Your Role in The Big DIG
Your gift to The Big DIG will transform the lives of students and further leading-edge research and academic advancement. Generous donors make it possible for the Dietrich School to offer robust scholarships, fellowships, endowed faculty chairs, and undergraduate research funding. Choose to “DIG deep,” make an inspirational gift, and forever change the trajectory of the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences and its students.
It’s an opportunity to move the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences forward in a concrete and measurable way,” said Kathleen Blee, Bettye J. and Ralph E. Bailey Dean of the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences. “The Big DIG makes real the promise that is the University of Pittsburgh.
Who You’ll Impact
With more than 11,000 undergraduate and 1,300 graduate students pursuing Arts and Sciences degrees, the Dietrich School is by far the largest school within the University of Pittsburgh. Each year, thousands of additional Pitt students take courses from our professors as part of other degree programs within the University. The School’s 1,000 plus faculty guide and mentor in excess of 3,500 undergraduate researchers annually while producing their own breakthroughs in subjects as diverse as Philosophy and Africana Studies, to Chemistry and Economics. In sum, the Dietrich School is the heart of the University of Pittsburgh.
The Big DIG supports faculty leading the transformational research that will improve society, provides access to all students with the ambition and credentials to come to the University of Pittsburgh, promises to support students throughout their educational career, and trains world-class graduate students who are the knowledge-leaders of the future," explained Dean Blee.
The Time is Now
Competition for the most qualified students is intense and growing. The same is true for efforts to recruit and retain the type of high-quality faculty the University is known for internationally. This comes at a time when employers are expecting more from their new hires and the world is clambering for leading-edge research in ever interconnected and complex endeavors. The Big DIG’s four priorities—need-based undergraduate scholarships, undergraduate research, fellowships and graduate support, faculty chairs and professorships—work synergistically to attract ambitious talent and support them through every stage of their education and research. Time is of the essence.
The Spark That Transforms
A single gift can be incredibly transformative,” said Dean Blee. “Individual philanthropy is the route to providing access to students from all socioeconomic backgrounds to a world-class education, mentored research, and connections to luminaries in their fields.
Each of the four priorities of The Big DIG stand alone yet work together to form an ever-advancing Arts and Science core of the University. Donors can find their passion in any of those priorities and know their gift will provide support to the pillar most important to them, all the while knowing it is working to advance the Dietrich School and in turn the mission of the University of Pittsburgh to offer students access to a world-class education, support growth within the community, and expand the world’s knowledge.