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October 26, 1995

Weber resigns as vice chancellor for Institutional Advancement

VOLUME 28 NUMBER 5 OCTOBER 26, 1995

Weber resigns as vice chancellor for Institutional Advancement

Lawrence M. Weber re-signed as vice chancellor for Institutional Advancement Oct. 13, effective that day.

The University Times could not reach Weber for comment. But in a written statement he said his decision to leave Pitt was based on his belief that the Board of Trustees and the new chancellor, when selected, will need a new team.

According to the news release announcing his resignation, Weber plans to establish his own fund raising counseling business locally.

Heading Institutional Advancement on an interim basis will be Margaret C. McDonald, assistant vice chancellor for academic affairs in the Health Sciences. McDonald, who has been at Pitt since 1984, has also served as director of publications and development and executive director of international research and collaboration, both for the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

Weber was hired by former Chancellor J. Dennis O'Connor in May 1992 and oversaw Pitt fund-raising, alumni relations and some public relations functions. Media relations and the University Times also reported to Weber prior to 1994, when O'Connor transferred those units to Leon Haley, vice chancellor for Student and Public Affairs. Media relations now reports directly to Interim Chancellor Mark Nordenberg.

Weber came to Pitt from Ketchum, Inc., a fund-raising counseling firm headquartered in Pittsburgh. He had been with Ketchum for 23 years, serving as president from 1985 to 1992. Weber became the University's chief fund-raiser one year after Pitt completed its biggest fund-raising campaign ever, the $251 million Campaign for the Third Century.

But it was also a time when Pitt's public image was still suffering from news media revelations about the retirement package granted by the Board of Trustees to former Chancellor Wesley Posvar. Negative publicity also followed several early decisions by Posvar's successor, O'Connor, including the latter's decisions to spend tens of thousands of dollars to renovate the Chancellor's residence and office.

This year, fund-raising consultant Michael Kiefer told Pitt administrators and trustees that they need to deal with the University's public relations problems before launching a planned $100 million capital campaign. An earlier campaign to raise $25 million-to-$30 million for a building to house Pitt's new undergraduate business college was suspended after raising only $1.6 million. University leaders now are considering the Masonic Temple as a site for the new college.

Trustees chairperson J. Wray Connolly and Interim Chancellor Nordenberg said they expressed dissatisfaction with Pitt fund-raising during recent meetings with Weber, but both men denied that they forced Weber to resign. The decision to tender his resignation was Larry's, Nordenberg said.

Larry and I did have conversations about his decision [to resign], and about the direction of Institutional Advancement, Nordenberg continued. Larry is someone I have worked closely with over time. I think he has worked energetically on behalf of the institution and accomplished things for us in difficult times. Now that the decision has been made, it seems to me that we ought to view this as an opportunity to move forward to address the fund-raising needs of the University.

Regarding Weber's comment about the next permanent chancellor needing a new administrative team, Nordenberg said: 'That really was a statement from Larry, not from me. There is nothing that should be read into that statement that says anything about my views of other people who are members of the senior leadership of the University.

Nordenberg said he sees "some very, very good signs" for Pitt fund-raising, particularly the fact that corporate donations to the University totaled $6.06 million during the fiscal year that ended June 30, 1995 – a 26.5 percent increase over the previous year. At the same time, though, there has been a significant drop in the number of alumni donors, probably reflecting broader questions about general satisfaction with the direction of the University, the interim chancellor said.

The number of alumni donors to Pitt declined from 26,571 in FY 1990-91 to 21,781 in the most recent fiscal year. The total number of donors, including alumni, dropped from 33,762 to 29,302 during that same five-year period.

Despite donor declines and public image problems, Pitt raised more money last year than in any previous year -$39,424,878. But trustees chairperson Connolly noted that the figure was only about $640,000 higher than the amount donated to Pitt five years before, during the final year of the Campaign for the Third Century. During the three intervening years, Pitt raised $29.64 million (FY 1991-92), $33.15 million (FY 1992-93) and $32.33 million (FY 1993-94).

Last year – $39,424,878 in donations included a $4.5 million gift from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center for three endowed chairs in the School of Medicine. Even without the UPMC contribution, donations to Pitt increased by 8.5 percent over the previous year, which matched the nationwide increase in contributions to education.

Giving to the University was up in four categories. Corporate gifts totaled about $6.06 million, a 26.5 percent increase. Alumni gifts were up 3.4 percent to $7.03 million. Non-alumni individuals gave $3.54 million, an increase of 68.4 percent. The largest percentage increase (143.8 percent) was in the "other organizations" category, which totaled $10.24 million, including the UPMC gift.

Foundation giving declined by 12.9 percent but foundations still remained the single largest source of contributions to Pitt – $12.37 million.

Bruce Steele

Filed under: Feature,Volume 28 Issue 5

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