3 Questions with Chatham Eastside
As students prepare to arrive at Chatham this fall, we wanted to take the time to highlight each of our locations: Shadyside Campus, Eden Hall Campus, and Chatham Eastside. Each location is designed specifically to facilitate hands-on learning, research opportunities, and student experience, while catering to different fields of study. Join us as we highlight the unique assets of the places we call home. Next up, our Penn Avenue home to the School of Health Sciences and more, Chatham Eastside—
What can I find at EastSide that’s hard to find anywhere else?
Just blocks from East Liberty’s thriving tech and business hub, Bakery Square—home to Google Pittsburgh, UPMC, and bountiful restaurants and retail—Chatham Eastside is a dream location for the young, urban professional. Eastside has been renovated to the level of LEED-Silver, and it sits at the intersection of some of east Pittsburgh’s most beloved neighborhoods, parks, and living options. This unique extension to Shadyside Campus is home to our esteemed School of Health Sciences, programs in interior architecture and immersive media, the Center for Women's Entrepreneurship (CWE), and the Women's Business Center.
What’s it like to study at Eastside?
Eastside is designed to support our students, particularly those in the School of Health Sciences and in our interior architecture programs. By way of our Occupational Therapy (OT) Skills Lab, students set up adaptive play areas for children and learn feeding and adaptive techniques for their patients. They also have the ability to study in the OT apartment, where they can learn strategies to support their patients who are healing at home following injury or illness. In the Physician Assistant (PA) Skills Lab, students learn procedures like phlebotomy, splinting, and injections while working on exam tables and in exam rooms set up like those of a family practice. Our interior architecture students utilize adjustable drafting tables and movable whiteboards while working collaboratively in our interior architecture studios. As home to our new immersive media program, students have the ability to enter and create their own virtual realities thanks to our virtual reality headsets and technology.
Thanks to the Center for Women’s Entrepreneurship, Eastside also features a Prototyping and Design Lab which is open to community-based women entrepreneurs as well as Chatham University students, faculty and staff who are interested in designing and prototyping physical products. The P&D lab offers a variety of easy-to-use tools and equipment from local startups and established companies. It contains craft materials, and flexible small-space tools like a multi-functional 3D desktop printer, sewing machines, robotics kits, and other textile processing tools.
How can I engage with Eastside if I’m not participating in one of its programs?
One easy way to engage with Eastside is to head over on the shuttle (or walk down the street) from Shadyside and explore for yourself. Consider trying out a course in Immersive Media or Interior Architecture; who knows, you might just fall in love. Though the Center for Women’s Entrepreneurship is devoted to budding women entrepreneurs in the community, there is nothing stopping Chatham students from becoming entrepreneurs in the community! CWE invites students to engage with the Women Business Leaders Breakfast Series to hear nonprofit and business leaders speak, free of charge. CWE also encourages students to participate in free hands-on workshops in the P&D lab, apply for internships at the Center, and engage their entrepreneurial and business training programs. That said, if you’re looking for less of a commitment, the Eastside cafeteria has some delicious sandwiches, too.
Ready to see Chatham Eastside for yourself? If so, schedule a visit so that you can explore more!
