UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT JOHNSTOWN
Annual Report to the Board of Advisors
2026
Jem Spectar, PhD, JD, MBA, MA, MAP
President, University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown
450 Schoolhouse Road | Johnstown, PA 15904 | 814-269-2090
A Message from President Spectar
Dear Members of the Board of Advisors,
As we reflect on the year now behind us, I am filled with genuine gratitude — and with a measured, hard-won optimism about the road ahead. The University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown has once again demonstrated what we have always known: that great things do not require the greatest resources; they require the right people, the right purpose, and the resilience to press forward even when the waters run rough.
This report tells our story for 2026 — honestly, and with pride. It is a story of remarkable students crossing a stage to receive hard-earned degrees; of faculty who are solving global problems from the labs and classrooms of our 729-acre campus; of a campus community that listened to those it serves and acted; and of a region whose fortunes remain bound up with ours in the most fundamental and hopeful of ways.
It is also a story that does not shy away from the challenges we face. Enrollment pressures, fiscal headwinds, deferred maintenance, and the turbulent national landscape for higher education are real. We do not hide from them. But as this report makes clear, the trajectory at UPJ is changing — and changing for the better.
What these pages demonstrate is that UPJ’s trajectory is changing — and that the commitment of our people, the loyalty of our alumni, and the strength of our mission are more than equal to the moment.
Mountain Cats Fight On!
Jem Spectar, PhD, JD, MBA, MA, MAP
President, University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown
I. Enrollment & Admissions
Enrollment remains the single most consequential lever for UPJ’s long-term sustainability, and the picture for 2026 is one of genuine momentum — though not without its complexities. The sustained decline of recent years, which brought total headcount from a high of approximately 2,750 students to 1,829 in Fall 2026, has produced real fiscal pressure. That context matters. But the direction has shifted.
Spring 2026 enrollment finished at 1,706 students — an increase of 38 students over Spring 2025. The fall-to-spring retention rate for first-year students reached 92.0%, the highest in five years, a figure that reflects the strength of our academic support structures and the power of our up-close-and-personal approach to student engagement.
The Fall 2026 admissions pipeline, as reported on June 12, 2026, tells a nuanced story. Total deposits stand at 525 direct and transfer students combined, down 4.0% from Fall 2025 but 21.8% ahead of Fall 2024. Direct deposits are very slightly ahead of last year. The primary driver of the deposit lag is the options pipeline, which shut down in late April due to national FAFSA system renovations affecting financial aid packaging across all colleges — a challenge not unique to UPJ. When all new students including transfers are counted, UPJ leads all Pitt regional campuses with 571 total deposits, compared to 358 at Bradford and 414 at Greensburg.
Applications tell an even stronger story. Total applications for Fall 2026 stand at 6,107 — a 37.0% increase over Fall 2024. Direct applications are up 5.4% over Fall 2025, and direct admissions are up 5.1%. The pipeline is healthy and growing.
A key structural driver of enrollment growth is the strategic addition of new varsity sports. The three new programs — Women’s Wrestling and Men’s and Women’s Swimming — are actively recruiting athletes from across the country and around the world. The results are already visible: the campus athlete population grew from 286 in 2024–25 to 312 in 2025–26, with 340 projected for 2026–27, and 80 incoming student athletes already committed for Fall 2026.
Perhaps the single most significant development for UPJ’s enrollment future arrived on April 30, 2026, when the University of Pittsburgh announced the Pitt Regional Campus Tuition Pledge — a last-dollar, grant-based program that covers 100% of remaining tuition costs for Pennsylvania residents enrolled full-time at Bradford, Greensburg, or Johnstown with an Adjusted Gross Income under $75,000. No separate application is required; the benefit is calculated automatically once a student files their FAFSA. It is not a loan. There is no repayment. For eligible students, the cost of a Pitt-Johnstown education is zero tuition. This program is transformative. It speaks directly to who UPJ serves — first-generation students, working families, and Pennsylvania residents for whom cost has historically been the barrier between aspiration and opportunity. It aligns perfectly with UPJ’s #50 US News Social Mobility ranking and our Carnegie High-Access, High-Earning designation. And it arrives at precisely the right moment, as we rebuild our enrollment pipeline and compete for students who have more options and more constraints than ever before. The Admissions and Financial Aid teams moved quickly to prepare staff to communicate the program to prospective and current students, and the announcement generated immediate and positive regional and national attention.
The four-year deposit trend tells an encouraging story of recovery and growth. Total direct deposits across all programs grew from 441 in Fall 2023 to 369 in Fall 2024, recovered to 489 in Fall 2025, and have reached 496 for Fall 2026 — the strongest four-year figure and a clear indicator that the enrollment decline of recent years is reversing. The program-level picture is equally encouraging. Nursing deposits are up 28% year over year (47 to 60), with applications surging from 964 to 1,203 — a 25% increase that reflects both the program’s national top-10 ranking and the recent investments in simulation lab upgrades. Natural Sciences deposits rose 15.5% (103 to 119), driven in significant part by Pre-Medical Careers applications nearly doubling (221 to 454). Engineering and Computer Science held steady at 123 deposits for the second consecutive year and shows a strong four-year upward trend from 101. Education and Social Sciences remain stable. The area of greatest deposit softness is Business and Enterprise, where total deposits declined from 84 to 71 (-15%), with notable drops in Marketing and Information Systems. This trend mirrors national patterns and warrants attention as we evaluate program development and marketing strategies in that division.
Looking ahead, the options pipeline has reopened as of mid-June, and the Admissions team is cautiously optimistic about the final deposit count. Continued FAFSA disruption and national demographic pressures remain real concerns. Closing the gap to Fall 2025 deposit levels is the immediate goal.
