Point Park University

Point Park University
Motto	Pro Arte / Pro Communitate / Pro Professione
Established	1960
Type	Private university
Endowment	$24.7 million
President	Dr. Paul Hennigan
Undergraduates	3,004
Location	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
Campus	Urban
Athletics	KIAC
Colors	Green, White, and Gold
Website	www.pointpark.edu

Point Park University is a liberal arts university in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Formerly known as Point Park College, the school name was revised in 2004 to reflect the number of graduate programs being offered.

Point Park University is a comprehensive master’s level university with a strong liberal arts tradition, and is located in the heart of Downtown Pittsburgh. Point Park enrolls approximately 3,900 full-and part-time students in 87 undergraduate programs and 13 graduate programs offered through its School of Arts and Sciences, School of Business, School of Communication and the Conservatory of Performing Arts.

Point Park University Overview

• Point Park was founded in 1960 and recorded 3,920 students in the 2010–11 academic year, including several hundred graduate students. The two largest master's degree programs are the M.B.A. program in the School of Business, and the M.A. in journalism and mass communication in the School of Communication.
• The university is on the semester system and has four schools: Arts & Sciences, Point Park University School of Business, Communication, and The Conservatory Of Performing Arts.
• The university is known primarily for its Conservatory of Performing Arts, which attracts students from around the world. Its undergraduate dance and musical theatre program has been rated the best and among the best in the United States. Student and professional performances are held at the Pittsburgh Playhouse, the Performing Arts Center of Point Park University, which has three separate performance spaces and is located in the Oakland neighborhood.
• The School of Communication is home to the International Journal of Interactive Communication Systems and Technologies, a semi-annual, refereed, scholarly journal published by the Information Resources Management Association in cooperation with IGI-Global. Its editor is Dr. Tatyana Dumova, associate professor of digital media. For nearly 5 years, the School of Communication also hosted Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, a refereed, scholarly, quarterly published by the Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication (AEJMC).
• The School of Communication, in conjunction with the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review daily newspaper, runs the Point Park News Service. Undergraduate and graduate journalism students write articles that are offered to, and sometimes published in, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review or its afternoon paper, the TribPM. The School is one of only about a dozen journalism programs in the United States, along with University of Maryland, University of Missouri, Columbia University, Northwestern University, and several others with a journalism student-staffed news service.^{[citation needed]}
• The University is one of only six in the United States with a joint M.A. (journalism/mass communication)/M.B.A. program. The others are Boston University, Columbia University, Southern Illinois University—Carbondale, University of Illinois at Champaign/Urbana, and University of Texas at Austin.
• The university's independent weekly student newspaper is The Globe.
• The university's student-produced television newsmagazine is "Wood Street Connection."
• The university's student radio station is WPPJ.
• The university's student literary magazine is The Cavalcade.
• The university's journalism course-produced news magazine is The Pioneer.
• On February 1, 2007, the University launched "U-View", Point Park's closed circuit news and entertainment TV station.

Point Park campus

Lawrence Hall contains residence halls, offices, and classrooms.

Point Park is located in Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and is situated about half a mile from Point State Park in the city's Golden Triangle.

The school is in the midst of the business district near PPG Place, one of the skyline's most recognizable buildings. The physical campus is mostly vertical, with buildings scattered intermittently among non-school structures. Point Park also owns the Pittsburgh Playhouse in the Oakland neighborhood. The school has used the phrase "Pittsburgh is our campus" in its literature.

Because of its Downtown locale, the school is within walking distance of the Cultural District and the city's sports facilities, PNC Park, Consol Energy Center, and Heinz Field. It is also close to Pittsburgh's major nightlife areas on the Southside, in Station Square, and in the Strip District. Just over 960 full-time undergraduate students live on campus. The majority of Point Park students commute from nearby neighborhoods.

With ten existing buildings and additional properties that run from the Monongahela River to Forbes Avenue, the University has one of the largest footprints in Downtown Pittsburgh.

History

Point Park University has emerged from past financial challenges as a leader in career-focused education with a growing student population. And with the introduction of its Academic Village iniative in 2008, Point Park has evolved into one of the largest investors in Downtown Pittsburgh development.

