Leadership
Charles Dougherty
president, Duquesne University
Smart Business Pittsburgh | October 2008
Charles Dougherty had a vision for
Duquesne University when he took over as
president in 2001. It involved getting everyone — students, faculty, staff, alumni, board
members and community leaders — in on
the conversation about the school’s place in
the Pittsburgh community.
Seven years later, freshman applications
have increased 71 percent, faculty salaries
have increased nearly 30 percent, and
Duquesne’s presence in the community has
never been stronger.
Dougherty got things moving on this revitalization by engaging everyone in his
effort to bring about change. The plan was
developed with broad input from across
the campus, allowing individuals to share
in the ownership.
Detailed implementation documents
were developed for each objective along
with timelines and budgets. Deans and
department heads were held responsible
for working across divisional and disciplinary lines to achieve stated objectives.
Dougherty encouraged and participated in
discussions through means both formal and
informal, including simply walking across
campus to converse with students, faculty
and staff.
All the while, Dougherty emphasized that
whatever new and creative ideas were
hatched, they needed to advance the
school’s historic Spiritan mission: “To
serve God by serving students.”
Last spring, Dougherty reported that all
but one of 29 specific objectives on the university’s five-year strategic plan had been
achieved. The remaining item, increasing
diversity, was taking time but was seeing
some progress.
Dougherty has employed a method used
by another Pittsburgh institution, the NFL’s
Steelers, to make it happen. By adopting a
variation of the Rooney Rule, academic
and administrative units now have a means
to ensure that minorities are being represented in the search for all employment
positions.
Prior to Dougherty’s administration, the
regional financial impact of Duquesne had
never been measured. The first report, covering fiscal years 2002 and 2003, calculated
a total of $316 million. By 2007, that figure
had increased 30 percent to $411.4 million.
By continuing to gather individuals under
a common goal and demonstrating how
each individual and each task relates to the
goals that are set, Dougherty continues to
set the bar of expectations high, both for
himself and those around him.
HOW TO REACH: Duquesne University, (412) 396-6000 or
www.duq.edu