II. Student Life, Success & Commencement
Students are the center of our UPJ universe — the fundamental reason we are all here. This year offered us no shortage of opportunities to celebrate them, support them, and be reminded of why this work matters so deeply.
Commencement 2026
On Saturday, May 2, 2026, the Pitt-Johnstown Sports Center filled with the pride and promise of 411 graduates crossing the stage as the Class of 2026. The ceremony was covered as a centerpiece feature by the Tribune-Democrat — fitting recognition for a day that was as memorable as it was meaningful.
The featured speaker was Dr. Miguel A. Cardona, the 12th United States Secretary of Education. A first-generation college student who began his career as a fourth-grade teacher, Dr. Cardona urged the graduates to treat every day like a job interview and to pursue their passions relentlessly. Drawing on the spirit of Broadway’s Hamilton — “I’m young, scrappy and hungry” — he shared how listening carefully to what others care about opened doors all the way to a presidential Cabinet post. His closing charge resonated across the Sports Center: “If you bring your best every day, you never know where it will lead.”
President Spectar reminded the Class of 2026 that by earning their degrees through the challenges of these times, they had already shown the world what they were capable of. “It’s your world,” he told them. “You have a vote in it — you have a say in it.” SGA President Gary Poole echoed that sentiment with equal conviction: “We’ve all grown. Don’t sell yourself short. I know you can do it because you’ve done it before.”
UPJ also presented Dr. Cardona with the President’s Medal of Distinctive Excellence during the ceremony. The connection between Cardona’s story and UPJ’s mission of access and social mobility could not have been more fitting.
Student Life Highlights
The 6th Annual Winterfest (January 23–24) drew more than 200 alumni back to campus and hundreds of community members, with 80+ former student-athletes gathering at the Athletic Alumni Reception. Faith and Family Night drew 196 attendees. Winterfest continues to be one of UPJ’s signature community-building events.
The Black Action Society hosted its annual Soul Food Dinner on February 7, featuring the Smooth Sound Band in Heritage Hall — a vibrant evening of cultural celebration, live music, and community. BAS President Kristen Butler brought down the house with a spirited performance of “Killing Me Softly.” The Ramadan Iftar Dinner in March drew 40 attendees, and the revamped Food Pantry, now offering fresh food through a partnership with Chartwells, continues to serve students in need.
Spring campus life was rich and varied. The Adulting Fair (March 25) connected 40 students with 8 industry representatives covering everything from banking to health insurance — practical preparation for life after UPJ. The annual Block Party (April 24) brought 197 intramural sport participants and hundreds more together for an evening of live music, entertainment, and Mountain Cat spirit. The Mountain Cat Awards recognized student achievement across campus. Fraternity and sorority life remained a force for community service, with chapters raising funds for Special Olympics, the Jimmy V Cancer Foundation, and local school districts.
The Office of Health and Counseling Services logged 772 counseling appointments, 23 crisis responses, and 48 care reports through March 2026 — numbers that reflect both the scale of student need in our current environment and the depth of our institutional commitment to the whole student. We are not just educating students; we are looking after them.
Student satisfaction is moving in the right direction across multiple measures — and the data to support that claim is now both broad and statistically compelling.
National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) — 2023 to 2025
The most powerful evidence of student satisfaction improvement comes from our NSSE data, shared by AVP Michael Drahos in June 2026. Comparing 2023 and 2025 senior cohorts, the results tell a consistent and encouraging story across two dimensions.
Faculty-Student Relationships: This is arguably the headline story of the entire dataset. The Student-Faculty Interaction mean jumped from 23.7 to 31.6 — a nearly 8-point gain that is statistically significant at p<.01. This is not noise; something meaningfully shifted in how UPJ seniors are connecting with faculty outside the classroom. The single biggest driver is career conversations: the share of students who talked about career plans with a faculty member rose from 42% to 62% — a remarkable 20 percentage-point gain. Discussing course topics outside of class rose 7 points as well. Effective Teaching Practices improved in parallel, with the mean moving from 40.6 to 43.6 (statistically significant at p<.001). In 2023, UPJ trended at or below comparison group norms on teaching practices; by 2025 it tracks above them on most items. Use of examples and illustrations (+7 pp) and clearly explaining course goals (+5 pp) led those gains. As AVP Drahos noted, these faculty-related improvements align directly with the Campus Environment data — where quality of interactions with faculty also rose 14 percentage points — producing a consistent, mutually reinforcing story: UPJ’s up-close-and-personal promise is being delivered and increasingly felt by students.
Campus Environment: The Quality of Interactions mean rose from 33.5 to 34.7, and the Supportive Environment mean from 32.0 to 33.0 — modest but consistent gains in both core engagement indicators. Student interactions with peers improved 12 percentage points. Interactions with student services staff rose 13 points, and administrative staff 9 points. Academic success support jumped 9 points (64% to 73%), and UPJ’s programming on social and civic issues rose 14 points (26% to 40%), reflecting the impact of initiatives like the Democracy Bowl, the Naturalization Ceremony, and our civic engagement work. Cross-cultural contact improved 10 points. In 2023, Pitt-Johnstown trended notably below comparison groups across most campus environment items; by 2025, many of those gaps had narrowed or reversed. The improvement in our competitive positioning relative to peer institutions is itself a significant result.
