Duquesne University
EN-10: Community Partnerships

Duquesne University partners with Uptown Partners of Pittsburgh (UP), a non-profit organization of residents, institutions, business owners and other concerned stakeholders to improve community quality of life — and to collaboratively create a vision and pathway for Uptown’s much-needed revitalization. UP works to ensure the development of a clean, safe, green, and equitable neighborhood; rebuilds a mixed-income population by reclaiming vacant, blighted properties and encouraging new residential development; attracts new neighborhood retail and commercial business, while supporting existing business owners; fosters green, quality design in all development projects; and creates a healthy environment where the arts flourish and are integrated into the urban landscape. Today Uptown Partners is working with the City of Pittsburgh, our community and institutions, Port Authority of Allegheny County, the Urban Redevelopment Authority, Green Building Alliance, Oakland Planning & Development Corp., and other interested stakeholders in a unique public/private planning initiative, embodied in the Uptown/West Oakland EcoInnovation District plan (also referred to as the Uptown EcoInnovation District). This creates a first-ever City model, and among only a few nationally, that deploys best practices for a neighborhood to become “resilient, vibrant, resource efficient, and just.” http://www.uptownpartners.org/

Duquesne University's sponsorship of Phipps Conservatory's Tropical Forest Congo exhibit is a natural extension of our educational and spiritual missions. Thanks to our Spiritan founders, Duquesne has a deep tradition of looking forward, reaching out and giving back by supporting initiatives related to education, service, social justice and interreligious understanding on campus, in Pittsburgh and in global communities, including Africa. Ongoing outreach to Africa includes partnerships, research, community engagement opportunities and the presence of African students, faculty and priests on our Pittsburgh campus. This page will evolve throughout the three-year run of the exhibit. By way of photos, videos, manuscripts and testimonials, it will tell the story of the Spiritans and Duquesne's commitment to Africa. The museum pieces provided by Duquesne, and currently displayed as part of the exhibit, in part tell this story as well. Duquesne's centers, schools and divisions, such as the Center for African Studies, the Bayer School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, the School of Pharmacy, and the Division of Mission and Identity, to name a few, will be highlighted for their past, current and future commitments to Africa. Duquesne University values transforming today's complex and changing world into opportunities for current and future generations, as well as serving humankind through a deep commitment to community engagement and education, which is why we are proud to be a sponsor and partner for the Tropical Forest Congo exhibit. https://www.duq.edu/academics/schools/natural-and-environmental-sciences/tropical-forest-congo-exhibit-at-phipps-conservatory

3 Rivers QUEST (Quality Useful Environmental Study Teams) is a comprehensive water quality monitoring and reporting program, sampling all three of Pittsburgh's rivers, their 3 Rivers Quest Siteheadwaters, and their tributaries. The Program was started by the West Virginia Water Research Institute at West Virginia University in 2009 sampling the Monongahela and has since expanded. Sampling has taken place over the past few years, with Duquesne joining the program in 2013. There are several groups involved in data collection: Duquesne University sampling the Lower Allegheny River Iron Furnace Chapter of Trout Unlimited sampling on the Upper Allegheny West Virginia University sampling the Monongahela River Wheeling Jesuit University sampling the Upper Ohio River As the most important natural resources in Pittsburgh, the Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio Rivers are great sources of drinking water. The Allegheny alone supplies water to more than one million people, and yet its use is threatened by our economic and industrial activities. Clean water is essential for life and it is important that we make efforts to monitor and improve the quality of the water upon which both people and the environment are reliant. This program is important because, although water quality testing has been conducted in these river basins, no reporting program has been establish that allows all data to be available to create a baseline of the water quality. This baseline will allow for future comparison of water quality. Visit their website for more details: www.3riversquest.org. This project would not be possible without the generous support from its Sponsor, the Colcom Foundation. https://www.duq.edu/academics/schools/natural-and-environmental-sciences/academic-programs/environmental-science-and-management/3-rivers-quest

Duquesne University is also part of the 2030 District Challenge, which a partnership between building owners, facility managers, community partners, and local resource partners who are taking on aggressive reduction targets. These reduction targets include reducing 50 percentage usage of energy, water, and transportation emissions by 2030. Duquense University partners with a number of local Rotary Clubs to gain a holistic and ethical understanding of the water crisis. Students collaborate with faculty and staff and with the Olkokola community in northern Tanzania in its effort to gain better access to clean water, while teaching students how to be agents of positive change in our world. The Office of Transformational Learning is a campus portal for developing community engagement and live projects with NGO's City Governments, SMEs, and corporations. The OTL provides year-round live consulting projects involving sustainability and have completed almost 200 projects. https://www.duq.edu/academics/schools/business/graduate/mba-programs/mba-sustainable-business-practices/office-of-transformational-learning