2000
After stagnating in the late 1990s, total enrollment at Pitt-Bradford is on the rise again, reaching 1,237 students in the fall 2000 term.
September: The academic quadrangle is named in honor of Dr. Robert B. Bromeley.
2001
The Center for Rural Health Practice is founded on campus.
July: President McDowell announces that he will step down at the end of the 2001–2002 term. He will continue to teach part time in the Biology program until 2006.
September 14: Members of the campus community participate in a nationwide day of mourning, remembrance, and solidarity for the victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
2002
Construction begins on Blaisdell Hall, as the arts center is now called.
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania gives full accreditation to Pitt-Bradford’s teacher-education program.
Pitt-Bradford begins offering the coursework for a master’s program in Social Work.
February 28: Pitt-Bradford hosts its first-ever NCAA Division III tournament game in basketball. The Panthers lose to the Bethany College Bisons, 110-98.
September 1: Dr. William Shields takes office as the interim president of Pitt-Bradford.
October 5: The remodeled Sports and Fitness Center is dedicated. Much larger than the original McDowell Hall gymnasium, it includes classrooms, laboratories, a swimming pool, and an enlarged fitness center.
2003
January: Pitt authorizes the Bradford campus to award baccalaureate degrees in elementary and secondary education, fulfilling a goal that the college and the Bradford community had long sought.
April 24: The university administration announces that it has selected Dr. Livingston Alexander to be Pitt-Bradford’s next president.
August: The Frame-Westerberg Commons reopens after extensive additions and renovations, and the first phase of Blaisdell Hall is finished.
October 2: President Alexander is inaugurated during celebrations that commemorate the 40th anniversary of the college.
October 5: The Complete the Campus Campaign, Pitt-Bradford’s fourth major fundraising drive, goes public. It seeks $13 million in private donations to support scholarships, upgrades in instructional technology, endowments for particular academic programs, and completion of the 1994 facilities master plan.
2004
Pitt-Bradford begins implementing a new strategic vision, the Plan for the Fifth Decade. Academic programs are realigned into five divisions.
National recognition arrives as Pitt-Bradford is included in the 2004 Princeton Review listing of the best colleges in the Northeast. This honor, and similar accolades from other influential publications such as U.S. News & World Report, will be repeated many times in subsequent years.
October 1: The second phase of Blaisdell Hall, featuring the Bromeley Family Theater, is dedicated. Marilyn Horne attends the ceremony and receives an honorary Pitt doctorate to recognize her lifetime of high achievement as an opera singer.
2005
Participation in the TRIO Student Support Services program, funded through a five-year grant from the federal Department of Education, gives a boost to student counseling and retention.
August: Reed-Coit House, the first new residence hall to be built on campus in the 21st century, is ready for student occupancy.
September: The Bradford Campus Advisory Board has a new chair: Craig Hartburg, who succeeds Judge John Cleland.
2006
Pitt-Bradford acquires the Seneca Building in downtown Bradford, thus returning to the downtown economic and social scene for the first time since 1975. The building will soon house offices, classroom space, and the headquarters of the college’s community outreach programs.
American Refining Group donates 130 acres of land to the college, the largest grant of property that Pitt-Bradford has received since 1967.
February: As part of Pitt-Bradford’s first integrated marketing and communications strategy, the “Beyond” theme is unveiled to provide a unifying element in college publications, advertising, and student-recruitment events.
December 31: The Complete the Campus Campaign extends the unbroken Pitt-Bradford tradition of surpassing fundraising goals. Its grand total is $13,178,726.
2007
Boosted by the resurgent prosperity of Northwestern Pennsylvania’s oil and natural gas industries, the Petroleum Technology associate-degree program makes a comeback.
Organization of the 50 and Beyond capital campaign.
2008
The Crime Scene Investigation House opens on campus, adding strength to Pitt-Bradford’s popular and fast-growing Criminal Justice program.
A partnership between Pitt-Bradford and the American Refining Group establishes the American Refining Group/Harry R. Halloran, Jr. Energy Institute, an academic research center where Pitt-Bradford faculty and students can explore issues of energy production and use.
May: Pitt-Bradford sends its first group of students to Japan to participate in the ongoing sister-college exchange program with the Yokohama College of Commerce.
August: The Howard L. Fesenmyer House residence hall is completed. Swarts Hall fully reopens after a lengthy reconstruction has overhauled all of the building’s mechanical systems and created additional classroom and laboratory space.
October 25: Pitt-Bradford joins in the first university-wide Panther Pride Day of Service, engaging students in community service projects around Bradford.