Areas to Watch: We report this data fully and honestly. Social involvement opportunities dipped 4 percentage points (67% to 63%), and overall well-being support edged down 1 point. Prompt and detailed feedback on assignments also declined slightly (-2 pp). These are not crisis indicators, but they merit attention — particularly the social involvement perception, which, if left unaddressed, could over time undercut the gains achieved elsewhere. We are watching these data points carefully and will act on them.
Dining satisfaction, tracked separately through the EdSights survey, scored 3.4 out of 5 — the highest rating in five years — a meaningful on-the-ground confirmation that the campus environment is improving in ways students can feel. The forthcoming dining renovation this summer is expected to push those numbers higher still.
Academic Honors Convocation
On March 27, 2026, the annual Honors Convocation celebrated the academic achievements of students across all seven academic divisions. Led by Dr. Ray Wrabley and featuring remarks by President Spectar, the ceremony recognized and honored the accomplishments of the remarkable students who define UPJ’s mission.
Over ninety students were awarded recognition. Among them were those who maintained near-perfect academic records while simultaneously serving as peer instructors and mentors to their classmates, deepening their own learning through the discipline of teaching others. There were students who balanced entrepreneurial ventures—founding a custom furniture and cabinetry business, launching a mobile car-detailing service, starting digital marketing enterprises—alongside rigorous coursework, full-time jobs, and athletic commitments. There were students who persevered through extraordinary personal hardship: medical crises and chronic illness, the sudden loss of a parent, caring for injured or ill family members while managing a full course load, financial precarity that required working multiple jobs. Yet they crossed the stage anyway, having refused to be defined by their circumstances.
There were students whose creative work had already reached publication quality—essays described by faculty judges as among the most advanced undergraduate work they have seen, clearly publishable now. There were students whose senior design projects addressed real-world problems: building an affordable Braille display for blind users, designing renewable energy systems, creating simulation tools for teacher training. There were student-athletes who competed at the Division II level while maintaining GPAs above 3.7, managing double or triple sport schedules alongside chemistry labs and engineering coursework. There were non-traditional students—mothers and grandmothers, former nurses and radiologic technologists, those who had put their dreams on hold—who had returned to college in their 50s and 60s to pursue degrees they had long deferred. There were first-generation college students who were the first in their families to earn a bachelor’s degree, who had navigated college without parental experience as a guide, who understood viscerally what their education meant.
Their talents were as varied as their stories: poets and engineers, healthcare providers and business leaders, activists and artists, historians and programmers, educators and innovators. What unified them was not a single path or a single achievement, but rather a shared commitment to the work of becoming educated—to showing up, day after day, even when the obstacles were real, even when the path was unclear, even when the cost was high. That is what an Honors Convocation really celebrates.
Among the signature awards presented, Mya Derricott received the Dr. Jem Spectar Award for exceptional junior achievement; Joseph Holecz earned the Charles Kunkle Jr. Leadership Award; Kaitlyn Pavusek received the Stanton Chapman Crawford Memorial Award for contributions to the college; Cora Rudy was honored with the Rosella Blackington Golden Candle Medal; and Brynnae Coe and Oscar Trilles Monferrer were recognized as Faculty Senate Scholar Athletes.
Athletics
Mountain Cat athletics had a year that defied expectations, made history, and delivered the kind of performances that energize a campus and attract the next generation of students. With 312 athletes on campus in 2025–26 and 340 projected for next year, athletics continues to be a meaningful enrollment driver alongside its role as a source of school spirit and community pride.
Wrestling: A Season to Remember
Men’s Wrestling qualified six athletes for the NCAA Division II National Championships in Sioux Falls, South Dakota — Brady Baker, Ty Morrison, Bradley Morrison, Trent Hoover, Isaiah Vance, and Matt Sarbo. Bradley Morrison captured a regional title to earn his spot. At nationals, Matt Sarbo finished as the national runner-up at 149 lbs, while Ty Morrison (4th) and Isaiah Vance (8th) earned All-American honors. Ty Morrison was also named PSAC Freshman Wrestler of the Year and received the Pat Pecora Freshman of the Year Award. Four Mountain Cat wrestlers were named to the NWCA Scholar All-America Team: Gray, Hoover, T. Morrison, and Vance. The team earned nine All-PSAC honors and finished third in the region.
Women’s Wrestling, in just its inaugural year, already made history. Makayla Paclib qualified for the Women’s Wrestling National Championships — the first UPJ women’s wrestler ever to do so — finishing 8th nationally and earning true freshman All-American honors. She also shared the Pat Pecora Freshman of the Year Award with Ty Morrison. Under Coach Valko’s recruiting, the program is expected to more than double in size next year.
Basketball, Golf & Beyond
Men’s Basketball star Baden Forup earned First-Team All-PSAC West honors, Second-Team NABC All-Atlantic Region recognition, and Second-Team D2CCA All-Atlantic Region honors. Four Mountain Cats — Bilinsky, Kromka, Cugini, and Margolis — earned CSC Academic All-District recognition, a reminder that our student-athletes excel in the classroom as much as on the court. The season also marked the retirement of legendary Men’s Basketball Coach Bob Rukavina after 37 remarkable years. We thank Coach Ruk for everything he gave to this program and this community. We are equally excited to welcome Patrick Grubbs as the new head coach, bringing fresh energy and vision to the program.
Baseball was ranked #10 in the region. Indoor Track’s men’s relay placed 7th nationally, with four others finishing in the top 20. Men’s and Women’s Swimming competed at the PSAC Championships for the first time in program history, with both swimmers achieving personal bests — a strong foundation for a program still in its infancy.
In May, UPJ hosted the NCAA Division II Golf Regionals at Sunnehanna Country Club — a three-day event bringing 20 teams, 120 competitors, coaches, fans, and support staff to Johnstown. The event generated meaningful economic impact and significant visibility for both UPJ and the city, and was featured prominently in the Tribune-Democrat.
