The College of General Studies (CGS) is one of the 17 schools within the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the univers ...

located in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

. The College of General Studies offers programs of special interest to adults and non-traditional students, including baccalaureate degrees (BA/BS) and standalone certificates. The administration of the College of General Studies is overseen by the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences.

History

The College of General Studies evolved from the 1908 Downtown Division of the Pittsburgh Academy. It became the Department of Afternoon, Saturday and Evening Studies in 1911 when it moved from

Downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ...

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay ...

and began offering a limited number of off-campus courses. By 1920, Pitt had expanded its off-campus offerings to 19 locations in western Pennsylvania and

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

, including Erie and Youngstown. In 1932, Pitt established the University Extension Division, which became known informally as the evening program, with its director reporting directly to the chancellor. On March 11, 1958, the Pitt Board of Trustees, following a recommendation by then Chancellor Edward Litchfield, approved the establishment of the School of General Studies primarily as an alternative for adults wishing to continuing education. Enrollment in the School of General Studies peaked at 18,930 during the 1974–75 academic year, the vast majority of which were part-time students. In 1981, the School of General Studies was renamed the College of General Studies to reflect that its degree was comparable to an Arts and Sciences degree. In the early 1990s, the College of General Studies offered as many as 30 degree majors, which was downgraded to ten in 1998–99 in order to eliminate duplication with majors offered in other Pitt units. In 2002 the McCarl Center for Nontraditional Student Success open followed by a major restructuring of the College of General Studies in 2003. The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, for those 50 years old and older, and CGSOnline was established in 2005.

Deans

* 1958–1971 Viers Wilson Adams * 1971–1983 J. Steele Gow Jr. * 1983–1994 John Bolvin * 1994–1996 Robert Comfort (interim dean) * 1996–1997 Robert Carter * 1997–1999 Jack Daniel (interim dean) * 1999–2006 Susan R. Kinsey * 2006–2017 N. John Cooper *2017–present Kathleen Blee

McCarl Center for Nontraditional Student Success

Originally located on the fourth floor of the

Cathedral of Learning The Cathedral of Learning is a 42-story skyscraper that serves as the centerpiece of the University of Pittsburgh's (Pitt) main campus in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Standing at , the 42-story Late Gothic Revival Cat ...

, the $537,000 McCarl Center was opened in 2002 and occupies space that once housed two levels of the main stacks of the university's library. Made possible by a gift from F. James and Foster J.J. McCarl, it serves as resource center for non-traditional students and hosts seminars and events. The space was designed by Alan J. Cueri and his architectural firm Strada, LLC, and includes wood finishes, double-height spaces with high ceilings and windows, a main corridor conceived as an interior street, and many elements that refer to the Cathedral of Learning's Gothic architecture including decorative painted metal columns with contemporary buttress-style arches. The center included a resource library, meeting rooms, and a student lounge, and is staffed with academic advisors and has contains a reception area for the College of General Studies. Three unsigned and undated by glass-encased murals that depict

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ide ...

painting styles and which have long belonged to the university but are of unknown origin hang in a hallway outside the center. The College of General Studies, including the McCarl Center, the Office of Veterans Services, and the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, relocated from the Cathedral of Learning to the first floor of

Posvar Hall Wesley W. Posvar Hall (WWPH), formerly known as Forbes Quadrangle, is a landmark building on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. At it is the largest academic-use building on campus, provid ...

in May, 2014.

Degrees programs

Majors offered through the College of General Studies *

Administration of Justice The administration of justice is the process by which the legal system of a government is executed. The presumed goal of such an administration is to provide justice for all those accessing the legal system. The phrase is also commonly used to d ...

( BA) *

Dental Hygiene Oral hygiene is the practice of keeping one's mouth clean and free of disease and other problems (e.g. bad breath) by regular brushing of the teeth (dental hygiene) and cleaning between the teeth. It is important that oral hygiene be carried ou ...

( BS) *

Health Services Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health profe ...

(BA) *

(BS) *

Humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at t ...

(BA) *

Legal Studies Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning ...

(BA) * Media and Professional Communications (BA) *

Natural Sciences Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeat ...

(BS) *

Public Service A public service is any service intended to address specific needs pertaining to the aggregate members of a community. Public services are available to people within a government jurisdiction as provided directly through public sector agencies ...

(BA) *

Social Sciences Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of so ...

(BA) In addition to these interdisciplinary and flexible bachelor's degree programs, the College of General Studies also offers non-degree admission for students who wish to take individual undergraduate Pitt courses for credit or enroll in a CGS standalone undergraduate certificate. A post-baccalaureate certificate in Accounting is available through CGS in partnership with the College of Business Administration. Other certificates are offered in partnership with the University Center for Social and Urban Research and the Center for National Preparedness. The College of General Studies offers over 100 courses across its disciplines through PittOnline web based instruction and also has a satellite campus in Butler County.

References

External links

homepage
Historical Renovations: McCarl Center for Nontradional Student Success
{{Authority control University of Pittsburgh, University Of Pittsburgh College of General Studies Adult education in the United States Educational institutions established in 1932 1932 establishments in Pennsylvania