[10] Brackenridge obtained a charter for the school from the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on February 28, 1787, just ten weeks before the opening of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia.

By the 1830s, the university faced severe financial pressure to abandon its traditional liberal education in favor of the state legislature's desire for it to provide more vocational training.

It is during this era, in 1867, that Samuel Pierpont Langley, astronomer, inventor, aviation pioneer and future Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, was chosen as director of the Allegheny Observatory that was donated to WUP in 1865.

[22] The initial campus plan for the new location centered on the winning submission from a national architectural contest that incorporated a Greek Acropolis design by Henry Hornbostel for 30 buildings.

[24] It was also during this period that the university, led by Chancellor Samuel McCormick, again held off pressures to abandon the school's commitment to liberal education in favor of more technical-based training.

By 1925, Bowman had settled on a design by Charles Klauder for the "tall building": an attention-getting 535-foot (163 m) tower whose great height, with open spaces all around, would suggest the "character that ought to be in an educated man."

Bowman was a persuasive leader and although the Great Depression intervened, the Cathedral of Learning, on which construction was begun in 1926, began hosting classes in 1931 and was formally dedicated in 1937.

As hospitals filled with patients in iron lungs, and tens of thousands were left disabled, the fear of polio grew, leading to the closing of many public facilities.

As such, Pitt receives public funds ($154.3 million in fiscal year 2016) covering about 7% of its operating budget,[27] and offers reduced tuition to Pennsylvania residents.

[28] Mark Nordenberg was chancellor of the university from 1995 to 2014 and led Pitt through a period of substantial progress, including a $2-billion capital-raising campaign that is over three quarters of the way toward achieving its goal[29] and a $1-billion 12-year facilities plan.

The main quad of Carnegie Mellon University, Central Catholic High School, and historic Schenley Park, site of the Phipps Conservatory & Botanical Gardens, lie across Junction Hollow on the east end.

[50] Historic structures within, adjacent to, or near Pitt's campus, but not belonging to the university, include the Carnegie Museum buildings, Frick School, Forbes Field wall remnant, Magee Estate iron fence, the Schenley Fountain, Mellon Institute, Phipps Conservatory & Botanical Gardens, the Pittsburgh Athletic Association, St. Paul's Cathedral, St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, Schenley High School, Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall – where scenes of The Silence of the Lambs were filmed in 1990, and the Stephen Foster sculpture.

They offer several degrees and certificates: The University of Pittsburgh has been noted for both its role in community outreach and its impact on the economy of the city and the Western Pennsylvania region.

In 2018, the university announced its intention to buy all of the electricity from a run-of-the-river hydro power facility to be built by Rye Development at Allegheny Lock and Dam No.

Legally, however, the university remains a private entity, operating under its nonprofit corporate charter, governed by its independent Board of Trustees, and with its assets under its own ownership and control.

Therefore, it retains the freedom and individuality of a private institution, both administratively and academically, setting its own standards for admissions, awarding of degrees, faculty qualifications, teaching, and staff hiring.

Pitt has also initiated a university-wide Outside the Classroom Curriculum (OCC) that includes a structured series of extracurricular programs and experiences designed to complement students' academic studies and help develop personal attributes and professional skills.

Pitt is also one of the country's leading producers of both Fulbright scholars and Peace Corps volunteers,[66][116] and one of fewer than 20 American universities to claim five or more area studies programs that have been competitively designated as National Resource Centers by the U.S. Department of Education.

The Schenley Quadrangle, originally serving as one of city's most desirably luxury apartment complexes, comprises five separate residence halls: Amos, Brackenridge, Bruce, Holland, and McCormick.

[96][63] The tradition of sliding or stepping on the former home plate of Forbes Field embedded in the floor of Posvar Hall is performed by students in search of some good luck.

[186][189] Homecoming, which revolves around another home football game each year, includes a traditional fireworks and a laser-light display between the William Pitt Union and the Cathedral of Learning.

During the more than 100 years of competitive football at Pitt, the university has helped pioneer the sport by, among other things, instituting the use of numbers on jerseys[278] and desegregating the Sugar Bowl with Bobby Grier.

Some of college football's all-time greatest coaches and players have plied their trade at Pitt, including Pop Warner, Jock Sutherland, Marshall Goldberg, Joe Schmidt, Mike Ditka, Tony Dorsett, Hugh Green, Mark May, Dan Marino, Bill Fralic, Curtis Martin, Darrelle Revis, Russ Grimm, LeSean McCoy, Larry Fitzgerald and Aaron Donald.

Among the top schools in terms of all-time wins, Pitt teams have claimed nine National Championships[279] and boast 88 players that have been chosen as first-team All-Americans.

[287] Pitt's swimming and diving teams have produced several Olympians and won 19 men's and nine women's Big East Championships while a member of that conference.

[291][292] University faculty have been pioneers in such fields as virology (Jonas Salk), astronomy (John Brashear), aviation (Samuel Pierpont Langley), and psychology (Benjamin Spock).

Beginning in the institution's academy days, the head of the school was referred to as Principal, a title that was retained until 1872 when it was changed to Chancellor by an alteration to the university's charter.

[296] Three Pitt alumni have been awarded the Nobel Prize: Paul Lauterbur '62 for his work in magnetic resonance imaging,[297] Philip Hench '20 for discovery of the hormone cortisone,[298] and Wangari Maathai '66 for founding the Green Belt Movement.

Pitt alumni who have excelled in professional sports include Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees Dan Marino '83,[306] Mike Ditka '61,[307] and Tony Dorsett '77.

[308] Basketball Hall of Fame inductees include pioneering coach Clifford Carlson '18 & '20[309] while others, such as John Woodruff '39 and Roger Kingdom '02, have won Olympic gold.