From the Office of the Provost
Episode 13: Cultivating Student Success at Pitt-Greensburg
[INTRO MUSIC]
Joe McCarthy: Hello, and welcome to ‘From the Office of the Provost,’ a podcast that highlights exciting activities and initiatives in the Office of the Provost or University-wide that bolster and enhance our collective vision for growth and transformation. I'm your host, Provost Joe McCarthy, and today I'm joined by Bob Gregerson, the president of the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg.
Some of our listeners may not know that Pitt-Greensburg is one of Pitt’s four regional campuses, serving over 1,500 students. Since 1963, Greensburg has offered students a small school feel with the resources of a larger institution. With more than 30 degree programs and a vibrant campus community, it serves as a hub of learning and opportunity for Westmoreland County.
Bob was named President of Pitt-Greensburg back in 2019. I'm proud to say that I served as the chair of that search committee. Under his leadership since then, the campus continues to expand opportunities for students and deepen connections with the surrounding community, and Bob continues to serve as a fantastic partner to the Pittsburgh campus and our other regional campuses as well. Welcome, Bob.
Bob Gregerson: Thank you, Joe. It's really great to be with you today and I look forward to our conversation.
McCarthy: So, Bob, when you think about the University of Pittsburgh as a whole, every campus has its own unique identity. In fact, we talked about that a bit this morning when we had our, our update meeting. What is it about Pitt-Greensburg's culture that makes it distinctive and how does that shape the student experience there?
Gregerson: Yeah, that, that's a great question. I, I think I would start with something you alluded to in the introduction [which] is the, the environment, the small environment. We have small classes, and that allows faculty and students to get to know each other really well. And students, typically in their major, take a professor for multiple classes. So, there's a really a, a deep relationship that can form between students and faculty and, and with staff members as well, so that's an important piece.
Another thing that I think you can't discount is our proximity to Pittsburgh. So, we are about 32 miles from the Cathedral of Learning and a little bit further to downtown Pittsburgh. So our students have ready access to all the cultural amenities of the big city sporting events. They come in for a lot of other types of, of events—concerts, entertainment of various kinds. So being in the small town but having ready access to the city, I think is, is really important.
And another thing you alluded to is that although we are a small campus, we have access to all the resources of this large research university. So I could point out something like library resources. Our students have access to the full complement of library resources from the University Library System, and that's something that a typical small college student wouldn't have.
Another thing that I, I think we're really good at—and again the small size plays into this—is multidisciplinary teaching and learning. So we have a lot of cross-disciplinary courses and team-taught courses that really make it an exciting opportunity for our students.
I'll give you one example. We have a course—it's team-taught by a psychologist and a philosophy professor—and it's on psychedelic drugs and religion, the confluence of of those two things. And it's a really fascinating course. And I think because we rub elbows day in and day out across campus in our office spaces, those kind of conversations get started and lead to something that students just might not have access to otherwise.
And I'll add one more thing in terms of culture. We embed service learning into our curriculum, so our freshmen start in a class called Cornerstone. Each student takes a Cornerstone class and there's a service learning component required in that. And we embed learning opportunities and community engagement as part of our curriculum and outside the curriculum as well.
So that provides, I think, a really deep connection between the community of Greensburg and our campus. So, we put all those things together and I think there's a really nice culture that is unique to Pitt-Greensburg.
McCarthy: Outstanding. Thanks, Bob. I wasn't aware of the Cornerstones program. That's great to learn something new about Greensburg while we're at it.
Along those lines, Pitt-Greensburg, of course, has a long history of being resilient, adapting to the needs of the students and the community, as you just alluded to. Can you share some other new programs or initiatives that are making a difference on campus?
Gregerson: Yeah, and the most recent addition that we have in something that happened, we got notification of I think it was two weeks ago, is an endorsement by the National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security for our cybersecurity program.
This is something we've been working on for two years to meet all the requirements for the certification, so all our students who are in our IT degree cybersecurity track will now graduate with this endorsement and that means a lot in terms of employability, getting that first position, and becoming a professional in some aspect of cyber security. So it really creates new options for students that I think are really exciting.
Another thing I'll mention, it's not really new, but it's in its third phase. We have a program called Majors Mentors. So that program pairs upper class students in a particular major with freshman students in that major, and it allows them to gain a peer who has been successful in their desired major.
We started with a pilot program in year one with just two majors that we worked on. In the second year, last year, we expanded it to all our majors. And then in this year, we expanded it to include not just freshmen but sophomore students. So now our freshmen and sophomore students have access to a Majors Mentor who helps guide them through the intricacies of whatever program of study they're interested in.
