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University of Pittsburgh
About The University

About the University of Pittsburgh

University of PittsburghThe University of Pittsburgh is one of the nation’s leading public research universities and one of the oldest institutions of higher learning west of the Allegheny Mountains. Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg is the University’s 17th chancellor, and summer 2009 marks the 14th anniversary of his move into the chancellor’s office.

Founded as the Pittsburgh Academy in 1787, and private through much of its history, the University of Pittsburgh became a state-related university in 1966. Today, the Pitt system consists of its 132-acre campus located in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh and regional campuses in Bradford, Greensburg, Johnstown, and Titusville. Its more than 12,000 employees, including more than 5,000 faculty members, serve more than 31,000 students through the programs of 16 undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools.

For more than two centuries, the University of Pittsburgh has helped to advance this region. The University and its partners—particularly its principal partner, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center—now generate billions of dollars annually in economic activity in the Pittsburgh region. Pitt’s ambitious building and facilities development plan has created additional jobs, even as it has added to the physical landscape of the community. The University alone generates $1.3 billion in personal income from nearly 33,800 Pitt-supported jobs and delivers $145.2 million to communities, including sales, wage, and real estate taxes.

As one of the country’s leading research centers, the University imports substantial research funding—$642 million during fiscal year 2008. These expenditures alone support more than 23,100 local jobs and represent a return of more than $3.60 for every dollar of Pitt’s state appropriation. The beneficial impact of those funds, as they move through the economy, extends far beyond those actually employed at Pitt—from the non-University employees who build the research facilities, to the private companies that supply them, to the businesses that meet the needs of the people who work there.

Pitt also continues to expand its technology transfer efforts to ensure that research translates into new products, new companies, and new jobs. Pitt has already played a direct organizational or sponsorship role in the formation of some 42 companies.

Pitt’s more than 250,000 living alumni have distinguished themselves in virtually every field of human endeavor, close to home and in more distant parts of the world. In recent years, Pitt graduates have received some of the world’s most prestigious awards, including the Nobel Peace Prize, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, the Shaw Prize in Life Science and Medicine, the Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research, and the John Fritz Medal, widely regarded as the world’s most prestigious engineering award.

Through the work of its alumni and as a result of the quality of its programs in disciplines as diverse as philosophy and transplantation surgery, Pitt has gained international recognition. It is a member of the Association of American Universities, an organization composed of the top 62 research universities in North America.