Duquesne University will honor approximately 1,560 graduates during its 2017 Commencement ceremony this Friday, May 12, at 2 p.m. in the A.J. Palumbo Center.
In addition, two Pittsburgh natives-one a respected, innovative community leader in the arts, and the other a renowned, award-winning American writer whose works are often set in his hometown-will be awarded honorary degrees.
Duquesne President Ken Gormley will present both Bill Strickland, president and chief executive officer of Manchester Bidwell Corporation, and author John Edgar Wideman with an honorary doctor of humane letters during the ceremony.
Strickland, who will deliver the Commencement address, leads the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild (MCG) and the Bidwell Training Center (both Manchester Bidwell Corporation subsidiaries) as well as the National Center for Arts and Technology in Pittsburgh.
Wideman will be the featured speaker at Duquesne's McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts diploma ceremony on Friday at 6 p.m. in the A.J. Palumbo Center. His numerous books have garnered several awards, including two International PEN/Faulkner Awards, the James Fenimore Cooper Prize for Best Historical Fiction and the O. Henry Award. In 1962, Wideman was only the second African-American to win a Rhodes Scholarship.
The Commencement ceremony will be preceded by the University's Baccalaureate Mass at noon in the Palumbo Center. Both events will be broadcast live via webcast at www.duq.edu/commencement.