And I should also mention there, there's also a faculty member for that major that is part of that program. So we'll now have that fully implemented this year and are really excited to see the outcomes from that.
The last thing I'll mention is we found out last week we had received a TRIO grant from the Department of Education. That's going to present new opportunities for student support from our students. Over 40% of our students are first-generation students. Over 42% are Pell Grant recipients. So, we have a lot of students that that do have extra needs in terms of academic support, social support. So, that TRIO Grant is going to allow us to beef up our programming in that area to help support students with the greatest needs. And we're really excited about implementing that.
McCarthy: Great. Thanks for sharing that, Bob. As you know, student success is something that I'm really passionate about, so it's great to hear about all those efforts at Greensburg.
Leaning in to a little different way to support our student populations, just last year, the David C. Frederick Honors College expanded to the Greensburg campus. With a full academic year now completed for Frederick at Greensburg, what kind of impact have you seen the expansion have on the students and your campus community?
Gregerson: Yeah, that's something I couldn't be more excited about, and I'd say collectively, we couldn't be more excited about as a campus. But let me give just a little bit of history.
So, about 25 years ago, we started something on our campus called the Academic Village. So, that was a living learning community that was not an honors program, but I would, to use the terms that are thrown about a lot today, it was honors adjacent.
So that was started. It went for quite a long time. And in 2021, we partnered with a group of really good students and four faculty members to plan an honors program for the Pitt-Greensburg campus. I'm really proud of the fact that we incorporated students into the planning process to create an honors program.
So, we got that up and running the next year, and it ran for two years and then subsequently we started conversations with Dean Foote from the Frederick Honors College to join the Greensburg Honors program with the Frederick Honors College here in Pittsburgh. And that was a wonderful, and I would say unexpected, opportunity. It took about a year to work through all the planning and we finally finished that.
In the fall of ‘24, we had our official launch in September. Mr. Frederick was there. The chancellor was there. The Board of Trustees Chair Verbanic was there. You were there, Joe. It was a great day and that launched our association with the Frederick Honors College.
So last year, when we ended the academic year in spring of ‘25, we had 29 students in the Honors program at Greensburg. We're starting fall ‘25 with 103 students enrolled. How did we make that big jump?
About half of the students are new incoming students, so it really gave us a new way to recruit students—some really good, strong motivated students. And students we already had on campus who are eligible to join the Honors College that, after some introductions to it, some conversations we got, you know, another 25 students to join that were already current students. So, we've tripled in size, more than tripled in size, in that span from spring of ‘25 to fall of ‘25—something we're really proud of.
What it presents is new opportunities for our students, but also our faculty. So, our students have access to research opportunities through the Frederick Honors College, global studies scholarships. Because Frederick has a national scholarship office, we've been able to tap into that, and we've had two of our students gain Gillman Scholarships for a study abroad through that Office of National Scholarships. And it's led to some curricular innovations as well. So that's wonderful.
And for the faculty, I think teaching honors sections, teaching honors courses, working with these highly motivated students, has really been given us a new level of engagement among our faculty. So that's really exciting, too.
Altogether, we couldn't be more happy. And there's also a lot of crosstalk between campuses. So, we have a student, Honors Student Council. Pittsburgh has one, and they're they're meeting fairly regularly to talk about how to even more deeply integrate the two campuses. So, a lot of things going on and it's just I think it's one of the absolute highlights of our, of our campus.
McCarthy: Thanks, Bob. As you pointed out, I did have an opportunity to come to that launch event. That was really a joyous occasion, it was a lot of fun. It was particularly excellent to really hear the outstanding students that were affiliated with the Honors Program at the time as it was transitioning to be part of the Honors College. They, they were amazing. So, I can't wait to hear more from your, your newest crop.
For any of the listeners that haven't gotten to visit our regional campuses, you know, as a gateway to that, stopping over Greensburg, not that far away, is a great way to get going. They're all beautiful campuses. Really, as we alluded to earlier, excellent unique cultures and experiences. So I highly encourage it.
But back to Greensburg. Specifically, you know your campus has really been active in addressing workforce needs in the region. Just this past May, for example, the School of Nursing at Pitt-Greensburg graduated its largest class yet, helping to address the significant nursing shortage in southwestern Pennsylvania. In what other ways is the campus working with the community to meet local needs?
