Education Archives - Page 2 of 4 - Pittsburgh Quarterly

When Paul Hennigan became president of Point Park University in 2006, he inherited an institution that a little more than a decade earlier was in danger of going out of business. One of his first priorities was deciding the viability of the Pittsburgh Playhouse in Oakland. Eleven years later, the new Playhouse is set to …

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Education

3 Not-So-Simple Questions, Part IV

by PQ Staff

Editor’s note: This is the fourth and final part of a feature that began in the pages of the Fall issue of Pittsburgh Quarterly. We invited the heads of the region’s top independent schools to address three important questions, in 200 words or less for each. The final question is below, along with the answers. …

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Education

3 Not-So-Simple Questions, Part III

by PQ Staff

Editor’s note: This is part three of a feature that began in the pages of the Fall issue of Pittsburgh Quarterly. We invited the heads of the region’s top independent schools to address three important questions, in 200 words or less for each. The second of the questions is below, along with the answers. For …

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Education

3 Not-So-Simple Questions, Part II

by PQ Staff

Editor’s note: This is part two of a feature that began in the pages of the Fall issue of Pittsburgh Quarterly. We invited the heads of the region’s top independent schools to address three important questions, in 200 words or less for each. The first of the questions is below, along with the answers. For …

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Education

Unfair to Athletes?

by Marino Parascenzo

Speaking of high school football, as I am, I knew of a chemistry teacher who was so tough, so mean—or at least mean-looking—that he produced decades of superb students. Not that I’m advocating mean as a teaching method, but he was so good that college chemistry professors could pick his students out on the first …

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Education

3 Not-So-Simple Questions

by PQ Staff

Pittsburgh Quarterly invited the heads of the region’s top independent schools to address three important questions, in 200 words or less for each. How are the political tensions of our country being reflected in your school community and how are you addressing these issues? Jeff Suzik, Director, Falk School One of the most regrettable outcomes …

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Education

Facing the Future

by PQ Staff

For this special feature, we invited the presidents of the region’s leading institutions of higher education to respond to the following: It’s a time of unprecedented challenge for higher education—with decliningenrollment, increased competition, concern about cost and debt, and increasinglyrapid technological change. How are you approaching your key challengesso that your institution will survive and …

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Education Region

Going It Alone

by Jeffery Fraser

Most of the women who trust their children to Jamie Tabb’s cottage childcare business in Turtle Creek are struggling to get by under circumstances she knows well. She’s a single woman raising children on her own, as they are. She’s been employed and poor at the same time. She’s had to allow limited public transit …

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Education

Path to Delinquency

by Jeffery Fraser

Aaron Thomas was 14 when a Pittsburgh police drug task force raided the Garfield home where he lived with his parents, whose lives were ruled by an addiction to cocaine and heroin. That led to his first encounter with the juvenile justice system. But the time he would spend in and out of jail, youth …

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Education

Honey, I Have an Idea…

by Terry Miller

In May of 2013, Renny Clark and I arrived at the Hillman residence at 11 a.m. Our mission was to propose the creation of a forum for student civic engagement at the University of Pittsburgh’s Institute of Politics and hopefully the seed of an endowment to support the forum’s work. Elsie responded with her typical …

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Education

A Question of Value

by PQ Staff

Pittsburgh Quarterly invited the heads of the region’s top independent schools to address, in 150 words or less, the following question: What is your value proposition for students and families? Winchester Thurston is recognized for innovative teaching that combines rigor and relevance. After visiting WT this year, National Association of Independent Schools interim president Donna …

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Education

When Applying to College

by PQ Staff

What do you wish you could tell young people who are considering applying for college? Marc L. Harding, University of Pittsburgh If you know what you want to study in college, great… and if you don’t, please know you’re in the majority. This is the time to explore. Do you want to improve global health, …

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Education

Engineering the Future at Pitt

by Danielle Commisso

It was the early 1960s, and it was a different time, recalls John “Jack” Mascaro. Like many of his fellow baby boomers, the young student showed up to his engineering classes at the University of Pittsburgh sporting a sweater and a tie, while his professors wore suits. It was a time when engineering students were …

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Education

Voyaging to College

by Margaret J. Krauss

The road to college is much like an expedition. It can appear overwhelming, exciting, and at times too far away to be tangible. However, much like planning a trip out of town or across the globe there is preparation involved, and it is always best to start that planning early. First, you must figure out …

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Education

Setting a New Standard

by Evan Pattak

The professor sits at her console and looks to the monitor at her right. There, she sees the smiling, eager faces of her students, 16 strong, for this evening’s lecture. She greets them and is greeted in return. On the monitor to the professor’s left is a SMART Board, an interactive whiteboard that she uses …

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Education

A Pittsburgh Masterpiece

by Ben Schmitt

When Rachel Rosenberg arrived at the University of Pittsburgh from California as a freshman, she was immediately drawn to the cultural classrooms lining the Cathedral of Learning’s first and third floors: their alluring aesthetics, stunning architecture and meticulous attention to detail. “There’s nothing like this anywhere else,” she said. “They really set the University of …

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Education

The Year of Humanities

by Ben Schmitt

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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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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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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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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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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