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July 7, 2005

Four new trustees elected to board

Pitt’s Board of Trustees re-elected as chair Ralph J. Cappy, Chief Justice of Pennsylvania, for a one-year term. The board also elected four new members and re-elected eight members at its June 24 meeting.

In addition, Cappy announced the appointment by Gov. Ed Rendell of a new commonwealth trustee.

(See other Board of Trustees stories, this issue.)

Elected to serve on the board were best-selling author Bebe Moore Campbell of Los Angeles (alumni trustee); Bobbie Gaunt of Saugatuck, Mich., retired president and CEO of Ford of Canada and independent director of ADVO, Inc. (alumni trustee); Mark E. Pasquerilla of Johnstown, chair and CEO of Crown American (special trustee), and Charles M. Steiner of Rockville, Md., retired chair and CEO of Branch Group Inc. and currently of Steiner Family Office (term trustee).

The trustees also re-elected the following people to serve on the Pitt board: Charles E. Bunch, president and CEO, PPG Industries (special trustee); John M. Cleland, president judge, 48th Judicial District, McKean County, (special trustee); George A. Davidson Jr., retired chair of Dominion Resources, Inc. (term trustee); William S. Dietrich II, managing director, Dietrich Charitable Trust (term trustee); Melissa A. Hart, member, U.S. House of Representatives (special trustee); G. Watts Humphrey Jr., president, GWH Holdings, Inc. (special trustee); Alfred L. Moyé, retired senior university affairs consultant, Hewlett-Packard Co. (special trustee), and Thomas H. O’Brien, retired chair of the PNC Financial Services Group (special trustee).

Ira J. Gumberg, president and CEO of J.J. Gumberg Co., was named commonwealth trustee.

In other board business, the trustees:

• Approved funding of capital budget projects totaling $44.7 million as an addition to the fiscal year 2005 capital budget. Those projects included: construction of a new residence hall on the upper campus ($33.2 million); construction of an upper campus electric substation ($5.5 million); purchase of the University Club ($3.1 million), and renovation of the Loeffler Building ($2.8 million).

• Heard a report by John Pelusi, chair of the trustees property and facilities committee, on that committee’s action taken June 22 to approve the replacement of the Petersen Events Center roof at a cost of $5.6 million. (See June 23 University Times.)

The property and facilities committee has the authority to approve construction projects in excess of $1 million. The Petersen Events Center roof replacement is necessitated by problems resulting from deficient design and construction, according to background materials reviewed by Pelusi at the June 24 trustees meeting.

“The University has filed a lawsuit to recover the costs associated with this project as well as other deficiencies and cost overruns; however, in order to take advantage of the summer months and to prevent further damage to the building this project had to be started prior to resolution of the pending litigation,” the background information stated.

• Approved increases to student fees on three of Pitt’s four regional campuses. (See June 23 University Times.)

—Peter Hart


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