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May 17, 2012

Vice Provost Blair stepping down, returning to Katz faculty

Andrew R. Blair

Andrew R. Blair

Andrew R. Blair, vice provost for Faculty Affairs since 1999, will step down from his administrative role and return to the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business as a professor of business administration and economics in September.

As vice provost, Blair worked with Pitt faculty and administrators as he oversaw established policies and procedures. He supervised the faculty appeal processes and the review of appointment, promotion and tenure guidelines for compliance with University policy.

Blair advised deans and campus presidents on policies affecting faculty members, and he helped develop Pitt’s first guidelines governing the appointment of postdoctoral scholars and associates and research associates.

He also was responsible for monitoring the annual faculty review process and overseeing the faculty evaluations of deans and department chairs.

As chair of the Provost’s Advisory Council on Instructional Excellence and through his work with the Center for Instructional Development and Distance Education, Blair contributed to the development of such programs as the Innovation in Education Awards, which foster collaboration among Pitt faculty in developing innovative teaching methods and techniques.

“Andy has had 13 exemplary years of service as vice provost,” said Provost Patricia E. Beeson in making the announcement May 10. “During that time, he helped establish programs that fostered excellence in Pitt faculty and academic administrators, including orientation sessions for new faculty, department chairs and senior administrators and annual retreats for department chairs.”

Prior to assuming the position of vice provost, Blair served as associate and then executive associate dean of the Katz school and as director of the International Business Center and the Center for International Enterprise Development. During the 1990s, he was involved in Central Europe’s transition to market-oriented economies, serving as one of the Katz school’s principal representatives to three new Western-style management programs that the school helped to found in the region.

Blair joined the Katz school faculty in 1971, after serving on the faculty for a decade at Fordham University, where he earned his bachelor’s, master’s and PhD degrees in economics.

He will continue to serve in the Office of the Provost during the fall term on a reduced basis to assist during the transition to a new vice provost for Faculty Affairs.

A screening committee will be formed soon with the intention of naming Blair’s successor.


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