University Times

Patricia Beeson, associate dean for undergraduate studies in Arts and Sciences (A&S), will become the University’s new vice provost for graduate studies effective May 1.

Beeson, who also is a professor of economics with a joint appointment in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, will succeed Elizabeth U. Baranger, who has served Pitt for 40 years, the last 14 as graduate studies vice provost. Baranger, who is a physics professor, plans to retire at the end of the current academic year.

As A&S associate dean, Beeson chaired the school’s curriculum review committee during its final year and worked with individual departments to implement the first overhaul of A&S general education requirements since 1981. Although her administrative work has focused on undergraduates in recent years, Beeson formerly directed graduate studies in the economics department and has served on dozens of dissertation committees during her 20 years as a faculty member here. “So, graduate studies is not a stretch or foreign territory for me,” she said.