Kaitlyn Hughes & Naomi Girson | news editor & opinions editor 

Five months after Edward Wesolowski, a local English teacher, suffered a heart attack at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse during a women’s basketball game, he returned to the very same place to address the graduating liberal arts students at Duquesne University.

Wesolowski credited his life to Travis Moyer and the rest of the sports medicine team that helped revive him. Duquesne President Ken Gormley tied the work done by the sports medicine team into the university’s mission to address the graduating class. 

“It’s not just about forming lives, it’s about forming hearts and building strong internal compassess,” Gormley said. “And because of that, lives are made better.”

The university’s May 2025 commencement ceremonies began on Friday morning and will continue into Saturday and on May 17. 

The McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts was the first to walk the stage. On Friday morning, the newest graduates became a part of 35,000 alumni from McAnulty College.

Graduate Braden Niles was this year’s recipient of the college’s General Excellence Award. Niles remembered walking through Duquesne’s campus a decade ago, as his father was undergoing life-saving surgery at UPMC Mercy Hospital after a tree cutting accident. He said this is when he first felt the power of Duquesne’s mission, reminding his fellow graduates of its impact. 

“So as we take our next steps … let us do so grounded in gratitude, guided by purpose and a commitment to service,” Niles said to the outgoing class. “May we always remember the strength of this community and strive to be the same source of light for others.”

Wesolowski remembered the night he was revived, using his experience to enlighten the graduating class. 

“I am certain that the same willingness to serve exists in all of you, and my hope is that each of you impacts someone’s life the way Travis and the rest of the medical team and the rest of Duquesne have impacted me,” Wesolowksi said.

The Palumbo Donahue School of Business welcomed Sharon Kelley, chair of the Mayo Clinic Revenue Cycle, a healthcare finance executive, to address the graduating business students on the importance of embodying their mistakes. 

She told a story about the time she drank from the finger bowl — a bowl kept on restaurant tables for patrons to rinse their fingers — at a prospective job dinner with all her possible future bosses and colleagues. Regardless of her mistake, she got the job, because of the confidence she had. 

“And I tell you that because if i’m your speaker and I drank the finger bowl there is hope for all of you to become a future speaker,” Kelley said. “I was trying to be perfect, and I realized you don’t have to be perfect to belong, you just have to be brave enough to be out there in the arena.” 

Regarding other achievements, Gina Govojdean, Duquesne business school alumna and vice president of procurement at Howmet Aerospace was given the Young Alumni Achievement Award. 

With about 50 graduates, the Mary Pappert School of Music’s graduation was the only one to be held in the Union Ballroom. 

Ryan Joseph, an alumni of the music school and well-known fiddle player, was presented with the 2025 Mary Pappert School of Music distinguished alumni award. 

Wesolowski came back to tell his tale at the John G. Rangos School of Health Sciences graduation. This time, he was preceded by two of the first-responders that saved his life, Moyer and Ryan Nussbaum, a UPMC team physician. 

Nussbaum used Wesolowski’s near-death experience to connect with the health science graduates, as they are approaching a place in their professional career where they can save lives as he did. 

“Graduates, please remember that the work you do is more important than any of you realize,” Nussbaum said. “You will likely not meet or even comprehend the extended network or people you are positively affecting by caring for one person.” 

The School of Nursing was the first to graduate on Saturday followed by the School of Education and School of Science and Engineering throughout the rest of the day.

The School of Pharmacy and Thomas R. Kline School of Law will hold their graduations on Saturday May 17.

Kaitlyn Hughes can be reached at hughesk10@duq.edu

Naomi Girson can be reached at girsonn@duq.edu