AY 2023-2024 Accomplishments
- Fall 2023 to Fall 2024 saw a 3% headcount increase and a 2% FTE increase.
- Over the four-year period of Fall 2020-Fall 2024, there was a 5% increase in headcount, and a 6% FTE increase.
- 3.7% three-year FTE increase, reversing prior 10-year decline.
- Redesign of Pitt2Pitt program and marketing campaign, leading to the awarding of 250 Pitt2Pitt scholarships in Fall 2023, an increase of 110% over Fall 2022 (119).
- 8 new graduate/professional academic programs approved, including the Online Master in Data Science, Online MSW, and Hybrid Doctor of Chiropractic.
- 174 graduate students received prestigious national or international fellowships and awards, spanning 29 awards including the CGS/ProQuest Dissertation of the Year. This is an increase of 12% over the fellowships and awards students received in 2022-23.
- Received a $250,000 seed grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to support students in physical sciences and engineering. This is the first grant awarded to the Graduate Studies team.
- Launched redesigned and expanded K. Leroy Irvis program with 25 fellows, an increase of 40% from the prior year. The number of Irvis Fellowship events increased from 0 to 5.
- Sponsored 27 events for Graduate and Professional Students. 4,107 students collectively attended the events.
- Launched Graduate Career Foundations online platform to support and document achievement of six core professional competencies.
- Launched Interstride, an online platform that provides specialized career exploration and visa support for all Pitt students and alumni, with a focus on international students and alumni.
- Expanded centralized graduate studies services to national and international fellowship support (Josh Cannon) and student recruitment with joint hire of associate Director of Graduate Student Recruitment (Latoya Walters).
- Developed new requirements for postdoc salaries and benefits.
Accomplishments over the Past Five Years
We are committed to supporting Pitt graduate and professional students holistically, not only providing them with excellent classroom and academic experiences but also supporting their endeavors and life outside of academics, including wellness, leadership, and community involvement.
Working with and listening to our graduate and professional students, we’ve implemented a number of improvements in recent years, including:
- Stipend increases: We increased minimum stipends for GSA/GSR appointments over the past five years by 28%.
- Parental accommodation: We extended the graduate student parental accommodation policy from six to eight weeks; students with teaching assistant, teaching fellow, graduate student assistant, or graduate student researcher (TA/TF/GSA/GSR) appointments receive their full stipend for these eight weeks.
- Stipend advance: We developed a process so that new graduate students with appointments can receive stipend advances before their first September distribution.
- GSR policy: We clarified that graduate student researchers (GSRs) should not have research duties during University holidays and added a required number of break days per year for GSRs.
- Direct payment of health insurance for predoctoral fellows and trainees: In response to student and graduate program requests, we created a process through which the University pays for predoctoral fellows’ and trainees’ individual medical insurance directly.
- COVID funding: More than $4.5 million in additional funding was distributed to graduate students whose progress was affected by the pandemic.
- Ombudspersons: The graduate student and postdoc ombudsperson program was expanded to all 14 Pitt schools that offer graduate and professional programs.
- Additional staffing: Created additional roles dedicated to supporting graduate students, including the areas of professional development and diversity, equity and inclusion. These new Graduate Studies team members have already implemented new programs for graduate students such as summer micro-internships, an expanded Irvis Fellowship program, professional development workshops, and international student mentoring.