University Times

Kellie Kane

Kellie Kane, director of operations and strategic planning in the Office of Admissions and Financial Aid (OAFA), has been promoted to director of admissions.

Her promotion is a more formal announcement of the areas she currently oversees: operations, data, projections, the admissions committee and the scholarship committee.

In her new capacity, Kane will sign all of Pitt’s admissions letters.

Marc Harding, chief enrollment officer, stated: “This promotion reflects the changing and important role she plays in the admission and enrollment of undergraduates. We will now have both a director of admissions and a director of financial aid (Randy McCready), which is the norm for an enrollment services office of Pitt’s size and complexity.”

Kane earned both her bachelor’s and MBA degrees from Pitt.

She began working full-time in OAFA in 1999. Since 2012, she has been helping OAFA become a leader in college and university enrollment management services by developing cutting-edge student-centered processes and practices. She is Pitt’s representative to the Association of Chief Admissions Officers at Public Universities, which is largely comprised of admissions directors.

Two members of the Pitt-Johnstown staff have been recognized for outstanding service.

Dolores Berkey received the President’s Staff Award for excellence in service to Pitt-Johnstown.

Berkey, the executive director of budget management and purchasing, works closely with all departments to ensure efficiency in University operations, and takes the lead to improve budgeting processes on campus.

Mike Bodolosky received the President’s Staff Award for excellence in service to the community.

Bodolosky is executive director of the Pasquerilla Performing Arts Center, which is celebrating its 25th year. He was a driving force behind the creation of The Arts Coalition of the Alleghenies, which brings awareness and appreciation of the arts in the community.

Valerie Kobenko

Valerie Kubenko, an administrative secretary, and Stacy Netzel, director of conferencing, are the recipients of the 2016 Pitt-Greensburg President’s Distinguished Service Awards for Staff.

The President’s Distinguished Service Award for Staff is the most prestigious honor that Pitt-Greensburg presents to regular staff members of any classification in recognition of their outstanding contribution to the campus.

Kubenko, who works with the faculty in the Natural Sciences Division, was held up as a role model for teamwork. Using details from the nomination submitted, UPG President Sharon Smith described Kubenko as “kind, compassionate and generous”; “incredibly considerate and impressively anticipating the needs of everyone she works with” and “an empathetic and

Stacy Netzel

optimistic problem solver.”

Smith also commended Kubenko for her ability to work with a variety of personalities both in her division and beyond, exhibiting a gracious, diplomatic and patient manner.

Kubenko started her career at Pitt-Greensburg in 2006 as an administrative secretary to faculty in the Humanities and the Behavioral Sciences divisions.

Smith described Netzel as “a vivid illustration of ‘Pitt to the Power of One’: an individual with an entrepreneurial spirit who actively seeks out change rather than waiting to adapt to it in order to advance the whole organization.” Smith noted that Netzel, who holds an MBA from the Katz Graduate School of Business, has an eye for detail at all levels, a deep respect and professionalism in dealing with all constituents and an agility in handling all issues with calm and efficiency that keeps clients coming back year after year.

An example of Netzel’s abilities is the orchestration of the logistics for the fall 2015 meeting of the University Board of Trustees held at Pitt-Greensburg.

Randy Juhl

Randy Juhl has been appointed acting athletic director, effective Jan. 20, as Scott Barnes prepares to leave the position to become vice president and director of intercollegiate athletics at Oregon State.

Juhl, retired vice chancellor and dean emeritus of pharmacy, also is chairing the search committee to identify Barnes’ successor. (See Jan. 5 University Times.)

Juhl served as Pitt’s acting athletic director in 2015 prior to Barnes’ arrival and was instrumental in the recruitment of Pat Narduzzi as head football coach.

Guangyong Li, faculty member in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the Swanson School of Engineering, has been named 2017-18 vice president for conferences for the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) nanotechnology council (NTC), effective Jan. 1.

Li will establish and chair the council’s meetings committee, and will direct the council’s conference activities, including overseeing, coordinating and monitoring its annual conference.

He has been a member of the IEEE NTC since 2002.

Richard Harsen has been named as chief of police at Pitt-Bradford.

He succeeds Dan Songer, who retired Jan. 6 after 20 years as Pitt-Bradford’s police chief.

Harsen will supervise eight full-time and eight part-time commissioned police officers and two communications room personnel.

Harsen served 32 years with the Bradford city police, many of those as a juvenile officer and school resource officer. He became a part-time officer with UPB campus police in 2005, joining the campus police force as a full-time officer in 2015.

In addition to his work as a juvenile officer and a middle school resource officer, Harsen coached youth softball, baseball, football and basketball for 18 years. While with the city police, he helped to start the city’s drug abuse resistance education program.

Harsen plans to work closely with the campus’s resident assistants, who are often the first point of contact for students who need help. He also has been trained in interviewing techniques for victims of sexual assault and domestic violence.
—Compiled by K. Barlow