University Times

Open-access publishing has been in the limelight as recent developments have encouraged more free publication of scholarly literature. This is the fourth in an occasional series on the impact of the digital age on academic publishing. Publish or perish, the familiar adage says. While journals in print once were the standard for academic publishing, e-publishing […]

Teachers often talk about how gratifying teaching can be when it’s done well, and how frustrating it can be when there are disconnects in the learning process. Many also relish debate on the value placed on undergraduate teaching at a research institution and the relationship between research and teaching in academia. In the Aug. 28 […]

Plans are coming together for the University Senate’s fall plenary session, set for Oct. 23 in the William Pitt Union Assembly Room. Titled “Quality of Life in Oakland: Investments in University and Community Partnerships,” the event will feature a marketplace of local community organizations, panel discussions, brief presentations, break-out sessions and an oral summary report, […]

Faculty and staff have been appointed or re-appointed by Chancellor Mark Nordenberg to be non-voting representatives on the 11 standing Pitt Board of Trustees committees. Faculty and staff representatives serve one-year terms, not to exceed four consecutive terms. The representatives serve until June 30, the end of the University’s fiscal year. The 2008-09 faculty representatives […]

Pitt researchers will team with engineers and doctors from universities and industries around the world for a five-year, $18.5 million project to develop implantable devices made from biodegradable metals. The devices will be designed to adapt to physical changes in a patient’s body and dissolve once the patient’s body has healed. This is expected to […]

Pitt’s School of Medicine, Renal-Electrolyte Division, has been awarded a nearly $4 million, five-year Kidney Research Center grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, one of only eight such centers in the United States. Ora Weisz of medicine, cell biology and physiology will be associate director of the center. The […]

To ensure that patients’ needs are met under its new industry relations policy, UPMC has adopted a new system for distributing drug samples to its physician offices, hospital-based clinics and outpatient pharmacies. The new approach, known as the UPMC eSample Center, allows physicians to order available samples, vouchers and coupons via a web-based system accessible […]

Pitt-Johnstown has received $4 million in state funds for the construction of a nursing and health sciences building. This is the largest appropriation earmarked specifically for Pitt-Johnstown in nearly 20 years. UPJ President Jem Spectar remarked, “This funding makes it possible for the Johnstown campus to build upon its existing capacity and expertise in allied health […]

Ito Shoji Co. of Japan has made a $10,000 gift in honor of Harriett B. Wick to the Pitt-Bradford chapel project. Ito Shoji is one of the largest worldwide distributors of Zippo products. In May, the Bradford campus announced that it would build an interfaith chapel funded in part by an anonymous $1 million gift […]