University Times

A 14 percent increase in enrollment over fall 1995 has given Pitt the largest freshman class in its 209-year history. Numbers are up for both Pennsylvania residents and out-of-state students, according to figures released by the Office of the Provost. As of Aug. 22, the number of freshmen who were admitted to Pitt and paid […]

In April 1995, under instruc- tions from the Board of Trustees, Pitt's administration began a review of all construction and renovation projects requiring University funds. Then-Chancellor J. Dennis O'Connor appointed a 15-member committee to analyze existing facilities and take a hard look at each proposed construction project, including ones previously endorsed by the administration. This […]

Belief in extraterrestrial life. Access to the Internet. The presidential election. These are some of the topics on the minds of this year's entering freshmen at the University of Pittsburgh. Respondents to Pitt's annual survey of incoming freshmen expressed opinions on these and a variety of other topics ranging from violence on television to race […]

A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. on Sept. 13 in Heinz Chapel for sociology professor Jiri Nehnevajsa, who died on July 31, 1996, of cancer, a few days before his 71st birthday. He had been a professor at the University since 1961 and was chairperson of sociology from 1962 to 1966 and […]

Acting for the entire Board of Trustees, the board's executive committee on July 19 approved a fiscal year 1997 budget for Pitt of $838.6 million. The budget includes an increase in the salary pool of 3.5 percent — a 2.5 percent increase for those employees satisfactorily with an additional 1.0 percent available for merit increases. […]

In August of 1995, shortly after assuming the responsibilities of interim chancellor, I wrote to the campus community. Referring to my mood at the time, I described feelings of real excitement, occasional anxiety and deep gratitude. One year (and one chancellor's search) later, little has changed in terms of that personal emotional mix. My feelings […]

University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) doctors on July 17 performed the world's first gene therapy procedure on a patient suffering from rheumatoid arthritis. The trial marks a transition in the use of gene therapy from patients with fatal diseases, such as cancer or AIDS, to disabling disorders like arthritis. The trial also is the […]

Robert T. Henderson, the director of our Language Acquisition Institute and the president of the International Association for Learning Laboratories, was shamefully murdered sometime between July 12 and July 16 in Hawaii. The telephone in our house did not stop ringing for days as his friends called to share their feelings of incredible shock and […]

Pitt filled its top administrative slot June 20 when the Board of Trustees changed Mark Nordenberg's status from interim to permanent chancellor. But later in the summer, Nordenberg created two new administrative vacancies by accepting the resignations of Athletic Director Oval Jaynes and Vice Chancellor for Student and Public Affairs Leon Haley. Like other top […]

Is Pitt top-heavy? To help answer that ques- tion — and suggest ways to improve efficiency and cut costs — Pitt has hired a consulting firm to assess financial and administrative functions within the University, including the four regional campuses. At the Board of Trustees' behest, Pitt has hired Coopers & Lybrand Consulting "to identify […]