Beginnings

The university began in 1933 as a one-room business school called Business Training College with an initial enrollment of 50 students, under the direction of Dorothy Finkelhor, a New York native, and her husband, L. Herbert Finkelhor. At the time, it was notable for a woman to found such an institution. Finkelhor provided her students with business and secretarial skills. At the same time, she served in multiple roles as teacher, the dean of women, social chairman, janitor, telephone operator, admissions and finance director, and registrar.

Becoming a college

By 1960, the business school had grown to nearly 880 students and moved to the university’s current academic center, Academic Hall, on Wood Street in central Downtown Pittsburgh. The Finkelhors’ small secretarial school became Point Park Junior College, named for the city’s historic Point State Park. The junior college added two-year programs in engineering technology, education, and journalism. It also acquired performing arts space at The Pittsburgh Playhouse in the Oakland neighborhood. Five years later, the college was granted four-year status, officially becoming Point Park College. Dance and theatre programs were introduced. These programs laid the groundwork for Point Park’s current Conservatory of Performing Arts.

Flags lining the campus

Thirty-four years after forming the college, Dorothy Finkelhor retired in 1967. The school’s reins remained within the family as son-in-law Arthur M. Blum assumed the presidency. Blum purchased the Sherwyn Hotel, a 20-story building across from Academic Hall, which became David L. Lawrence Hall. The hall currently contains most of the school’s social and entertaining facilities as well as classrooms, offices, and dormitories.

Blum’s Lawrence Hall investment continues to benefit the school. Blum also established a campus in Lugano, Switzerland. A gift from Lester Hamburg brought the school a conference center in Portersville, Pennsylvania.

John V. Hopkins succeeded Blum.

Stability

With the budget climbing out of the red, the school began a slow healing process into the 1980s. Enrollment grew beyond 1,000 students. At the same time, the school introduced its first postgraduate degree, a master’s degree in journalism and mass communication.

J. Matthew Simon served as the college’s next president from 1985 to 1994, providing nearly a decade of relative calm in the institution’s turbulent history. Simon oversaw the acquisition of a new library, program growth, and the school’s largest endowment. Simon retired in 2007, having taught at Point Park as a professor in the department of Natural Sciences and Engineering Technology after his tenure as president.

1994 Crisis

Another crisis came with the election of James Hunter as president. Hunter, Point Park’s most controversial leader, served for a little over a year but managed to garner outcry for an admissions scandal and a breakdown of communication within the school.

At the same time, growth remained slow in the city, and Pittsburgh’s economy still had not recovered from the collapse of the steel industry. The college’s finances suffered, and Point Park again neared bankruptcy. Negotiations began with Duquesne University to sell what remained of Point Park College to the larger school.

Hunter resigned amidst the melee, and Katherine Henderson won the approval of the board of trustees soon after.

Growth and change

Henderson implemented a strategic plan to revive the college. Plans to sell the school were abandoned as Henderson began another procedural overhaul.

Henderson’s tenure became the most successful for Point Park. During the late ‘90s, budget woes disintegrated as enrollment rose to over 3,000 students and the endowment grew by over 200 percent. Point Park finished major renovations of its existing buildings soon after the turn of the century.

By 2004, the school hit a new high water mark and successfully applied for university status. It was officially renamed Point Park University that year and the administration began an aggressive $1 million branding campaign to attract more enrollment.

Henderson retired in 2006 while on a self-imposed sabbatical.

Current efforts

The board of trustees officially named Paul Hennigan as Henderson's permanent successor at the beginning of the 2006 fall term. Hennigan has continued the process of creating a new strategic plan. As part of the plan, the university has purchased several Downtown properties for development. The school is also poised to become a key player in the city's efforts for Downtown revitalization, owning properties along the coveted Fifth and Forbes streets corridor.

The University partnered with a private contractor to renovate two historic buildings into suite-style residence halls. One of these residence halls became home to a Starbucks in August 2007. The coffee shop is the first full-service retail entity incorporated into Point Park's campus.

A $16 million 44,000-square-foot (4,100 m²) state-of-the-art dance complex opened in 2007. The complex includes five rehearsal and performance studios, and recently received Gold LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. Located in the heart of Downtown Pittsburgh, the complex is home to the George Rowland White Performance Studio, a 188-seat convertible performance space.

