University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg - History

History

Pitt-Greensburg opened in September 1963, following a request of area school superintendents for a branch campus of the University of Pittsburgh. UPG began as a two-year institution with instruction in nine areas of study, 15 faculty, 56 full-time, and 156 part-time students. The school was originally located in the Vogle Building, a former private elementary school and Greensburg School System administrative building located at 122 North Maple Avenue in downtown Greensburg across from St. Clair Park. Fine arts classes were originally taught at the Westmoreland Museum of American Art, physical education was held at the Greensburg YMCA, and laboratory classes were held in what is now Greensburg Salem Middle School. In 1964, the university purchased the 104-acre (0.42 km2) Charles McKenna Lynch estate in Hempfield. At first, faculty offices and classrooms were split between Greensburg and Lynch Hall, a former residence on the Lynch estate campus. In 1976, the entire Pitt-Greensburg campus moved to the Hempfield location on the former Lynch estate. Until 1988, when it received 4-year degree-granting status, UPG served as a two year feeder school to the main campus as the University of Pittsburgh in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh. By 1989, UPG had its first graduating class. In 1999, a distinctive feature of Pitt-Greensburg opened when the first of three Academic Villages (Behavioral Sciences, Natural Sciences, and Humanities), where high-achieving students live in residences based on their majors and participate in after-class events geared to those disciplines. As of 2008, UPG has over 1,600 full-time students, 29 buildings, 249 faculty and staff, and 21 majors and 19 minors.

Five presidents have led the campus since its founding: Al Smith (1963–1980), George Chambers (1980–1996), Norm Scanlon (interim president, 1996–1997), Frank Cassell (1997–2007), and Sharon Smith, who was became UPG's fifth president on July 1, 2007.