University Times

Richard Schulz, director of the University Center for Social and Urban Research (UCSUR) and member of the Council of Deans since 1999, will step down from these positions effective Sept. 1, 2016.

As director of UCSUR, Schulz established an infrastructure to support faculty researchers, giving them the capacity to conduct cutting-edge survey research; carry out regional econometric modeling; obtain, format and analyze spatial data; acquire, manage and analyze large secondary and administrative data; and carry out all phases of qualitative research from data collection to analysis.

Schulz also has led an increase in scholarly activity and funding in the center and helped enhance UCSUR’s contributions to regional leaders seeking data or analysis on policy issues. Nothing, says Provost Patricia E. Beeson, exemplifies this success more than the Western Pennsylvania Regional Data Center, which opened in 2015 and has quickly become an essential tool for providing data and analysis services to the region’s decision makers.

Schulz earned his PhD in social psychology from Duke University in 1974. His first faculty appointment was in the Department of Psychology at Carnegie Mellon University. He also held positions at Portland State University before being recruited to Pitt in 1984 as an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry.

At Pitt, he was promoted to professor in 1990 and distinguished service professor in 2013. His collaborative spirit is reflected in the many secondary appointments he holds, including the School of Nursing, Graduate  School of Public Health (epidemiology and behavioral and community health sciences), the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences (psychology and sociology), the School of Social Work and the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences.

During Schulz’s tenure at UCSUR, Pitt became one of the world’s leading centers of research on aging. In addition to growing his own research program in social gerontology, Schulz has mentored dozens of graduate students, fellows and junior faculty; recruited new research faculty; and helped establish multiple National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation research centers at the University. In 2002 he cofounded the Aging Institute at Pitt. His leadership contributions at Pitt are evident in the many programs and centers he continues to direct, including the gerontology program, the Geriatric Education Center of Pennsylvania, and the graduate certificate in gerontology program.

A committee will be formed to search for his successor.