The University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research institution in Pittsburgh
Pennsylvania. The university is comprised
of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh
campus, home to the university’s central administration and 28,391
undergraduate and graduate students. The 132-acre Pittsburgh campus includes
various historic buildings that are part of the Schenley Farms Historic
District, notably its 42-story Gothic revival centerpiece, the Cathedral
of Learning. Pitt is a member of
the Association of American Universities, a selective group of major
research universities in North America, and is classified as an R1 university,
meaning that it engages in a very high level of research activity. Pitt was the
third-largest recipient of federally sponsored health research funding among
U.S. universities in 2018 and it is a major recipient of research funding from
the National Institutes of Health. According to the National Science
Foundation, Pitt spending on research and development in 2021, ranks it 11th in
the nation. It is the second-largest non-government employer in the
Pittsburgh metropolitan area. The university also operates four undergraduate
branch campuses in Western Pennsylvania, located in Bradford, Greensburg,
Johnstown and Titusville.
The campus is situated adjacent to the flagship medical
facilities of its closely affiliated University of Pittsburgh Medical
Center (UPMC) and its flagship hospital, UPMC Presbyterian, as well
as the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, Schenley Park and Carnegie Mellon
University.
Pitt traces its roots to the Pittsburgh Academy founded
by Hugh Henry Brackenridge in 1787. While the city was still on
the edge of the American frontier at the time, Pittsburgh’s rapid
growth meant that a proper university was soon needed, and Pitt’s charter was
altered in 1819 to confer university status on it as the Western
University of Pennsylvania. After surviving two devastating fires and several
relocations, the university moved to its current location in Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood,
and by act of the state legislature was renamed the University of Pittsburgh in
1908. Pitt was a private institution until 1966, when it became part of
the Commonwealth System of Higher Education.
Pitt has produced eight Rhodes Scholars, ten Marshall
Scholars, and 297 Fulbright Scholars. Past and present faculty and
alumni at Pitt include six Nobel laureates, three Pulitzer Prize winners,
three Academy Award winners, various members of the American
Academy of Arts and Sciences, seven United States senators, three United
States cabinet officials, and five U.S. state governors.
In athletics, Pitt competes in Division 1 of the NCAA as
the Pittsburgh Panthers, primarily as members of the Atlantic Coast
Conference. Pitt athletes have received a total of five Olympic medals.
