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May 28, 2015

3 faculty win University Senate service award

Faculty members Jay Sukits, Cindy Tananis and Frank Wilson were presented with the University Senate service award at Senate Council’s May 20 meeting.

Senate President Michael Spring said, “All three of the recipients have been fully engaged over the last decade in the Senate and all three have played significant roles the last two years on the ad hoc committee for non-tenure-stream faculty. But they have done much more.”

He added: “You may note that these three faculty are non-tenure-stream faculty and, while it is a happy coincidence this year with so much attention being paid to NTS faculty, their selection was not based on their appointments but on their collective service to the Senate of the University of Pittsburgh.” Spring said the Senate executive committee selected the three unanimously.

Sukits, a faculty member in the Katz Graduate School of Business, has served for a decade on Faculty Assembly and worked on the Senate budget policies, student affairs, and plant utilization and planning committees. He also has served on the Board of Trustees investment committee and is a recipient of the Chancellor’s Distinguished Public Service Award.

Tananis, of the School of Education, has been a Faculty Assembly member for five years and has served on the Senate’s educational policies committee.  She also has served on the School of Education and the provost’s planning and budget committees as well as on the University Review Board. She has also served on the Eastern Evaluation Research Society board of directors.

Wilson, a faculty member at Pitt-Greensburg, has served as president of the UPG Faculty Senate for the last five years while serving during that same period on Faculty Assembly and Senate Council. Prior to assuming the UPG Faculty Senate presidency, he served for five years on the UPG Faculty Senate Council.

He has served on the Board of Trustees budget committee and has received the UPG President’s Distinguished Service Award.

Current Senate officers are not eligible to receive the service award. Spring clarified that although Wilson has been elected Senate president, he is not yet an officer. Under Senate bylaws, new officers’ terms begin July 1.

Senior administrators and Senate executive committee members gathered to congratulate this year’s winners of the Senate service award. From left: Michael Spring, Senate president; Susan Skledar, Senate secretary; Irene Frieze, Senate vice president; Thomas Smitherman, Senate immediate past president; Cindy Tananis, awardee; Chancellor Patrick Gallagher; Frank Wilson, awardee; Jay Sukits, awardee, and Provost Patricia Beeson.

Senior administrators and Senate executive committee members gathered to congratulate this year’s winners of the Senate service award. From left: Michael Spring, Senate president; Susan Skledar, Senate secretary; Irene Frieze, Senate vice president; Thomas Smitherman, Senate immediate past president; Cindy Tananis, awardee; Chancellor Patrick Gallagher; Frank Wilson, awardee; Jay Sukits, awardee, and Provost Patricia Beeson.

Faculty Assembly and Senate Council are not scheduled to meet again until after the start of the new academic year; thus the May 20 council meeting marked Senate President Spring’s final meeting in office.

“Serving as the president of the Senate has been a rare privilege and a great learning experience,” Spring said, thanking a number of faculty, staff, administrators and students for their support during his term.

He offered special thanks to Lori Molinaro, director of the University Senate. “The past two years have been hard on my research agenda, my teaching and outside professional activities. I could not have done it without the support, dedication and professionalism of Lori Molinaro. Perhaps the greatest benefit of the Senate presidency … is the opportunity it presents to work with Lori and to enjoy her friendship and support,” Spring said.

Chancellor’s report

Gallagher welcomed incoming Senate president Wilson, noting that he will be the first University Senate president elected from a regional Pitt campus.

The chancellor expressed gratitude for Spring’s service and presented him with a gavel. “His love of this institution and his passion for making this a better place are obvious to all of us who’ve had the opportunity to work with him,” Gallagher said. “His efforts as Senate president over the past two years have made this University a better place. He has been a relentless advocate of the importance of our shared governance structure and participation in it.”

Spring’s history at Pitt dates back to the early 1970s when he was a graduate research assistant. Gallagher said Spring “has had a tremendous impact on Pitt, as a graduate student, as a faculty member and as someone who has served to govern and guide Pitt over the years in many capacities, including membership on (Senate) Council, Faculty Assembly, the Senate budget policies committee, and the plant utilization and planning committee.” He noted as well Spring’s service on the Board of Trustees audit and property and facilities committees; the University judicial review board, and other University committees and working groups.

Admissions up

Gallagher reported that as of May 16, paid admissions for the fall freshman class stood at 4,186, up 5 percent compared to last year.
Prospective freshmen include 2,637 in-state students, an increase of 3.1 percent, and 1,549 out-of-state students, an increase of 8.5 percent, the chancellor said.

Provost Patricia E. Beeson cautioned that the numbers are subject to change over the summer, but commented that the class’s “academic profile is very strong, and diversity is looking really good” with a 10 percent increase in minority students projected.

Beeson congratulated chief enrollment officer Marc Harding and his team for their work.

He in turn said the task of bringing in a talented, diverse class is made easier “as long as Pitt stays great,” exhorting colleagues on campus to “keep doing what you’re doing.”

Harding said, “You can’t bring in a class as talented and diverse as we’re bringing in without great people, a great place and a great product.”

Strategic planning

The chancellor said a presentation on Pitt’s strategic planning is being prepared for the June 19 Board of Trustees meeting.

“That will really signal the beginning of, not the development of the plan, but the development of the implementation. We’ll really begin the work of what does this all mean for everybody and begin that process.”

—Kimberly K. Barlow