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PITT PATHFINDERS

We are the student tour guides who help recruit prospective undergraduate students to the University of Pittsburgh.

We know how important the college visit is in the decision process, so we’re honest and fun and want you to love Pitt as much as we do.

Register for a campus visit today! We offer three different types of tours, answer your questions, and assist campus visitors.

If you have a question, ask a Pathfinder! We can usually be found wearing our legendary blue and gold rugbies in Alumni Hall or walking backwards across campus.

Our organization started in 1992 with 20 students and has grown to more than 200 students.

If you’re interested in being part of our team, apply in the beginning of the fall or spring terms.

Get to know us a little better by searching our directory!

If you have questions, you can contact a Pathfinder in your major, from your home state, or the Pathfinder who showed you around campus during your Pitt visit.

Hail to Pitt = I love it here! You'll often hear students, faculty, and staff sign off with the phrase "Hail to Pitt!" or "H2P". It's how we show our affection for this great University. So why do we Hail to Pitt?

INSERT Officer Quotes and photos here...

Each year we recruit students to be Pathfinders!

Voted as one of the best student organizations and best jobs on campus, the Pathfinders accept applications in the fall and spring terms.

Apply online!

Being a student should always be your first priority, but joining Pathfinders has been known to change lives – and not just for the students we recruit to Pitt, but our own lives as well.

Once a Pathfinder, always a Pathfinder!

Bonded by all of the time we’ve spent together at Pitt, Pathfinder Alumni remain connected to Pitt and to each other for life.

To update your contact information, please contact Ontario Lett.

The Pathfinder Alumni Network helps you stay in touch with each other and with Pitt. Take advantage of opportunities to continue recruiting, be a mentor, and see the legacy of your Pal family grow.

Ask a question, reconnect with a Pathfinder you met on campus, or provide feedback about a Pathfinder!

High school student groups seeking a special tour should contact the Office of Admissions and Financial Aid’s Visitor Center.

Contact the Pathfinders!

If you’re a graduate student who is interested in touring campus, please contact the Pitt Trailblazers.

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Exploring the University of Pittsburgh: An Insider’s Guide to Campus Tours

By Happy Sharer

Introduction

The University of Pittsburgh is a public research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1787, it is one of the oldest universities in the United States and is renowned for its academic programs and research opportunities. With its vibrant student life, diverse culture, and beautiful campus, the University of Pittsburgh is a great place to explore.

This article will provide an insider’s guide to touring the University of Pittsburgh. From what to expect on a tour to tips for making the most of your visit, you’ll get all the information you need to make the most of your time on campus. We’ll also provide a tourist’s guide to the city, so you can explore the best places to eat, shop, and sightsee during your stay.

Whether you’re planning a visit or simply curious about the University of Pittsburgh, taking a tour of the campus is a great way to learn more about the school. Here’s what you need to know about touring the University of Pittsburgh.

What to Expect on a Tour

A tour of the University of Pittsburgh typically lasts between one and two hours and covers the main points of interest on campus. During the tour, a knowledgeable guide will provide information about the history and culture of the university, as well as details about the various academic and research programs offered. You’ll also have the opportunity to ask questions and get an up-close look at some of the university’s most iconic buildings and landmarks.

Popular Sites to Visit

There are many popular sites to visit on a tour of the University of Pittsburgh. The Cathedral of Learning is one of the most iconic buildings on campus and a must-see for any visitor. Other popular sites include the Stephen Foster Memorial, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and the Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History. You’ll also want to check out the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, as well as the Petersen Events Center.

Tips for Making the Most of Your Visit

To make the most of your visit to the University of Pittsburgh, it’s important to plan ahead. Make sure to dress appropriately for the weather and wear comfortable shoes, as you’ll be doing a lot of walking. Bring water and snacks to keep your energy levels up, and don’t forget to bring a camera so you can capture the beauty of the campus. Lastly, be sure to leave yourself plenty of time to explore the city after your tour.

A Tourist’s Guide to the University of Pittsburgh: What to See and Do

In addition to exploring the University of Pittsburgh, there are plenty of other things to see and do in the city. Whether you’re looking for must-see destinations, local attractions, or the best places to eat, here’s a guide to the top things to do in Pittsburgh.

Must-See Destinations in the City

Pittsburgh is home to many must-see destinations. The Andy Warhol Museum is a great place to start, offering a unique look at the artist’s life and work. For a dose of history and culture, head to the Carnegie Museum of Art, the Carnegie Science Center, or the Heinz History Center. If you’re in the mood for some outdoor fun, check out the city’s many parks and trails, including Point State Park and Frick Park.

Local Attractions and Activities

Pittsburgh is full of exciting attractions and activities. Take a ride on the Duquesne Incline for stunning views of the city skyline, or head to the National Aviary for a close encounter with over 500 species of birds. Catch a show at the Benedum Center for the Performing Arts, or watch a Pirates game at PNC Park. For a unique experience, try a kayak tour along the Three Rivers or take a ride on the Gateway Clipper Fleet.

The Best Places to Eat

When it comes to food, Pittsburgh has something for everyone. Sample classic Italian dishes at DiAnoia’s Eatery, grab a bite at Primanti Brothers, or indulge in some fine dining at The Fairmont Pittsburgh. For a taste of the city’s unique cuisine, try a pierogi from the Church Brew Works or a sandwich from Peppi’s. No matter what you’re craving, you’re sure to find something delicious in Pittsburgh.

Take a Virtual Tour of the University of Pittsburgh

If you can’t make it to Pittsburgh in person, you can still explore the University of Pittsburgh through a virtual tour. Here’s what you need to know about taking a virtual tour of the campus.

How to Access the Virtual Tour

The University of Pittsburgh offers a variety of virtual tours, including a self-guided tour, a narrated tour, and a 360-degree interactive tour. To access the virtual tours, simply visit the university’s website and click on the “Virtual Tour” link. You’ll then be able to choose the type of tour you’d like to take.

What You’ll See on the Virtual Tour

On the virtual tour, you’ll get a firsthand look at the University of Pittsburgh. You’ll explore the campus and learn about its history, culture, and sights. You’ll also get an up-close look at some of the university’s most iconic buildings and landmarks, such as the Cathedral of Learning and the Stephen Foster Memorial.

Benefits of Taking a Virtual Tour

Taking a virtual tour has several benefits. It’s a convenient and cost-effective way to explore the University of Pittsburgh. Plus, you can take the tour at your own pace and access it anytime, anywhere. Lastly, the virtual tour is a great way to get a feel for the campus before visiting in person.

How to Visit the University of Pittsburgh: What You Need to Know

If you’re planning a visit to the University of Pittsburgh, here’s what you need to know. The university is open daily from 9AM to 5PM. Admission is free, but there may be additional fees for special events or tours. Parking is available for a fee in designated lots and garages around campus.

The University of Pittsburgh: An Overview of its History, Culture, and Sights

The University of Pittsburgh has a rich history and culture that dates back to its founding in 1787. Today, the university is renowned for its academic programs, research opportunities, and vibrant student life. It’s also home to many iconic buildings and landmarks, such as the Cathedral of Learning and the Stephen Foster Memorial. There’s no better way to experience the University of Pittsburgh than to take a tour of the campus.

Take a Tour of the University of Pittsburgh: Tips for Making the Most of Your Visit

Taking a tour of the University of Pittsburgh is a great way to explore the campus and learn more about the school. To make the most of your visit, here are a few tips to keep in mind.

Preparing for Your Trip

Before you go, make sure to do some research on the school and familiarize yourself with the campus. This will help you get the most out of your tour. Additionally, be sure to dress appropriately for the weather and wear comfortable shoes.

Making the Most of Your Time

During your tour, be sure to ask questions and take pictures. Don’t forget to bring a camera so you can capture the beauty of the campus. Lastly, give yourself plenty of time to explore the city after your tour.

Other Things to Consider

Make sure to bring water and snacks to keep your energy levels up. Additionally, if you’re visiting during peak season, you may want to book your tour in advance to ensure availability. Lastly, check out the university’s website for information about special events and activities happening during your visit.

From its vibrant student life to its unique culture and iconic landmarks, the University of Pittsburgh is an amazing place to explore. Whether you’re planning a visit or just curious about the school, taking a tour of the campus is a great way to learn more about the university. And with a virtual tour, you can explore the University of Pittsburgh from anywhere. So, what are you waiting for? Go explore!

(Note: Is this article not meeting your expectations? Do you have knowledge or insights to share? Unlock new opportunities and expand your reach by joining our authors team. Click Registration to join us and share your expertise with our readers.)

Hi, I'm Happy Sharer and I love sharing interesting and useful knowledge with others. I have a passion for learning and enjoy explaining complex concepts in a simple way.

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University of Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh Campus Virtual Tour

Are you considering university of pittsburgh - pittsburgh campus take a virtual tour of the campus below..

A visit to Pitt is ideal, but virtual tours can act to refresh your memory or as a preview for your on-site tour.

What's in it for me?

Inevitably, on-campus tours of classrooms, libraries, dorms, and dining halls will start to blend. Jog your memory using the virtual tour and even explore the area surrounding the campus using the interactive mapping tool. If you're just beginning your college search, a virtual tour can be a great way to get a feel for a campus before your visit. Remember, when you do go, be sure to ask current students about their college life. A student perspective can be the most helpful way to gauge your future experience at University of Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh Campus.

Use the resources below to start your virtual tour.

Using the Map

Click and drag the little orange person to a location on the map. Locations with panoramas appear as blue lines or blue dots when moving the orange person. The blue dots are panoramic views that you may swivel. The blue lines are paths that you can navigate along.

Panoramic View

You can "pan" or "swivel" the camera around by clicking on the image and dragging your mouse or finger. If you see a white arrow on the picture, you can click or tap on it to move in the direction of the arrow. This will also update the location of the little orange person on the map so you can get a better sense of where you are and what direction you are facing.

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Pitt Honors students have opportunities to apply for fellowships, travel abroad with professors, and pursue honors research. There is also an Honors Distinction program that is half the requirement of the full program, a great option for a student who wants to dip their toe but not jump all the way in. My favorite place was the Swanson School of Engineering . As we peered into labs, and classrooms and saw students in various study areas, there was energy and conversation.

