Hehir had taken a college that focused on a classical approach to education, surveyed the needs of the Catholic immigrant community in Pittsburgh, and transformed Duquesne University into a school with an emphasis on occupational training and practicality in curriculum.

Callahan, on the other hand, believed that liberal education should "lead to the possession of manners and the mental attitude of a gentleman, the complete and perfectly rounded out man of the world".

[1] The onset of the Great Depression had a negative impact on the university's fortunes, and Callahan's impersonal and rigid administrative attitude only exacerbated the crisis.

[1] By 1936, Callahan's "disregard of constitutional safeguards" had resulted in all-time low morale among university staff, and the bishop of Pittsburgh, as well as a number of parents, were rapidly losing confidence in his leadership.

W. S. York Critchley, a man whom Callahan had appointed to be dean of the School of Education, followed suit, as it had been revealed that his academic credentials were forged.

Father George J. Collins was appointed American provincial, and transferred Callahan to St. Augustine's, a poor rural African-American parish located 10 miles outside of Natchitoches, Louisiana, on the Cane River.

During Callahan's ten-year term as president, the university's curriculum grew to include day sessions in the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences, as well as in pharmacy, accounting, pre-medical and pre-dental studies, oratory, and music and drama.

[5] (When asked if he wasn't overemphasizing athletics, Callahan responded, "The Greeks of Homer's time trained more rigorously than football players of today".