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Innovation

Pitt’s resident Cathedral expert studies how the landmark shaped campus and the city

The curious architect stands at the base of the tower, looking up. Tall and magnificent, the structure looms above him, leaving him amazed and captivated. 

It is March 2005, his first visit to Pittsburgh. He is here to interview for a faculty post and to check off items on a very specific architectural bucket list.

He’s been downtown, standing before the more-than-a- century-old Allegheny County Courthouse, a masterwork of civic architecture. He’s traveled through Pennsylvania’s woods to Fallingwater, Frank Lloyd Wright’s iconic home suspended over a rushing stream.

This art installation turns a century of Nationality Rooms history into poetry and pattern

Before reaching Hillman Library’s front doors, passersby can look through the windows and see a phrase in bold blue letters running the length of the grand staircase inside. It reads: “I am made to leave I am made again to return.”

Kornelia Tancheva, director of Pitt’s University Library System (ULS), reads the line through her own experience as an immigrant from Bulgaria.

“Your past is always part of you, and you change all the time, but you don’t forget where you come from,” Tancheva said.

With decades of Pitt researchers’ input, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope preps for launch

‘Slowboarding’ concept designed to make Dietrich faculty orientation easier to digest

The moment one gets a job offer, the anxiety and stress that typically carries through the interview process and the waiting period that follow tend to melt away, replaced by a sense of accomplishment and eager anticipation to take on a new professional endeavor.

Before taking on actual job duties at Pitt, however, there’s still hoops to jump through. Employee orientation, or “onboarding,” involves a virtual deluge of institutional and Human Resources-based information of varying degrees of urgency and relevance.

Pitt introduces a new Journalism Certificate

Beginning this fall, the Dietrich School will offer a new Journalism Certificate.
 
The certificate was a collaborative effort between the English and Communications Departments, with English Chair Gayle Rogers at the helm. Gayle says it was designed with the ever-changing news landscape in mind. Journalists are constantly updating their roster of skills, and this certificate aims to best prepare students for their careers.
 
From the website:

Pitt students can now bop to the top with the new Musical Theatre Certificate

Musical Theatre enthusiasts can rejoice over the new Musical Theatre certificate being offered by the Department of Theatre Arts in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences. The certificate is an interdisciplinary effort between the theatre and music departments that aims to offer a more niche experience for students looking to either expand their theatre knowledge or dabble in theatre from outside of their main major.
 

Prepared for Anything: How a Pitt Humanities PhD Led to an Unconventional Career

When Spyros Sakellariadis (A&S ’80G) arrived at the University of Pittsburgh in the late 1970s, he wasn’t following a carefully designed career plan.

Fresh off a degree in physics and philosophy from Oxford University, Sakellariadis was fascinated by questions about space, time and the philosophy of science. After reading work by renowned Pitt faculty member Adolf Grünbaum, he decided he wanted to study with him.

What happened next was a lesson in the power of relationships.