With soggy shoes and our heads full of information, we ended our first day of tours with a Pittsburgh favorite – Primanti Brothers stacked roast beef sandwich.

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Title: Board Increases Financial Aid, Tours Capitol Campus in Summer Meeting

Georgetown’s board of directors approved a historic increase to financial aid, toured the Capitol Campus and greenlit several new degree programs in its annual summer meeting. 

In the coming fiscal year, Georgetown will increase its financial aid budget by 8% to $285 million, the largest-ever commitment to financial aid in Georgetown’s history. As part of a balanced budget, the increase in financial aid will continue to support the university’s need-blind admissions policy while increasing the enrollment of Pell-eligible students.

Touring the Capitol Campus

During the meeting, board members got an inside look at the Capitol Campus in downtown Washington, DC.

The Capitol Campus is home to Georgetown Law , the McCourt School of Public Policy and a host of programs from across the university. One of the buildings the Board was able to visit was 111 Massachusetts Ave., which was approved for additional funding to complete the renovation of that project. Over the next year, 111 Massachusetts Ave. will become the home of the Earth Commons Institute , School of Continuing Studies, the Capitol Applied Learning Labs (CALL) Program and programs from the McDonough School of Business, the School of Health and the School of Nursing, among others.

Learn more about each of the new buildings on the Capitol Campus.

500 First St.

At 500 First St., academic programs and research centers from Georgetown Law, the McCourt School, the Medical Center and other university-wide initiatives like Tech & Society collaborate to push the boundaries of their fields. The space is complete with fully renovated classrooms, office space and places for meeting and collaboration.

Home to the McCourt School of Public Policy, 125 E St. serves as the base for McCourt’s expanding graduate programs and its new undergraduate major in public policy. The space features an auditorium, rooftop event space and a terrace with views of the U.S. Capitol.

Opened in August 2022, 55 H St. is Georgetown’s newest residence hall with capacity for over 450 students. The building features a mix of studio, two-bedroom and four-bedroom apartment-style units. Students also have access to a penthouse level with a fitness center, contemplation space and spaces for studying and socializing.

111 Massachusetts Ave.

Slated to open by the fall 2025 semester, 111 Massachusetts Ave. will be the future home for the Earth Commons Institute, School of Continuing Studies and a host of other offerings, including programs from the McDonough School of Business, the School of Health and the School of Nursing.

Hilltop Renovations

The board received updates on the renovation project on Healy and Copley Lawn that began this month and will continue through the spring of 2027. The renovation is part of Georgetown’s long-term commitment to advance sustainability on campus.

The three-year project will replace underground utilities and convert the aging network of piping from steam to hot water. The conversion will reduce energy and water usage, as well as enhance the reliability of Georgetown’s heating and cooling systems and improve drainage throughout campus.

The renovation project will occur in phases to have portions of the lawn open to members of the community at all times.

The board also approved additional funding for the renovation of the Pierce Reading Room in Georgetown’s Lauinger Library. The renovated space will include a modern design for student learning and collaboration with natural light and views of the Potomac River and northern Virginia.

New Degree Programs

The board authorized the creation of four new degree programs at Georgetown. 

The College of Arts & Sciences now offers a major in East Asian languages and cultures, which complements existing department majors in Chinese, Japanese and Korean.

The School of Continuing Studies will also offer a new executive master’s in humanitarian crisis and emergency management, as well as a master’s in artificial intelligence management. The Graduate School of Arts & Sciences will also offer a new master’s program in financial economics.

Departing Board Members

In the summer meeting, the board also expressed gratitude for the service of nine outgoing members of the board:

Suzanne Donohoe (C’92), chief commercial officer and global head of EQT-Ext at EQT Group; Rev. Agbonkhianmeghe E. Orobator, S.J. (G’16), dean of the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University; Bruce Blume (L’80), founder and chairman of the Blume Company Real Estate; Amy Goldman (SFS’86), CEO and chair of the GHR Foundation; Thomas Farley (C’97), chairman and CEO of Far Peak Acquisition; Fernando Zobel de Ayala, former chairman and CEO of the Ayala Corporation; Rev. John Fitzgibbons, S.J., chancellor and chief mission officer at the University of San Francisco; Kevin Clark (C’76, L’79), chair of the Board of Regents; and Kelly Mulvoy Mangan (SFS’91), president and trustee at the Harrison Central School District.

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Archives service center.

The Archives Service Center (ASC) is a repository for manuscript and record collections that document the history of Pittsburgh and the Western Pennsylvania region, including the history of Pitt.

ASC is located on the second floor of the Library Resource Facility in Pittsburgh’s Point Breeze neighborhood, approximately three miles from the Oakland campus. Shuttle service is available between ASC and Hillman Library, and free parking is provided to researchers.

ASC’s collections fall into two main categories: the Archives of Industrial Society , comprising historical records important for the study of the social, political, labor, and ethic histories of Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania during the 19th and 20th centuries; and the University Archives , documenting Pitt history. ASC also maintains the papers of former Pennsylvania Governor Dick Thornburgh.

Benedum Hall

Benedum Hall is in the final stages of a comprehensive renovation designed to upgrade the building’s outdated utility infrastructure and renovate programmatic areas to provide state-of-the-art teaching and research facilities for the Swanson School of Engineering.  In addition to improving the functionality and appearance of the building, the renovation has incorporated many sustainable features to reduce the building’s impact on the environment.  The building’s windows were replaced with energy efficient reflective windows, and many energy and water-saving features were incorporated.  

The project also included the University’s first green vegetative roof, and more than 75 percent of the project’s construction and demolition waste was recycled. 

Phase I of the project earned LEED Gold certification, 2011.  The project’s second phase is also pursuing LEED certification. 

Schenley Plaza

The University assisted the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy with construction management services for the revitalization of Schenley Plaza, located across Fifth Avenue from the Cathedral of Learning. Originally designed as a grand entrance to Schenley Park, the plaza was converted to a surface parking lot in 1949—a move that Terence Smith, Pitt's Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Contemporary Art History and Theory, described in 2002 as "an absolute aesthetic disaster" and akin to "filling the Grand Canyon with a shopping mall."

In the 1990s, the Parks Conservancy began a 10-year planning process to restore the plaza to its former glory. The revitalization was completed in 2006, providing Pitt and the surrounding community with an acre of new green space complete with outdoor movable seating, a tented area for shade, ornamental gardens, food kiosks, free wireless service, and a Victorian-style carousel.  A full service restaurant, The Porch, is a recent addition.   

The renovation project received the Silver Award for Environmentally Sustainable Projects from the International Awards for Livable Communities (2009) and the plaza itself earned a  “Best Place to Hang Out” designation from The Pitt News (2008).

Biomedical Science Tower 3

Biomedical Science Tower 3 opened in 2005. Within the 10-story, 330,000-square-foot facility, world-class scientists from an array of disciplines pool their expertise, extend the reach of their individual resources, and participate in discoveries that advance scientific understanding. The tower was engineered to facilitate coordinated research in the areas of neurosciences, vaccine development, drug discovery, regenerative medicine and biomedical devices, and basic science disciplines.

A Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation Historic Landmark, Allen Hall houses Pitt’s Department of Physics and Astronomy. Since the days of founding chair Samuel Langley, who pioneered heavier-than-air flight, the department has boasted a proud history of innovative research and teaching. During the 1990s, for example, current department chair David Turnshek discovered the farthest known galaxy from Earth.

The Greek Revival-style Allen Hall was dedicated in 1915. Its facade includes a plaque honoring Polish scientist Marie Curie, who conducted research at Pitt and upon whom the University conferred an honorary doctor of laws degree in 1921. The plaque commemorates the 100th anniversary in 1967 of Curie’s birth; it was unveiled by fellow Pole Karol Wojtyla, then the Archbishop of Krakow, who in 1978 became Pope John Paul II.

Litchfield Towers-Rooms

Litchfield Towers A and B offer double rooms while Litchfield Tower C includes only single rooms. The original A, B, and C names were simply shorthand abbreviations used by the Towers’ designers. Though officially renamed the “Litchfield Towers” in 1971 after Pitt’s 12th chancellor, Edward H. Litchfield (1914-1968), the A, B, and C names have stuck ever since. The design of the towers has earned several architectural awards.

Babcock Room

The Babcock Room, located on the 40th floor of the Cathedral of Learning, is a unique location for meetings featuring gorgeous views of Oakland and beyond. The room was originally used by the Board of Trustees, but they eventually outgrew the space and today it is used for special meetings and gatherings. Perched outside these windows is the nest of the pair of peregrine falcons that call the Cathedral home.

Mark A. Nordenberg Hall

The University’s newest residence hall, opened in fall 2013, is named for Pitt's 17th chancellor, Mark A. Nordenberg, to acknowledge his pivotal role in transforming Pitt. 

The 11-story building houses approximately 560 freshmen in double and triple rooms. The building also includes wellness center space for student health services and the counseling center.

Nordenberg Hall is located in the heart of the Pittsburgh campus, along Fifth Avenue. It is expected to achieve a LEED silver certification for sustainable construction.

Allen L. Cook Spring Creek Preserve, Wyoming

Thanks to a generous donation of land by rancher Allen Cook, the University Honors College (UHC) maintains stewardship of the Allen L. Cook Spring Creek Preserve, which serves as a 6000-acre research lab that's rich in dinosaur fossils, Native American archaeology spanning 9,000 years, indigenous prairie ecology, and a section of the original grade of the 1869 transcontinental railroad.

UHC’s Wyoming Field Studies Program introduces students to the fundamental practices of paleontology, ecology, and archaeology, with a strong emphasis on field techniques. Students get to help unlock a natural time capsule teeming with remnants of life dating back 150 million years.

Undergraduate Chemistry Labs

The Department of Chemistry’s undergraduate labs within the Chevron Science Center provide the research space and quality education to enable students to go on to positions in industry, professional schools, and graduate chemistry programs at top institutions.

The labs provide combined recitation/lab areas where lab benches occupy peripheral wall space and a flexible arrangement of tables and seating is located in the center of each room. This central core is separated from lab experiments by glass partitions, providing a safety barrier and excellent sightlines between students and lab instructors.