Athletics Hall of Fame
On April 25, the Athletics Hall of Fame welcomed its Class of 2026: Beth Kendara (Women’s Volleyball), Kevin Smay (Men’s Baseball), Albert Miles (Men’s Wrestling), Marcus Tullis (Men’s Basketball), LuAnn Ketter Mills (Women’s Basketball), and the historic AIAW Final Four Team in Women’s Basketball. Honoring our past while building our future: that is the Mountain Cat way.
III. Faculty, Scholarship & Academic Excellence
Our faculty are the engine of this institution. Their dedication to teaching, their engagement with students, and their contributions to scholarship and creative activity are what make UPJ’s promise of an up-close-and-personal education real rather than rhetorical. This year offered vivid proof of that promise.
Faculty Scholarship in the Spotlight
Perhaps no story better captures the spirit of UPJ’s faculty than B.I.T.E. — Binding to Increase Tick Evasion. On March 17, 2026, Drs. Jill Henning, Manisha Nigam, and Matthew Tracey signed an intellectual property option on their patented, all-natural tick repellent, moving it closer to commercial development through their spinoff company, Adventure Bioscience. The product, which works by masking the carbon dioxide ticks use to detect humans, emerged from a six-year idea carried in Dr. Henning’s notebook before it ever saw a lab. The team, which also includes Dr. Luis Bonachea, has secured a patent, won $115,000 at the Pitt Innovation Challenge, and produced UPJ’s first commercially patented product from the Pitt Innovation ecosystem. It happened not at an R1 research university, but right here — in our labs, with our faculty, in service of a region where Lyme disease is an acute and enduring public health concern. The signing event drew representatives from the Pitt Innovations Institute, CTSI, and the GAP Fund, as well as press coverage that reflected the significance of what our faculty have built.
In February 2026, Dr. Christine Dahlin, Professor of Biology, was featured in a Pittwire article for her groundbreaking research into the vocal communication of wild Yellow-naped Amazon parrots — a critically endangered species. Using fieldwork, manual sorting, and machine learning, Dr. Dahlin and colleagues decoded the language-like properties of the birds’ warble duets, finding syntax, collocates, and an impressive lexicon. The research was published in the Journal of Avian Biology and earned national attention — another reminder that great science happens wherever great minds are given the freedom to follow their curiosity.
Promotions & New Colleagues
We congratulate two faculty members on well-deserved promotions this cycle. John Teacher was promoted from Instructor to Assistant Professor of Theatre Arts, and Dr. Maryl McGinley was promoted from Assistant Professor to Associate Professor of Communication. Both promotions reflect the depth of talent on our faculty and the rigor of UPJ’s peer review process. We are also delighted to welcome three outstanding new faculty members joining the campus for the 2026–2027 academic year: Dr. Kelly Scarff, Assistant Professor of English Writing in the Division of Humanities; Dr. Geeta Verma, Assistant Professor of Engineering in the Division of Engineering and Computer Science; and Dr. Julie Wagner, Assistant Professor of Criminology in the Division of Social Sciences. Each brings fresh expertise and a deep commitment to the kind of rigorous, personal education that defines UPJ, and we look forward to the contributions they will make to our students and our academic community.
Recently Retired Faculty
We express our deepest gratitude to the following colleagues who retired in 2026, each of whom dedicated years of distinguished service to the students and mission of this institution: Instructor Joe Wilson, Associate Professor Bell-Loncella, Professor Bertsch, and Professor Cox. Their impact will be felt in the lives of their students for decades to come. We wish them all the very best in this new chapter.
Forward-Looking Academic Initiatives
Faculty are leading UPJ’s most important academic initiatives for the future. Curriculum development for advanced manufacturing and cybersecurity programs is underway through the UPJ Future Ready initiative. An AI proficiency pilot program for graduating seniors equipped the Class of 2026 with applied, employer-relevant AI skills — a forward-thinking investment in their employability and in UPJ’s reputation for career-ready graduates. International partnerships continue to deepen in Japan, Canada, Colombia, and South Africa, broadening the horizons of both our students and our faculty.
Student Interest Trends by Program
The major-level admissions data for Fall 2026 provides meaningful validation of UPJ’s academic investment priorities. Where the university has invested in program quality, facilities, and national recognition, student interest has followed. Nursing applications grew 25% year over year to 1,203, with deposits up 28% — a direct reflection of the program’s top-10 national ranking and recent Nursing simulation lab enhancements. Pre-Medical Careers applications nearly doubled (221 to 454), and Natural Sciences deposits overall rose 15.5%, affirming the strength of UPJ’s science faculty and pre-professional advising. Engineering and Computer Science maintained 123 deposits for the second consecutive year, with a strong upward four-year trajectory — a result consistent with the program’s first-ever national ranking and its ABET accreditation. These trends are not coincidental. They reflect the compounding return on years of investment in faculty quality, program distinction, and the up-close-and-personal educational model that differentiates UPJ in a crowded marketplace. Business and Enterprise, where deposits declined 15% this year, represents an area where program development and marketing strategies merit renewed attention — a challenge we are aware of and committed to addressing.
Academic Distinction & Special Events
Beyond the classroom, UPJ’s students and faculty distinguished themselves in competitions, conferences, and events that brought national attention to our campus and affirmed the quality of what we offer.
