University Times

G. Reynolds “Renny” Clark, vice chancellor for community initiatives and Chancellor’s office chief of staff, is the inaugural recipient of the United Way of Allegheny County’s Outstanding Campaign Volunteer of the Year Award. The award recognizes a campaign leader who has made “a significant impact in the annual United Way campaign through his or her dedication, leadership and outreach.” Clark also was recognized for his “passionate dedication to facilitating new and longstanding relationships with agencies of the United Way.”

Clark has been the co-chair of the University’s United Way campaign since he joined Pitt’s staff in 2000. During that time, Pitt has raised $5.76 million for the Allegheny County United Way.

A member of the United Way of Allegheny County board of directors, Clark also serves on the United Way’s Tocqueville Society committee, which recognizes local philanthropic leaders and volunteer champions around the world who have devoted time, talent and funds to create change by tackling their communities’ most serious issues.

He also sits on the board of the Greater Pittsburgh Council-Boy Scouts of America and serves on the advisory boards of the Salvation Army of Southwestern Pennsylvania and the Allegheny Regional Asset District and sits on the boards of a number of civic and cultural organizations, among them Family House, the Allegheny County Parks Foundation, the Pittsburgh Partnership for Neighborhood Development, the Pittsburgh CLO, the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, the Regional Industrial Development Corp. and Pittsburgh Gateways. He also is chair of the Oakland Task Force.

Nursing school Dean Jacqueline Dunbar-Jacob has been named to the inaugural Sigma Theta Tau International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame. The honor acknowledges nurse researchers who have achieved long-term recognition for their work and whose research has influenced the profession and the people it serves.

Mary Beth Happ, a faculty member in the School of Nursing’s Department of Acute and Tertiary Care, received the 2010 Eastern Nursing Research Society John A. Hartford Geriatric Research Award for her contributions to nursing research on older adults.

Mark Gladwin, chief of the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine in the School of Medicine, has been elected to serve on the council of the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI).

Members are elected to ASCI based on their records of scholarly achievement in biomedical research and commitment to mentoring future generations of physician scientists.

Gladwin is the principal investigator on the multi-center clinical trials Walk-PHASST (pulmonary hypertension and sickle sildenafil therapy trial) and DeNOVO (delivery of NO for vaso-occlusive pain crisis in sickle cell disease). He has served as a principal or associate investigator on more than 25 clinical trials.

Since 1998, his research has resulted in more than 180 published, peer-reviewed manuscripts.

Sally Wenzel, a faculty member in the School of Medicine and director of the Asthma Institute at UPMC, received the 2010 Recognition Award for Scientific Accomplishments from the American Thoracic Society.

The award recognizes ATS members who make outstanding contributions in basic or clinical research that further the understanding, prevention and treatment of respiratory disease or critical illness.

Wenzel is one of four National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute-funded investigators in the NIH-sponsored severe asthma research program. She has published widely on differing inflammatory profiles in asthma and their relation to clinical characteristics. She is involved in clinical trials in severe asthma, incorporating these inflammation variations in predicting response to therapy.

Wenzel also is internationally recognized for her contribution to identifying vastly different personal approaches to the treatment of asthma and severe asthma in particular.

Yuan Chang, co-director of the molecular virology program at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, has been named a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology.

Fellows are elected based on their scientific achievement and original contributions that have advanced microbiology.

Chang focuses her research on the development of new techniques for DNA sampling to discover pathogens that cause chronic diseases.

Pitt-Bradford has named Rhett Kennedy director of auxiliary services.

Formerly, Kennedy was the associate dean of student affairs and director of residential life and housing. He has been the interim director of auxiliary services since January 2009.

Auxiliary services encompasses housing, dining services, the Panther Shop, the mail center, vending services and the ID center.

Kennedy is a 1992 graduate of Pitt-Bradford and holds an MA in student affairs in higher education from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

Bernard Goldstein, former dean of the Graduate School of Public Health and a faculty member in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, was appointed chairperson of the United Nations Environmental Programme’s experts meeting. In that role, he was responsible for choosing emerging scientific issues that will be highlighted in the group’s 2011 yearbook. The meeting is being held this month at the Paris headquarters of the Scientific Committee of Problems of the Environment.

Goldstein also was invited to serve on the National Academies Roundtable on Science and Technology for Sustainability, which provides a forum for sharing views, information and analyses related to sustainability.

Meryl H. Karol,  professor emeritus in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, received the 2010 Ambassador of Toxicology Award from the Mid-Atlantic Society of Toxicology for advancing the understanding of the science of toxicology on a national and international basis.

Personnel moves in the Department of Athletics were announced recently.

Pitt has hired two assistant women’s basketball coaches, Patty Coyle and Khadija J. Head.

Coyle, former head coach of the WNBA’s New York Liberty, is a 26-year coaching veteran. She coached the Liberty 2004-09, leading the team to four playoff appearances in five seasons. She served as an assistant coach with the Liberty, 1999-2004, helping guide the team to three Eastern Conference Championships and three WNBA Finals appearances.

She  also was head women’s basketball coach for six years at Loyola College, finishing with a 100-77 record, making her the coach with the largest number of wins in school history.

A gold medalist at both the United States Olympic Festival (1979 and ’80) and 1980 Pan American Games, Coyle capped her collegiate hoops career at Rutgers with an Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women National Championship.

Head, former assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Middle Tennessee State University, helped guide the Blue Raiders to NCAA Tournament appearances in 2009 and 2010. She helped assemble a top-25 nationally ranked recruiting class in 2009 and has been instrumental in signing three Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association Miss Basketball winners over the past three seasons.

She has coached four players who have gone on to be drafted in the WNBA.

Head also was an assistant coach and director of basketball operations at the University of Arkansas and a graduate assistant coach at Slippery Rock University.

E.J. Borghetti, assistant athletics director for media relations, has been promoted to senior associate athletics director. Borghetti has overseen daily operations of the media relations office since 1998.

In 2007, Borghetti was honored with the Scoop Hudgins Outstanding Sports Information Director Award by the All-American Football Foundation for his outstanding work in football media relations.

He is a 1992 magna cum laude Pitt graduate with a bachelor’s degree in communication.

Kathleen Buechel, a faculty member at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs and director of GSPIA’s Philanthropy Forum, was honored for her work in the Pittsburgh community by the YWCA during the 28th annual Tribute to Women Leadership Awards luncheon May 19. The YWCA honors women from the Greater Pittsburgh area who have demonstrated excellence and leadership in the workplace and in the community, and for their contributions to the goals of the YWCA — the empowerment of women and girls and the elimination of racism.

Buechel is former president of the Alcoa Foundation and an active leader in many philanthropic initiatives. She is former chair of the Conference Board’s Contributions Council, former president of Grantmakers of Western Pennsylvania and a board member and membership chair of Independent Sector. She also is the founder and principal of Community Investment Advisors, a practice increasing the impact of donors through private foundations.

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The People of the Times column features recent news on faculty and staff, including awards and other honors, accomplishments and administrative appointments.

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