Lab workspace includes open, analytical labs as well as air-capture units for synthetic and reactive chemistry activities. Each student lab station is equipped with a laptop PC interfaced with temperature, pH, conductivity, and visible absorption spectrometers (Vernier electronic probes). As newer technologies become available, the labs will include electronic notebooks offering video clips, pre-lab material, and, ultimately, the ability to submit lab reports electronically.

Translational Medicine

At the University of Pittsburgh, important laboratory work to bring basic research to hospital bedsides occurs in many labs across the schools of the health sciences, including this one, where human organs are analyzed to improve transplantation success.

Structural Biology

The Department of Structural Biology, part of Pitt’s School of Medicine, currently has 12 faculty members working in the fields of Cryo EM, NMR, X-ray crystallography, and biochemistry. The department is located in Biomedical Science Tower 3.

An advanced degree is offered through the molecular biophysics and structural biology graduate program, which brings faculty members from Pitt’s Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences and School of Medicine together with faculty members of various Carnegie Mellon University departments.

Pymatuning Laboratory of Ecology

The Pymatuning Laboratory of Ecology (PLE) is a year-round facility that is part of Pitt's Department of Biological Sciences in the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences. The lab is located in Northwestern Pennsylvania on the shores Pymatuning Lake in Mercer County.

PLE offers academic and outreach courses to students and visitors alike, and facilitates cutting-edge research in ecology, evolution, and the environment.

Petersen Events Center Rain Garden

Pitt’s first rain garden, located on the lawn of the Petersen Events Center, soaks up excess rainwater and naturally infiltrates it into the soil. The garden was designed and built in 2011 by student members of Engineers for a Sustainable World, with support from the University’s Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation.

Oakwood Apartments

The Oakwood Apartments, located between Oakland Avenue and Atwood Street a few blocks from the center of campus, include 20 furnished units housing 40 students in single and double bedrooms.

Neuromuscular Research Laboratory

The Neuromuscular Research Laboratory (NMRL) is the applied research facility of the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Department of Sports Medicine and Nutrition, located on Pittsburgh's South Side.

Research is conducted in the areas related to joint injury where the objective has been to study profiles of an individual's function by evaluating both the sensory and motor characteristics specific to musculoskeletal injury and pathology. Deficiencies in body mechanics and muscle function are used to develop programs to improve performance and minimize potential for injury.

The laboratory houses three separate motion analysis systems for specific task and sport analyses with defined areas for sports physiology, proprioception, postural stability, and strength assessments.

Nanoscale Fabrication and Characterization Facility

The Nanoscale Fabrication and Characterization Facility (NFCF) is supported by the integrated, multidisciplinary organization, the Gertrude E. and John M. Petersen Institute of NanoScience and Engineering.

The NFCF is a 4,000-ft cleanroom facility located in the sub-basement of Benedum Hall. The facility houses state-of-the-art equipment with core nano-level fabrication/analysis capability. Several features make the capabilities of NFCF unique, including five different types of lithography (Optical, EBL, Dual Beam, DipPen, and Imprint), a field-emission microprobe (EPMA), and a transmission electron microscope (TEM).

NFCF is open for University use; this interdisciplinary facility acts as a catalyst for further collaborations among various Pitt schools. 

McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine

The McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine is a facility of both the University of Pittsburgh and UPMC that serves as a single base of operations for leading scientists and clinical faculty working in the areas of tissue engineering, cellular therapies, and artificial and biohybrid organ devices.

The institute is located in the Pittsburgh Technology Center, an office park in South Oakland situated on the former site of an LTV Steel mill. This office park is a hub of advanced academic and corporate technology research and stands as an example of one of the best brownfield redevelopment projects in the country.

McGowan Institute Laboratory Building

In 2005, the McGowan Institute Laboratory Building on Carson Street in the South Side became the first lab building in Pennsylvania to receive the gold LEED rating for sustainable design and construction. The building houses office and laboratory space for more than 100 scientists, researchers, and staff developing such cutting-edge medical devices as artificial hearts and lungs.

Its many green features include reuse of a former industrial brownfield, an underground rainwater collection system used for toilet flushing and drip irrigation, state-of-the-art heat recovery systems to reduce energy use and increase the efficiency of outside air spaces, and use of a large volume of locally manufactured or fabricated materials.

LEED Gold certification, 2005.

Human Engineering Research Laboratories

Located in Pittsburgh’s Bakery Square business park, about three miles east of Oakland in the neighboorhood of East Liberty, the Human Engineering Research Laboratories (HERL) is dedicated to improving the mobility and function of people with disabilities through advanced engineering in clinical research and medical rehabilitation. 

Gardner Steel Conference Center

The Gardner Steel Conference Center houses the University’s Innovation Institute and Academic Resource Center (ARC).

The Innovation Institute serves as the hub for innovation commercialization and student entrepreneurship activities at Pitt. Its mission is to foster a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship across the University and throughout Western Pennsylvania.

ARC helps students to achieve their highest academic potential. It provides advising, consultations, tutoring, study-skills workshops, academic support services, access to cultural and leadership activities, and other programs and services. ARC is part of the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, but is open to all undergraduates on the Pittsburgh campus.

The building, dedicated in 1912 and originally home to a German-American social and athletic association, is named after Gardner Steel, a successful oil investor who graduated from Pitt in 1891 and once held the University record in the 100-yard dash. He left the bulk of his estate to Pitt.

Falk School Green Roof

Fanny Edel Falk Elementary is a K-8 tuition-based campus laboratory school affiliated with Pitt’s School of Education. As part of the school’s green design renovation, a green roof was installed to collect and recycle rainfall, lessening the amount of storm water draining into the city’s sewer system.

Eberly Hall

Eberly Hall houses Pitt’s Center for Simulation and Modeling, an interdisciplinary unit that supports and facilitates computational-based research across the University in such areas as energy and sustainability, nanoscience and materials engineering, medicine and biology, and economics and the social sciences.

Dedicated in 1921, Eberly Hall was designed by architect Benno Janssen, who also designed such Oakland neighborhood landmarks as the Pittsburgh Athletic Association building, Mellon Institute of Industrial Research, and Pitt’s Alumni Hall.

Drug Discovery Institute

The process of drug discovery and development has undergone a dramatic transformation over the last decade, driven by multiple forces coming from the pharmaceutical/biotechnology industries, government funding agencies, academic programs, and life sciences and diagnostics companies. There is now a mutually beneficial environment where more collaboration is possible between these entities that will accelerate innovations and improvements in the efficiency of developing therapeutics.

Under the leadership of D. Lansing Taylor, the Drug Discovery Institute at the University of Pittsburgh is optimizing the discovery and development of new molecular entities through collaborations among faculty members, academic centers, corporations, and government agencies, together with innovations in chemistry, molecular biophysics, and quantitative systems pharmacology.

Dining Hall Recycling

As part of Pitt’s Dining Services Sustainability Initiative, Compass Group-managed Market Central now composts pre-consumer and post-consumer waste, reducing food waste by nearly 75 percent in the dining hall. Trays are no longer available at the all-you-care-to-eat facilities, to discourage students from loading up trays with foods that ultimately end in the trash. And waste cooking oil from Market Central, The Perch, Cathedral Cafe, and Schenley Café now goes to Fossil Free Fuel through the Refuel Pittsburgh initiative. 

Croghan-Schenley Ballroom

The Croghan-Schenley Ballroom is located on the first floor of the Cathedral of Learning. Behind its wooden door is a Greek Revival ballroom highlighted by four hand-carved wooden columns and a magnificent hand-cut glass chandelier that originally was illuminated by candles.

Today used for receptions and meetings, the ballroom and its adjoining parlor were originally part of a mansion built in the 1830s by William Croghan Jr. for his daughter Mary. But she never danced in it, scandalously eloping at age 15 with 43-year-old Captain Edward Schenley of the British Army. In the 1940s, the ballroom and parlor were moved and restored inside the Cathedral and christened the Croghan-Schenley Room.

Mary Schenley donated the land that became Schenley Park to the city of Pittsburgh in the late 1800s. A fountain in her honor stands in front of the Frick Fine Arts Building.

School of Public Health

Pitt's School of Public Health was founded in 1948 with the mission of providing leadership in health promotion, disease prevention, and the elimination of health disparities.

Pitt Public Health ranks highly among schools of public health in National Institutes of Health funding and maintains collaborative relationships with Pitt's five other health science schools as well as community organizations and the local and state health departments.

The sculpture outside the building, titled "Man," symbolizes the human quest for knowledge. It was created by Pitt professor Virgil Cantini (1991-2009).

Chevron Annex

The Chevron Annex, a recent addition built atop the Ashe auditoriums of the existing Chevron Science Center, provides additional space for the Department of Chemistry’s synthetic and analytical chemistry labs. This addition was designed to achieve a LEED gold rating. Green features of its construction include more than 95 percent recycled construction and demolition waste; low-flow plumbing fixtures; low-VOC paints, coatings, carpets, adhesives; high performance glazing and low-flow fume hoods; and bicycle racks and showers to promote alternative transportation.

LEED Gold certification, 2013.

Chancellor’s Office

The chancellor’s office is located on the first floor of the Cathedral of Learning. Directly responsible to the University’s board of trustees, the chancellor also serves as the representative of the students, staff, faculty, and administration to the board. Patrick G. Gallagher (pictured) took office as Pitt's 18th chancellor on Aug. 1, 2014.

The chief executive of the University of Pittsburgh has been called “chancellor” since 1871. Before that, the head of the University was known as the “principal,” but the trustees believed that title was more appropriate for a schoolmaster than the leader of an institute of higher learning.

Centre Plaza Apartments

The 67 units in the Centre Plaza Apartments house 197 students. The air-conditioned, furnished apartments accommodate from one to three students. Kitchens include microwaves, garbage disposals, and dinettes, as well as refrigerators, stoves, and dishwashers.

Center for Vaccine Research

The Center for Vaccine Research (CVR) is composed of the Vaccine Research Laboratory and the Regional Biocontainment Laboratory. The CVR engages a cross-section of scientists in infectious disease research. Activities span basic research on molecular mechanisms of infectious diseases to the development of diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines. The CVR supports interdisciplinary research efforts focused on emerging infections that threaten human health.

