SPRING 2021 IN PURSUIT OF BIGGER GOALS Also in this issue: First-ever Women's "Double Laurel" Runner Walking Alongside Ann Hohn Contents 2 In Pursuit of Bigger Goals A Global Perspective Reclaiming Space Through 16 on a Global Pandemic 8 Art,Activism and Joy Every Issue Also... Seen and Heard ..................................35 20 22 Athletics ..................................................36 Walking Alongside A Scholar-Teacher, Running Bluff in Brief ...........................................40 Ann Hohn and the First-ever Women’s Alumni Updates ..................................42 Her service journey from “Double Laurel” Duquesne graduate to the Speech-Language 2020 Alumni Award Winner for Pathology’s Dr. Sarah Wallace Volunteer Service and her bigger goal to run 140 miles nonstop Facebook “f” Logo CMYK / .eps Facebook “f” Logo CMYK / .eps Vol. 19, Number 2, Spring ’21, Duquesne University Magazine is published by the Division of Marketing and Communications, 406 Koren Building, 600 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15282, Tel: 412.396.6050, Fax: 412.396.5779, Email: [email protected] Thoughts from the President he devastation and uncertainty we’ve experienced this past year has underscored what’s most important in our lives. The pandemic Tbrought many things to light, including societal inequities that have long lurked beneath the surface. Duquesne University is working diligently to address those inequities as our world recovers and rebuilds. After all, our Spiritan mission is rooted in service. We’ve remained determined these past 143 years to make a meaningful difference in our world—empowering students to reach for goals that change not only their own lives but the lives of those in need. In the cover story, you’ll read about Levi Collier-Hezel, a senior ...passion and nursing student who cares for young patients at UPMC Children’s dedication is in our Hospital of Pittsburgh. You’ll also learn about faculty leaders who university’s DNA inspire students like Levi to become problem-solvers who are driven by —and it’s vital as compassion and empathy. You’ll find many powerful stories we move forward, AS YOU READ... in these pages about students, . .you will see the icons below faculty, staff, and alumni who with great hope... on many stories. They reflect embrace real-world opportunities the imperatives of Re-Imagining and address challenges head-on. Duquesne’s Spiritan Legacy Like Dr. Jennifer Elliott, our inaugural Ed and Karen Fritzky Family Chair for a New Era: Strategic Plan in Integrative Medicine and Wellbeing. Dr. Elliott directs our Center for 2018-2023. The stories told Integrative Health and leads the Duquesne Asthma Clinic. She and her here show how the plan is alive students are out there in the community where they’re needed most, and vital, often reflecting more addressing health care disparities in some of our most underserved than one imperative. To learn neighborhoods. more about our progress, visit It’s not at all surprising to find men and women like Levi and Dr. Elliott duq.edu/strategicplan. here at Duquesne. While I’m in awe of their work, I know how passion and dedication like theirs is in our university’s DNA—and it’s vital as we move forward, with great hope, as we put the pandemic behind us and learn Five Strategic Imperatives valuable lessons from these unanticipated experiences. Times of great challenge are also times of great opportunity. The Re-Imagine the Student members of our Duquesne University community continue to lead the Experience for 21st way, helping us to remain compassionate, courageous, and committed to Century Success changing lives. I hope you enjoy this sampling of the many great stories Become a Flagship for we have to tell here at this special institution of higher education, which Community Engagement is increasingly serving as an exemplar on the national and international stage, for the whole world to see. Be a Leader in Interdisciplinary Programs Sincerely, Create a Vibrant Campus Community Encourage Entrepreneurial Spirit Ken Gormley Duquesne University President www.duq.edu 1 IN PURSUIT OF BIGGER GOALS 2 DUQUESNE UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE Spring '21 DUQUESNE DEANS INSPIRE THE NEXT GENERATION OF LEADERS By Gina O’Malley t’s an arm hug for your muscles,” Levi “It’s always great for students to see Collier-Hezel explains. “You look really what’s happening in the real world,” says “Istrong. Show me your muscles and we’ll Duquesne School of Nursing Dean Mary use this cool armband to test how big they Ellen Glasgow. “Our students come back are.” and ask questions. We see their talent and The young patient extends his arm, and strengths, and we cultivate that.” Collier-Hezel wraps a blood pressure cuff Glasgow also has been on the receiving just above the elbow. The cuff contracts, and end of this type of mentorship. One of her conversation turns to Disney characters. earliest leadership experiences was the result Collier-Hezel smiles, channeling his