Nonprofits Archives - Page 11 of 16

A multicolored logo flashed over Heinz Field’s immense scoreboard on a bright fall day as a booming voice declared 2015-16 the University of Pittsburgh’s “Year of the Humanities.” The crowd of 45,000-plus fans cheered loudly. Whether they were celebrating the academic year proclamation or the fact that Pitt’s football team was beating up on the …

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Leadership

Maxwell King, Philanthropy Executive

by Jeff Sewald

I am Maxwell Evarts Perkins King, named after Maxwell Evarts Perkins, my grandfather, who was the editor at Scribner’s for Thomas Wolfe, Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald, among other authors. Even though my mother always told me, “Go to law school, Max” (many of her family members were lawyers), all she ever talked about …

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Environment

Nature’s Comeback

by Matthew John Milligan

Every year, while spring was busy prying away the season from winter’s grasp, my family would make the trek down to Deep Creek, Maryland, to visit my grandparents’ cottage. The drive from our Long Island home was just over seven hours, which, to a kid with very little concept of or care for time, was …

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Education

A Lasting Impact

by PQ Staff

We asked regional colleges and universities to each choose a graduate who would give his or her thoughts on how the school made an impact on their lives. Allegheny College Chris Allison ’83 Former CEO, Tollgrade Communication, Inc.; Member, Allegheny College Board of Trustees; Entrepreneur in Residence, Allegheny College I vividly remember the late-night phone …

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Region

Best-case scenario

by Jeffery Fraser

1985 was a grim year for Pittsburgh. The region, reeling from a historic collapse of its industry, was hemorrhaging people, mostly young adults leaving for job opportunities that had evaporated in their hometown. The air was bad, worse than it is today. Even the beloved Steelers failed to offer solace, finishing with seven wins against …

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Nonprofits

A New Philanthropic Direction

by Diana Bucco

Since the Buhl Foundation began in 1927, Pittsburgh’s philanthropic landscape has changed dramatically, with the creation of the Richard King Mellon Foundation, Heinz Endowments, Hillman Foundation, The Pittsburgh Foundation, Grable Foundation, Colcom Foundation, Benedum Foundation and McCune Foundation, among many others. This rich collection of foundation partners has embroidered the fabric of Pittsburgh— from human …

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Education

Classroom of the Future

by Sean D. Hamill

It is 12:23 p.m. on a school day, about seven minutes before DeAnna Kwiecinski’s robotics class starts at The Campus School of Carlow University in Pittsburgh. But dashing in the door, red-faced and breathing hard, are third-graders Lorenzo Auteri and Tyler Sharek. “We ran because we wanted to get here first,” Tyler said, fiddling with …

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Region

Destination unknown

by Jennie Dorris

When I say I’m new to Pittsburgh, the questions start. Oh, for work? Does your husband have family here? Neither is true for me, and I tend to pause and say, “Well, this city is the reason that we moved here.” If they leave too long of a gap, I always give in and say, …

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Region

As Boomers Age

by Jeffery Fraser

In a few decades, the rest of America will be as gray as Allegheny County, which not long ago stood as one of the oldest counties in the nation. But it won’t be due to a local surge of youth. Aging Baby Boomers, in fact, are driving the county’s older adult population to new heights. …

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Education

One Pitt, One Planet

by Ben Schmitt

On a muggy September evening, a group of 30 University of Pittsburgh students harvested food on a green patch of land in Oakland surrounded by older brick buildings and urban hubbub. They picked tomatoes, green peppers, raspberries, kale, beets, turnips and grapes, filling large plastic bins in an effort to promote a sustainable future and …

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Region

Growing smarter

by Julia Fraser

When drivers exit the turnpike in Cranberry, they see expansive strip malls, traffic signals and road signs leading to more highways. On its face, it’s a portrait of urban sprawl. But a closer look reveals evidence of the steps the Butler County municipality has taken to make amends for the fragmented development of its past, …