The CVR boasts 32,000 square feet of laboratory and office space; it is housed in Biomedical Science Tower 3. 

Center for Sports Medicine

The Center for Sports Medicine, located on Pittsburgh’s South Side, just a few miles from the Pitt campus, specializes in the treatment and prevention of sports-related injuries and offers sophisticated training programs to improve athletic performance. Research conducted by the center’s sports medicine specialists—including Pitt professors—helps to develop better methods of treating and preventing sports-related injuries and diseases.

Center for Biotechnology and Bioengineering

The Center for Biotechnology and Bioengineering is a state-of-the-art facility that has won architectural awards for its design. Among many unique projects and educational efforts, the center sponsors approximately 80 undergraduate interns who work with faculty in bioengineering, musculoskeletal research, chemical engineering, and tissue engineering.

The center is located in a technology park in South Oakland, on the banks of the Monongahela River. A shuttle connects the center with the Pitt campus.

Cathedral Falcons

Students, faculty, and staff members come and go from Pitt’s Cathedral of Learning. But, since 2002, the Cathedral has been the permanent home for pairs of Peregrine falcons—the fastest animals on Earth, capable of reaching 200-plus mph during their characteristic steep dives after prey.

Peregrine falcons were almost eliminated from the eastern United States due to the introduction of pesticides, and were listed as endangered in the 1970s. Since then, the birds have returned and prospered thanks to legal protections, restrictions on the use of DDT, and reintroduction efforts.

The Cathedral’s Peregrines produce chicks every year. It’s an amazing sight each spring as adult falcons teach their chicks to fly and hunt, especially when the chicks launch themselves off the Cathedral for their first training flights. The Cathedral is an ideal site for falcon breeding because it’s a tall building with restricted site access and few predators.

Cathedral Architectural Detail

The Cathedral of Learning was designed by Charles Klauder, who fused the idea of a modern skyscraper with the tradition and ideals of Gothic architecture. The support structure of the Cathedral is steel, like that of a typical skyscraper, while the exterior and finishing details take their cues from the Gothic period.

Leading out of the Commons Room are a set of 18-foot ornamental iron gates crafted by master blacksmith Samuel Yellin in the 1930s. They were placed in 1940 and include a quote from poet Robert Bridges:

  Here is eternal spring; for you the very stars of heaven are new.

Yellin also produced the ironwork railings seen around the room and other pieces in the Humanities Center, some of the Nationality Rooms, Stephen Foster Memorial, and Heinz Chapel.

The exterior of the Cathedral contains elements of Gothic style including the quatrefoil stonework detail on some of the window exteriors.

Carrillo Street Steam Plant

The Carrillo Street Steam Plant is a significant part of the University’s commitment to reducing its carbon footprint. The facility is one of the cleanest university heating plants in the United States, emitting relatively little exhaust or wastewater for a facility its size. The full use of this facility by Pitt/UPMC is expected to reduce annual carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 48,000 metric tons, nearly half of the baseline steam-related CO2 emissions.

Biomedical Science Towers 1 and 2

Biomedical Science Towers1 and 2 are located in the heart of Oakland’s medical community, just across the street from the School of Medicine and the School of Dental Medicine. These original two towers were built in 1990 and house offices and laboratories for 21 departments and programs, including an entire floor of laboratories devoted to the research of the Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute.

The first tower was renamed the Thomas E. Starzl Biomedical Science Tower in honor of the liver transplant pioneer who has taught and worked at Pitt since 1981.

Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation

The Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation (MCSI), part of Pitt’s Swanson School of Engineering, is located in Benedum Hall. MCSI is a center of excellence in sustainable engineering focusing on the design of sustainable neighborhoods.

In renovating Benedum Hall to create the Mascaro Center addition, green building practices were used. A LEED gold certification was achieved for design practices including installation of highly efficient, long-lasting LED lights on the exterior that contain no mercury; specialized moneysaving mechanical controls on lab equipment; a reflective thermoplastic polyolefin, or TPO, roof that minimizes heat absorption; and more than 95 percent of construction refuse recycled. Additionally, two green roofs were installed—over Benedum Plaza and over the auditorium.

LEED Gold certification,  2012.

Benedum Hall houses the Swanson School of Engineering. The building includes offices, labs, classrooms, conference and seminar rooms, a 528-seat auditorium that is divisible into three lecture halls, and the George M. Bevier Engineering Library.

Benedum has undergone an extensive renovation, employing green building principles, which earned a LEED gold certification. The 22,000-square-foot renovation houses the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation, which focuses on the design of sustainable neighborhoods.

William Pitt Union

Once a luxurious hotel, the William Pitt Union is today the epicenter of Pitt student life outside the classroom and home to more than 300 student organizations.

Opened as the Hotel Schenley in 1898, the beaux-arts building hosted every U.S. president from Theodore Roosevelt to Dwight Eisenhower as well as such cultural luminaries as American singer-actress Lillian Russell (who married there), Italian tragedian Eleonora Duse (who, tragically, died there), and Neapolitan-born tenor Enrico Caruso.

Visiting ballplayers, professors, and students joined the Schenley’s clientele in 1909 when Forbes Field (home to baseball’s Pittsburgh Pirates) opened nearby and when Pitt relocated to Oakland from Pittsburgh’s North Side.

In 1956, Pitt bought the building to serve, among other things, as the University’s student union. Following an 18-month renovation that restored much of its original belle époque charm, it was renamed the William Pitt Union in 1983.

Wesley W. Posvar Hall

Named after Pitt’s 15th chancellor, Wesley W. Posvar Hall houses the College of General Studies, the Office of Veterans Services, the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, the School of Education, the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, the University Center for International Studies, and the social sciences departments of the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences. It is the largest academic-use-only building on campus.

The building sits on the former site of Forbes Field, home of the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1909 to 1970. Babe Ruth hit his last two home runs at the ballpark. The home plate from Forbes Field is preserved on the ground floor of Posvar Hall, embedded in glass. A commemorative plaque notes the last two games played on the field—a double-header against the Chicago Cubs. Outside the hall, brick inlaid into the concrete sidewalk marks the line of Forbes Field’s outfield wall.

Hanging from the ceiling of Posvar Hall, amid various artworks and sculptures, is one of two surviving Langley Aerodomes, Aerodrome No. 6, dating from 1896. Among the first engine-driven heavier-than-air craft, it was designed by former Pitt astronomer Samuel Langley. Only nine days after No. 6 flew more than 5,000 feet, the Wright brothers made their historic first successful flight of a manned aircraft. 

Victoria Hall

Home to Pitt’s School of Nursing, Victoria Hall is conveniently close to the University's five other health sciences schools as well as various UPMC facilities.

Victoria Hall is a historic building located in Oakland that has served as the home of The University of Pittsburgh’s top-ranked School of Nursing since 1978. The building has been renovated and modernized to provide state-of-the-art facilities for nursing students and faculty. The building features classrooms, lecture halls, computer labs, skills and simulation labs, and other research and learning spaces conducive to promoting collaborative and hands-on learning experiences. Conveniently located adjacent to the University's other world-class research facilities and health sciences schools and numerous clinical sites, Victoria Hall provides an ideal setting for nursing education and research.

Closely affiliated with Pitt’s schools of the health sciences, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) is the fifth-largest medical establishment in the world. Many Pitt students participate in internships and research at UPMC facilities, and hundreds of the University’s faculty members serve as UPMC clinicians.

UPMC’s Oakland facilities include UPMC Presbyterian and UPMC Montefiore hospitals, Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC, the Kaufman Building, Falk Clinic, the Eye and Ear Institute of Pittsburgh, and Detre Hall.

U.S. News & World Report has ranked UPMC in its honor roll of best hospitals in America for more than a decade. UPMC’s organ transplantation program is the largest and busiest in the world.

University Honors College

Founded in 1987, the David C. Frederick Honors College (FHC) meets the particular academic and extracurricular needs of Pitt’s most able, motivated, and inquisitive undergraduate students by providing intellectual challenge, inspiring individual effort, and fostering independence of mind and self-discovery.

Located on the Cathedral of Learning’s 35th and 36th floors, FHC offers lectures, special classes, advising, housing and support, and the option of a research-based degree, the Bachelor of Philosophy (BPhil) . Unlike honors colleges at many other universities, FHC is not off-limits to the general student population. Any qualified Pitt undergraduate may take honors classes and meet with an honors advisor at any point in his or her Pitt career. 

University Club

Faculty and staff members socialize with colleagues in this urban oasis, enjoying fine dining, a fitness center, library and reading room, and lounge. The building also houses banquet and conference facilities, as well as housing for families of hospital patients.

Constructed in 1923 to house a private social club, the building was purchased in 2005 by Pitt. Following an extensive renovation, it was reopened as Pitt’s University Club in 2009.

Trees Hall Fitness Center

As a student athletic facility, Trees Hall houses a pool, dance studio, weight room, racquetball and handball courts, five basketball/volleyball courts, a gymnastics area, climbing wall, golf practice area, and classrooms. The University’s athletic training program also is located at Trees.

The Olympic-size Trees Pool serves as the home to Pitt's varsity men's and women's swimming and diving teams. With a capacity of 770,000 gallons, it was the largest indoor pool in the United States when completed in 1962.

Thackeray Hall

Thackeray Hall is home to such student services as registration and add/drop for classes, academic transcripts, and grades. Students also can make tuition payments at Thackeray.

In addition, the building houses the Advising Center of the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, the main undergraduate school at Pitt, and the University’s Department of Mathematics.

Built in the Early Classical style between 1923 and 1925, Thackeray Hall is the former National Union Fire Insurance Company building. Pitt purchased it in 1968.

O’Hara Student Center

The O’Hara Student Center houses Pitt’s Math Assistance Center and Writing Center. In addition, the building provides meeting and activity space for student organizations.

The elegant three-story building, designed in Romanesque Revival style, opened in 1913 to house the Concordia Club, a private social club whose members included many of Pittsburgh’s leading Jewish residents. In the face of declining membership and a cash shortage, club members voted in 2009 to approve the sale of the building to Pitt. Following a renovation and preservation upgrade, the University reopened the building as a student center in April 2011.

