Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the IMPACT program at Pitt

The Swanson School will co-host a special three-day gathering of alumni and supporters of the Pitt IMPACT Program, June 21-23, 2019. The event includes a memorial to the late Dr. Karl Lewis, as well as a panel to discuss the program's legacy and its continuing impact at Pitt in engineering and nursing. Registration is $149 and includes events and meals.

Founded in 1969, the IMPACT Program was developed by Pitt and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to encourage minority and financially and culturally disadvantaged students to enter and graduate from engineering programs. The six-week program prepared incoming freshmen through exposure to university academic life, development of study skills, academic and career counseling, and coursework to reinforce strengths or remedy weaknesses. The program's legacy includes two award-winning initiatives: INVESTING NOW, a college preparatory program created to stimulate, support, and recognize the high academic performance of pre-college students from groups that are historically underrepresented in STEM majors; and Pitt EXCEL, a comprehensive undergraduate diversity program committed to the recruitment, retention, and graduation of academically excellent engineering undergraduates, particularly individuals from groups historically underrepresented in the field.