Office of Engagement and Community Affairs & the Community Engagement Centers

• Discover Pitt's Office of Engagement and Community Affairs (ECA), a central hub fostering effective collaborations between communities, leaders, faculty, staff, and students. ECA leads Pitt's commitments in key neighborhoods through designated listening and amplifying regional impact.
• Explore the Community Engagement Centers (CECs) in Homewood and the Hill District, which are vibrant spaces supporting community partnerships and enriching student experiences.
• Reach out to learn more and explore partnership opportunities!

About Pitt Research
The Office of the Senior Vice Chancellor for Research, or “Pitt Research,” provides a collaborative, team-oriented set of services and offerings to aid and enhance your research and scholarship. These include special funding opportunities like the Pitt Momentum Funds, honorific awards such as the Chancellor’s Distinguished Awards for Research, and Big Proposal Bootcamp training for developing large-scale, multidisciplinary grant proposals.

David C. Frederick Honors College
The David C. Frederick Honors College provides teaching and mentorship opportunities for faculty who are passionate about undergraduate education and want to bridge intellectual disciplines and reimagine the world around them. The mission of the Frederick Honors College (FHC) is to meet the academic and experiential needs of the University’s most highly motivated, intellectually curious, and socially conscious undergraduates by providing enriching and creative educational opportunities while fostering a nurturing community. The FHC offers three options for undergraduates to affiliate with the FHC formally: the Bachelor of Philosophy (BPhil) Degree, the Honors Degree, and the Honors Distinction and provides a variety of opportunities for students to participate in undergraduate research, contribute to engaged scholarship, pursue national scholarships, lead Scholar Communities, and join in academically focused programming that develops competencies within the Honors Outside the Classroom Curriculum while taking Honors courses.

From the Desk of Student Affairs
Hello and I hope the spring term has started off well for you! As Interim Vice Provost for Student Affairs and Dean of Students, I lead a division of more than 200 professional Student Affairs staff members whose mission is to provide students with a transformational collegiate experience. We complement Pitt’s academic excellence by cultivating a campus environment that is vibrant, challenging, nurturing, and inclusive. We want every student to feel a sense of belonging and support that allows them to flourish in all aspects of well-being. This year's four major priorities for the division are (i) supporting student well-being, (ii) pursuing our diversity, equity, and inclusion goals, (iii) educating students about life skills (including resiliency, self-care, and conflict resolution), and (iv) assessing the use of physical spaces for student development.

The Year of Discourse and Dialogue
Earlier this year, the Office of the Provost announced that 2023 would be the Year of Discourse and Dialogue. Higher education has been at a forefront of engagement around respecting divergent viewpoints and giving a space to those viewpoints for expression. At Pitt, we seek to uphold the principles of protected speech and expression because it lies at the heart of open inquiry and academic discourse. The Year of Discourse and Dialogue Steering Committee invites Pitt students, staff, and faculty to submit proposals that advance learning, research, engagement, and/or practice around discourse and dialogue. Proposals are eligible for up to $5,000 in funding and you can view examples of examples of previously funded projects online.

On behalf of the Office of the Provost, we’d like to welcome you to New Faculty Essentials, a publication designed to support your success as a new faculty member here at Pitt. Over the next year, you will receive monthly messages from us with just-in-time information, helpful resources like workshops and seminars, details about faculty learning communities, and other professional development opportunities (both in-person and virtual). We will introduce you to campus offices and services that you and your students can use, and we will provide more opportunities for interdisciplinary work with new faculty members from around campus.