Sutherland Hall

Perched on the upper campus, overlooking Oakland, Sutherland Hall houses 737 first-year men and women. The complex is composed of Sutherland West and East, adjoined by a common building. The common area includes the Perch at Sutherland made-to-order restaurant facility, a Quick Zone convenience store, a computer center, the Hill O'Beans coffee cart, and a mail center.

The air-conditioned rooms in Sutherland Hall are mostly doubles with semi-private baths. Laundry facilities and fitness rooms are on the ground floors of both Sutherland East and West.

The living learning community for First-Year Honors College students is located in Sutherland Hall.

Stephen Foster Memorial

The Stephen Foster Memorial is home to most mainstage productions of the University’s Department of Theatre Arts. The facility’s 478-seat Charity Randall Theatre replicates features of the original Foster auditorium but is equipped with state-of-the-art technical, sound, and lighting capabilities for the University of Pittsburgh Repertory Theatre (a.k.a., Pitt Rep) and guest companies. Downstairs, the 151-seat Henry Heymann Theatre provides a more intimate setting.

Designed by Charles Klauder to complement his Cathedral of Learning, the Foster Memorial is a tribute to Pittsburgh native Stephen Collins Foster (1826-1864), America’s first professional songwriter, whose works include “Camptown Races” and “Oh Susanna.” It was dedicated in 1937.

The Stephen Foster Memorial Museum houses an exhibit on Foster’s life; adjacent to it is Pitt’s Center for American Music, a special collections library that contains one of the nation’s most significant collections of 19th-century American music. 

Space Research Coordination Center

In 1962, Pitt won a NASA grant to erect this center for students studying the natural sciences, social sciences, engineering, and health areas related to the aerospace field. Today, the building houses classrooms, labs, and main offices of the University’s Department of Geology and Environmental Science.

Southside Sports Complex (UPMC Sports Performance Complex)

Situated on 40 acres along the Monongahela River on Pittsburgh’s South Side, the UPMC Sports Performance Complex includes four state-of-the-art facilities: the Center for Sports Medicine, indoor training center, fitness and conditioning center, and sports training center.

The indoor training center features a quarter-mile four-lane running track and full-size practice football field. The sports training center is the ideal setting for athletic training, physical training, and team management. It includes four 80-yard outdoor fields with observation towers that allow coaches to clearly analyze and improve on-field performance. It’s the outdoor training facility for Pitt’s football team.

Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum

Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum commemorates the men and women from Allegheny County who have served in every U.S. war since the Civil War. Styled after the ancient mausoleum of Halicarnassus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, Soldiers & Sailors is the largest memorial in the United States dedicated to America’s military personnel.

Designed by architect Henry Hornbostel and dedicated in 1910, the building houses a museum featuring rare and one-of-a-kind exhibits as well as a 2,500-seat auditorium, a banquet hall, and meeting rooms. Many Pitt functions are held at Soldiers & Sailors. An expansive front lawn sits on top of an underground parking garage that's operated under a long-term lease by the University.

Sennott Square

The Dietrich School's Department of Psychology and Department of Computer Science, the College of Business Administration, and the School of Law's Civil Practice Clinic make their homes in Sennott Square. From a foundation that incorporates more than one million pounds of reinforcing rods and 575 truckloads of concrete, Sennott Square rises six floors above street level to provide more than 117,000 square feet of functional space. The first floor contains nearly 17,000 square feet of retail shops with access from Forbes Avenue. On Sennott Street, two parklets with benches and ornamental shade trees provide perfect places to relax.

The first Pitt building to incorporate green construction techniques throughout, Sennott Square is environmentally friendly and energy efficient.

Schenley Quadrangle Residences

Schenley Quad contains five of the University's 14 residence halls. Holland, Brackenridge, Bruce, McCormick, and Amos. Holland and Amos (sorority housing) are residence halls for women. Most of Brackenridge, Bruce, McCormick, and Amos Halls offer suite-style living (including a living area kitchen/kitchenette, private/semi bathrooms). The Quad fitness center is located in Brackenridge Hall. Brackenridge houses mostly sophomore and some junior University Honors College students.

The buildings in Schenley Quad used to be the Schenley Apartments, residences for well-to-do Pittsburghers. Built in 1924, these apartments became part of the University in 1956.

Schenley Park

Close to the Pittsburgh campus, Schenley Park comprises 456 acres of rolling hills, woods, trails, a swimming pool, tennis courts, a golf course, a nature center, and an ice skating rink. Many students go sled riding in Schenley in the winter and watch free movies during the summer on the park’s Flagstaff Hill. The park also contains Phipps Conservatory, an indoor botanical garden. Students can explore Phipps Conservatory and Botantical Gardens for free with their Pitt ID.

Alan Magee Scaife Hall

Alan Magee Scaife Hall is the home of Pitt’s School of Medicine, a top recipient of National Institutes of Health research funding and ranked as a “top medical school” by U.S. News & World Report in the categories of research and primary care.

The building contains classrooms, lecture halls, and laboratories. Also housed here is Falk Library, home of the Health Sciences Library System, which serves the schools of the health sciences (Medicine, Dental Medicine, Pharmacy, Nursing, Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, and Public Health).

The School of Pharmacy and the School of Dental Medicine are housed in Salk Hall. The building was named after Jonas Salk, who conducted his research on the first polio vaccine in this building while a member of the Pitt faculty.

Salk Hall is designated as a historic landmark of both the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation.

Ruskin Hall

Ruskin Hall was renovated to an apartment-style housing facility in 2008. Each of its apartments can accommodate one, two, or three students, all of them upperclassmen. Amenities include central A/C, private bathrooms, full furnishings, basic cable, Ethernet, and kitchens equipped with a microwave, refrigerator, stove, and dishwasher.

Public Safety Building

Pitt’s state-of-the-art Public Safety Building, located at 3412 Forbes Avenue—a highly visible and accessible location near the entrance from Downtown to Oakland—symbolizes the University’s commitment to protecting the safety of its Oakland neighbors, the city of Pittsburgh, and Pitt students, faculty, and staff.

The building’s lobby is staffed 24 hours a day. Its communications center connects more than 70 Pitt commissioned law-enforcement officers with one another and with city, county, and state public safety agencies, and allows Pitt personnel to monitor conditions throughout the 132-acre campus and the greater Oakland community. About 40 percent of the calls handled by University police involve non-Pitt personnel. 

Pitt’s police department is the third-largest in Allegheny County and is recognized as one of the best trained and professional police forces anywhere.

Pittsburgh offers Pitt students many opportunities to enjoy and benefit from its lively downtown, growing economy, and distinctive neighborhoods—including Oakland, the Pittsburgh campus's home neighborhood and the city's cultural and educational hub. By presenting a current Pitt ID, students can ride all public transportation in Allegheny County free of charge.

Truly, the city is an extension of campus.

The University’s PITT ARTS program enables students to attend cultural events at venues like downtown's Heinz Hall for the Performing Arts for free or at greatly reduced rates. At Heinz Field on Pittsburgh's burgeoning North Shore, students can cheer themselves hoarse during Pitt Panthers home football games (the Pittsburgh Steelers play there, too). The city's South Side and Lawrenceville neighborhoods, with their many cafés, clubs, galleries, eateries, and shops, also are popular with students from Pitt and the city's six other universities.

Petersen Events Center

The John M. and Gertrude E. Petersen Events Center houses a 12,508-seat multi-purpose arena that serves as home court for the men’s and women’s Panthers basketball teams and also hosts concerts and such Pitt ceremonies as the annual Commencement Convocation.  Bob Dylan and then-Senator Barrack Obama (campaigning for the presidency in 2008) are among the more notable figures to have played “The Pete.”

In a Sports Illustrated survey of Big East Conference basketball players, the Petersen Events Center was named “Toughest Place to Play,” with players citing Pitt’s creatively distracting and deafeningly loud student section, the Oakland Zoo.

Besides its arena, the Pete houses the Willis Center for Academics for student athletes, the McCarl Panthers Hall of Champions, the Pittsburgh Panthers Team Store, and the 40,000-square-foot Baierl Student Recreation Center featuring racquetball and squash courts and areas for aerobics, weights, and exercise machines.

Winner of an Innovative Architecture & Design Honor Award from Recreation Management magazine, the Petersen Center opened in 2002 on the former site of Pitt Stadium, home of Pitt’s football team from 1925 to 1999.

Panther Hall

Panther Hall, located on the upper campus, houses 511 upper-class men and women. The air-conditioned rooms are a combination of three-person and five-person suites and doubles with private baths. Every floor includes an open lounge, study area, and laundry facilities. The fitness center is located on the ground floor.

K. Leroy Irvis Hall is located near the Petersen Events Center on the upper campus, where it offers striking views of Oakland. The building houses 420 upper-class men and women in four-person suites and doubles with private baths. Each floor includes a lounge and laundry facility. There is a fitness center on the ground floor.

Irvis Hall houses two living learning communities: upperclass honors and health sciences.

Originally called Pennsylvania Hall, the building was renamed in 2017 in honor of K. Leroy Irvis, a Pitt Law alumnus, teacher, activist and longtime member of Pennsylvania's House of Representatives. In 1977, Irvis's colleagues unanimously elected him as speaker of the house; he was the first African American to serve as a house speaker in any state legislature in the United States since Reconstruction.

Nationality Rooms

The 29 Nationality Rooms in Pitt’s Cathedral of Learning represent the cultures of various ethnic peoples that settled in Allegheny County and are supported by those cultural groups and governments. Designated collectively as a Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation historical landmark, the rooms are located on the first and third floors of the Cathedral, itself a national historic landmark.

Of the 29 rooms, 27 are functional classrooms and two (the Early American and Syria-Lebanon rooms) are display rooms that can be visited only during guided tours. Nearly 30,000 visitors a year tour the Nationality Rooms, which are available daily for public tours when not being used for classes or other University functions. (Taped and written materials for self-guided tours are available at the Nationality Rooms Information Desk on the first floor, near the Fifth Avenue entrance.)

The first four rooms to be dedicated were the Scottish, Russian, German, and Swedish Rooms, in 1938. The newest are the Swiss and Turkish rooms, both dedicated in 2012.

