Provost Academy participants have the unique opportunity to work closely with Pitt faculty members and their peers on fascinating experiential academic projects.
Throughout the week, students will get to meet with their faculty members to engage in interdisciplinary lectures, cohort activities, field studies, research, and informational workshops.
Each project culminates in a group presentation at the end of Provost Academy. This experience prepares students to enter their first day of classes with confidence!
All Provost Academy projects are interdisciplinary, and each will provide you with skills and resources to help you succeed in your Pitt classes.
Choose which projects sound the most interesting to you! You will select up to 3 projects that you are interested in when you register.
The projects you choose do not need to be related to your intended major.
- Community Tech Lab: Empowering Change Through Data and Code — Subject: Computer Science
Technology without people is just machinery—lacking purpose, context, and the capacity to create meaningful change. In this week-long project, we will explore how technical solutions become most effective when they actively involve the communities they aim to serve. Students will apply foundational programming and data analysis skills to address real-world community challenges. Working in interdisciplinary teams, we will examine pressing societal issues such as air quality and energy consumption, and collaboratively design technologies that are responsive to these needs. Using programming environments and data visualization tools, we will investigate patterns and insights that can inform community-driven solutions. The project emphasizes ethical technical practices, community engagement, and the role of computing in society and economy, offering students hands-on experience in using technology to create local impact.
Led by: Rosta Farzan, Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; Professor, School of Computing and Information- Fight Bravely: Stage Combat for Everyone — Subject: Theater Arts
Let’s admit it: we love a good fight. Whether it’s Shakespeare’s Henry IV, the latest Kung Fu film, or The Empire Strikes Back, a lot of the time, we are just waiting for the moment when negotiations break down, voices are raised, lightsabers ignited, and the combatants come out swinging. In this course, we are going to talk about theatrical and cinematic combat: what we like (yes, you will weigh in with your favorites), how it works in terms of the larger story, character, and movement. But it gets better. After we spend some time talking about the fights we love in film and on stage, it’s swords out. You will learn the elements of safe stage combat in a week of training that will culminate in choreographing with your partner(s) your own original stage fight. It’s wonderful if you have theater or martial arts experience, but this course is open to people of all backgrounds, genders, and basically anyone who wants to mix it up.
Led by: Jeff Aziz, Teaching Professor, Advisor, Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Studies, Department of English, and Tonya Lynn, Richard E. Rauh Teaching Artist-in-Residence, Department of Theatre Arts- From TV to TikTok: Using Media to Promote Health — Subject: Medicine and Health Science
Have you ever stopped to think about the extent to which your interest in medicine, science, or healthcare has been influenced by what you see on television? Or how your health behaviors are related to what you see on social media? This course will explore these questions through a mix of class discussions, presentations from medical and public health professionals, and analyzing some of your favorite television programs and social media platforms. Spend a week with us looking at health information, health care, and health science through the lens of primetime television and social media. What you learn might surprise you – maybe even inspire you.
Led by: Beth Hoffman, Assistant Professor, Faculty in Behavioral and Community Health Sciences, School of Public Health- Make an Impact: D.I.Y. "Outsider" Publishing — Subject: Political Science
We live in a world where it seems like media is controlled by everyone else. A world where someone has to be born into access, or have the money to buy access, or have a great idea that they then "sell out" in order to even have a shot at access. This week-long session pushes against that. Together we will explore the material history of Do-It-Yourself (D.I.Y.) media, particularly print media, and see how alternative "outsider" voices can use those pathways to claim space in their own communities. Then we'll collaborate together on writing and design to make our own D.I.Y. media and learn how to distribute it. Get a publication before anyone else in your class, and learn about how many more opportunities exist to share your writing and your ideas when you think "outside" the system.
Led by: Andrew Lotz, Teaching Professor and Academic Advisor, Director of Undergraduate Studies, and Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Studies, Department of Political Science- Neuroscience of Human Movement: Do We Sense to Move, Move to Sense, or Just Act? — Subject: Neuroscience
Explore a brain’s view of sensing, moving, and thinking in action. While we might listen to music or watch a video to relax and ‘do nothing’ or go for a walk or run to "get away from thinking,", our brain continually integrates sensing, moving, and thinking for our intended actions. We will review brain regions and functions through "previously real" [neuroanatomy lab, brain specimens] and brain models, engage in interactive "brain challenges," and apply behavioral measures to observe and record, and maybe acquire a new motor skill behavior. Explore and experience the brain’s decision-making, for action in a planet full of opportunities; experience your brain’s talents and ability to rise to challenges in action. Students use course experiences to bring brain function to act ‘alive’ in the creation of a model of the brain and neural processes, that enable human movement behavior — senses, moves us, and acts.
