University Times

This year’s slate for University Senate officers and for candidates to fill open Faculty Assembly positions has been set.

The Senate elections committee will conduct the 2008-09 elections via electronic balloting, April 7-18.

Printed instructions on how to vote electronically are being mailed this week; the electronic system will be activated April 7.

The Senate officer candidates are:

President: John J. Baker (incumbent), associate professor, microbiology-biochemistry, School of Dental Medicine; and Nicholas G. Bircher, associate professor of anesthesiology and critical care medicine, School of Medicine. Bircher served as Senate president in 2003-04 and 2004-05.

(For a discussion of issues by the two presidential candidates, see related story this issue.)

Vice president: Susan B. Hansen, professor of political science, School of Arts and Sciences; and Tracy Soska, continuing education director and lecturer, School of Social Work.

Secretary: Incumbent Lisa Marie Bernardo, associate professor, health and community systems, School of Nursing, is running unopposed.

Senate officers will serve one-year terms beginning July 1.

Newly elected members to Faculty Assembly serve the first year of their three-year terms on the Assembly; during their second and third years, they serve on both the faculty-only Assembly and on Senate Council, which includes faculty, staff, students and administrators.

The following are candidates for Faculty Assembly. The number of vacancies in each unit is indicated in parentheses.

School of Arts and Sciences

• Humanities (2 vacancies):

Tamara Goldbogen, theatre arts; Kimberly Latta, English; Troy Boone, English; Neepa Majumdar, film studies.

• Natural sciences (1):

Vladimir Savinov, physics and astronomy; Steve Tonsor, biology.

• Social sciences (2):

Van Beck Hall, history; Orysia Karapinka, history.

Professional schools

• Business (1):

Chad Zutter.

• Education (1):

Amy Otto; Charlene Trovato.

• Engineering (1):

John Barnard; Patrick Smolinski.

• Law (1):

Sallie Smith.

• Information Sciences (1):

Glenn Ray.

• Public and International Affairs (1):

No candidates at press time.

Schools of the Health Sciences

• Dental Medicine (1): John Close; Angie Riccelli.

• Public Health (1): Yuanpu Peter Di; Linda Frank.

• Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (1): Paula Leslie; Patrick Sparto.

• Health Sciences Library System (1): Carrie Iwema; John Siegel.

• Pharmacy (1): Amy Seybert; Scott Mark.

• Nursing (1): Dorothy Hawthorne-Burdine; Richard Henker; Donna Nativio.

• Medicine (3): Timothy Averch; Maher Ayyash; James Becker; Robin Gandley; Burhan Gharaibeh;

Priya Krishna; Stephen Lai; Jean Latimer; L. Dade Lunsford; Kenneth McCarty; Scott Tashman.

There are no openings this year for new Assembly members from the School of Social Work or the University Library System.

Pitt’s Bradford, Greensburg, Johnstown and Titusville campuses elect their own representatives to Faculty Assembly.

The slate of candidates for the University Senate’s 15 standing committees will be published in a future issue of the University Times. Electronic voting for Senate committee candidates will take place April 28-May 9.

—Peter Hart