On October 20, 2011, the University of Pittsburgh’s Department of Neuroscience celebrated 25 years of commitment to excellence in teaching, training, and research. The department was formed with former chairperson and now University Honor’s College Dean, Edward M. Sticker, at the helm and was founded on the notion that neuroscience was an up and coming discipline that belonged as an undergraduate major and a field of graduate study. It broke away from its original place in the Department of Psychology in order to place more emphasis on the biology of the brain and was one of only a few neuroscience programs at the time.
Twenty-five years later, Pitt neuroscience provides outstanding undergraduate and graduate education with innovative, independent, and collaborative research, a well-rounded curriculum, and a seminar series by the world's most renowned leaders in the field of neuroscience. It has since grown to a department of 32 faculty members, 31 neuroscience doctoral degree students, two master’s degree students, 320 undergraduate neuroscience majors, and 25 staff members. To celebrate this milestone, the department held a reception on Thursday, October 20, where faculty, staff, and students took the opportunity to celebrate the department’s achievements and recognize those who have been with the department since its launch in 1986—staff members, Barbara Cohen and Frank Valentich, and faculty members, German Barrionuevo, Anthony A. Grace, Edward M. Stricker, and David C. Wood.