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June 20, 1996

A look at Nordenberg's academic and administrative background

Born in Duluth, Minn., on July 12, 1948, Mark Nordenberg graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics from Thiel College, Greenville, Mercer County, in 1970. As an undergraduate, Nordenberg was named to "Who's Who in American Colleges" and won the Thiel Competitive Scholarship and the Stewart Memorial Scholarship.

Following graduation from Thiel, Nordenberg enrolled in the University of Wisconsin Law School, from which he graduated magna cum laude in 1973.

While in law school, Nordenberg also served as an officer in the Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps and was named to the Order of the Coif and a Weymouth Kirkland Legal Scholar. His bar admissions include the Supreme Court of the United States, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, the State and Federal Courts of Minnesota, and the State and Federal Courts of Wisconsin.

Nordenberg's teaching career began in 1975, when he was appointed assistant professor of law at the Capital University Law Center, Columbus, Ohio. He began his Pitt career as a visiting assistant professor in 1977. A year later, he was made a permanent member of the law school's faculty with a rank of assistant professor. He became an associate professor of law in 1980, a professor of law in 1983 and distinguished professor of law in 1994.

As an administrator, Nordenberg served as associate dean for Academic Affairs in 1985; interim dean of the law school, 1985-1987; dean of the law school of Law, 1987-1993; interim provost and senior vice chancellor for Academic Affairs, 1993-1994, and interim chancellor, 1995-present.

During his tenure as interim chancellor, Nordenberg has served as an ex officio member, with vote, of the Board of Trustees, its executive and nominating committees, and all other committees except compensation.

As interim provost, Nordenberg was administrative liaison to the academic affairs committee and ad hoc long range planning committee of the Board of Trustees. He also has served as a member of the board and executive committee of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center System.

Among the numerous University committees and councils on which Nordenberg has served are: Council of Deans, University Planning and Budgeting Committee, committee on the quality of undergraduate instruction, chancellor's advisory committee on investment policy, provost's working group on the status and recognition of teaching, senior vice chancellor for the Health Sciences search committee, and vice chancellor for Institutional Advancement search committee.

In the law school, Nordenberg has served on the faculty steering committee, appointments committee, curriculum committee, petitions and academic standards committee, ad hoc committee on student activities, and the search committee for director of admissions.

Law courses taught by Nordenberg include: legal process and civil procedure, advanced civil procedure, civil procedure seminar, trial advocacy, evidence, unfair competition and transnational litigation.

As part of his transnational litigation work, Nordenberg in 1994 served as co-leader of a seminar at the University of Augsburg, Germany.

Nordenberg's other experience abroad includes lecturing or serving as a Pitt representative to the Free University of Berlin, the University of Augsburg; Lajos Kossuth University, Debrecen, and Jozsef Attila University, Szeged, both in Hungary.

In 1984, Nordenberg's teaching skills were recognized when he was presented with the initial excellence-in-teaching award of the law school. Since then he has won the Chancellor's Distinguished Teaching Award, 1985, and the professional achievement award of the Thiel College Alumni Association, 1988.

Known on campus for his interest in students, Nordenberg has served as an adviser for the law school's client counseling program, which won national honors from the American Bar Association in 1982. The program also won American Bar Association regional awards in 1978, 1979, 1982 and 1984. He also has served as adviser for the Academy of Trial Lawyers' litigation workshop program and the American Trial Lawyers Association's student chapter trial court competition.

Nordenberg also has served on committees or in other capacities for the Association of American Universities, Pennsylvania Association of Colleges and Universities, Pittsburgh Council on Higher Education, the Institute for Shipboard Education, Thiel College Board of Trustees, The Falk Fund of Falk School, Kenyon College Parents' Advisory Council and the American Bar Association and Association of American Law Schools Site Evaluation Teams.

In the legal arena, the chancellor has served on committees or in other capacities for the U.S. Advisory Committee on Civil Rights, Pennsylvania Civil Procedural Rules Committee, Civil Justice Advisory Group of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, American Arbitration Association Large and Complex Case Panel, American Arbitration Association Advisory Committee on Large and Complex Cases Panel, Pennsylvania Chief Justice's Committee on Comprehensive Education, Intensive Course in Trial Advocacy, Neighborhood Legal Services Association Trial Advocacy Workshops, Academy of Trial Lawyers of Allegheny County, Allegheny County Bar Association, Third Circuit Judicial Conference Planning Committee, Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers, American Bar Foundation, Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, University of Pittsburgh School of Law/Neighborhood Legal Services Association Pro Bono Project, Federal Judicial Center, Campaign for Equal Justice and McLean Lecture on World Law. He is a member of both the American and Pennsylvania Bar Associations.

Nordenberg's community activities include the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, Pittsburgh-Wuhan Friendship Committee and the Mayor's Committee on Group Access to City Facilities. He is listed in "Who's Who in America," "Who's Who in American Education," "Who's Who in American Law" and "Who's Who in the East." As an author, Nordenberg has written the two-volume work "Modern Pennsylvania Civil Practice." In addition, he has written chapters or parts of the following books: the 1995 supplement to volume one of "Modern Pennsylvania Civil Practice," the annual update of "Dunlap-Hanna Pennsylvania Forms" and the chapter Pennsylvania Class Actions-Text and Forms in "Dunlap-Hanna Pennsylvania Forms." Scholarly journals in which Nordenberg's work has appeared include Judicature, Virginia Law Review, Syracuse Law Review, Notre Dame Lawyer and University of Pittsburgh Law Review. He also has written reports for the Civil Justice Advisory Group.

Nordenberg and his wife Nikki, a counseling psychologist, have three children, Erin, 22, a recent graduate of Kenyon College; Carl, 16, a student at Central Catholic High School, and Michael, 12, a student at Falk School.

–Mike Sajna


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