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August 30, 2001

Dykstra to leave post in Commonwealth Relations

Ann M. Dykstra, Pitt director of Com monwealth Relations for seven years, will leave at the end of September to become an administrator at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa.

She will be executive assistant to Dickinson's president and secretary of the college. "I'll be more focused on higher education administration than I am in my current job, at one of Pennsylvania's best private liberal arts colleges," said Dykstra, who earned her Ph.D. at Pitt in 1988 and began working in the University's governmental relations office the following year.

Before Dykstra leaves, she will complete what has become a rite of autumn for her: drafting the University's annual funding request to the state, due in Harrisburg in mid-September.

At Dickinson, Dykstra will no longer be required to commute to Harrisburg to lobby lawmakers — a duty she says she "never really minded."

"I know some people can't imagine driving back and forth to Harrisburg the way I've been doing, but I've always enjoyed the work I've done here at Pitt, and going to Harrisburg was part of it," Dykstra said.

G. Reynolds Clark, executive director of Pitt's Community and Governmental Relations office and Dykstra's boss, said: "Dickinson College has made an outstanding selection, adding Ann Dykstra to their senior administrative organization. We're going to miss Ann, but we wish her well. She's a hard worker and just an outstanding person."

Clark said Pitt's administration is "looking at a variety of different options" in response to Dykstra's departure, including replacing her with a current Community and Governmental Relations staff member or someone from outside the University.

Harrisburg-based lobbyists Pugliese Associates — hired by Pitt last year primarily to argue the University's case that Pennsylvania research universities should get a hefty share of the state's tobacco settlement funds — won't figure into any changes in Pitt's in-house lobbying operation, Clark said.

The firm and its chief lobbyist, Rocco Pugliese, "have worked very closely with us since last year and are still working on retainer for the University," Clark said. "They complement our internal Commonwealth Relations activity."

— Bruce Steele

Filed under: Feature,Volume 34 Issue 1

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