Symposium for the Promotion of Academic and Creative Enquiry (SPACE)
On April 8, 2026, the Wellness Center hosted the annual SPACE symposium, featuring 70 poster presentations spanning every academic discipline on campus. Thirty-three faculty mentors worked alongside student researchers to investigate questions that ranged from the molecular to the planetary, from the ancient to the urgently contemporary, from the purely theoretical to the immediately commercial. There were students designing industrial chemical plants capable of producing 200,000 tons per year of propylene oxide or bio-based ethylene glycol, complete with safety analyses, economic feasibility studies, and process flow diagrams ready for manufacturing. There were students building assistive technology—an affordable refreshable Braille display for blind users, an autonomous caddy for elderly or disabled individuals, a temperature-controlled food locker system for modern delivery services. There were students partnering with regional industry: redesigning excavator buckets for Rockland Manufacturing, modeling thermal systems for CK Composites, optimizing ice carts for Home City Ice, designing drilling machines for Creative Pultrusions.
There were students investigating the ecological consequences of climate change: whether bear hybridization might buffer polar bears against extinction, how feral hogs devastate Louisiana wetlands, why bald cypress decline threatens coastal restoration efforts, whether invasive stink bugs will continue their global spread. There were students working in partnership with the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy to design aquatic passageways using field work, electro-fishing, and GIS mapping tools—producing professional reports the Conservancy would use to complete their conservation work. There were students modeling pandemic transmission dynamics, designing vaccination campaigns to visualize herd immunity thresholds, and synthesizing quorum-sensing inhibitors to combat antibiotic-resistant bacteria. There were students decoding the syntax of parrot duets, tracing the evolution of dwarf elephants on Mediterranean islands, documenting memory degradation in dementia patients through the lens of crocheting ability, and analyzing the constitutional protection of postmodern erotic art under First Amendment obscenity doctrine.
There were students using computational fluid dynamics to optimize wind tunnels, finite element analysis to validate gearbox designs, and SCAPS simulation to model solar cell efficiency. There were students extracting DNA from herbarium specimens to map genetic relationships in Alaskan plant species, running RT-qPCR to detect hidden breaks in rice chloroplast RNA, and using chirped-pulse Fourier transform microwave spectroscopy to measure torsional barriers in acetamide molecules. There were education students developing virtual reality behavior vignettes to train future teachers in classroom management, and mathematics students applying operations research to weapon deployment scenarios.
The questions were as varied as the methods: Can we turn municipal plastic waste into gasoline through gasification? What do Tasmanian dolerite cooling patterns tell us about Jurassic-era magma chamber dynamics? How do humans choose which shelter cats to adopt? Can peptides be molecularly tuned to selectively separate rare earth elements from industrial waste? What syntactic rules govern yellow-naped Amazon warbles? The investigations spanned timescales from microseconds (molecular spectroscopy) to millions of years (island speciation), and geographic scales from campus watersheds to continental bird migration patterns.
What unified these 70 projects was not their subject matter but their shared commitment to the scientific method, to asking meaningful questions, and to the patient, rigorous work of finding answers. SPACE is where UPJ’s promise of faculty-student research mentorship becomes visible—where undergraduates do not merely learn about research but become researchers themselves, guided by faculty who treat them as intellectual partners rather than passive recipients of knowledge. That is the UPJ model in action.
ASCE Mid-Atlantic Student Symposium
In April 2026, UPJ’s Engineering Division hosted the 2026 ASCE Mid-Atlantic Student Symposium (April 17–19), a prestigious regional competition that drew students and faculty from universities across the Mid-Atlantic, including Penn State, Pitt, CMU, Drexel, Georgetown, George Mason, Morgan State, Lehigh, Temple, and Johns Hopkins. Competitions included Concrete Canoe (with races held at Quemahoning Reservoir), Steel Bridge, Surveying, Sustainable Solutions, 3D Printing, Timber Strong, Bot Bash, and Student Paper. The event also featured a Career Fair and an Alumni and Family Mixer. Hosting this symposium was a significant achievement for UPJ’s Engineering program and a demonstration of our capacity to convene and serve the regional academic engineering community.
Real World Learning: Preparing Students for Success
One of UPJ’s most distinctive commitments is ensuring that students leave campus not just educated, but ready—equipped with skills, experience, and confidence that employers demand. This year, several initiatives brought this mission to life in concrete, measurable ways.
AI Skills Proficiency Program: Recognizing that artificial intelligence literacy is no longer optional but essential for career success, UPJ developed and piloted an AI proficiency program for the Class of 2026. Graduating seniors across all majors had the opportunity to develop applied, employer-relevant AI skills—from understanding AI fundamentals to practical hands-on experience with real-world tools and applications. The program positions UPJ graduates as forward-ready professionals in a rapidly changing job market, and signals to employers that our students have been intentionally prepared for the AI-driven economy ahead.
Structured Internship Programs with Academic Rigor: UPJ’s internship programs are not sidelines to the curriculum—they are integrated, credit-bearing components of academic study. Business internships in accounting, finance, and related fields typically run 3 to 6 months and are guided by a structured learning plan with specific educational objectives. Students function as pre-professionals within host organizations, contributing meaningful work while being mentored by assigned supervisors. The experiential learning is formalized through academic credit: approximately 10 hours per week per term equals 3 credits, with placements arranged by a dedicated coordinator and supervised by faculty. Critically, students are required to write and present an extensive analysis of their internship experience—a capstone deliverable that transforms internship experience into documented learning. This presentation component forces students to reflect deeply on what they’ve learned, articulate their professional growth, and communicate their insights to faculty and peers. It is the difference between “I did an internship” and “I understand what I learned and can explain why it matters.”
