As of 2011, the Atlantic Coast Conference welcomed, new member, the University of Pittsburgh. Also known as "Pitt," this university is one of the oldest in the United States that was chartered continuously starting in 1787. The near 29,000 students, including undergraduate and post graduate, celebrate their love for the University of Pittsburgh sporting navy blue and gold and gladly cheering on their Pittsburgh Panthers!

In 1787 the University of Pittsburgh was founded by a man named Hugh Henry Brackenridge but it was called the Pittsburgh Academy. It is said to have been actually started as a preparatory school and possibly even had school meet in a log cabin as early as 1770. After the charter was obtained, a building for the academy was built and it only contained three rooms. Over thirty years later, there was a need for an education that was more advanced and so the Academy was turned into the Western University of Pennsylvania. In 1845 a great fire completely took out all of the university's buildings, records, and files. A new school was built to continue classes but it was also burned down four years later in 1849. Finally in 1855 classes were able to resume and it remained at that location until the 1890's. In the 1890's the school was moved to North Side, Pennsylvania. At this time the first Pitt football team was formed! Because the school was getting easily confused with the University of Pennsylvania, a change was made in the name and it became the University of Pittsburgh and started the move over to the Oakland Neighborhood.

Pitt is located on 132 acres of land in the middle of the Oakland neighborhood. The campus is widely known for the Cathedral of Learning and the Allegheny Observatory. Both places are registered on the National Registry of Historic Places. The Cathedral of Learning is at the heart of the campus and, as an educational building, it stands taller than any other building in the western hemisphere, measuring in at 42 stories! The Cathedral of Learning includes classrooms, theaters, a ballroom, common areas, an auditorium, computer labs, and departmental offices. It is truly a spectacular site to be seen! The Allegheny Observatory is a institution for astronomical research. It was built between 1900 and 1912 and currently is in pursuit of extra solar planets! Also, twenty-one buildings on the campus help make up the well known area the Schenley Farms Oakland Civic Center Historic District. It is on the historic registry but not as just a place, but rather a historic district.

There are seventeen undergraduate schools and post graduate schools available for bachelors, master's, doctoral, and professional degrees. These schools are the School of Social Work, the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, the Graduate School of Public Health, the College of Business Administration, the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business, the School of Pharmacy, the School of Dental Medicine, the School of Nursing, the School of Education, the School of Medicine, the Swanson School of Engineering, the School of Law, the College of General Studies, the School of Information Sciences, the School of Health and Rehabilitation, and the University Honors College. Many of the schools and departments are ranked very high in the United States. International studies are a huge focus and in the Cathedral of Learning, twenty-three rooms each dedicated to a separate country and the study of the nationalities. The school also has a program called the Outside the Classroom Curriculum that has each student learning about the particular field they are getting their degree in but with hands on, real world experiences. If you are interested in studying abroad, there are over a hundred places you can study in the world through the study abroad program.

The University of Pittsburgh is known for its research programs and most well known for the formation of the Polio Vaccine on campus! At the beginning of the 20th century, Polio was rampant in the United States. A man by the name of Jonas Salk was involved in virus research at Pitt. In the basement of one of the university's buildings, he started testing of a Polio Vaccine on monkeys. After a few human trials, in 1962, a Polio Vaccine was ready to help people fight against the disease. This was a very significant medical and scientific achievement!

Achievements at the University of Pittsburgh do not stop at Science! They are also very present in the world of athletics at Pitt! The Pittsburgh Panthers has 19 varsity teams that will now be competing in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Sports are nationally competed in NCAA Division I and include baseball, basketball, cross country, football, gymnastics, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, track and field, volleyball, and wrestling. The most popular sports at Pitt are football and men's basketball. Football home game days are played at Heinz Field and basketball games are held at the Petersen Events Center. The University of Pittsburgh's main rivalry is with West Virginia University and dates back to 1895 with football. Being eighty miles apart, the two schools competitive games are normally named "Backyard Brawl." Men's and women's basketball games against West Virginia University are equally as highly competitive and the rivalry is as strong as in football. Penn State University was a rival of Pitt until 2000, but because of heated battles and much arguing, the football games were halted. It has been said that the games will resume in 2016 and some fans still consider Penn State the major rivalry of Pitt because the football game was played for 95 years straight! Celebrating at a University of Pittsburgh football game has been going on for decades. Tailgating is no new event! What apparel will you be wearing to the next Pitt Panther's game? Try out a Judith March dress in Navy or Gold! Judith March also make prints that would have you looking great supporting one of the oldest football programs in the nation! Let's Go Pitt!