Point Park purchased the building occupied by the YMCA of Greater Pittsburgh on the Boulevard of the Allies in the spring of 2008. In September 2010, the newly renovated former YMCA building reopened as the interim Student Center with exercise and fitness facilities and equipment, a gymnasium, meeting space and much more.

The university is currently creating a "New Academic Village" that will make the school, and downtown, a vibrant area for students. For more info, log on to the Point Park University Web site

University statistics

Accreditation

Point Park University is accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges & Schools Commission on Higher Education and approved by the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

Admissions

Freshmen Admission:

• 2,790 applied
• 2,177 admitted
• 1,491 enrolled
• Average high school GPA 3.22

Test scores:

SAT verbal scores over 500	63%
SAT verbal scores over 600	19%
SAT verbal scores over 700	2%
SAT math scores over 500	54%
SAT math scores over 600	13%
SAT math scores over 700	1%
ACT scores over 18	89%
ACT scores over 24	31%
ACT scores over 30	1%

Degrees

Point Park University offers eight degrees:

• Associate of Science (A.S.)
• Bachelor of Arts (B.A.)
• Bachelor of Science (B.S.)
• Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.)
• Master of Arts (M.A.)
• Master of Science (M.S.)
• Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.)
• Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.)

Graduate programs

• Master of Business Administration (concentrations in Management; International Business; Management Information Systems; and Sports, Arts & Entertainment Management)
• Master of Arts in Journalism & Mass Communication (thesis and non-thesis options; coursework in public relations, print journalism, broadcast journalism, advertising, and other areas of mass communication)
• Dual Master of Arts in Journalism & Mass Communication and Master of Business Administration (M.A./M.B.A.), three different curricula for: Public Relations & Advertising Management; Print & Digital Media Management; and Broadcast & Digital Media Management
• Master of Arts in Curriculum & Instruction
• Master of Arts in Educational Administration
• Master of Education in Teaching and Leadership
• Master of Education program leading to Secondary Certification
• Master of Science in Engineering Management
• Master of Science in Environmental Studies
• Master of Science in Criminal Justice Administration
• Master of Fine Arts in Theater Arts
• Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership

Undergraduate degree programs

Program	Offered Degrees
Conservatory of Performing Arts (COPA)	Acting – M.F.A., B.F.A., B.A. Applied Arts (Capstone) – B.A. Screenwriting – B.A. Cinema Production (with a concentration in Directing, Producing, Editing, or Cinematography) – B.A. Digital Arts (with a concentration in Animation or Visual Effects) – B.A. Dance Pedagogy – B.A. Dance (with a concentration in Ballet, Modern or Jazz) – B.F.A., B.A. Musical Theatre – B.F.A., B.A. Stage Management – B.F.A. Technical Theatre and Design – B.F.A.
Dept. of Education	Education & Community Services – Early Childhood Education – B.A. Elementary Education – B.A. Secondary Education – Citizenship – B.A. Secondary Education – English – B.A. Secondary Education – Mass Communication – B.A. Secondary Education – Biology – B.S. Secondary Education – Mathematics – B.S.
Dept. of Humanities and Human Sciences	Applied History – B.A. Behavioral Sciences – B.A. English – B.A. English with a Concentration in Creative Writing – B.A.* Global Cultural Studies – B.A. Interdisciplinary Designed Major – B.A. / B. S. Legal Studies – B.A. Legal Studies (Capstone) – B.A. Liberal Studies – B.A. / B.S. Liberal Studies (Capstone) – B.A. / B.S. Political Science – B.A. Psychology – B.A. Secondary Education – Citizenship – B.A. Secondary Education – English – B.A.	School of Communication	Advertising – B.A. Public Relations – B.A. Broadcast Reporting – B.A. Radio/TV – B.A. Journalism – B.A. Multimedia – B.A. Mass Communication – B.A. Photography – B.F.A. Photojournalism – B.A. Integrated Marketing Communication (accelerated) – B.S.
Dept. of Natural Sciences and Engineering Technology	Allied Health – A.S. Civil Engineering Technology – A.S. Electrical Engineering Technology – A.S. Mechanical Engineering Technology – A.S. Biological Sciences – B.S. Biotechnology – B.S. Biotechnology (Capstone) – B.S. Civil Engineering Technology – B.S. Electrical Engineering Technology – B.S Environmental Health Science and Protection – B.S. Health Services (Capstone) – B.S. Mechanical Engineering Technology – B.S.
School of Business	Accounting – A.S. Business Management – A.S. Information Technology – A.S. Public Administration – AS. Accounting – B.S. Business Management – B.S. Business (Saturday Fast) Accelerated – B.S. Information Technology – B.S. Information Technology & Management Accelerated Program – B.S. Management Services (Capstone) – B.S. Public Administration – B.S. Sport, Arts and Entertainment Management – B.S.
Dept. of Criminal Justice & Intelligence Studies	Criminal Justice – B.S. Criminal Justice (Accelerated) – B.S. Criminal Justice (Capstone) – B.S. Intelligence and National Security – B.S. Law Enforcement – B.S. Professional Studies (Accelerated) – B.S.
General Studies	General Studies (Capstone) – B.S. Funeral Service (Capstone) – B.A. Human Resources Management – B.S. Professional Studies (Accelerated) – A.S.

