University Times

Robert L. Carter, dean of the College of Lifelong Learning at Wayne State University in Detroit, has been named dean of Pitt's College of General Studies (CGS).

According to a letter that Provost James Maher sent yesterday, April 24, to Pitt's Council of Deans and to Pitt trustees who serve on the CGS Board of Visitors, Carter will assume his post on Aug. 1.

In the letter, Maher praised Carter for his commitment to academic quality and fiscal responsibility, as well as his successful efforts to increase student enrollment.

Increasing student enrollment here and making CGS more competitive with other, frequently lower-priced, local colleges and universities were major needs cited during the search for a new dean. "Through innovative recruitment seminars, program orientations, media campaigns, and the organized use of alumni and students," Maher wrote, "Dr. Carter has overseen striking increases in student enrollment. He has worked cooperatively with other administrators to develop degree options for transfer students from community colleges, an array of academic support services, new graduate certificate offerings, and undergraduate minors, and he has been successful with course delivery at off-campus locations." Carter has been a member of the CGS Board of Visitors for three years.

Although Carter's membership on that board and his personal knowledge of the University played a role in his desire to come to Pitt, he said it was not as important as some other considerations.

"I decided to accept the offer because I thought it was reasonable and dealt with some of the issues of concern to me that are mutually of concern to the University of Pittsburgh," Carter said. "It seems that both the administration, the college and most of the people I've met are headed in the same direction." Carter said his goals include increasing enrollment in CGS, working in a cooperative manner with other deans, the administration and faculty, and developing a strategic plan for CGS "to make sure we are not only headed in the right direction for ourselves, but have a distinct role, an individual role to play within the strategic plan of the University of Pittsburgh." A self-described consensus builder and program developer, Carter said: "Pittsburgh at this particular time and in that college provides the opportunity for me to begin a major building process. That's what I look forward to." A native of Wisconsin, Carter earned a B. A. in classics from Beloit College in 1962, an M. A. in classics from Northwestern University in 1964, and a Ph.D. in classics from Northwestern in 1980. He joined the Wayne State administration as director of the university studies/weekend college program in 1984 and became dean of the College of Lifelong Learning in 1988.

–Mike Sajna