Rev. Donald S. Nesti, C.S.Sp. | |
|---|---|
| TenthPresident of Duquesne University of the Holy Ghost | |
| In office 1980–1988 | |
| Preceded by | Rev. Henry J. McAnulty |
| Succeeded by | Dr. John E. Murray, Jr. |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1936 (age 84–85) Monessen, Pennsylvania |
| Alma mater | St. Mary Seminary (B.A., 1959; B.D., 1964) Pontifical Gregorian University (S.T.L., 1966; S.T.D, 1970) University of Pittsburgh (M.A., 1976) |
Donald Silvio Nesti, C.S.Sp. (born 1936) is an American Catholic priest in the Congregation of the Holy Spirit. He served as the tenth president of Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1980 until 1988. He is the founder and current director of the Center for Faith and Culture at the University of Saint Thomas in Houston, Texas, and a professor of theology at St. Mary's Seminary, also in Houston.
Donald Nesti was born in Monessen, Pennsylvania and raised in Clairton. [1] He attended Pennsylvania State University for a year before entering the Holy Ghost Fathers' St. Mary Seminary in Norwalk, Connecticut. [2] Nesti earned a bachelor's degree in 1959, and was ordained on May 30, 1963. [2] [3] He continued his education at St. Mary's, receiving a Bachelor of Divinity degree in 1964. [2] He also earned a Licentiate of Sacred Theology in 1966 and a Doctorate of Sacred Theology in 1970 from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. [1] [2] [3] In addition to his degrees in theology, he holds a master's degree in Italian from the University of Pittsburgh (1976), and did postdoctoral work at St. Edmund's College, Cambridge in 1972. [1] [2] He taught at Duquesne as a theology professor from 1970 to 1976, and has written two books and several articles on the relationship between the Catholic Church and the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). [1] [2]
Nesti plays the French horn [2] and speaks French, German, and Italian fluently. [1]
Nesti was the first Duquesne president selected by a search committee rather than appointed directly by the provincial of the Holy Ghost Fathers. [2] At the time of his appointment, he was the director of planning, research, and renewal for the Eastern Province of the Holy Ghost Fathers and the director of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Seminary in Bethel Park. [1]
The announcement of Nesti's selection was made on April 18, 1980, and he assumed office on the following July 1. [1] [2] His formal inauguration was held on October 3, 1980. [2]
Nesti's administration at Duquesne met with controversy. He clashed with student groups on campus, including the Tamburitzans and the staff of the Duquesne Duke . While the Duke staff was chastised by the administration because of a "vulgar" and "tasteless" April Fools' Day edition of the paper, [4] the Tamburitzans were angered at the cancellation of a 1987 world tour and investigation into their institutional practices by Academic Vice President Rolando Bonachea. [5] Nesti also met with objections by the faculty senate on his handling of academic affairs, as well as resistance by students on campus policies. [6] In light of these controversies, a vote of "no confidence" in the administration was issued by the Student Government Association on April 2, 1987. [7]
The Nesti administration did, however, see many positive achievements, such as the construction of the A.J. Palumbo Center, which was begun in 1986 and completed in 1988. [8] The university also made great progress in its academic quality, but persistent divisive issues in the university community forced Nesti's resignation on July 30, 1987. [9] At the time, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette opined that "Donald Nesti pursued a commendable goal—a renewed commitment to excellence and accountability—in a clumsy and insensitive manner". [9] The university's Academic Vice President, Dr. Bonachea, served as acting president until the spring of 1988 and the selection of Dr. John E. Murray, Jr. as Duquesne's eleventh president. [10] Dr. Bonachea had been a supporter of Nesti, and stated that despite the popular reaction against his administration, "Father Nesti was right. In my opinion, he is a man of truth and principle who was determined to protect the welfare of each student." [10]
After departing from Duquesne, Nesti taught as a theology professor at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio from 1989 until 1993. [3] In 1994 Nesti founded the Center for Faith and Culture at St. Thomas University in Houston, Texas, where he currently serves as director. [3] The self-stated mission of the center is the study of the relation of the "Gospel vision to the American way of life". [3] From 1995 until 2001, he also served as the Provincial Superior of the Western Province of the Holy Ghost Fathers. [3]
References
Works cited
| Catholic Church titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Rev. Henry J. McAnulty | President of Duquesne University 1980–1988 | Succeeded by Dr. John E. Murray, Jr. |
Duquesne University of the Holy Spirit is a private Catholic research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,. Founded by members of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, Duquesne first opened its doors as the Pittsburgh Catholic College of the Holy Ghost in October 1878 with an enrollment of 40 students and a faculty of six. In 1911, the college became the first Catholic university-level institution in Pennsylvania. It is the only Spiritan institution of higher education in the world. It is named for an 18th-century governor of New France, Michel-Ange Duquesne de Menneville.