WPPJ

WPPJ (670 AM) is Point Park University's campus radio station. This unlicensed carrier-current station was established in 1967 and is known as "The Voice of Point Park". It is a co-curricular activity for students with an interest in radio, news, sports, contemporary/popular music, media sales and promotions. WPPJ also serves as a training facility for students of any major who desire a career in professional broadcasting. The station is an open-format college radio station, playing primarily indie rock and hip-hop, with a fair number of sports and talk radio shows. The music department charts independent artists with CMJ. The 28th Annual WPPJ Rock-a-Thon was held from October 28–31, 2008 at the university, raising over $3,700 for the Early Learning Institute, a charity for families in Allegheny County, due to the efforts of sales director, Anthony Pignetti.

Athletics

Point Park University currently sponsors 11 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics teams, called the Pioneers. The school was a member of the American Mideast Conference through the 2011-2012 academic year. Point Park University transferred to the Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference beginning in the 2012-2013 academic year. KIAC is an NAIA conference that was founded in 1916. With the addition of Point Park and Carlow University in 2012, the KIAC grows to a membership of 12 institutions. Men's sports include Basketball, Baseball, Cross Country, Golf and Soccer. Women's sports include Basketball, Cross Country, Golf, Soccer, Softball, and Volleyball

Maps and aerial photos of school's location

• Point Park University is at coordinates 40.438611°N 80.001944°W / 40.438611; -80.001944 (Point Park University)

Notable alumni

• John Amplas – Actor
• Rob Ashford – Tony Award-winning choreographer & Broadway dancer
• Rich Fisher – Journalist
• Greg Funk – Three time Emmy-winner for Babylon 5, and two time Emmy-winner for X Files
• DeVaughn Halsel – Pittsburgh Xplosion pro basketball player/assistant coach
• Billy Hartung – Broadway/TV actor & Dancer
• Neil Haskell – Broadway performer & Contemporary dancer/ So You Think You Can Dance contestant
• Michael Holley – Sports journalist
• Melina Kanakaredes – TV actress & Daytime Emmy Award nominee
• Don Kelly – MLB Shortstop
• Michael Lombardi – Actor
• Bobby Madritsch – MLB Pitcher
• John Magaro – Actor
• Jim Martin – Emmy Award-Winning director for Sesame Street
• Dennis Miller – Comedian
• Jimmy Miller – film producer, credits include She's Out Of My League and Step Brothers
• Bob Pompeani – Sportscaster, KDKA-TV
• Megan Sikora – Broadway performer & Dancer
• John Stuper – MLB Pitcher
• Tony Yazbeck – Broadway performer

International Summer Dance Alumni

• Josefina Scaglione – Broadway actress & Dancer
• Stephen Hanna – Former principal dancer for NYC Ballet & Broadway dancer

External links

• Point Park University Web site
• Campus Radio Station, WPPJ
• Point Park News Service
• Innocence Institute of Point Park University