own of others believing in her and encouraging inner child to comfort the boy perched her to pursue a role as nursing program chair nervously on the exam table. at Hahnemann Medical College. “Am I ready for this?” she asked herself. GOING BEYOND Her success in that position proved that the answer was “yes,” and her greatest lesson “Making sure young patients learned was to always trust in her abilities. have a good experience in “Sometimes people wait to take on the hospital and with health a position until they’re more and more care is my passion,” ready; they want to know everything first,” he says. “That’s how she says. “But when someone says to you they’ll continue to care that they’d like you to try something or about their health and that you can do something, you should go wellbeing for the rest of for it.” their lives.” Senior Duquesne nursing student CHANGING PERCEPTIONS Collier-Hezel has always had a good sense of what he wants to achieve Like Glasgow, Collier-Hezel derives and why it’s good for the world. inspiration from those who encouraged He’s not just interested in taking care his growth along the way, including his of children’s immediate needs in the mother, a nurse midwife. He shadowed ER—he aims bigger. her at work and volunteered at hospitals In addition to his academic and throughout his teen years. When classmates clinical responsibilities, Collier-Hezel at his all-male high school announced works as a patient care technician in the their career plans, Collier-Hezel proudly emergency room at UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. From left to right: Dean Kristine Blair, of the McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts; Dean April Barton, of the School of Law; Dean Mary Ellen Glasgow, of the School of Nursing; and Dean Gretchen Generett, of the School of Education. www.duq.edu 3 1 2 3 proclaimed, “I’m going to be a nurse.” And he’s “It was surreal,” he says. “I’m excited to be never wavered. an example and inspiration for others to get the Glasgow notes that male nurses have vaccine.” historically been stigmatized in the female- Glasgow recognizes the many ways the dominated field, though the pandemic and pandemic has shaped Collier-Hezel and all nursing’s resulting presence in the media have nursing students. “As a nurse, you have to be started to change perceptions. Collier-Hezel comfortable making and owning decisions that is grateful that he has always been seen as an could have life-or-death consequences,” she says. equal at Duquesne. “Everyone receives the same “Nurses change a life every day.” rigorous instruction and respect,” he says. “We are all nurses.” EXCELLENCE, OPPORTUNITY AND ESSENTIAL SKILLS LEADING BY EXAMPLE “Our world will always be tempered by the In December 2020—on the second day that pandemic,” agrees Kristine Blair, dean of the the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine was McAnulty College and Graduate School of available to health care workers in the U.S.— Liberal Arts. “We’re all more compassionate Collier-Hezel was vaccinated and interviewed and understand there are reasons other than on live television by Good Morning America’s academic performance that impact student T.J. Holmes. success.” He was on the parking lot shuttle after finishing That’s why she encourages her students to day two of a three-day stretch when he received become problem-solvers who always think the call from his supervisor seeking a patient care bigger—the kind of literate, global citizens who technician to receive the vaccine early the next are driven by compassion and empathy. Often morning. Collier-Hezel’s response? “I’ll be right there.” He ironed his green scrubs and arrived at the hospital promptly at 6 a.m., forgetting to clock “It's always great for students in because of TV jitters. At the top of the 8 a.m. hour, Collier-Hezel became one of the first to see what's happening in the medical professionals in the Pittsburgh region world...we see their talent and to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. strengths, and we cultivate that.” 4 DUQUESNE UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE Spring '21 1. Collier-Hezel receiving his first COVID-19 vaccine on live television. 2. Dean Mary Ellen Glasgow speaking at a Department of Justice press conference. 3. Dean April Barton sharing the law school's three vision pillars with students. 4. Dean Kristine Blair attending an event with President Ken Gormley, student Maria Paula Quintero Arteta and Provost David Dausey. 5. Dean Gretchen Generett (center) serving as dissertation advisor to Dr. Jeff Mallory and Dr. Valerie Harper, law school registrar. 4 5 called soft skills, Blair advocates changing this Marr’s experience practicing worst- terminology to “essential skills.” “Individuals with these skills advance case scenarios as a pilot—including because of those critical dispositions they have and can apply in a range of workplace and having the engine cut mid-flight, professional settings,” she explains.