Chairman & CEO, U.S. Steel Corporation and Becky Surma,
John and Becky Surma Albert P. Viragh Institute for Ethics in Business Library
• Elizabeth A. Balaban (B’81),
Anna and Frank Balaban Albert P. Viragh Institute for Ethics in Business Director’s Office
• Steven N. Costabile (B’88, MBA’89) Managing Director, Global Head of PineBridge Private Fund Group,
Steven N. Costabile Conference Room
• David R. Warco (B’79) International Tax Partner, Deloitte & Touche LLP & Kimberly J. Warco,
David R. Warco and Kimberly J. Warco Investment Strategy Institute Conference Room
• Stephan Schenk (MBA’99) Executive Vice President & Head of Shared Services and D&A, TD Bank
& Jannette Cano de Schenk (MBA’99, MIS’00),
Stephan Schenk and Jannette Cano de Schenk Institute for Sustainable Business Innovation Director’s Office
• Carl & Aune Lind Family Foundation (David (A’63) and Ethel Richard),
Carl V. Lind Investment Strategy Institute Manager’s Office
Looking Ahead: Our New Center for Student Success
Our new Center for Student Success (CSS) will be an important driving force in transforming students into ethical business professionals who make a difference. We envision the CSS as the student-focused ‘beating heart’ of the School of Business, a welcoming place focused holistically on all of our students’ needs. Our goal is to offer cutting-edge support for our undergraduate and graduate program recruiting efforts as well as stellar advising, outstanding career development initiatives, impactful experiential activities, top-notch placement (jobs, internships, co-ops), meaningful networking occasions and life-long learning opportunities.
The CSS will require the complete renovation of the seventh floor of Rockwell Hall and preliminary design work by LGA Partners, our architects for this project, is well underway. We hope construction will begin in Spring 2021 and be completed in time for the Fall semester.
“Measures of a successful business education include the level of career readiness, job placement and long-term achievement of graduates—in other words, students’ return on investment (ROI). As students (and families) decide between higher education institutions, ROI is an increasingly important factor in their decision. Consequently, the CSS concept is ‘game changing’ and will provide Duquesne Business students with transformational and cutting edge academic and career preparation to compete and succeed as business leaders who make a difference.” – Karen Donovan, Ph.D., Associate Dean, Graduate Programs and Executive Education
Please help us make our vision for the Center for Student Success come alive by giving to the School’s Innovation Fund.
If you would like to make a gift commitment, please contact Adam Viers.
412.396.1322
viersa@duq.edu
duq.edu/make-a-gift
