Overview

(Some of the following is excerpted from a Pitt Press Release, "Pitt to Establish Regional College Campus at Greensburg" dated Oct. 10, 1962. The original document resides in the University Archives in Oakland; a copy resides in the UPG Archives.)

On October 10, 1962, Pitt Chancellor Edward H. Litchfield announced that "the University of Pittsburgh will establish a two-year college at Greensburg as early as September 1963 if the community will provide equipment and facilities." In Litchfield's address at Greensburg's Polo Club, he cited the need "of ample college facilities to meet the educational needs of our society in the next decade." The following month, on November 15, Albert B. Smith was appointed the first president of the Greensburg Campus.

The Greensburg Campus was to be the first in a series of regional two-year colleges across Western Pennsylvania and was to be modeled after Pitt's Johnstown campus, which was about to celebrate its 35th anniversary. The college "would offer programs in liberal arts and engineering; continuing graduate instruction at the Masters level in education, business and other fields; evening adult education programs; and assistance to local groups in the development of technical training and retraining programs for skills needed by new industries in the area."

Vogle Building

On March 15, 1963 the University announced that the Greensburg Campus would be located in a former city school administration building (the Vogle building) at 122 North Maple Avenue with additional space in the Ramsay Building at 125 North Main Street. Laboratories and classrooms at the Greensburg Salem Junior High would also be utilized. The following September, the Greensburg Campus welcomed 256 students, 56 full time and 200 part time.

In 1964 the Charles McKenna Lynch Estate, known as Starboard Light, was purchased by the University as the new permanent site of the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg. The 104 acre estate consisted of a tudor style house which had been constructed in 1923, a swimming pool, tennis court, bathhouse, gatehouse and formal garden. After extensive remodeling, Lynch Hall was open for business in 1967. Until more facilities could be constructed, the campus had two sites: one on Mount Pleasant Road and one in downtown Greensburg.

Lynch Hall

The late sixties and early seventies was a period of intense fund raising to develop the new campus and meet the needs of increasing enrollment. In 1965 the Greensburg Campus Development Fund was initiated with an overall goal of $7.5 million dollars with the region's share set at $1.5 million. By 1969 the campus had 350 full time and 650 part time students.

In the seventies the first four year degree programs were implemented at the Greensburg Campus: management, administration of justice, humanities and social sciences concentrations. These were followed by political science, english and psychology in 1977. Dedication of the first two building on campus, Powers Hall and Smith Hall, occured in 1975 and 1977 respectively. In 1975 the Student Activities Center (now known as the McKenna Computer Center) also opened and the campus was finally centralized on the former Lynch Estate.

In 1979 the Greensburg Campus came to the end of an era: Albert B. Smith retired as its first president.

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Updated 10/16/02