Gregerson: Yeah. Well, nursing is a primary example. So, in addition to graduating that largest class this year, we have our largest incoming class. We had 63 nursing students join us this fall. So, each year our graduating classes should continue to grow. Almost all of our nursing graduates stay in the area working for UPMC, AHN, or Independence Health, our hospital system in in Westmoreland County. So that that's a great example.
Another one I would say is our education program. So, we have, we have early childhood education, secondary education, special education, and Spanish education among the options for students who are interested in teaching. And nearly all of those graduates go into area or regional school systems when they when they finish their degrees. We started the special education program three years ago, and that was a response to a need from that was communicated to us by area superintendents, school superintendents. So that's an example of listening to what the needs are and responding to those needs.
I'll also add we have a Career Services Office that I think is absolutely outstanding. And they work with area employers. They work with other school systems. And we have the opportunity to place interns all over Westmoreland County and beyond. And that has really turned into an opportunity for students to parlay that internship into a career. So we, every year we have placements for interns in lots and lots of different settings, nonprofits and corporations and government agencies as well. So, I think our Career Services Office is really great at taking the temperature of area needs and communicating that back.
And I will also point out that our alumni network has been really great at helping provide some of their expertise to our students. So we have regular meetings where alumni from various vocations come and speak to and work with and mentor our current students to help them be career ready for whatever career that those folks are in. So that that's been a really big success as well.
McCarthy: That's great, Bob. I want to highlight two of the topics that you just addressed in that last response.
The first that that I'm really excited about is how each of our regional campuses actually has the resiliency and the and the creativity to address their unique student needs, right? We are not a cookie cutter university. Each of the campuses is able to satisfy their requirements of their local workforce, of their individual students, and is always looking for ways to adapt to meet those needs. And so that, those were great examples with the special ed and the other educational programs along with nursing, etcetera.
The other thing that I want to highlight that you mentioned is career services and how you engage with alumni in support of career outcomes for your students. I'm really proud to say that every single year the regional campuses are right there with the Pittsburgh campus with amazing outcomes rates for our graduates. Our students are placed at mid to high 90% placement. So nearly every single student has a job of their choosing within six months of graduation. So that's, that's a great testament to the work that you and your team do, but that really happens across the University writ large.
So, my last question for you today, Bob, we were talking on the way into the room here that this is a little ways into the seventh academic year that you've spent here at Pitt, but you've had a pretty diverse background in leadership at a number of different schools and different roles and schools of different sizes. Can you talk a little bit about that and what makes Greensburg in particular a meaningful place for you?
Gregerson: Yeah. Well, thank you for asking that. So, I've been at four different colleges or universities, and I've loved every job that I've had. It's been the right thing at the right time.
I received my undergraduate degree at a liberal arts college. So, then my first academic position was also at a liberal arts college. And then I spent, let's see, 12 years at larger universities and then found myself at Pitt-Greensburg again—another small environment. And each step was a learning process and I think each step made me ready to be the president of the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg.
I wouldn't change any of those experiences for anything, but starting at a small college and finishing my career at a small college, those bookends I think were informed by the things that happened in the middle. Being a dean of a large college of arts and sciences, for example, I think is great training to be a small college president, for example. So everywhere I've been, it's been great.
I think what you learn when you have a variety of a diverse set of experiences is you learn to be a generalist. You have to know at least a little bit about everything. So, when you're a campus president, you've got to worry about the roofs on the building. You've got to worry about the academic programs, you've got to worry about the athletic sports that are offered and on and on and on. So, you pick up a little bit of all of that along the way. And so that's how I would view my career.
I love living and working in Greensburg. It's a, it's a great town. My wife and I have settled in there really nicely.
I think what I like most, and I'll back up to my formative years, I was a first-generation college student and being around a group of students who are largely first-generation is really important to me because I think I have some familiarity with what it is like to go off to college when you don't have that foundation from your parents or your siblings. I identify with the, with the Pitt-Greensburg students to a large extent. And I know that the educational opportunities that we provide from that mix of students, and it is a very diverse mix, is incredibly meaningful.
So, what I, I believe what I do matters, but I'm more importantly, I believe that what we collectively do on the campus matters to the families that send their young men and women off to, to study and learn and live and experience life on our college campus.
McCarthy: Thank you so much for sharing that Bob and for joining me today. I appreciate hearing about the great work that you and your team are doing in Greensburg.
And as always, thank you listeners for tuning in. I'm Provost Joe McCarthy and this has been ‘From the Office of the Provost.’
Gregerson: Thank you, Joe, for having me.
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