Holy Ghost Preparatory School is a private Catholic college preparatory school for young men in Cornwells Heights, Bensalem, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1897 by the Spiritan missionaries.
The Congregation of the Holy Spirit, in full the Congregation of the Holy Spirit under the protection of the Immaculate Heart of the Virgin Mary, is a male religious congregation of the Catholic Church. In continental Europe they are known as Spiritans, while in the Anglosphere, they are known as the Holy Ghost Fathers.
James Donald Freeze, S.J. was the Academic Vice President for the main campus of Georgetown University from 1979 to 1991. In this role, he supervised all academic programs of Georgetown's College of Arts and Sciences, School of Foreign Service, School of Language and Linguistics, School of Business Administration, Graduate School, and School for Summer and Continuing Education.
The Gumberg Library houses the collections at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and comprises more than a half million print volumes.
The Duquesne Dukes represent Duquesne University in college basketball. The team, which started in 1914, has only ever played in NCAA Division I and has had five appearances in the NCAA Tournament. The Dukes play in the Atlantic 10 Conference, of which they have been members since 1976.
Eugene McGuigan, C.S.Sp. was the first athletic director of Duquesne University, serving in that capacity from 1920 until 1923. Known on campus as "Father Mac," McGuigan also coached baseball, football, and basketball.
William Patrick Power, C.S.Sp. (1843–1919) was the first head of Duquesne University, founded as the "Pittsburgh Catholic College of the Holy Ghost". Power was born in 1843 and ordained in 1866; he had spent many years teaching in Spiritan missions in India, Mauritius and Trinidad before coming to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Joseph Strub, C.S.Sp., an Alsatian missionary priest with the Congregation of the Holy Ghost, was the founder of what is today Duquesne University, which was called the Pittsburgh Catholic College of the Holy Ghost until 1911.
Richard Henry Ackerman, C.S.Sp. was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. A member of the Holy Ghost Fathers, he served as Bishop of Covington from 1960 to 1978.
Martin A. HehirC.S.Sp. was a Roman Catholic priest and the fourth president of Pittsburgh Catholic College. Hehir served as president of the university from 1899 until 1930. In Hehir's thirty-one years of presidency, the small college grew to become a university and the seventh largest Catholic school in the United States. After his retirement, Hehir served as Superior of the Holy Ghost Missionary College near Philadelphia, and then as the Superior of the Spiritan Fathers at Ferndale Seminary in Norwalk, Connecticut until his death.
Jeremiah Joseph Callahan, C.S.Sp. was a Roman Catholic priest and the fifth president of Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, from 1931 until 1940.
John S. Willms, C.S.Sp. was a German Roman Catholic priest in the Congregation of the Holy Ghost. He worked in a missionary capacity among the Catholic population in the United States, serving as the second rector of the Pittsburgh Catholic College of the Holy Ghost in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and as the director of the Holy Childhood Association in America.
John Baptist Tuohill Murphy, C.S.Sp. was an Irish Roman Catholic priest in the Congregation of the Holy Ghost, who served from 1886 to 1899 as the president of the Pittsburgh Catholic College, which was later renamed Duquesne University in 1911 when it gained university status. Later, Murphy was consecrated as a bishop and administered the Roman Catholic Diocese of Port-Louis in Mauritius until his death.
Raymond V. Kirk, C.S.Sp. (1901–1947) was a Roman Catholic priest and the sixth president of Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, from 1940 until 1946.
Francis P. Smith, C.S.Sp. (1907–1990) was a Roman Catholic priest and the seventh president of Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, from 1946 until 1950.
Vernon F. Gallagher was an American Roman Catholic priest who served as the eighth president of Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1950 until 1959. After leaving the priesthood in 1972, he was an academic administrator at St. Michael's College in Colchester, Vermont.
Henry Joseph McAnulty, C.S.Sp. was an American Catholic priest. A Spiritan, McAnulty served as the ninth president of Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1959 until 1980, and afterwards as university chancellor until his death.
Saint Paul Seminary is the diocesan minor seminary for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh. It is located in East Carnegie, a neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The seminary is not a degree-granting institution; seminarians in their collegiate or pre-theological studies attend classes at Franciscan University of Steubenville.