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Region

Bike city

by Julia Fraser

Courtney Ehrlichman makes the commute to her Carnegie Mellon University job with her young daughter on an Xtracycle fitted with a Hooptie. That’s a bicycle designed to haul cargo with a child carrier attached. And it’s part of the changing street scene in Pittsburgh. More people are biking in Pittsburgh, according to data and similar …

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Education

Working to Keep The Promise

by Sean D. Hamill

It is 5:30 a.m. on a Thursday in early June—one of the last days of the 2013–14 school year—and Joseph Graham is tired, but awake. It’s about an hour before most of his Allderdice High School classmates in Squirrel Hill have awoken, and Joseph is getting ready to start an hour-long, two-Port-Authority-bus trip across town …

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Education

High Tech + Higher Ed = ?

by PQ Staff

Editor’s note: For this special feature, we invited the presidents of the region’s leading colleges and universities to respond to the following: Technology is presenting unprecedented challenges and opportunities for higher education. While Internet-based learning threatens the existence of some traditional, campus-based institutions, for many others, emerging technology provides opportunities to enhance learning in ways …

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Education

A Calling on Campus

by Ben Schmitt

When Kathy Humphrey was born, she was already an aunt, part of a family of 11 siblings and, now, 86 nieces and nephews. As a girl, she not only loved school, she played school outside of classroom hours with her hometown friends in Kansas City, Mo. And when she couldn’t find friends to join her, …

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Leadership

Chevron’s Nigel Hearne

by PQ Staff

For the past 100 years, the U.S. blossomed in part due to an oil boom with roots in the 19th century, the beginning of the modern oil period. That was when George Bissell, a school teacher, lawyer, entrepreneur and journalist—a true Renaissance man—conceived the idea that the “rock” oil that bubbled up very near to …

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Region

Pittsburgh Today & Tomorrow

by Douglas Heuck

Would you say this is the best shape Pittsburgh’s been in over the last 30 years?” I asked the question after a group of people, including the region’s leading economist, its top demographic expert, and the head of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, had just viewed the most recent economic reports from Pittsburgh Today. …

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Education

A Vision for the Future

by Douglas Heuck

Late last year, the University of Pittsburgh quietly marked an economic milestone when NanoVision Diagnostics became the 100th start-up company to launch through Pitt’s Office of Technology Management. The promising cancer detection system teams a decade of faculty research with an executive-in-residence, and so far the new company has attracted $1.5 million in investment. Beyond …

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Region

Pittsburgh Today & Tomorrow 2014 Regional Annual Report

by PQ Staff

How does Pittsburgh compare with these 14 similar cities?: Denver // Kansas City // Milwaukee // St. Louis // Minneapolis // St. Paul // Indianapolis // Detroit // Cincinnati // Cleveland // Charlotte // Richmond // Washington, D.C. // Philadelphia // Boston The 2014 Pittsburgh Today & Tomorrow report, produced by Pittsburgh Today, analyzes recent …

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Education

A Question of Duty

by PQ Staff

Editor’s note: Pittsburgh Quarterly invited the heads of the region’s top independent schools to address, in 150 words or less, the following question: Your students are fortunate to be receiving an education at one of the region’s finest schools. What message of responsibility for the greater society does your school seek to instill in them? …

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Region

Considering a Pittsburgh Tradition

by Douglas Heuck

It was two years ago that Bill Dietrich, our longtime Pittsburgh Quarterly history writer, died and left $500 million to community institutions. I mentioned Bill to out-of-towners recently while explaining Pittsburgh’s unusual social fabric. He’d studied Pittsburgh’s industrial titans and the legacies they left that still shape our city. If he’d grown up elsewhere, Bill …

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Region

Raising a Glass (and a Local Industry)

by Tim McNulty

It is near mayhem inside the headquarters of Pennsylvania Pure Distilleries, a drafty warehouse next door to a glass factory along an industrial stretch of Shaler. A forklift topples over a pile of cardboard boxes waiting to be filled with vodka bottles. Giant fermentation tanks are hot with bubbling CO2. A leg of pantyhose—stuffed with …

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