University Times

HJ. Zoffer, dean emeritus of the Katz Graduate School of Business, will chair the search for a new senior vice chancellor for Health Sciences.

"Jerry brings to everything that he does high levels of energy, enthusiasm and organization as well as a recruiter's touch," Chancellor Mark Nordenberg told Senate Council March 17. "I'm very glad that he has agreed to invest his time in an effort that I think will be as important as anything we undertake during the next year." The University Senate and Staff Association Council named their representatives to the search committee last month. See Feb. 20 University Times.

"I'm pleased to say that I'm on the verge of completing the recruitment of the remaining members," Nordenberg said. "I hope to charge it [the committee] and send it on its way within the next few weeks." The chancellor said he will not release a roster of committee members until all have been appointed.

Nordenberg said he is close to finalizing a job description for the new senior vice chancellor and will "resolve the most important issues surrounding that position" by the time he charges the search committee. He did not elaborate, but some members of earlier search committees said candidates viewed the senior vice chancellor job as too subordinate to that of the president of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

The new search for a successor to current Senior Vice Chancellor Thomas Detre will be the third since 1992, when Detre first announced plans to retire. The first search ended in summer 1993, when Pitt failed to reach an agreement with any of the four finalists. A second search was called off by the Board of Trustees in May 1995 following the resignation of Chancellor J. Dennis O'Connor. Board leaders said that naming a permanent successor to Detre should wait until Pitt hired a new, permanent chancellor.

— Bruce Steele