DUQUESNE UNIVERSITY PROVOST DAVID DAUSEY, MIDDLE, SITS TO THE RIGHT OF UNIVERSITY BOARD OF DIRECTORS CHAIR DIANE HUPP AT THE UNIVERSITY’S SPRING 2023 LIBERAL ARTS COMMENCEMENT. | PHOTO BY PHIL PAVELY, COURTESY DUQUESNE UNIVERSITY.

After conducting a nationwide search for a new president, Duquesne University selected one of its own — David J. Dausey, the school’s executive vice president and provost — to lead the institution.

Dausey will assume the presidency on July 1, 2026, shortly after current President Ken Gormley steps down after 10 years to become chancellor, the university announced today.

Dausey, who will be the 14th president in the Catholic university’s 147 years, says that he will be going on a “listening tour” across university labs and classrooms before taking office, collaborating with student leaders to give them a voice in his presidency.

“The agenda will really be what the agenda of the people that I spend time with want it to be,” Dausey says. “I’m going to try very hard to take copious notes and to understand not only what people feel our successes are, but also what they feel our struggles are, and what they feel we need to work on more in the future.”

DAVID DAUSEY SPEAKS TO MEMBERS OF THE CROWD WHO ATTENDED THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF HIS SELECTION AS NEW DUQUESNE UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT. | PHOTO BY NATALEY DAVIS

Approximately 150 guests made up of Duquesne alumni, students and staff gathered on campus for Wednesday’s announcement.

Diane Hupp, chairwoman of the Duquesne University Board of Trustees, says that after reaching out to hundreds of candidates, Dausey was chosen due to the respect he had already earned from the Duquesne community and his passion for advancing the school’s reach as a premier National Catholic University. Dausey has served as the university’s executive vice president and provost since 2018.

“The board is confident that this individual will lead with humility, with a deep sense of service, with strength, and importantly continue to live the mission of Duquesne University: serving God through serving students, who ultimately will serve others,” Hupp says.

Dausey will bring an interdisciplinary academic background to the role, having earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Mercyhurst University, masters and doctoral degrees in epidemiology from Yale University and a second doctoral degree in higher education management from the University of Pennsylvania.

Over his time as provost and executive vice president, he helped lead Duquesne through a period of transition, being among the people who spearheaded the founding of the Nasuti College of Osteopathic Medicine that opened in 2024. He also helped develop a new university curriculum and used his expertise in health administration to lead the institution’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite Dausey’s accomplished resume, he explained to the crowd that his achievements have not come naturally, as his humble beginnings in a working-class neighborhood of Jefferson Hills destined him to believe that he could never pursue a higher education.

DAVID DAUSEY GREETS A SMALL DOG AT A FORMER DUQUESNE UNIVERSITY HOMECOMING CELEBRATION | PHOTO COURTESY DUQUESNE UNIVERSITY

“Many of you know me as provost, as an administrator, as a faculty member — but this moment, becoming president, never felt preordained,” Dausey says. “In a community where few saw potential in education, I struggled to see it myself…higher education didn’t just change my life, it awakened it.”

Before serving as Duquesne provost, Dausey was executive vice president and provost at Mercyhurst University. He also worked as a full-time researcher with the RAND Corp. and as an analyst at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Duquesne University of the Holy Spirit is a private Catholic University located in Uptown, which opened in 1878.