Pitt Seed Projects
Supporting the Plan for Pitt
The success of Pitt’s strategic plan relies on engagement across the University. One of the efforts focused on increasing stakeholder participation is the annual opportunity for faculty and staff to submit ideas for Pitt Seed Projects, transformative projects that support one or more of the three pillars and 14 associated strategic objectives within the Plan for Pitt.
What Makes a Good Pitt Seed Project?
Pitt Seed Projects play an instrumental role in improving how the University advances our mission. Projects well-suited to secure funding in the Pitt Seed cycle will: directly support outcomes identified in the Plan for Pitt, aim to improve internal systems and operations, prioritize transdisciplinary collaboration or impacts, and be scalable.
Some areas of interest prioritized in this funding cycle include:
- The student experience.
- Graduate programming.
- Alumni engagement.
- Alumni success.
- Employee satisfaction.
- Teaching and learning excellence.
- Unconventional learning trajectories, methods and entry points.
- Institutional policies and procedures.
- Transdisciplinary and inclusive collaboration.
- Sustainable processes, structures and environments.
All initiatives advanced under the Plan for Pitt should aim to embrace and strengthen our core values, which include:
- Academic excellence.
- Collaboration.
- Community.
- Inclusion.
- Innovation.
- Sustainability.
Submit a Pitt Seed Pitch
Annually, the Office of the Chancellor invests funds to support the Pitt Seed Project initiative. The deadline to submit a Pitt Seed Pitch is February 7, 2022.
2022-2023 Pitt Seed Projects
Aligning with the new Plan for Pitt (2021-2025), 10 semi-finalists were selected for Phase Four of the University's recently overhauled internal funding program––Pitt Seed. Since its creation in 2018, Pitt Seed has encouraged all faculty and staff members to present ideas with potential to improve the University on educational, research, and people-based platforms.
Pitt Seed has awarded over $3.4m from 2018-2022, and will award $750,000 overall, to ten semi-finalists for 2022-2023. Of these, six projects are faculty-led; the remaining four are staff-led. In spring 2023, two semi-finalists will be selected to present their pilot project data for Phase Five of the competition, and the opportunity to win $500,000! Find out more about Pitt Seed, the Plan for Pitt and these 10 semi-finalist projects.
- Belkys Torres, PhD, Global Leaders Network (University Center for International Studies)
- Jennifer Decima, ATTAIN Student Experience Dashboard (Pitt Information Technology)
- Sheila Confer, EdD, Building an Ecosystem of Wellness Across University of Pittsburgh Campuses and Communities (Pitt-Greensburg)
- Jennifer Woodward, PhD, University of Pittsburgh Master’s and Certification Programs in Research Administration (Office of Sponsored Programs)
- Michele Reid-Vazquez, PhD, Ethnic Studies Research Incubator (University Center for International Studies-Center for Ethnic Studies Research)
- Carrie Benson, MEd, Sexual Misconduct Prevention and Survivor Support on Campus (Office for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion)
- Rebekah Miller, MLIS, Disrupting Health Dis- and Misinformation in the Patient-Care Setting: Open Educational Resources for Nurse Education (Health Sciences Library System)
- Susan Graff, MS, PA-C, CUPID: Fostering an Inclusive Community in the Schools of the Health Sciences (Department of Physician Assistant Studies)
- Kelsey Voltz-Poremba, CScD, MOT, OTR/L, Advancing Community Engagement - The Pitt “ACE” Program (School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences)
- Sera Linardi, PhD, Building Data Science for Social Justice (DS4SJ) Ecosystems: Sustaining Impact (GSPIA)