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May 14, 2015

People of the Times

Pitt’s sports information department was honored by the Football Writers Association of America with a “Super 11” award.

Pitt was honored as one of the 11 best sports information departments in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision. Other winners were Auburn, Bowling Green, Colorado, East Carolina, Iowa State, Nebraska, Rice, Rutgers, University of Nevada-Las Vegas and University of Southern California.

E.J. Borghetti is executive associate athletic director/media relations. Borghetti’s assistants for football are media relations director Ted Feeley and media coordinator Celeste Welsh.
Pitt also won the award in 2009.

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John J. Fung is the winner of the 2015 Thomas E. Starzl Prize in Surgery and Immunology. Fung is chair of the Department of Surgery at Lerner College of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University,  chair of the Digestive Disease Institute, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, and medical director of Allogen Laboratories.

He will deliver the Starzl prize lecture, “Evolution of Liver Transplant Immunosuppression,” at 4 p.m. May 20 in Scaife Hall lecture room 6.

The prize honors the clinical and scientific contributions of Pitt’s transplantation icon, Thomas Starzl.

Fung completed a transplantation surgery fellowship at Pitt under Starzl. He was appointed to the Department of Surgery in 1988, became director of transplantation research at the Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute in 1989, and was named the inaugural Thomas E. Starzl Professor of Transplantation Surgery in 2000. As a transplant immunologist and surgeon, Fung’s experience in kidney, liver, pancreas, islet and intestinal transplantation spans more than three decades. Under Starzl, Fung helped explore and develop clinical use of FK-506, or Tacromilus, an immunosuppressive drug that became critical for immunosuppressive therapy in transplantation. He also directed studies to further treatment of allograft rejection.

Fung received his BA in biology from Johns Hopkins University and his MD and PhD degrees in immunology from the University of Chicago. He completed a surgical residency at the University of Rochester.

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Pamela W. Connelly, associate general counsel at Pitt, has been named associate vice chancellor for diversity and inclusion.

Connelly will have University-wide responsibility for coordinating and expanding Pitt’s ongoing commitment to and emphasis on diversity. The Offices of Affirmative Action and Title IX Compliance will report to her. She will manage regulatory requirements in those areas and will work with senior leadership to develop and implement programs that will expand awareness and sensitivity so as to create a stronger culture of diversity.

Connelly joined Pitt in 2002. She is a cum laude graduate of Pitt’s School of Law.

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The Swanson School of Engineering has named Götz Veser associate director of its Center for Energy. Veser is the Nickolas A. DeCecco Professor of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering.

His main research area is catalytic reaction engineering with an emphasis on the design of functional nanomaterials and the development of advanced reactor concepts for energy and fuel processing applications.

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Anna C. Balazs, Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering and the Robert v. d. Luft Professor at the Swanson School of Engineering, was named the 2015 recipient of the S. F. Boys-A. Rahman Award from the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Faraday division.

The award recognizes Balazs for the development of new theoretical and computational approaches to enable the understanding of polymeric materials.

Her research involves theoretical and computational modeling of the thermodynamic and kinetic behavior of polymer blends and composites.

She also is investigating the properties of polymers at surfaces and interfaces.

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Singh, OmOm Singh, Pitt-Bradford faculty member in biology, is the winner of the inaugural President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, Scholarship and Service.

The award recognizes faculty who perform at the highest level in the principal areas of faculty responsibility: teaching, scholarship and service.

Singh, who has been teaching at Pitt-Bradford for six years, instructs several biology courses for biology majors as well as nonmajors.

He is the editor of two recently published books: “Bio-Nanoparticles: Biosynthesis and Sustainable Biotechnological Implications” and “Extremophiles: Sustainable Resources and Biotechnological Implications.”

Singh also supports undergraduate research and supervises a team of students on multiple research projects.

In nominating Singh, Mary Mulcahy, chair of the Division of Biological and Health Sciences, wrote: “He deserves this award for his astonishing success at helping our students succeed in their long-term goals of becoming professional scientists and scientifically literate citizens. Dr. Singh has a strong belief that our students have the ability to achieve great things, and his genuine confidence in our students is something that motivates our students to work incredibly hard in and out of the classroom.”

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In recognition of teaching excellence for the 2014-15 academic year, the Swanson School of Engineering presented George D. Stetten and Götz Veser with its Outstanding Educator Award.

Stetten is a faculty member in bioengineering and Veser is the Nickolas A. DeCecco Professor of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering.

“The Swanson School’s Outstanding Teaching Award is highly competitive, and is judged upon faculty commitment to excellence in the classroom as well as assessment and professional development,” noted Gerald D. Holder, the Swanson school’s U.S. Steel Dean of Engineering. “Student evaluations play an important role in determining our Outstanding Educators, and this year’s results were outstanding.”

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Health Sciences Library System (HSLS) staff member Kate Flewelling, outreach coordinator, NN/LM Middle Atlantic region, has been appointed section council liaison to the Medical Library Association (MLA) membership committee for a three-year term and also was appointed to MLA’s Eliot Prize Jury for a one-year term.

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HSLS reference librarian Melissa Ratajeski has been elected chair-elect of MLA’s chapter council.

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Clyde B. Jones III, president of Pitt and UPMC’s Medical and Health Sciences Foundation, will leave his position June 12 to become senior vice president for institutional advancement for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

Jones, who also holds the titles of vice chancellor for health sciences development at Pitt and chief development officer at UPMC, has led the Medical and Health Sciences Foundation since its creation in 2003 to raise philanthropic funds for Pitt’s health sciences schools and UPMC.

Under his leadership, the Medical and Health Sciences Foundation, along with the Pitt’s Office of Institutional Advancement, successfully completed the University’s $2 billion capital campaign in 2012.

Kellie Anderson, currently executive director of central development for the Medical and Health Sciences Foundation, will succeed Jones.

 

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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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