Inaugural Albert C. Labriola Endowed Chair in the Humanities Announced

This prestigious chair honors the late Dr. Albert C. Labriola, an academic leader who served as professor of English, interim Dean of the McAnulty College of Liberal Arts, and Distinguished University Professor. The Chair, created by the President to honor Labriola’s legacy and supported through a $1 million endowed fund, aims to acknowledge and promote exceptional scholarship, service to the University and contributions to academic disciplines relating to the humanities.
 
“Dr. Al Labriola embodied the University’s commitment to excellence in the humanities and our dedication to nurturing scholarly and creative endeavors,” said Gormley. “The establishment of this chair is a celebration of the foundational importance of the liberal arts, allowing chairholders like Dr. John Mitcham and faculty collaborators to continue their academic pursuits inspired by Dr. Labriola’s enduring example.”
 
Along with recognizing the chairholder, the Labriola Chair is unique in providing faculty funding for the development of a program each year related to the humanities, in collaboration with faculty in other departments, to enrich the entire University community.  
 
Mitcham, who has taught at Duquesne since 2015, is author of “Race and Imperial Defence in the British World 1870-1914.” He serves as general editor of the peer-reviewed journal "Britain and the World” and is active in several professional organizations, including the Royal Historical Society and Society for Military History. Mitcham’s research interests include the British Empire; global history; race and gender; imperialism; and miliary, diplomatic, and maritime history. He earned his doctorate at the University of Alabama and is a historian of the British Empire, focusing on settler colonialism in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. 
 
In the summer of 2023, Mitcham joined Duquesne students and fellow educators as they visited Holocaust-related historical sites in Poland as part of the Pittsburgh-based “Classrooms Without Borders.” He also helped organize and moderated the President’s Civil Discourse program, relating to the Holocaust, at Duquesne in the spring of 2024.  
 
To recognize cross-disciplinary excellence within the McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts, the Labriola Chair is a rotating position and will be appointed to a new recipient every three years. 
 
Labriola made an indelible impact in the McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts and across the University. His academic journey was marked by numerous accolades, including membership in the Central Catholic High School Hall of Fame and degrees from Duquesne, Columbia University and the University of Virginia, where he earned his doctorate and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. 
 
Labriola also served as a Captain in the United States Army during the Vietnam Conflict, earning the Bronze Star for Meritorious Service. His legacy includes numerous scholarly publications that have contributed significantly to the field of humanities.

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