University Times

Broaden, understand, build — those were the key words in the vision articulated by the newly elected president of the Staff Association Council.

SAC President Deborah Walker, who is the student conduct officer in the Division of Student Affairs, said she hopes to strengthen the staff organization’s role in shared governance.

New Staff Association Council officers were installed July 13 in the William Pitt Union lower lounge in a first-of-its-kind ceremony. From left, Deborah Walker, president; J.P. Matychak, vice president of steering; Monica Costlow, treasurer, and Monika Losagio, vice president for marketing and communications.

She also aims to expand SAC’s outreach efforts to communicate with other groups at Pitt, including students.

“My leadership will provide a vision, a vision that supports an organization that will continue to represent the 6,500 University staff; a vision where conversations take place among various campus groups that include the administration and staff before those in power make final decisions, and a vision that will provide a voice for the thoughts, concerns and suggestions of University staff,” Walker told a packed William Pitt Union lower lounge July 13 at an installation ceremony for SAC’s four new officers.

“To make this vision a reality, SAC plans to accomplish three major goals,” Walker said. The first goal, she said, is “to broaden our message to the University community. This will include training our committee chairs so that all members of SAC can have a better understanding of our role in shared governance.”

A second goal, she said, is to foster a better understanding of staff issues. “To accomplish this goal, SAC will schedule town hall meetings and continue to have brown bag workshops that cover issues that pertain to staff,” Walker said.

“Goal three will be to build pathways to solutions. The SAC executive officers will establish meetings that will include members of SAC, faculty and the Student Government Board to begin working toward solutions to the many issues that affect our University community,” Walker said.

“By accomplishing these goals, SAC will continue to serve this great University [and] will provide a means of communication between staff and members of the Pitt community. The Staff Association Council looks forward to a future in which our involvement will make our great University even greater by working, learning and growing together.”

Walker was installed as SAC president at a ceremony — believed to be the first such event in SAC’s 41-year history — along with vice president of steering Jon-Paul “J.P.” Matychak, who is director of career services at the College of Business Administration; vice president for marketing and communications Monika Losagio, who is a departmental administrator in the Department of French and Italian Languages and Literatures, and treasurer Monica Costlow, who is program coordinator of the program evaluation and research unit at the School of Pharmacy.

The four officers began serving their two-year terms June 8. (See June 9 University Times.)

Also at the July 13 officer installation ceremony, Ron Frisch, associate vice chancellor of Human Resources, presented certificates of appreciation to three outgoing officers, Gwendolyn Watkins, president; Angela Coldren, treasurer, and Richard Colwell, immediate past president. Elisabeth Hilf, outgoing vice president for marketing and communications, was unable to attend the ceremony.

The crowd of more than 100 also heard from Renny Clark, chief of staff in the Chancellor’s office, who said that Chancellor Mark Nordenberg had hoped to attend but had a schedule conflict.

Clark, who is a former mayor of Franklin Park and who had a 34-year career at Westinghouse Electric Corp. prior to joining the Pitt staff in 2000, spoke on the necessary qualities of a leader.

“The subject of leadership comes down to three words: authority, responsibility and accountability,” Clark said. “I’ve known many leaders who only want the authority, the power, and are willing to abdicate the responsibility and accountability of their actions. But as a leader you have to understand that your actions have consequences and you need to take responsibility for your actions and to always be ready to articulate the reasons for the actions you took.”

—Peter Hart