Led by: Jessie VanSwearingen, Professor, Department of Physical Therapy- Big Brushstrokes: A Collaborative Mural Project — Subject: Studio Arts
Kick off your Pitt experience with creativity, collaboration, and a splash of color! In this beginner-friendly, week-long course, you’ll be part of a team bringing a large-scale mural to life. The mural design will be prepared in advance, and you’ll learn hands-on techniques to translate the design from concept to completion. Through guided instruction, you'll explore large-scale painting methods, color mixing, and brushwork techniques while working alongside fellow incoming students. No prior painting or drawing experience is needed, just a willingness to jump in, get a little messy, and be part of something bigger. By the end of the week, you’ll have helped create a large painting that will beautify our spaces. This is your chance to make your mark, build connections, and start your journey at Pitt with a hands-on creative experience!
Led by: Gianni P. Downs, Teaching Associate Professor, Director of Undergraduate Studies; Department of Theatre Arts- Sports and Political Culture — Subject: History and Social Science
Sports reveal and emphasize the best and worst of humanity. They inspire hope and elicit despair. They sometimes promote peace and understanding, but other times incite and invite violence and hatred. They unite communities even as they simultaneously sow division and tribalism. They expose the status quo and serve as a platform for protest and change. More broadly, sports both reflect and influence social and political culture. This project will use a broad and critical historical lens to interrogate the role that sports, in Pittsburgh and around the globe, have played in major facets of social and political life.
Led by: Eladio Bobadilla, Assistant Professor, Department of History- Unwrapping Pittsburgh: Mapping Class, Race and History — Subject: History and Social Science
What do you think you know about Pittsburgh? Whether you are from the city, from the region, or from further afield, histories change over time based on who tells or writes them and when, what they are trying to accomplish, and what readers/students already think they know or believe. For those less familiar with the city or with less experience here, this course will provide a primer to the history of Pittsburgh. For those who are from the city or the immediate region, it will challenge them to complicate decades-long narratives of Pittsburgh as among the most “livable” cities in the country. Through a combination (provided COVID protocols allow) of physical mobility (walking tours/museum visits), archival documents (virtual and or in-person at the Heinz History Center and the University’s Archives Service Center) and discussion, we will unwrap Pittsburgh in its complexity and examine counter narratives that Pittsburgh’s “renaissances” were experienced universally and necessarily positive.
Led by: John Stoner, Teaching Professor and Undergraduate Advisor, Department of History- Urban Ecology and Sustainable Food Systems — Subject: Ecology and Sustainability
Imagine planting a fruit tree or shade tree seedling in your first week on campus that allows you to harvest fruit or enjoy shade when you return to Pitt as an alum. This course is focused on the native paw paw (Asimina triloba), a tree that grows nearby in Panther Hollow within Schenley Park, on Vera Street on campus in the new Plant2Plate Garden adjacent to Pitt’s Charles L. Cost baseball outfield wall where the 2021 and 2022 Provost Academy classes planted seedlings, and on Pitt’s School of Public Health lawn where the 2019 Provost Academy class planted seedlings, including one that flowered this spring. This course will involve (1) visiting urban ecosystems near campus including service learning with the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy; (2) learning about the importance of the paw paw fruit to indigenous communities (including the Cherokee, Shawnee, and Seneca), European colonists, and African Americans; (3) discussing the steps taken to grow food in urban neighborhoods; and (4) learning about sustainability initiatives on campus. Most importantly, students will contribute to Pitt’s sustainability plan through service learning by planting seedlings. Students will create individual and group photo essays of their experience to share with the Pitt community.
Led by: Corey Flynn, Program Manager, Office of Sustainability in the Health Sciences- Water Quality in Pittsburgh — Subject: Sustainability
Could you imagine a day without water? Water is an invaluable asset to our daily lives, ecosystems, and economy. Spend the week dipping your toes into regional water with the Pittsburgh Water Collaboratory (water.pitt.edu)! In this hands-on interactive course with field trips, you’ll learn about Pittsburgh water assets and opportunities, explore the power of your voice to make positive change, and connect with water leaders at Pitt and within the community. We’ll also dive into water specific environmental careers including water scientists, engineers, hydrologists, chemists, biologists, green building professionals, GIS analysts, science policy and communication professionals, and more! Join us for an exciting week of curriculum and opportunities to connect.
Led by: Megan Lange, Engagement Programs Manager, and Jonathan Burgess, Director, Pittsburgh Water Collaboratory- Your Voice Is Your Power — Subject: Social Justice
More than 90 percent of eligible University of Pittsburgh students are registered to vote, and of those, nearly 80 percent voted in the last Presidential election. University of Pittsburgh students give more than 460,000 hours of service to the community annually. Affecting the world around them through civic and community engagement is just what Pitt students do. Are you ready? This course will help you to tap into YOUR voice and to learn how to work with others to create real and just social and political change. We will talk about how factors like race, age, and poverty can affect who gets heard, and whose voices are marginalized, from the ballot box to the service organizations to the streets. And we will draw on what Rev. Martin Luther King called our “inescapable network of mutuality” to help us build the tools to be heard, to listen to one another, and to take our places as social activists, on the Pitt campus and beyond.
Led by: Ron Idoko, Associate Director of the Center on Race and Social Problems, Founding Director of the Racial Equity Consciousness Institute, and Research Assistant Professor, School of Social Work, and Kristin Kanthak, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science