University Times

The Pitt-Bradford Alumni Association presented Richard Frederick with the PBAA 2002 Teaching Excellence Award and alumnus William J. Krieg with the Distinguished Volunteer Award during the regional’s Celebration Weekend.

Frederick, a professor of history who has taught at Pitt-Bradford since 1979, and Krieg, who attended Pitt-Bradford from 1964 to 1966, were honored Oct. 5.

The PBAA Teaching Excellence Award recognizes a member of the Pitt-Bradford faculty who has exemplified the established educational principles, shown dedication in teaching students and excelled in his/her area of specialty.

Frederick, who also is chairman of the Social Science Division, was selected for his commitment to the college, involvement in campus activities and continued pursuit of professional interests outside the campus.

Aside from his involvement in teaching and campus activities, Frederick is active in local theatre as a performer and a writer and has been writing for Kiwanis Kapers, an annual variety show sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of Bradford, for the past eight years.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Indiana University, a master’s degree from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio and a doctorate from Penn State University.

The PBAA Distinguished Volunteer Award recognizes individuals who have enriched the college and the Pitt-Bradford Alumni Association through their volunteer efforts.

Krieg has been an active member of the PBAA since 2000 and currently serves as treasurer and as a member of the scholarship and public relations committees. He also is the alumni chairman of the annual giving fund and is active in the Alumni Connections Program.

He established the Krieg Family Memorial Scholarship, which benefits out-of-state students.

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The Center for Philosophical Education at Santa Barbara (CA) City College is sponsoring an international symposium Oct. 18 and 19 on the work of Adolf Grünbaum, Andrew Mellon Professor of Philosophy of Science, research professor of psychiatry and chair, Center for Philosophy of Science.

The conference will feature two Pitt graduates who studied with Grünbaum:

Bas van Fraassen, chaired professor of philosophy at Princeton, and Nancy Cartwright, MacArthur Fellowship “genius” prize recipient, who has directed the University of London Centre for the Philosophy of the Natural and Social Sciences.

Grünbaum is the author of 12 books and more than 335 scholarly articles. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, a member of the Academie Internationale de Philosophie des Sciences, a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a laureate of the International Academy of Humanism.

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The Graduate School of Public Health (GSPH) has named David Piposzar executive director of the Center for Public Health Preparedness. The new center is one of 15 preparedness centers nationwide charged by the federal government with training the nation’s public health, health care and public safety workforce in responding to terrorist incidents, infectious disease outbreaks and other public health threats.

Piposzar comes to GSPH from the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD), where he managed environmental and public health programs and public health preparedness activities.

The GSPH Center for Public Health Preparedness will provide ongoing crisis leadership training for senior officials in the fields of public health, emergency management, emergency medical systems and hospital emergency departments; direct a surge-capacity training program for medical professionals who would assist public health officials during a bioterrorism emergency, and instruct rural hospital personnel in handling bioterrorism emergencies.

“David Piposzar is a nationally recognized expert in public health. As a member of the Allegheny County Health Department and chair of the Metropolitan Medical Response System for the region of southwestern Pennsylvania, he has provided superb leadership to our regional response to the threat of bioterrorism, beginning well before Sept. 11 and continuing through today,” said Bernard Goldstein, dean of GSPH. “His leadership role in the Graduate School of Public Health’s Center for Public Health Preparedness assures that this newly funded program will be closely linked with the County Health Department and with other statewide, regional and national efforts in responding to the threat of bioterrorism.”

Piposzar earned his master’s in public health from GSPH. He began his public health career as a food and housing inspector and on-site sewage enforcement and permitting officer. He coordinated the Worker and Community Right-to-Know Program for the ACHD, drafted a national tool for performing community environmental health assessments and developed a comprehensive Hospital Hazardous Materials Incident Response Plan and training program for hospitals in Allegheny County. In recent years he served as manager of the ACHD Office of Grants and Proposals, generating more than $9 million in financial support to Allegheny County.

Piposzar also directed the development of the Metropolitan Medical Response System (MMRS) in western Pennsylvania, a collaboration of what is now more than 150 agencies and 65 hospitals organized under the Pennsylvania Region 13 Counter-Terrorism Task Force. While developing the MMRS plan, he served as the interim hospital bioterrorism coordinator for the Pennsylvania Department of Health.

For several years, he has developed and delivered training programs on bioterrorism and public health preparedness to emergency medical personnel.

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Kenneth R. Etzel has been named director of admissions and student services for the School of Dental Medicine. In this position, Etzel will work to recruit a diverse student body, foster beneficial faculty/student relationships and increase student involvement.

He also will continue in his current positions as associate dean for education, director of predoctoral research, associate head of the division of oral biology and associate chair of microbiology and biochemistry at the dental school.

Prior to his current duties, Etzel has served the school in a variety of positions including acting chair of the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology and the Department of Anatomy and Histology, as well as director of basic sciences in the Department of Oral Biology. Prior to his arrival at Pitt, he was a faculty member at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.

Etzel is a member of many professional organizations including the American Association of Oral Biologists, of which he is past-president, and the American Association of Dental Schools, of which he is past-chair.

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The Office of Public Affairs has announced five new appointments.

Marci Belchick is the new creative director in Public Affairs’s Department of University Marketing Communications. She will oversee the design and production aspects of the office’s media communications, including corporate identity, advertising, graphic design and photography.

Senior webmaster John Cooper, who oversaw the development of the University’s web site and who manages the institution’s web communications program, is now director of University web communications.

David R. Eltz has been named executive editor of the Pitt Chronicle and director of news. He will manage the office’s communication representatives and will oversee the day-to-day news operation, working with local and regional media outlets to place Pitt stories.

Current corporate and foundations relations director at Pittsburgh Mercy Foundation Louise Sciannameo has been named executive director of executive communications, effective Nov. 1. In that capacity she will support the written and oral communications of Chancellor Mark Nordenberg.

William K. Young, director of marking services since 1994, has been named director of publications and marketing, with oversight of the more than 400 promotional publications that Public Affairs produces annually. He will continue to develop marketing and advertising plans for Pitt units.