On April 21, 2026, the Business and Enterprise Division held its Student Internship Presentations in Blackington Hall, where students who had completed internships in accounting, finance, marketing, and information systems shared their workplace experiences with faculty, peers, and interested community members. Students presented on internships with firms ranging from regional accounting practices to national financial services companies, from local marketing agencies to advanced technology corporations. The presentations covered not just what students did during their internships, but what they learned about professional communication, industry standards, workplace culture, and their own career interests. The event drew an engaged audience and affirmed the value of the structured reflection requirement: students left their internships not just with experience on a resume, but with the ability to articulate what that experience meant.
Student Teacher Showcase: On April 21, 2026, the Education Division held its annual Student Teacher Showcase at the John P. Murtha Center—aptly titled “Get Ready for the REAL World!” Student teachers who had completed their clinical field experiences presented their reflections, lessons learned, and classroom innovations to faculty, peers, and the campus community. The showcase transforms student teaching from something students do into something they can articulate, analyze, and apply—turning experience into professional identity.
Child Forensic Interviewing Certification: In what may be one of the most consequential academic innovations of the year, Dr. Julie Wagner’s Child Forensic Interviewing class became the first and only university-level course in the country to result in national certification in this specialized field. Taught in partnership with the National Association of Certified Child Forensic Interviewers (NACCFI), the pilot class is being used as a model for the association in the hope that other universities will follow. Students completing the course earn certification as child forensic interviewers—a credential that opens doors to careers in law enforcement, child advocacy, social services, and victim support. The chairman and executive board of NACCFI featured the class on their website and have expressed pride in UPJ’s leadership. This is experiential learning with immediate, life-changing professional impact.
Watershed Restoration & Soil Science Competitions: Environmental Studies students in Dr. Mitzy Schaney’s Watershed class partnered with the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy on a real-world project designing an aquatic passageway in a local watershed. The work combined classroom instruction, field work, electro-fishing to create a fish census, stream assessment, and GIS mapping tools. The final deliverable was a professional report used by the Conservancy to complete their conservation work—student learning directly serving regional environmental stewardship. Separately, in March 2026, the UPJ Soil Judging team traveled to North Carolina to compete at the Soil Judging Nationals against the nation’s top soil science programs, including Penn State, Texas A&M, Virginia Tech, and Purdue. The team finished in the top 25 in the nation, with UPJ student Chad Weist placing 31st individually out of over 300 competitors. Hands-on, competitive, career-building—that is the UPJ approach to geosciences education.
Nursing Simulation with Virtual Reality: The Nursing and Health Sciences Division received over $16,000 from the University of Pittsburgh’s Innovation in Education Awards to purchase virtual reality simulation equipment and interactive manikins for the nursing lab. The award, endorsed by Pitt’s Council on Instructional Excellence, recognized the thoughtfulness and creativity of UPJ’s proposal to use VR headsets for cost-effective, equitable, small-group rotational simulation training. Nursing students now practice clinical decision-making and patient care in immersive VR scenarios with responsive patient avatars—graduating better prepared to face high-pressure clinical situations in real healthcare settings. This investment directly addresses Pennsylvania’s historic healthcare workforce shortage and supports UPJ’s top-10 national nursing program ranking.
These programs reflect UPJ’s philosophy: real-world readiness is not something that happens after graduation. It happens in structured partnership with employers, community organizations, and professional associations, guided by faculty, and documented through the academic work that transforms experience into knowledge.
National Rankings & External Distinctions
The 2026 rankings cycle confirmed what our community already knows: UPJ punches well above its weight. Among the distinctions earned this year:
• US News “Great” A+ School for Access & Opportunity — ranked alongside Michigan State, the University of Kentucky, the University of Iowa, and West Virginia University
• Top 10–15 Regional Colleges in the North and Top 10 Regional Public — US News 2026
• #5 Best College for Veterans — US News 2026
• Top 50 Performer on Social Mobility — US News 2026
• Top 10 Nursing School in the USA — US News 2026, and 28th on QS World University Rankings list of the world’s best nursing schools.
• First-ever nationally ranked Engineering School — ABET-accredited, US News 2026
• High-Access, High-Earning Institution — Carnegie/ACE Classification, outperforming many AAU institutions in the combined category
• University of Pittsburgh designated a “New Ivy” — Forbes, further elevating the value of every UPJ degree
These distinctions are not merely marketing assets — they are the quantified expression of what our faculty, staff, and students do every day.
IV. Our Staff
None of what appears in this report is possible without the dedication of our staff. The people who process financial aid, welcome prospective students, maintain our buildings, support our athletes, staff our counseling center, manage our finances, and execute the thousand daily tasks that keep this institution running deserve recognition equal to any achievement listed in these pages. This year, as in every year, they delivered — often under conditions of constraint and uncertainty that would test anyone’s commitment.
We are equally pleased to welcome the following new staff members who joined the UPJ community in 2026: Jay Miller, PPAC; Jadyn Rae Oswalt, Athletics; Austin Golby, Housing; Michael Manganella, Facilities; and Matthew Murray, Information Services. Each brings fresh energy and commitment to their respective areas, and we look forward to the contributions they will make to our students and campus community.
We also take this opportunity to honor the staff members who retired in 2026 after years of dedicated service to this institution. Karen Barrick served in Housing, providing stability and care for generations of students navigating their first experiences living away from home. Loretta Zerby served in the Business Office, bringing precision and professionalism to the financial operations that keep this university running. Mike Kemock served in Information Systems, ensuring that our technology infrastructure supported the work of faculty, staff, and students day in and day out. And Coach Bob Rukavina retired from Athletics after 37 extraordinary years leading the Men’s Basketball program — a career that speaks for itself. We are grateful to each of them for their years of service and wish them well in the chapters ahead.
