New Scholarship Expands Horizons, Deepens Community Connections

Since its founding in 1878, Duquesne has been committed to building a better Pittsburgh, working side-by-side with community neighbors to address systemic challenges. The new Spirit of Community Scholarship offers five freshmen who bring volunteer experience and a passion for community engagement significant financial support while they help Duquesne live its mission.

Spirit of Community Scholarship ProgramFaculty and staff are encouraged to share information about the Spirit of Community scholarship with high school seniors in their communities and encourage them to apply online by Thursday, April 15.

The selected Spirit of Community Scholars will participate in myriad activities such as:

  • Being paired with community agencies to complete service projects
  • Designing events to educate fellow students
  • Attending reflections
  • Participating in informative lecture series
  • Completing a capstone project.

Vice President of Civic Engagement and External Relations William Generett acknowledges the many ways that the Spirit of Community Scholarship will benefit the region and tie back to Duquesne’s Spiritan founding.

“One of President Gormley’s goals when he became president was to successfully build upon the University’s historic 140-year commitment to authentic, Spiritan-based community engagement,” Generett said. “This scholarship program is one big step toward achieving that goal. Special thanks to Senior Vice President for Enrollment Management Joel Bauman for not only recognizing the importance of community engagement, but for securing the funding for these scholarships.”

Spirit of Community Scholars will receive 100% of all demonstrated need toward the total cost of attendance for four years or graduation, whichever comes first. Financial aid packages will include University gift aid as well as all other available institutional, state, federal and self-help resources.

“We can’t wait to watch our students grow into their roles as agents of change, deepening their relationships with community members and agency partners, and applying the skills they are learning from the program and their field of study to their work in the community,” said Dr. Jessica Mann, assistant vice president of community engagement.

Other new scholarship opportunities developed for this fall include the Spirit of Excellence, offering full-tuition scholarships to five exceptional student leaders, and a National Hispanic Recognition Scholarship, awarding a full-tuition scholarship to the highest-ranked National Hispanic Scholar in the entering freshman class.