ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½

Monday, August 24, 2026

Dear Members of the ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ Community:

Welcome to the start of the 2026-2027 academic year! 

Each August, ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ Mellon comes alive with the energy and promise of a new beginning. Whether you are returning to campus or joining our community for the first time, I am delighted to welcome you to a new year of learning, discovery, creativity and connection.

This fall, we welcome nearly 6,000 new undergraduate and graduate students across our global community, alongside more than 11,000 returning students, more than 6,700 faculty and staff, and more than 146,000 alumni around the world. Across Pittsburgh, Silicon Valley, Doha and Kigali, Tartans are united by a spirit of collaboration and a deep commitment to making a meaningful impact.

The demand for a ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ Mellon education remains remarkably strong. This year, we reviewed more than 33,000 first-year applications for our Pittsburgh campus and welcomed 1,877 first-year students from 46 states, Washington, D.C., Guam and Puerto Rico, as well as 34 countries. These students join us with extraordinary talent, ambition and promise, and I am grateful to our orientation team, which hosted over 200 events, and everyone who helped make this campus so welcoming.

We are also delighted to welcome more than 3,780 new graduate students, who arrive at ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ Mellon’s campuses with remarkable experience, intellectual curiosity and purpose. Across our master’s and doctoral programs, graduate students are essential to the life of this university, and we look forward to the many ways you will strengthen our global Tartan community.

This year will offer many opportunities for us to work and grow together:

• The UPLift Challenge will award funding to projects pitched by students, faculty and staff aimed at reimagining and strengthening shared campus spaces in ways that foster connection, accessibility, sustainability, belonging and wellness.
• We are relaunching Deeper Conversations as Deeper Conversations: Around the Table, a student-led model that expands opportunities for small-group dialogue rooted in curiosity, respectful inquiry and shared learning.
• The President's Lecture Series, which brings thought leaders to campus to discuss issues of greatest relevance to society, will kick off with Ambassador Rahm Emanuel as our first distinguished lecturer on Nov. 16.
• ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½'s America250 programming will commemorate our nation’s independence with events all year dedicated to examining our past, pioneering our future, and answering the grand challenges of tomorrow. Some early fall events include:
  • A Constitution Day Symposium, on Sept. 17, will explore the U.S. Constitution as a legal, historical, linguistic and cultural text — and examine how its enduring principles are being tested and reinterpreted at a pivotal moment for American democracy. 
  • Democracy Day, on Nov. 3 — Election Day in the United States, will offer meaningful civic engagement opportunities for students, faculty and staff.

These programs reflect something essential about ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ Mellon: We are a community that builds, questions, creates and contributes. We advance knowledge and technology, and we also ask how that work can strengthen our society and serve humanity. We prepare students not only for the careers of tomorrow but for lives of meaning, leadership and impact.

To our students: I hope you will explore boldly, ask thoughtful questions and build connections across this extraordinary community. To our faculty and staff: Thank you for the scholarship, teaching, mentorship, expertise and care that make ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ Mellon such a special place. And to every member of our global Tartan family: Thank you for the role you play in carrying this mission forward.

Here’s to a wonderful start to the semester — and to all that we will learn and achieve together in the year ahead.

Warm regards, 

Farnam Jahanian
President
Henry L. Hillman President's Chair