Design of the classrooms often involves native artists and imported artifacts and materials. For example, the Tudor-Gothic-style English Classroom, the largest of the Nationality Classrooms, contains relics from the British House of Commons that was destroyed by Luftwaffe bombing in 1941.

Music Building

The Music Building is home to the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, Department of Music labs, offices, library, and classrooms. In an earlier life, it was the first home of WQED-TV, the first educational television station in the United States. It was also the original site for the production of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood .

Mervis Hall

Mervis Hall houses the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business. The Katz School's MBA program has been rated one of the 10 most affordable, high-quality programs in the United States. It also has been selected as one of the best business schools in the nation by the Princeton Review, and is ranked 11th in the world among public business schools by The Wall Street Journal . Katz is rated in the top four in terms of its percentage of African American students and faculty members.

Dedicated in 1983, Mervis Hall was built on the former site of Forbes Field, home of baseball’s Pittsburgh Pirates from 1909 to 1970. The field’s flagpole and a portion of the left and center field walls still stand, just outside Mervis Hall and adjacent to the building’s left plaza.

Medical Arts Building

The Medical Arts Building houses a variety of Pitt and UPMC offices. Pitt's Student Health Service, a primary care facility that features a comprehensive health care clinic, pharmacy, and health education program, is located on the fifth floor. An example of Art Deco architectural style, the building was constructed in 1932. 

Lothrop Hall

This residence hall is close to UMPC medical buildings, Falk Clinic, and the School of Nursing. Lothrop is a coed-by-floor residence hall that is available to both freshmen and upperclassmen. It has mostly single rooms with a few doubles. Most rooms are equipped with a sink, and each wing has a communal bathroom and shower on each floor.

Because of its proximity to the medical center, Lothrop Hall contains the Nursing Living Learning Community. It also houses a student fitness center.

The log cabin near the Cathedral of Learning symbolizes Pitt’s origins as a frontier academy of higher learning. Estimated to date from the 1820s or 1830s, the cabin was reconstructed on campus for the University’s bicentennial in 1987. University Trustee Charles Fagan III bought the cabin and donated it to Pitt in honor of his wife, Ann Ebbert Fagan, who graduated from the University in 1962.

Litchfield Towers

The largest housing complex on campus, Litchfield Towers is home to many of Pitt’s freshmen students. Towers A, B, and C are coed and house approximately 1,800 students.

The Towers Lobby, a social crossroads, connects all three buildings and also houses Panther Central—the University's concierge service provider, a one-stop center where students can take care of ID card issues as well as Housing and Dining Service needs. The lobby is also home to the Common Grounds coffee cart, the student mailroom, e-mail kiosks, a vending area, and laundry facilities. On the lower level of the towers is one of the main dining services areas, Market Central, which offers superior eat-in menu options for those who desire the total dining experience. For students on the go, there's a separate section that includes Market-To-Go for tasty take-out meals, and a Quick Zone for convenient snacks and beverages.

The Towers Fitness Center, open only to Towers residents, is open 24 hours a day.

Learning Research and Development Center

A startling and award-winning example of modern architecture designed by Harrison and Abramovitz, the unique Learning Research and Development Center (LRDC) building slopes against an upper-campus hillside at a 45-degree angle. LRDC leads the country in education and psychological research, and its scholars have contributed substantially to knowledge about human cognition, learning, and effective schooling and training.

Focusing on interdisciplinary research, LRDC includes education scholars, cognitive scientists, computer scientists, developmental and social psychologists, psycholinguists, evaluation and measurement specialists, organizational behavior researchers, and education policy analysts.

Barco Law Building

A classic example of brutalist architecture, the Barco Law Building houses Pitt’s School of Law. Among the building’s special features is the oak-paneled Teplitz Memorial Moot Courtroom, which includes a seven-seat judges’ bench, jury and press boxes, counselors’ tables, judges’ chambers, jury room, and a striking 24x36-foot mosaic created by Pitt’s Virgil Cantini (1919-2009).

Pitt has offered law classes since 1843. Its law school was officially founded in 1895, making Pitt’s one of the oldest law schools in the nation. In 1900, the law school joined with 31 other schools to form the Association of American Law Schools.

Among Pitt’s law graduates are the late Derrick Bell Jr., the first tenured African American professor at Harvard Law School and one of the originators of critical race theory; U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch; the late K. Leroy Irvis, longtime Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and the first African American to serve as a speaker of the house in any state legislature in the United States since Reconstruction; and former U.S. Attorney General and Governor of Pennsylvania Richard Thornburgh.

With significant programs focusing on international law, as well as community-based public service expertise, the school provides a diverse, sophisticated, and hands-on legal education.

Information Sciences Building

The School of Computing and Information (SCI) educates students for a wide range of specializations in computing and information professions. The school offers five bachelor's, five master's, and five doctoral degree programs as well as four certificates of advanced study.

Designed by Tasso Katselas in the brutalist architectural style, the Information Sciences Building was purchased by Pitt in 1968. It houses SCI classrooms, offices, a 70,000-volume library, and the Elizabeth Nesbitt Room. With more than 12,000 books and magazines dating from the 17th century to the present, the Nesbitt Room contains the Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood Archives and such rare books as a 1719 edition of Robinson Crusoe .

Humanities Center

The Humanities Center, housed in the refurbished Darlington Library in the Cathedral of Learning, fosters advanced research in the humanities by Pitt faculty members as well as leading scholars from around the world, who visit as long- and short-term fellows. The center offers a regular colloquium series, conference and seminars, and supports collaborative research projects.

Hillman Library

Focused primarily on the humanities and social sciences, the five-floor Hillman Library contains approximately 1.5 million volumes, more than 200 computers, study capacity for 1,500 users, service points, a media center, specialized collections, and more. It’s the largest of the 17 libraries on the Pittsburgh campus.

Among Hillman’s special collections are the Eduardo Lozano Latin American Collection, the Buhl Social Work Collection, and the African American Collection. The last collection, begun in 1969, contains 18,000 books, scores of African American periodicals, scholarly journals, and one-of-a-kind government publications, including copies of the FBI surveillance files on Malcolm X and the Black Panthers.

Pitt's largest library, Hillman periodically hosts free public displays of treasures from the University's collections. Among the permanent items are the Audubon Exhibit Case, featuring original prints from John James Audubon's The Birds of America (1827-38), and an interactive display featuring the Gold Medal won by Pitt alumnus and track star John Woodruff at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin.

The Cup & Chaucer Café, located on Hillman’s ground floor, includes popular reading materials and a coffee bar serving coffee and espresso drinks, pastries, and sandwiches. The café also hosts a free weekly series of Emerging Legends Concerts.

Heinz Memorial Chapel

Open to campus religious groups of all denominations, as well as the public, Heinz Memorial Chapel is a popular site for religious and memorial services, concerts, guided tours, and weddings.

Each year, the chapel hosts between 170 and 190 weddings. Among the musicians who perform regularly at the chapel are the Heinz Chapel Choir, an a cappella choir consisting of Pitt students. The chapel itself was a gift of company founder, Henry John Heinz, and his three children in honor of H.J.’s mother. The architect was Charles Klauder, who also designed the nearby Cathedral of Learning.

The chapel’s 23 exquisitely detailed stained glass windows, designed by Charles J. Connick, depict 391 sacred and secular figures representing religion, history, medicine, science, and the arts. The 73-foot transept windows are among the tallest in the world and depict an equal number of women and men. All of the visible wood in the chapel, including its two 800-pound entrance doors, is oak. All of the wrought iron work, including lanterns, door fittings, stair railings, candlesticks, and alter cross, were created by Samuel Yellin, who also designed the metal work in the Cathedral of Learning (including the massive Commons Room gates) and most of the metal work in Pitt’s Nationality Classrooms.

Frick Fine Arts Building

The Frick Fine Arts Building is home to the Department of History of Art and Architecture and the Department of Studio Arts. Opened in 1965, the building is a gift of Helen Clay Frick in memory of her father, Pittsburgh industrialist and art patron Henry Clay Frick.

Modeled after a Roman villa owned by Pope Julius III (1487-1555), Frick Fine Arts houses classrooms, art galleries, an open cloister, and one of the nation’s top fine arts libraries. The building’s treasures include reproductions of 15th-century Florentine Renaissance artworks by Russian artist Nicholas Lochoff. In 1911, Lochoff was commissioned by the Moscow Museum of Fine Arts to travel to Italy and make a series of copies of the finest examples of Renaissance art. Those copies, considered by some to be the finest replicas of the original works, were acquired by Pitt and placed in Frick Fine Arts.

The fountain outside the building was designed by Victor Brenner, the same artist who sculpted the portrait of Abraham Lincoln on the U.S. penny.

Fraternities/Sororities

Pitt’s Greek system includes 22 fraternities and 13 sororities. Institutions that predate the Revolutionary War, college fraternities and sororities help students meet new friends, participate in social and community activities, and network with alumni.

The University's fraternities and sororities are located in both on- and off-campus housing. On-campus sororities are located in Amos Hall and the third floor of Bruce Hall. The sorority suites each feature a kitchen, private bathrooms, a living room, and a chapter room.

On-campus fraternities can be found on the upper campus near Sutherland Hall.

Forbes Tower

Forbes Tower houses the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (SHRS). The school’s highly ranked programs prepare students for professions in communication science and disorders, emergency medicine, health information management, occupational therapy, physical therapy, physician assistant studies, prosthetics and orthotics, rehabilitation technology, and sports medicine and nutrition. SHRS also offers an interdisciplinary undergraduate degree and a Doctor of Philosophy in Rehabilitation Science degree.

U.S. News & World Report has ranked all SHRS programs among the top 10 percent of comparable programs in the United States. The school's physical therapy program is ranked third in the country, occupational therapy is ranked fourth, and the audiology and speech-language pathology programs are ranked seventh.

Forbes Hall

Forbes Hall houses 232 first-year men and women in air-conditioned double rooms. Some rooms are connected to semi-private powder rooms, but showers are communal. Each floor also has a study room and laundry area. There is a fitness center on the second floor. Freshman engineering students are housed in Forbes Hall.