In a moment that captured the spirit of Team UPJ perfectly, on June 11, 2026, the campus gathered in the new Student Lounge — the beautifully repurposed former bookstore space — for a FIFA World Cup Watch Party to watch the opening match between Mexico and South Africa. Pizza, popcorn, and drinks were provided. The pre-game show began at 1:30 PM, kickoff at 3:00 PM. It was exactly the kind of moment that reminds us why we invest in community — a campus pausing together to share in something larger than any one of us. That is the culture we are building. Mountain Cats Fight On.
V. Campus Infrastructure & Student Experience
A great education requires a great environment. This year, UPJ made significant, tangible investments in the places where our students live, learn, and build community — and in the safety and security infrastructure that allows them to do so with confidence.
Dining Facilities Renovation
This summer, UPJ is undertaking one of its most exciting campus improvements in recent memory: a comprehensive renovation of the Student Union dining facilities, covering the Dining Hall, Mountain Cat Club, and Food Court. The project, awarded to Massaro Corporation at a total cost of approximately $2.1 million, was designed in collaboration with Franklin Interiors to reflect a warm blue and gold feel — inviting, spirited, and distinctly UPJ. The new spaces are targeted to welcome students at the start of Fall 2026, and we could not be more proud of what awaits them.
Safety & Security: Lighting and Cameras
We listened. Among the priorities identified by students, faculty, and staff in our JPBC process was a clear and urgent request for improved safety infrastructure — specifically, increased lighting in parking areas and along campus walkways, and expanded camera coverage across campus. We acted on both. Enhanced lighting has been prioritized for key areas including the corridor between the PPAC and the Living Learning Center. Simultaneously, as part of the ongoing “Door Blitz” safety and security initiative, a local vendor is actively installing external cameras across parking areas and campus walkways, with all aspects handled by Pitt’s Integrated Security Department and monitored by Pitt Police. The message we want our community to receive is simple: you raised this concern, and we took it seriously.
Additional Facilities Progress
The $1.6 million chiller replacement at the Living Learning Center is underway and nearing completion. Paving and patching work on the parking area behind Blackington Hall was completed in May, and dead trees near the Visitors lot were removed. Gensler, the world’s largest architecture firm, continues its work developing a long-term utilization vision for the John R. Musulin University Center, where maker spaces are being planned and the new student recreational area (formerly the bookstore) has been warmly received. An Esports facility is also under development in the Student Union, bringing an exciting new dimension to campus life.
Significant deferred maintenance challenges remain. Paving, groundwater infrastructure, handicapped accessibility at the PPAC, exterior lighting, and aging technology in several academic spaces continue to require attention and resources. A comprehensive Campus Master Plan, in active development with Pitt’s Planning, Design, and Construction team, will provide the long-term framework for addressing these priorities systematically. A groundwater remediation study is planned for 2027 as a prerequisite for durable paving investment.
Agora & Musulin Center Athletic Complex
Planning for the Agora construction and Musulin Center renovation — the campus’s highest infrastructure priority — continues to advance with Gensler. The scope has been responsibly revised: the new Agora footprint has been reduced from 73,000 square feet to approximately 40,000 square feet, and the estimated construction cost has been reduced accordingly from $53.2 million to approximately $30 million. This is the right project for UPJ’s future, and we are committed to seeing it through.
VI. Community Engagement & Civic Leadership
UPJ does not merely serve the Johnstown community — we are part of it. Our mission is inseparable from the renewal of this region, and this year offered powerful evidence of that partnership in action.
Democracy Bowl & Civic Education
On April 9, 2026, UPJ hosted the 2026 Democracy Bowl, bringing together students from ten regional school districts — Greater Johnstown, Northern Cambria, Everett Area, Homer Center, Indiana Area, West Shamokin, Portage Area, Conemaugh Valley, Forest Hills, and Ferndale Area — for a full day of civic competition, trivia, and a Civics Fair. Organized by the ACE Initiative team under Dr. Ray Wrabley, Dr. Mark Conlon, and Mrs. Karen Clites, and supported by sponsors including the Bill of Rights Institute, Fair Districts PA, the John P. Murtha Foundation, and the Tribune-Democrat, the event celebrated America’s 250th anniversary with a spirit of genuine civic hope. As President Spectar told the students in his closing remarks: “Our democracy is not self-sustaining. It must be nurtured — actively, deliberately, and by every generation.”
Flood City Youth Academy & Community Partnerships
On February 28, UPJ welcomed more than 100 members of the Flood City Youth Fitness Academy to campus for the Men’s and Women’s Basketball games. The FCYFA girls’ basketball team played a halftime exhibition game in front of the college crowd — a moment that will not be forgotten by those young athletes. The partnership between UPJ and FCYFA, which spans over a decade and encompasses CODE-4-STEM mentorship and annual merit awards, exemplifies what it means to be an anchor institution in a community. UPJ also awarded merit incentives to 20 FCYFA student graduates in June 2026.
Future Ready & Regional Economic Development
The UPJ Future Ready initiative at the former Jupiter Building continues to advance, with industry partners Aerium, Mission Critical Solutions, and JWF Industries shaping programs in advanced manufacturing and cybersecurity that will serve both our students and the regional workforce. A $1 million federal Congressionally Directed Spending award from Congressman John Joyce’s office further validates this initiative and positions UPJ as the anchor of a downtown innovation ecosystem. UPJ’s economic impact on Cambria County stands at $132.6 million annually, supporting 830+ jobs and generating $4.1 million in state and local tax revenue.
