University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown

Overview

The University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown is a four-year, degree-granting, fully accredited, coeducational, residential undergraduate college in the University of Pittsburgh system.  Founded in 1927, the campus moved to its current location, a 650-acre hilltop in suburban Richland Township, in 1967.  The college granted its first baccalaureate degrees in 1971.  With 3,000 full-time students and its tranquil woodland campus, Pitt-Johnstown combines the solid academic reputation and formidable resources of a major research university with the personal appeal of a smaller college.

Pitt-Johnstown’s predominant institutional focus has been to provide an affordable, high-quality liberal arts education, preparing its students for careers in the local and national workplace.  As a comprehensive baccalaureate institution, the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown offers students a range of programs in Education, Engineering Technology, the Humanities, Natural Sciences, and Social Sciences, including Business. More than 40 majors and programs of study are available, including pre-professional programs such as pre-law, pre-medicine, pre-dentistry, and others.  The student body is predominantly of a traditional age range (18-24 years old) and the majority of students (89%) attend full time.  Pitt-Johnstown has earned a reputation of an attractively affordable alternative to small private schools and large state institutions.

Non-academic services include five different styles of housing, a full range of residential student services, NCAA Division II intercollegiate sports programs, intramural athletics, support for nearly 70 clubs, groups and organizations, and a variety of outlets for religious, artistic, and cultural activities.

Donor Spotlight

The Rev. Wilbert A. Boerstler, Ph.D.

 

After spending nearly 50 years outside his hometown of Ferndale in the greater Johnstown area, the Rev. Dr. Wilbert A. Boerstler rekindled his love for the area by returning home. As a retired Lutheran minister in 1997, Boerstler moved into the 94-year-old house in which he was born.

The scholarship Boerstler received from Pitt-Johnstown in 1949 secured his college decision. At that time, the campus granted half-tuition scholarships to local high school students, and as salutatorian of his graduating class, Boerstler was chosen to represent Ferndale High School. “I accepted heartily,” he says, and fondly remembers being able to walk to college for his three years at Pitt-Johnstown.

Boerstler then transferred to the Oakland campus, where he graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in history in 1953. He was also elected into the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society. Boerstler recalls an extraordinary moment in the Cathedral of Learning, when Chancellor Rufus H. Fitzgerald interrupted a class Boerstler was taking in the Scottish nationality room to introduce Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of penicillin. “In those days things were proper,” Boerstler says, recalling how the entire class stood for the dignitaries. Shortly thereafter, Jonas Salk discovered the polio vaccine while working at the University of Pittsburgh.

After graduation, Boerstler immediately began his Master of Divinity at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. He was ordained in 1956 at Zion Lutheran Church in Johnstown, Pa. His first parish was in Smicksburg, Pa., but he was soon called to serve an inner-city church in Brooklyn, N.Y. “What a change it was [from Ferndale],” he says. Boerstler stayed in Brooklyn for eight years, worked in Queens for seven years, and returned to Brooklyn as headmaster and pastor for the St. Stephen Lutheran Parochial School for eight years. Meanwhile, he studied at New York University and earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree in religious education in 1974.

After serving another 11 years in Florida and New York, Boerstler finally retired to the Johnstown area. “I always kept the connection here,” he says. In 2007, Boerstler decided to create a scholarship through the University that would echo the opportunity he had been granted at Pitt. The Wilbert A. Boerstler-Ferndale Scholarship will offer partial tuition to a Ferndale High School graduate who chooses to attend Pitt-Johnstown. “Pitt-Johnstown is a very, very important asset to this community,” Boerstler says, and he is pleased to bring his experience with the school full-circle.

In 1997, Boerstler helped to establish the Ferndale Historical Society, of which he is president. “I’ve been a history buff all my life,” he says, and the society’s inauguration followed Ferndale’s 100th anniversary. Boerstler also enjoys going to alumni functions at Pitt-Johnstown, including the groundbreaking of the Pasquerilla Performing Arts Center many years ago and the inauguration of President Jem Spectar in 2007.

Contact Us

President

Dr. Jem Spectar began his tenure as the fifth president of the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown on July 1, 2007.  With an outstanding leadership record, Dr. Spectar had been Provost at Western Oregon University; Associate Provost of Academic Affairs at the University of Scranton; Director of Studies at Princeton University; and Assistant Dean of Students at the University of La Verne.

Dr. Spectar received his BA in International Studies from the University of La Verne; the MBA from Frostburg State University; the MA from the George Washington University; the JD from the University of Maryland Law School; and the MA in Politics and the PhD in Political Science from Claremont Graduate University.  Since 1993 he has been admitted to practice law in Pennsylvania.  An international lawyer, Dr. Spectar has taught law and/or Political Science at the University of La Verne, Chase College of Law, Princeton University, and the University of Scranton.  During his teaching career, he has received recognition as a Professor of Distinction, La Verne College of Law, and Professor of the Year, Legal Studies, University of La Verne.  Dr. Spectar has published numerous articles on international law and made presentations focusing on the world’s disadvantaged, international human rights and global health issues.

Executive Director of External Relations

Robert W. Knipple is the executive director of external relations at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown.  In his role, he is responsible for outreach to the school’s more than 17,000 alumni and serves as official campus spokesperson.  Prior to his current position, Bob served as Director of Outreach and Professional Services, where he was responsible for the school’s community education and professional development efforts.  He served as liaison to the Oakland campus for all master’s level programs offered at Pitt-Johnstown.  He has been employed at the University since 1985.

An alumnus of Pitt-Johnstown, Bob received his undergraduate degree in journalism with a concentration in organizational communication.  Upon graduation, he earned a Certificate in Business from Pitt-Johnstown and went on to receive his MA in adult and community education from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania where his researched focused on the area of instructional design.

Director of Development

Helen D. Golubic has been Director of Development at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown since 1997.  She also  served as interim Vice President of Institutional Advancement from 1998 - 2000.

Following completion of coursework for a PhD in English Education, Ms. Golubic had extensive corporate experience, serving as the Vice President for Communications at Conemaugh Health System, Johnstown, PA, and the Director of Marketing Communications for Sunquest Information Systems, Tuscon, AZ.

Ms. Golubic received her MA in English from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana, PA and her BA in English from Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago, IL.  She has taught two public relations courses at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown since 1980.