Dougherty, McCullough and Ridge Among Graduation Speakers, Honorary Degree Recipients

Duquesne will host its annual Commencement ceremony on Friday, May 6, at 2 p.m. in the A.J. Palumbo Center. 

University President Dr. Charles J. Dougherty will deliver the Commencement address and be presented with an honorary doctor of humane letters. Author David McCullough will also be presented with an honorary doctor of humane letters during the ceremony.

Former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge will be the keynote speaker at the Duquesne University School of Law Commencement ceremony on Sunday, June 5, at 11 a.m. at the A.J. Palumbo Center.

Dougherty, who will retire as president on June 30, has served in that role since August 2001. Under his leadership, the University developed its first-ever strategic planning process, which has led to unprecedented growth and success. Some of Duquesne’s notable accolades and achievements during Dougherty’s tenure include the University being named as a top-tier school; rankings for individual programs across all nine schools; and being recognized as a top school for veterans. In addition to attaining numerous rankings by U.S. News and World Report, Duquesne has enrolled its largest and most academically talented classes during Dougherty’s presidency.

A Pittsburgh native, McCullough has earned Pulitzer Prizes for his presidential biographies Truman and John Adams, which was the basis of the HBO mini-series of the same name. A graduate of Yale University, he honed his writing skills during posts with Sports Illustrated, the United States Information Agency and American Heritage magazine. His first book, The Johnstown Flood, earned him a 2011 Outstanding Achievement Award from the Johnstown Area Heritage Association. Some of his other award-winning books include The Path Between the Seas, Mornings on Horseback and 1776. His most recent book, The Wright Brothers, was published in 2015.

McCullough has narrated numerous television shows, documentaries and films, including Seabiscuit; the PBS show, American Experience; The Civil War; The Statue of Liberty; and Brooklyn Bridge, among others. He is a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient and has also garnered a Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters from the National Book Foundation.

Ridge is the chairman of Ridge Global, which provides solutions to cyber security, international security and risk management issues. He was twice elected and served as governor of Pennsylvania from 1995 to 2001, during which his technology strategy helped drive the state’s growth in economic development, education, health care and the environment. He then served as the first assistant to the president for homeland security until 2003, when he was named the first secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

A Harvard and Dickinson Law School graduate, Ridge is a member of the board of the Institute for Defense Analysis and the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress. He also chairs the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s National Security Task Force. Ridge served six terms in the U.S. House of Representatives.