During the March 18 University Senate meeting, Margaret Stevenson, vice president of the Graduate and Professional Student Association, said that graduate student evaluations of research advisers are impractical because students are reluctant to criticize faculty with whom they collaborate on research projects, and who could make or break the students' careers. The March 19 University […]
Statistics dept. celebrates 1st anniversary >
April 2nd, 1998The Department of Statistics celebrated its first anniversary last weekend with a symposium featuring talks by internationally renowned statisticians including Stanford University professor Ingram Olkin (at right) and C. Radhakriskna Rao, a Penn State statistics professor and adjunct professor of statistics at Pitt. During his March 27 lecture, Rao emphasized both the ancient roots and […]
Sophomore wins prestigious Putnam math competition >
April 2nd, 1998Pitt sophomore Ovidiu Savin outscored more than 2,500 mathematics undergraduates from more than 400 colleges and universities in North America to achieve the highest official ranking in the 58th William Lowell Putnam Mathematics Competition held in December. The Putnam competition, which began in 1938, is the most prestigious undergraduate mathematics event of its kind. Savin […]
Pitt team heading to College Bowl nationals >
April 2nd, 1998Pitt's College Bowl Team has won the regional championships and will compete for the national title April 17-19 at the University of Texas at Dallas. Pitt beat George Washington University, Carnegie Mellon and Georgetown in the regional championships. The Pitt team includes captain Eric Stein-hauser, a freshman chemical engineering/philosophy major; Niladri Das, a freshman majoring […]
40+% of eligible faculty opt for Pitt early retirement plan >
April 2nd, 1998More than 40 percent of 381 eligible tenured faculty members have signed up for Pitt's early retirement incentive plan, the administration announced yesterday. In approving the plan last October, Pitt trustees said it would give the University more flexibility in meeting changing academic needs. In a written statement, Chancellor Mark Nordenberg said the level of […]
$138 million in capital state funds allows welcome changes in Pitt's facilities plan >
April 2nd, 1998Last year, the Board of Trustees approved a facilities plan outlining Pitt construction and renovation projects through the year 2007. But in January, Gov. Tom Ridge threw a much-welcomed monkey wrench into the plan by pledging $138 million in state funds over the next five years for Pitt capital projects, including $38 million for a […]
Pending approval, medical dean to give faculty draft papers on UPP >
April 2nd, 1998In response to faculty complaints that they've been kept in the dark about UPMC Health System's planned acquisition of the University of Pittsburgh Physicians (UPP) unified practice plan, interim medical school Dean George Michalopoulos has agreed to share the latest drafts of "all pertinent documents" related to UPP with a faculty committee. But in a […]
Pitt, UPMC, practice plans agree to pay $17 million to settle charges of overbilling for Medicaire, Medicaid >
April 2nd, 1998Pitt, the UPMC Health System and the 18 clinical practice plans affiliated with the University's School of Medicine have agreed to pay $17 million to the federal and state governments to settle charges that Pitt physicians overbilled Medicare and Medicaid between 1990 and 1996. The physicians' Medicare/Medicaid billings during those years totaled approximately $250 million. […]