Former names
|
Point Park Junior College (1960–1966) Point Park College (1966–2004) |
---|---|
Motto | Latin: Pro Arte, Pro Communitate, Pro Professione |
Motto in English
|
For Knowledge, For Community, For Career |
Type | Private liberal arts university |
Established | 1960 |
Endowment | $31.4 million |
President | Dr. Paul Hennigan |
Students | 3,841 |
Undergraduates | 3,175 |
Postgraduates | 666 |
Location |
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States 40°26′19″N 80°00′07″W / 40.43861°N 80.00194°WCoordinates: 40°26′19″N 80°00′07″W / 40.43861°N 80.00194°W |
Campus | Urban |
Newspaper | The Point Park Globe |
Colors | Green & Gold |
Athletics | NAIA – KIAC |
Sports | 13 varsity teams |
Nickname | Pioneers |
Mascot | Black Diamond the Bison |
Website | www |
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 doctoral-level university with a liberal arts tradition, and is located in the heart of Downtown Pittsburgh. Point Park enrolls more than 3,800 full-and part-time students in 82 undergraduate programs and 18 graduate programs offered through its School of Arts and Sciences, School of Business, School of Communication and the Conservatory of Performing Arts.
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.
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.
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 residential facilities.