Cathedral of Learning - Use

Use

The basement through floor 40 are used for educational purposes, although most floors above 36 house the building's mechanical equipment. These floors include theaters, computer laboratories, classrooms, and departmental offices. The basement contains a black box theater and the ground floor contains computer labs, classrooms, and the Cathedral Café food court. The "lobby" comprising the first through third floors contains a massive gothic "Commons Room" that is used as a general study area and for special events and is ringed by three floors of classrooms including, on the first and third floors, the 29 Nationality Rooms designed by members of the Pittsburgh community in the styles of different nations and ethnic groups. 27 of these serve as functional classrooms while more conventional classrooms are located on the second floor and elsewhere throughout the building. The first floor also serves as the home to the offices of the Chancellor, Executive Vice Chancellor, and other administration offices, as well as the Nationality Rooms Gift Shop. The fourth floor, previously home to the main stacks of the University's Library, is now occupied by the McCarl Center for Nontraditional Student Success. The Pitt Humanities Center is housed in the former Darlington Memorial Library on the sixth floor. Additionally, the University Honors College is located on the 35th and 36th floors.

The Cathedral of Learning houses the Department of Philosophy, considered one of the top five in the United States, and the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, consistently ranked at the top of the field. Other departments in the Cathedral include English, Religious Studies, and the School of Social Work which maintains the highest classrooms in the building located on the 23rd floor. Floors 37–40 are closed to the general public, as they contain electrical wiring for the building, as well as the Babcock Room, a large conference room on the 40th floor utilized for meetings, seminars, and special events and which provides a panoramic view of downtown Pittsburgh and the rest of the University. The 40th floor balcony also houses a nesting pair of Peregrine Falcons. A view from the top is available via a webcam. Golden lights, dubbed "victory lights," surround the outside of the highest floors and are lit following Pitt football wins and other notable victories, giving the upper part of the Cathedral an amber glow.

The top of the building serves as the site for the transmitter of the student-run radio station WPTS-FM as well as the amateur radio repeater W3YJ which is run by the Panther Amateur Radio club on a frequency of 443.45 MHz.

The building is also one of the host buildings of Pennsylvania's Mock Trial Competition.