Pitt Commons

About Pitt Commons

Pitt Commons is a web portal that allows students, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends of the University of Pittsburgh to connect and to establish networking and/or mentoring relationships that are meaningful and specific to their unique interests and academic and career goals.

Pitt Commons is your lifelong gateway to the Pitt network and with it, you can:

  • Network and make connections
  • Find mentors/mentees
  • Join groups based on common interests
  • Post and answer discussion questions
  • Browse resources

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Learn more at commons.pitt.edu.

Pitt Commons home page

Frequently Asked Questions

How is Pitt Commons different than LinkedIn or professional groups on Facebook?
Unlike other platforms, Pitt Commons is exclusively for individuals with a connection to Pitt. Further, everyone on Pitt Commons has signed up because they want to establish meaningful connections and provide or receive support and guidance to others with ties to the University. You can help us build the network by joining Pitt Commons and inviting others in your Pitt community to sign up.

Who can create an account in Pitt Commons?
Students, alumni, faculty, staff, and friends of the University can all create accounts in Pitt Commons.

What happens when I sign up?
You’ll be prompted to answer a series of questions about your background, professional experience or interests, and how you would like to connect with others on the platform. Your answers will allow the system to begin recommending connections based on your profile information. You can also browse professionals within the Pitt network by industry, major, location, and other criteria; join groups; make connections; and more. Upon logging in, you may notice that your profile contents are pre-populated. Pitt has done its best to connect various platforms and systems to avoid requiring users to update information in multiple locations.

Do I have to have a pitt.edu address to sign up? If not, how does the platform verify that I'm related to Pitt?
If you are a Pitt student, faculty, or staff member, you will use your University Computing Accounts information (your My Pitt username and password) to access the site. Alumni and friends should sign up with their preferred email address and their account will be on hold until their connection to the University is verified.

How do I become a mentor in Pitt Commons?
First, you will need to complete your profile. If you have a LinkedIn account, you can connect to it to automatically fill in some of your information. Set your Pitt Commons availability preferences to indicate how much time you can commit to being a mentor and how many mentees you can support at one time. Potential mentees will be able to view your profile and reach out to request mentorship or to ask you a question. Sometimes it takes a while for a mentee to discover you due to the size of the platform’s network, so please be patient! If you receive a connection request, we hope you'll accept it. However, you do have the option to decline if you simply don't have time or think it's not the right fit.

Why should I serve as a mentor? 
Regardless of where you are in your career, you likely have knowledge and experiences that can be valuable to other members of the Pitt community. Serving as a mentor is a great way to support the next generation of professionals in your field. It can also be fantastic professional development and opportunity to meet new people and get fresh, new ideas and perspective. And it’s an impactful means of giving back to Pitt.

Why should faculty and staff join Pitt Commons?
Faculty and staff are encouraged to join Pitt Commons because the networking opportunities within the system provides a direct link to alumni, friends, and other University colleagues. Just like alumni and friend registrants, faculty and staff can indicate their experience, expertise, and how they would like to engage with others on Pitt Commons. This allows for added networking and connectivity among the online Pitt Commons community.

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