President Spectar presented at the Greater Johnstown Regional Partnership on March 20, and joined AASCU’s Washington, D.C. advocacy fly-in on March 24–25, meeting with the offices of Senator McCormick, Congressman Joyce, and Senator Fetterman to advocate for Pell funding, TRIO programs, and rural healthcare access. UPJ’s voice in these conversations grows stronger every year.
AI in the Alleghenies & Global Engagement
On March 10, UPJ hosted the “AI in the Alleghenies” conference at the Living Learning Center, convening regional leaders from education, business, health, and human services for a full day of presentations and workshops on AI trends and applications. UPJ was a co-sponsor alongside the 1889 Foundation, Cambria Regional Chamber, and others. Separately, the partnership with Tilting Futures — a globally focused nonprofit — is advancing a study and service abroad program in Cape Town, South Africa, through the Global Changemakers Fellowship. UPJ’s international footprint continues to expand through institutional partnerships in Japan, Canada, and Colombia.
On April 10, UPJ hosted a Naturalization Ceremony, welcoming new American citizens from countries around the world — a reminder of who we are and what we stand for as a community.
VII. Alumni, Donors, Fiscal Health & Looking Ahead
UPJ’s approximately 23,000 alumni worldwide are among our most powerful institutional assets — loyal, generous, and deeply connected to the mission of this place. Their support is not an abstraction; it is what makes student opportunity possible.
Endowment & Fundraising
As of June 30, 2025, the UPJ endowment stands at $72,796,583 — a fivefold increase over 18 years and one of the highest per-student endowment ratios among public institutions of comparable size. The endowment grew by $3.59 million (5.19%) over the prior fiscal year, a reflection of both strong investment performance and the sustained generosity of our donor community. In the most recent Pitt Day of Giving, UPJ placed 7th among all Pitt schools, outpacing every other regional campus and earning bonus funds in the process.
As we approach our Centennial in 2027, preparations are underway for both a grand celebration of 100 years of impact and the launch of the next Capital Campaign. A comprehensive naming opportunities document has been developed to support that effort, covering campus facilities, academic divisions, departments, and spaces in the Musulin Center and Agora complex. The convergence of the Centennial, the Capital Campaign, and the Agora project creates a compelling and timely case for investment in UPJ’s next century.
In Memoriam: Richard “Rick” Bross, B.A. ’73
We pause to honor the memory of Rick Bross, B.A. ’73, who passed away on May 10, 2026, at the age of 74, while on a biking adventure with friends in Portugal — living fully until the end, exactly as he had always done.
A Johnstown High School graduate who earned his economics degree from UPJ in 1973, Rick went on to build a distinguished career at Hormel Foods Corporation, ultimately serving as President of Hormel Foods International Corporation until his retirement in 2012. His connection to UPJ never dimmed. Through the Bross Family Scholarship Endowment, he invested in generations of students with the character and ethical foundation to make a difference. He was inducted into the 1927 Cornerstone Society, received the President’s Medal of Distinctive Excellence in 2017, delivered the Commencement address that same year, and served as a valued member of the Board of Advisors for the past decade. He lived with unmistakable joy — skiing Beaver Creek, biking the Rockies, traveling to China, Chile, and South Africa. His personal motto said everything: “Jump higher, worlds await, getting there is all the fun.” UPJ mourns and celebrates this extraordinary alumnus, ethically grounded corporate titan, and dear friend. We are profoundly grateful for his generosity, his example, and his love for this place.
Fiscal Health: Honest Assessment
Transparency demands that we speak plainly. UPJ continues to manage an ongoing annual deficit of approximately $2 million, the product of a decade-long enrollment decline. This has constrained hiring, limited our ability to backfill vacant positions, and required difficult prioritization decisions. We are not hiding from this reality.
What we can report with equal honesty is that we are managing it with discipline. The endowment’s growth provides meaningful long-term stability. The improving enrollment pipeline, the upcoming Capital Campaign, and our close partnership with the Pitt system all contribute to a more stable long-term outlook. As President Spectar has noted, the deficit does not tell the whole story: UPJ has historically been a surplus regional campus and remains a recognized model of efficient resource management across the Pitt system. The 1.5% budget reduction scenarios shared by Vice President Stumpf in June 2026 outline a credible path toward structural balance, particularly on the staff side, as enrollment stabilizes and grows.
VIII. Closing Reflections
This report has covered a great deal of ground — from a room full of 411 graduates hearing a former Cabinet secretary tell them to bring their best every day, to a team of UPJ biologists and chemists preparing to bring an all-natural tick repellent to market; from wrestlers earning All-American honors to students building concrete canoes and casting them on Quemahoning Reservoir; from a campus where lighting in parking lots was requested and delivered, to a dining hall being transformed in time for fall.
None of this happens without you. The Board of Advisors provides the guidance, the networks, the resources, and the belief in this institution that allows us to dream bigger than our circumstances might otherwise permit. As we stand on the threshold of our Centennial year, we ask you to continue that partnership — with the same generosity of spirit that has always defined it.
UPJ has been navigating genuinely difficult waters, and we will continue to navigate them. But we do so with clear eyes, capable hands, and an institutional identity that remains, after nearly 100 years, stubbornly, joyfully intact. What this year has shown — in every section of this report — is that our people rise to the moment, our students seize the opportunity we give them, and our community continues to invest in what we represent.
That is the UPJ story. That is the Mountain Cat way.
Mountain Cats Fight On!
Jem Spectar, PhD, JD, MBA, MA, MAP
President, University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown
June 2026
University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown | H2P | Mountain Cats Fight On!