Forbes Craig Apartments

The Forbes Craig Apartments, located across from the Carnegie Museum of Art and Natural History, house students involved in the Upperclass Honors Housing Living Learning Community. The 39 apartment units accommodate 102 upperclassmen in single and double bedrooms. Learn more about the University Honors College .

Forbes Avenue

Forbes Avenue runs through the heart of campus and is arguably Pittsburgh’s busiest street. With numerous retail shops, museums, restaurants, and hotels, Forbes Avenue offers students a cosmopolitan and diverse environment­—all within walking distance of dorms as well as off-campus housing. (Pitt facilities along Forbes can be recognized by their navy-blue awnings.)

Not-to-be-missed stops along Forbes Avenue include Primanti Brothers, famous for its fries-on-the-inside sandwiches, and The Original Hot Dog Shop, a.k.a. the “O.” The "O" sells more than 15 tons of French fries a week. Don’t go with the large order of fries unless you’re planning to feed a half-dozen people. Seriously.

Fitzgerald Field House

Named for Rufus Fitzgerald, the University’s chancellor from 1945 to 1955, the Fitzgerald Field House was for five decades the home of the Pitt men’s and women’s basketball programs. Both teams moved to the Petersen Events Center in 2002, but the 4,122-seat Field House remains the competitive venue for Pitt’s volleyball, gymnastics, and wrestling teams, as well as the primary indoor facility for the track and field team. It also houses training and equipment rooms.

Notable events at Fitzgerald Field House have included NCAA national and regional championships in gymnastics, wrestling, and volleyball; 2005 Senior Olympics competitions; and a 1962 speech by President John F. Kennedy.

David Lawrence Hall

Lawrence Hall houses classrooms and lecture halls for courses in disciplines across the arts and sciences. The building's 998-seat auditorium is the largest lecture hall on campus. A 24-hour computer lab, one of the University's most popular, also is in Lawrence Hall.

Completed in 1968, the building was named for David L. Lawrence, a Pitt trustee from 1945 to 1966 who was also Governor of Pennsylvania (from 1959 to 1963) and Pittsburgh’s mayor from 1946 to 1959 during the city’s Renaissance I urban-renewal program. In front of the hall stands the sculpture Ode to Space by Pitt's Virgil Cantini (1919-2009), a memorial to Pitt Chancellor Edward Litchfield, who died in a 1965 plane crash.

Darragh Street Apartments

The Darragh Street Apartments are located on the University’s upper campus, convenient to the School of Medicine, Scaife Hall, Salk Hall, and the Petersen Events Center. The facility is fully accessible and offers the convenience of an urban location with the comfort of a garden-style setting. It houses both one- and two-bedroom layouts. Each unit has individual temperature controls; a washer and dryer; and a fully equipped kitchen, including a dishwasher, garbage disposal, and microwave. Apartments are unfurnished. Residents enjoy basic cable service and high-speed Internet access.

Located within the South Craig Street shopping area of Oakland, Craig Hall houses several University offices, including those providing employment, payroll, and benefits services and the Office of University Communications.

Cost Sports Center

The Cost Sports Center contains a full size indoor football field that can be converted into 3 smaller soccer fields. The facility houses varsity athletic programs, club sports teams, intramural leagues, recreational activities and special events.

Clapp, Langley, and Crawford Halls

The Clapp/Langley/Crawford complex comprises three interconnected buildings and the Life Science Annex. Together, they house Pitt’s Departments of Biological Sciences and Neuroscience. 

Clapp Hall, named for aluminum executive George Hubbard Clapp, is a six-story structure that is the primary home of the biological sciences department.

Langley Hall also houses biological sciences facilities, as well as the 77,000-volume Langley Library, which is the biology, neuroscience, psychology, and life sciences unit of Pitt’s University Library System. The building was named after Samuel P. Langley, a 19th-century Pitt astronomy professor who pioneered heavier-than-air flight and later served as a Smithsonian Institution Secretary. His Aerodrome No. 6, one of only two surviving Langley aircraft, hangs from the ceiling of Wesley W. Posvar Hall.

Crawford, dedicated in 1969 and the last of the three buildings to be constructed, is home to the neuroscience department. It was named after Stanton C. Crawford, Pitt’s 13th chancellor.

The Life Science Annex, an expansion of the complex that includes labs and neuroscience research programs among other facilities, opened in October 2007. 

Chevron Science Center

Dedicated in 1974, the Chevron Science Center is home to Pitt's Department of Chemistry, one of the nation's largest undergraduate chemistry departments.

Founded in 1875, the department has awarded more than 1,000 doctoral degrees and counts among its alumni Nobel Prize-winner Paul Lauterbur, who helped develop magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Other alumni and researchers in the department have made important discoveries in fields like recombinant DNA technology, nanotechnology, and alternative fuels, and have pioneered innovative drug and transplant therapies.

Recent renovations to Chevron have added new organic chemistry research labs, an electronic reference library, and a café named the Bunsen Brewer. Gracing the building’s lobby is a 40x30-foot porcelain enamel mural, Science and Mankind , by Virgil Cantini.

Cathedral Commons Room

Fifty-two feet (four stories) high and almost a half-acre, the Cathedral of Learning's Commons Room is a Gothic-style hall that offers a unique setting for study, contemplation, and celebration. This room is a piece of true Gothic architecture; no steel supports were used in the construction of its arches.

Joseph Gattoni designed the stonework. The walls are made of Indiana limestone and the floor is green Vermont slate. The wrought iron in the room, including railings, lanterns, and an imposing gate, were designed by master ironworker Samuel Yellin; inscribed on the gate is a verse from Robert Bridges' "Ode to Eaton College": "Here is eternal spring; for you the very stars of heaven are new."

Students looking for help with calculus, chemistry, psychology, and other subjects get assistance from faculty members and grad students who volunteer at desks scattered around the Commons Room. Wireless Internet is available, but despite such technological upgrades the room retains the timeless quality described by Margaret Storm Jamerson, an English novelist who served as a visiting professor at Pitt in the late 1940s:

"To look down into the great hall called the Commons Room when it is filled with students sitting about reading, arguing, drinking coffee, is to be reminded—distantly, but without any sense of incongruity—of a medieval refectory or chapter-house."

The Commons Room occasionally hosts dinners, receptions, and other special events. Among the guests who have addressed Commons Room gatherings in recent years is Russian Federation President Dmitry Medvedev (in 2009). Nobel Peace Prize recipient and Pitt alumnus Wangari Maathai (2006) attended a reception in the room after speaking in Alumni Hall.

In 1957, innoculation teams set up in the Commons Room gave free injections of the new polio vaccine created by a team led by Pitt's Jonas Salk. (Pittsburgh was the first major city in the United States to rid itself of polio.) During 1943, the room—like much of the rest of the Cathedral—served as an installation for U.S. military personnel.

A time capsule in the Commons Room's cornerstone was a gift from the 1937 graduating class (Pitt’s 150th year) and contains documents meant to last 500 years. Included are signatures of the graduating class and faculty, a copy of the 1937 yearbook ( The Owl ), an edition of the Pitt News , the names of the building’s major donors and craftsmen, and a plate commemorating the original 17 nationality rooms. This statement is also included: “The Cathedral of Learning expresses for Pittsburgh a desire to live honestly in a world where kindness and the happiness of creating are life.”

Carnegie Complex

Located across Forbes Avenue from Pitt’s Cathedral of Learning, the Carnegie complex was a gift to the city of Pittsburgh from Andrew Carnegie in 1895. The complex contains the region's main public library, a music hall, a fine arts museum, and a natural history museum. A unique view of the natural history museum’s world-famous dinosaur hall can be seen through the windows in the second-floor stacks of the library. University of Pittsburgh students may show their valid Pitt IDs and visit the museums free of charge.  

A replica of the natural history museum’s Diplodocus carnegii  (named after Andrew Carnegie) was unveiled on the lawn of the Carnegie complex in 1999. “Dippy's" long neck often is decorated with various scarves, depending on the seasons, and on some Panthers game days Dippy sports a blue-and-gold scarf to honor its neighbor, Pitt.

Bouquet Gardens

Bouquet Gardens consists of nine garden-style apartment buildings. Located a few blocks from the heart of campus, Bouquet Gardens accommodates 651 students in 172 units. Each air-conditioned unit is furnished and includes a kitchen, living room, and dining area. Bouquet Gardens buildings A-H have four single bedrooms and two bathrooms. Building J consists of three-person apartments with one bathroom and four-person units with two bathrooms. Building J also contains a small mail center, fitness center, and indoor bike parking.

Bellefield Hall

Bellefield Hall is home to a variety of University offices and services, but most Pitt students, faculty, and staff know the building for its indoor swimming pool, gym, and fitness center. It also houses facilities for the Department of Music, including the William R. Robinson Digital Recording Studio and a 676-seat auditorium where many recitals and concerts are held.

A Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation Historic Landmark, Bellefield Hall was designed by famed architect Benno Janssen. Renowned ironworker Samuel Yellin (best remembered at Pitt for creating the massive gates in the Cathedral of Learning’s Commons Room) crafted the lanterns for the main entrance.

Originally home to the Oakland branch of the Young Men’s and Women’s Hebrew Association, Bellefield Hall was dedicated in 1926. Among the musicians who made their Pittsburgh debuts in the building’s auditorium were Arthur Rubinstein, Isaac Stern, and Jean-Pierre Rampal.

Alumni Hall

Alumni Hall is home to the Pitt Alumni Association, the Office of Admissions and Financial Aid, a 270-seat auditorium/lecture hall, and the 500-seat Connolly Ballroom, among other offices and facilities. The building’s first floor hosts the Legacy Gallery, a permanent exhibit featuring two unique touch-screen interactive kiosks. Visitors use the kiosks to explore the achievements of alumni, faculty, and students through video, audio, archival photos, and text.

Mellon Financial Corporation Hall, located on the fifth floor, includes classrooms, team rooms, and meeting space for the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business’s Center for Executive Education and Executive MBA Program. This refurbished space was made possible by a $1 million gift from Mellon Financial Corporation.

The seventh-floor auditorium lobby houses a collection of oil paintings, 365 Views of the Cathedral of Learning , completed in 1997-1999 by Spanish artist Felix de la Concha. Each painting features the Cathedral of Learning from a different vantage point for each of 365 days.

