Check out these brand-new academic offerings at Pitt

Whether you’re an aspiring engineer, a social worker in training, a budding AI ethicist or anything else, Pitt has brand-new academic offerings available for you to add to your fall schedule.

Maybe you’re interested in a career as a community health specialist or public health administrator — then you may want to consider the School of Public Health’s new undergraduate degree program, where students will have the opportunity to learn at a top-ranked research school while fulfilling service hours and preparing to tackle some of the most pressing challenges in the field. 

“We are eager to have undergraduate students collaborating with our graduate student population,” said Ada Youk, assistant dean of academic affairs and associate professor of biostatistics at Pitt Public Health earlier this year. “We designed the program to provide students with a broad overview of the core public health disciplines and an opportunity to shape the curriculum according to their interests and passions.”

Students can also find some brand-new course offerings available in the school — like courses on social media and health (PUBHLT 400), the health consequences of atmospheric pollution and climate (PUBLHT 421), genetic counseling (PUBHLT 0453) and more.

Read on for more new opportunities to add some novelty to your schedule, organized by academic area.

College of Business Administration

More employers than ever need people who can make decisions based on data, so the college is offering a new business analytics major for students who want to learn how to apply data to their careers. Or if you have a different major but want to sharpen your business acumen, there’s the college’s new business minor.

Graduate School of Public and International Affairs

Two new courses in the school critically examine issues of race. In City of White Supremacy (PIA 2223), students will learn the ways in which white supremacy has shaped American cities and in Reparations: Policy, Theory and History (PIA 2224) will cover debates and questions around the reemerging reparations movement.

A third new course (PIA 2474) will explore China’s role in international economics and politics.

Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences

The Dietrich School is offering several new B.S. programs in areas as diverse as biochemistry, computational social science and urban planning and geographic analysis.

Students in other majors who want to expand their horizons globally can now add a co-major in international studies, and new programs will let students explore questions in health care using diverse methods with the health humanities certificate or push the frontier of computation in the quantum computing and quantum information certificate.

A couple new courses in the school worth noting include one on memory and history in Jewish tradition (SOC 1680) and a seminar in composition focusing on sustainability (ENGCMP 0214).

Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business

Students can now pursue graduate certificates across a plethora of areas through the Katz School, including accounting, finance, management science and technology science. Added to the school’s new micro-credentials — 18 of them, with new offerings in marketing, marketing analytics, marketing strategy, management consulting, management science and technology management — there are more ways than ever for students to build specific knowledge areas in business.

And those interested in top-level leadership can now pursue an Executive Doctor of Business Administration degree, a three-year hybrid program that’s part of the school’s executive education program.

School of Computing and Information

Data skills are becoming a must-have across a wide variety of careers — if you want to get a better grasp on them, one option is a new 12-credit graduate certificate program in applied data-driven methods, which covers data management, modeling, visualization and other topics.

The school is offering plenty of new classes, too, with undergraduate courses covering topics like bias and ethics in AI (CS 1613) and quantum computing (CS 1613), masters-level courses in deep learning (CS 2078) and privacy (CS 2057) and PhD-level courses in human-computer interaction (CS 2637) and data mining (CS 2756).

School of Education

For teachers, the new fully online Critical Technology and Digital Media for Learning Certificate will provide the tools to make decisions about educational technology to “design learning experiences that center and support people and human processes.” In another graduate-level program, the new Education Policy M.A., students will learn how to design educational systems to improve student learning and equity. The two-year program is designed for both full-time and part-time students.

School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences

In a newly online Master of Rehabilitation Technology program, students will learn about assistive devices, get hands-on experience and work with renowned faculty in a flexible hybrid format toward an assistive technology professional credential.

Currently certified paramedics can also now earn their bachelor’s degree in emergency medicine through a degree completion track with online, asynchronous courses.

School of Nursing

Licensed and registered nurses can now pursue a new specialization in Pitt’s online Masters in Nursing program, recently ranked No. 1 in the U.S. by the U.S. News & World Report: a specialization in school nursing. Pitt is only the 11th institution in the country to offer a master’s specialization for nurses to prepare for a practice in school nursing, playing a crucial role in advancing health equity. 

A new postgraduate certificate program in the school will help nurses expand their role to meet a growing need for certified acute care nurse practitioners in the country — the only such program in Western Pennsylvania.

School of Social Work

Social workers in training with the Community Organizing and Social Practice (COSA) specialization will find two new certificates to expand their skills. Students working in a community organizing setting can complete the COSA Community Organizing and Practice Certificate, where they can practice skills that have become increasingly important to the careers and advancement of professionals in the field.

Meanwhile, the COSA Gerontology Certificate is designed to increase students’ understanding of the aging process and to provide skills to practice with organizations and communities and to advance advocacy on behalf of older adults and their families.

Pitt-Bradford

The Bradford campus is home to two new engineering technology programs only available to students at Pitt-Bradford. The four-year B.S. programs in mechanical engineering technology and energy engineering technology will focus on hands-on, practical applications and prepare students for many of the same jobs as those with engineering degrees. Graduates of both new majors will be exposed to a spectrum of mathematics, engineering and science broad enough for them to enter a variety of engineering fields.

Pitt-Greensburg

Pitt-Greensburg students looking to make changes to their fall 2022 schedules can now pick among 30 minors, including two new ones in mathematics and applied mathematics. Those majoring in management can also select one of three new concentrations — in marketing, supply chains and project management.

Thirteen new courses are available for students at the campus, too, covering topics like the history of rock ‘n’ roll (MUSIC 801), democracy and liberalism (PS 1611) and data science (STAT 1261).