Serving the World Beyond Our Campus
At Duquesne, learning occurs both in the classroom and beyond campus. Our Spiritan Catholic ideal of service in pursuit of peace, justice and the integrity of creation drives us to create innovative and meaningful opportunities for students, faculty and staff to work for the greater good in the Pittsburgh region and beyond.
Cross Cultural Mission Experiences
One of the driving forces of a Duquesne education is learning the importance of service to others. Spiritan Campus Ministry's Cross Cultural Mission Experience (CCME) offers students extended trips during the academic year, allowing them to immerse themselves in communities and work alongside local people toward a civic goal. Recent CCME destinations include:
- Since 1988, the Appalachian CCME has taken students to an area of West Virginia which suffers from high unemployment, food insecurity and substandard housing. There they study the ecological effects of coal mining and logging while working on home repair and other projects.
- A New Orleans CCME gives students a chance to learn about continuing efforts to rebuild the city and repair the ecology and economy of the Gulf after the twin disasters of Hurricane Katrina and the BP oil spill while working with Habitat for Humanity to build homes.
- For the past 27 years, Duquesne students have made yearly trips to Immokalee, Fla. to learn about the plight of migrant agricultural workers and help to accomplish the goals of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), which is struggling for better wages and working conditions. The students also have become involved with the CIW's Campaign for Fair Food, which targets consumers and major food companies in an effort to bring market forces to bear on low wages and poor working conditions.