Originally a Masonic Temple and designed by renowned architect Benno Janssen, the limestone-clad building was constructed in 1914-15 and acquired by Pitt in 1993. It is a Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation Historic Landmark and part of the Oakland Civic Center Historic District.

Allegheny Observatory

Located in Pittsburgh’s Riverview Park, the Allegheny Observatory is a major astronomical research institution that houses the third-largest refracting telescope in the world. Here, scientists confirmed that Saturn’s rings aren’t solid but are composed of numerous small particles—one of many important discoveries by Pitt astronomers.

Pitt students enjoy access to the observatory’s telescopes and other equipment, and observatory astronomers teach courses at the University. Popular public tours of the observatory are offered from April through late October.

In 2009, the observatory installed a highly sensitive seismograph that can detect as little as a half-nanometer-per-second displacement of the Earth's crust caused by earthquakes, explosions, and other seismic events anywhere in the world. Its readings are fed into the public databases of a national consortium of universities pooling and analyzing seismic data.

Cathedral of Learning

The Gothic Revival skyscraper that Pitt Chancellor John G. Bowman commissioned in 1921 inspired local industries to donate steel, cement, elevators, glass, plumbing, and heating elements. Thousands of adults today still have the certificates they received as school children upon contributing 10 cents to “’buy a brick” for the Cathedral.

In addition to its magnificent four-story Commons Room at ground level, the 42-story Cathedral houses classrooms (including the internationally renowned Nationality Classrooms) academic and administrative offices, libraries, computer labs, a theater, a print shop, and a food court.

In 2007, on the 70th anniversary of the Cathedral’s dedication, Pitt trustees approved a project to clean and restore the iconic building. Its interior has since been upgraded and its limestone exterior scrubbed of industrial grime.

A landmark listed in the National Register of Historic Places, the 535-foot-tall Cathedral is the second-tallest educational building in the world after the University of Moscow’s main building. In recent years, families of peregrine falcons have nested atop the Cathedral.

Phone Numbers

Routine and emergency care.

Companion Animal Hospital in Ithaca, NY for cats, dogs, exotics, and wildlife

Equine and Nemo Farm Animal Hospitals in Ithaca, NY for horses and farm animals

Cornell Ruffian Equine Specialists, on Long Island for every horse

Ambulatory and Production Medicine for service on farms within 30 miles of Ithaca, NY

Animal Health Diagnostic Center New York State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory

General Information

Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine Ithaca, New York 14853-6401

On Campus Pre-Vet Presentations & Tours

These two-hour programs are open to all who are interested in a veterinary medicine career. They include a presentation by the director of admissions and a student-guided tour of the college. Guests of pre-vet students are welcome to attend the presentation and participate on the tour.

• The presentation covers information about the DVM curriculum, how to prepare for a future application, an overview of the application process, ways to strengthen an application, careers in veterinary medicine, and financial aid.
• The tour is a guided walk-through of the educational facilities and some of our clinical spaces, like the Companion Animal Hospital. These are the only tours offered of the college; we do not offer individual tours.

Registration

Spaces are limited for this program and we ask each attendee to limit their guests to one person in order to allow more students to attend. When you click the registration link below, you will be taken to an RSVP system where you can let us know the date you would like to attend, your name, email address, and your guest's RSVP.

Registration confirmation will be sent closer to the date of the program, along with details on the time and location of the program.

If you are interested in a tour that is marked “Full,” email [email protected]  and ask to be put on the waitlist. Include the date(s) you are interested in attending and if you are bringing a guest. Cancelations are frequent and those on the waitlist are often able to attend.

Upcoming Tour Dates

• Friday, June 21st from 3:00-5:00
• Friday, July 26th from 3:00-5:00
• Friday, August 2nd from 3:00-5:00

Cancelations

If you find you cannot attend, please let us know as soon as possible so we can offer someone on the waitlist an opportunity to attend. You can email us at [email protected] or call 607.253.3700.

Restrictions and Warnings

Children 14 years old and under are not allowed on tours for health and safety reasons. 

There are many steps to climb; you may see dead or sick animals; you may see blood and animal tissues; you will not be allowed to touch or pet any animals. Photography is not allowed at any point during the Tour. Close-toed shoes are required in the hospital (no sandals).

Cannot attend in person? Watch our virtual tour videos .

Virtual Admissions Roundtables

These roundtables are offered via Zoom and are tailored for small groups of either pre-vet or applicants, depending on where the student is in the admissions process. These programs are only open to those who registered by  emailing us  with the date and time you are interested in attending. A Zoom link will be sent a few days before the program. All times are Eastern Standard Time.

Virtual Pre-Vet Roundtables

Learn about how to prepare for a future application, details about Cornell and our veterinary curriculum, and life as a vet student.

• Wednesday, June 12th at 6:00
• Wednesday, July 24th at 5:00

Virtual Applicant Roundtables

• Tuesday, May 21st at 5:00
• Wednesday, June 5th at 5:00
• Wednesday, July 10th at 6:00

Virtual Pre-Vet Club Meetings

Pre-Vet clubs who would like to set up a virtual Zoom meeting with the director of admissions, please send an email to [email protected] .

Individual Appointments

Individual appointments are available with Jennifer Mailey, director of admissions. Whether you are a college pre-vet, high school student, career changer, or postbac student, this is an opportunity to discuss your preparation for a future application and ask questions about our DVM degree program. Please use this Bookings link  (appointment details can be found under the 'i' info button). On-campus appointments (Tuesday-Friday only) can be made by calling 607.253.3700 and selecting Admissions.

Virtual Tours

Cornell Teaching Dairy

Companion Animal Hospital

Small Animal Community Practice

Facilities, Classrooms, and Learning

Cat roams university campus for 4 years, gets doctoral degree

“It’s hilarious that he now has a doctoral degree — but he really deserves it,” said Ali Impomeni, a student at Vermont State University.

Key takeaways

Summary is AI-generated, newsroom-reviewed.

• Max the cat becomes Vermont State University celebrity.
• Awarded honorary “litter-ature” degree as part of graduating class of 2024.
• Brings joy, stress relief to students and staff alike.

Did our AI help? Share your thoughts.

Max the cat has hitched rides on top of students’ backpacks, participated in campus tours and more than once has sauntered into a psychology lecture at Vermont State University’s Castleton campus.

The 5-year-old tabby is even listed on the staff roster at the university, where he has his own email address.

So it seemed like an obvious next step when the university bestowed an honorary doctor of ‘litter-ature’ degree upon him, making him officially part of the graduating class of 2024, in addition to being a staff member. Max wears many hats, said Rob Franklin, a photographer and social media manager for Vermont State University.

Last spring, Franklin had just started working at the university when he noticed the cat was everywhere, and he was treated like a celebrity.

“I was talking to a colleague outside Woodruff Hall — the main building on campus — when I noticed this cat wandering around and everyone greeting him,” Franklin said.

“I said, ‘What’s the deal with the cat?’ and I was told he came to the campus every day to socialize, then students would take him home when it got dark,” he said.

Max lives down the street from the main entrance to campus with Ashley Dow and her family, but he rarely hangs out at home, Dow said.

Ever since she started letting Max outside when he was 1, he’d head straight to the college campus and soak up the attention from students.

“He usually goes over in the morning about 8 when I go to work, and he’ll come home in time for dinner, or one of the students will come over and drop him off,” said Dow, a special-education teacher.

“He’ll let anyone pick him up, and everyone loves to love on him,” she said. “You can see the stress melt off the faces of the students when they see Max running toward them to be held and petted.”

Franklin snapped some photos of Max and posted them on Facebook last fall under the heading, “Who is Max?” He also posted a story about Max that was published in 2021 by the student newspaper, the Castleton Spartan.

“The photos received such a positive response that I was planning to use one of them to congratulate this year’s graduates in a social media post,” Franklin said. “But then I thought, ‘What if we just made Max a part of the [graduating] class?’”

Max had been roaming around campus and its 4,000 undergraduate students for four years — the same amount of time it takes to earn a bachelor’s degree, he said.

“We don’t hand out doctoral degrees here, but I thought it would be fun to give Max one,” Franklin said, noting that Vermont Public Radio covered the story.

He had a diploma made with corny cat puns, then posted it on Instagram in advance of the university’s commencement ceremonies on May 18. The photo in the post showed Max wearing a cat-sized graduation cap.

“With a resounding purr of approval from the faculty, the Board of Trustees of the Vermont State Cat-leges has bestowed upon Max Dow the prestigious title of Doctor of Litter-ature, complete with all the catnip perks, scratching post privileges, and litter box responsibilities that come with it,” the diploma reads.

Students and faculty support Max’s academic accolades.

Ali Impomeni, a junior majoring in media and communications, said Max seems to appear on the days she most misses the four cats she left at home in Albany, N.Y.

“He purrs and follows me everywhere — he’s just the friendliest guy to everyone,” she said. “It’s hilarious that he now has a doctoral degree — but he really deserves it.”

Impomeni, 20, created a small shrine to Max two years ago when he wasn’t coming around as often in the winter due to cold weather.

“Everybody was missing him, so I put up a picture of him in a frame and added some candles,” she said. “We were all happy when it warmed up and we started seeing him again.”

Dow said when Max first started visiting the campus, she decided to put him in a sweater with a note attached, telling students he wasn’t a stray and not to overfeed him.

“I also asked them to drop him by the house if they saw him after 5,” she said.

She said she’s happy that Max brings joy to students who are homesick for their own pets.

“Everyone looks out for his welfare,” Dow said. “If they don’t see him for a few days, I’ll get a call from somebody on campus, checking up on him.”

Max enjoys following students through automatic doors and once ended up sitting on the college dean’s desk, she said. Another time, her easygoing feline came home smelling of perfume.

“Everyone considers him as their emotional support animal,” Dow said. “He’s a cat who loves life and loves attention.”

She and Max’s fans said they don’t expect that his honorary degree will go to his head.

“We decided not to parade him onstage to get his diploma, because we didn’t want to stress out the cat, and we also didn’t want to overshadow the students’ accomplishments,” Franklin said. “Max seems just fine with that.”