August 18, 2026
Dear Colleagues,
As we begin another semester, I wanted to take a brief moment to remind you of the holistic Student Wellness supports offered through the Division of Student Affairs and the staff and faculty supports available through the Wellness for Life website.
The start of a new semester always has the potential to be a stressful time, which is compounded by national trends of increased academic stresses and mental health concerns among students, staff, and faculty. Please avail yourself of the information below and share with the faculty and staff you support.
The University of Pittsburgh offers a variety of services to support student health through the Division of Student Affairs, including the Counseling Center and the Stress Free Zone. The summary page of Care Resources contains, among other things, the following valuable resources for faculty and staff:
If it has been a while since you have read through these guides, I would encourage you to take a few minutes and reacquaint yourself with their contents.
Within the Office of the Provost Undergraduate Studies, we maintain a list of Student Wellness resources and Student Academic FAQs that may be useful references or referrals for students and faculty in your school. The Student Success Hub provides a variety of direct student supports including Academic Coaching and the Student Academic Success Series. In addition, the University Undergraduate Advising (UUA) team helps provide a connection point for advising and success resources across campus, including exploratory and transitional advising, tutoring, and academic intervention and outreach.
Supporting our students is a team effort, so please watch for emails in the coming weeks about the University’s Early Progress Reporting and Midterm Grade Reporting efforts.
Our students often take classes from multiple departments and schools, making it difficult for a single individual—or even a single advising office—to have the complete picture of a student’s progress and academic engagement. Receiving EPRs and MTGs for multiple courses provides an invaluable tool for uncovering issues that crosscut a student’s academic experience and for making connections between advisors and faculty who might not otherwise interact but will readily engage in support of a student in need.
This year these efforts will kick off on September 14 and October 14, respectively. These dates can always be found on the Office of the University Registrar Grades Calendar.
Finally, as we strive to maintain a welcoming campus environment, the Office of Institutional Engagement and Wellbeing provides leadership and resources and partners with units and campuses to create welcoming environments that enable everyone to succeed.
Thank you for all that you do in support of undergraduate education here at Pitt! The clear and visible focus that you bring to the student experience and student success elevates our institution as a whole. I am looking forward to another academic year of working together!
Thank you,
Adam
Adam J. Lee, PhD
Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies
Professor of Computer Science