Pitt’s published mission statement

The University's mission is to:

* provide high-quality undergraduate programs in the arts and sciences and professional fields, with emphasis upon those of special benefit to the citizens of Pennsylvania;

* offer superior graduate programs in the arts and sciences and the professions that respond to the needs of Pennsylvania, as well as to the broader needs of the nation and the world;

* engage in research, artistic, and scholarly activities that advance learning through the extension of the frontiers of knowledge and creative endeavor;

* cooperate with industrial and governmental institutions to transfer knowledge in science, technology, and health care;

* offer continuing education programs adapted to the personal enrichment, professional upgrading, and career advancement interests and needs of adult Pennsylvanians; and

* make available to local communities and public agencies the expertise of the University in ways that are consistent with the primary teaching and research functions and contribute to social, intellectual, and economic development in the Commonwealth, the nation, and the world.

The trustees, faculty, staff, students, and administration of the University are dedicated to accomplishing this mission, to which they pledge their individual and collective efforts, determined that the University shall continue to be counted among the prominent institutions of higher education throughout the world.

Approved by Pitt's Board of Trustees, Feb. 16, 1995.

Excerpt from the Provost’s memo on diversity

The University of Pittsburgh has a strong tradition of commitment to faculty diversity, in terms of both racial and gender diversity. ... We know that a diverse faculty provides substantial tangible benefits to all our students, allowing them to participate in a rich educational experience that includes exposure to diverse perspectives, role models, and mentors. ... A diverse faculty is essential for the university’s full engagement in the community of scholars. Cutting-edge scholarship and the growth of knowledge depend on discussion and debate incorporating multiple perspectives, theories, and approaches. ... Administration and faculty will establish and nurture mentoring programs designed to promote success and to fully integrate minority and women faculty members into the academic community. Administration and faculty will create a scholarly, intellectual and social environment that would be attractive to a diverse faculty and a diverse student body. -- Provost James Maher in his memorandum on diversity, March 2002

Thoughts toward our plenary (and post-plenary?) vision statement

Our overall goal is to acknowledge, support, celebrate, and insist upon the importance of women to the mission of the University of Pittsburgh.

The success and support of women students, teachers, researchers, staff, and leaders are central to high-quality undergraduate programs, superior graduate training, horizon-expanding research, knowledge transfer, continuing education, and social, intellectual, and economic development. We seek to create a climate at the University of Pittsburgh in which women as well as men excel in leadership, scholarship, and citizenship, and in which women as well as men become full contributors to the University community.

The Spring 2004 Senate Plenary aims to serve as an opportunity to record and celebrate progress toward women’s and men’s full and equal inclusion in the mission of the University. Another goal of the Spring 2004 Senate Plenary is to benchmark best practices in attracting, retaining, and developing women as undergraduate students, graduate trainees, faculty, staff, and administrators. The ultimate goal of the Spring 2004 Senate Plenary is to spur continued efforts to promote the mission of the University and thus move the University of Pittsburgh into the top tier of research universities through the inclusion and development of women.