University Times

The hustle and bustle that marks the beginning of each academic year is here again. But schools at Pitt have not slept through the summer months, which saw everything from major renovations to the establishment of new academic programs to the hiring and promotion of employees.

The University Times asked deans and other school officials to provide a brief look at “what’s new” in their schools. A caution to the reader: None of the summaries here is meant to be all-encompassing, but rather they are overviews highlighting school information.

 

PROVOST AREA

Arts and Sciences
Strengthening undergraduate education and faculty teaching innovation are key themes in Arts and Sciences (A&S) this academic year, according to Regina Schulte-Ladbeck, recently appointed associate dean for Undergraduate Studies.

One new initiative in undergrad education this term is the learning communities pilot program, which features six groups of 18 freshmen enrolled in thematic blocks of courses.

For example, students in the contemporary culture learning community enroll together in courses such as political science and contemporary art. They also enroll in customized freshman studies and English composition courses that are presented with the theme of contemporary culture. “There is a hope this will enhance their connection socially and academically, so they feel comfortable working in groups and developing new social connections,” said Laura Dice, assistant dean for freshmen in Arts and Sciences. “The goal is to improve academic performance and increase retention, graduation rates and student satisfaction.”

A&S Undergraduate Studies will evaluate the impact that such learning communities have on students’ first year of college life.

Administrators want to increase the number of learning communities and develop new themes for next year’s entering class.

In other developments, Schulte-Ladbeck and her staff plan to streamline the approval process for new courses. The goals are to encourage faculty to develop new courses and to achieve better faculty satisfaction.

Schulte-Ladbeck also is collaborating with A&S faculty and staff to develop a new certificate in scientific leadership program. The certificate will combine natural science courses with courses enabling students to develop the technical and behavioral skills needed to become leaders of their future research groups, academic departments or business or government offices.

A&S Dean N. John Cooper commented, “I am looking forward to an exciting new year, with a wonderful group of new students and some exceptional new faculty members joining our campus community.”

There are more than 650 faculty in Arts and Sciences, which is second only to the medical school in number of faculty. A sampling of new A&S faculty includes:

* Gordon Belot joined the University in February as an associate professor in the Department of Philosophy and fellow in the Center for Philosophy of Science with a secondary appointment in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science.

Belot taught at Princeton and New York universities before returning to Pitt, where he earned a Ph.D. in philosophy. He has held a postdoctoral fellowship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and a fellowship from the National Science Foundation.

Belot’s primary interests are in philosophy of physics and philosophy of science, and his recent work has been concerned with the interpretive, methodological and metaphysical implications of symmetry principles.

* Cecil Blake, former associate professor of communication at the University of Nebraska, joins Pitt as an associate professor with tenure, beginning a five-year term as communication department chair.

Blake has held a number of academic positions in the United States and Africa. Internationally, his experience covers an array of teaching, research and administrative experiences in four countries (Nigeria, Kenya, Japan, and his native Sierra Leone). He spent six years in the United Nations University in Tokyo and a year as cabinet minister of information and broadcasting and chief government spokesperson for the government of Sierra Leone.

Blake, who holds a doctorate from the University of Wisconsin, is a scholar of rhetoric and communication with a focus on African-American and African rhetoric and communication as central elements in the historical development of theories of African, African diasporic and pan-African identities. Blake has emphasized the ways in which Eurocentric visions for African development fail because they do not capture the cultural qualities and resources of Africa and Africans.

* Oliver Board joins Arts and Sciences as an assistant professor of economics. He comes from Amherst College, where he was a visiting assistant professor. Prior to that, Board was a university lecturer in the Department of Economics, and fellow and tutor in economics at Brasenose College, Oxford.

He earned a B.A. in philosophy, an M.Phil. in economics and a D.Phil. all from the University of Oxford.

Board’s primary field is microeconomics. He has a research agenda focusing on the epistemic of game theory, addressing and generalizing well-accepted concepts of rationality. Board addresses the fundamental problem of how players revise their beliefs as a game unfolds, which is central to understanding the implications of rationality in dynamic games.

* Cheris Chan was hired as an assistant professor of sociology. She is joining Arts and Sciences from Northwestern University, where she completed her dissertation.

Chan was an undergraduate and M.Phil. student at the University of Hong Kong and specializes in cultural and economic sociology, as well as qualitative methods and globalization. She has applied these approaches to a wide range of issues in Hong Kong and Chinese religious and cultural life, including the rise and fall of the Falun Gong in China.

* Assistant professor of sociology Deborah Gould comes from the University of Chicago where she was a Harper/Schmidt fellow in social sciences and a collegiate assistant professor.

While at the University of Chicago, Gould received her Ph.D. in political science and served as an instructor and the Grodzin Prize lecturer. She also spent a year as a lecturer at Roosevelt University.

Gould’s primary focus is on the development and tactics of the AIDS activist movement, ACT UP, in the United States. Her broader research and teaching interests are in the areas of social movements, American politics, human sexuality and the development of quantitative methods.

* Debra Hawhee is an assistant professor of English who taught at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She received her Ph.D. in English from Penn State. Her research focuses on composition and rhetoric and connects to her experience as a student-athlete – She was a member of the 1989 NCAA Champion Tennessee Lady Volunteers basketball team.

* Margaret Judd joins the anthropology faculty as an assistant professor. She had been a curator at the British Museum.

Judd has a business administration diploma and a B.A. with honors in archaeology from Wilfrid Laurier University, Ontario. She completed her M.S. in osteology, palaeopathology and funerary archaeology at the University of Bradford, United Kingdom, and received her Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.

Judd’s interests include human adaptation and health, trauma, palaeopathology and forensic anthropology.

* Alexis León is an assistant professor of economics, coming to Pitt from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he was a computer lab consultant. León received his B.A. (llicenciatura) in economics from the Universitat Pompeu Fabria in Barcelona, and his Ph.D. in economics from MIT.

León’s primary fields are labor economics and applied econometrics. He also has interests in family economics and population economics.

* W. Vincent Liu, an assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, previously was an assistant professor and a postdoctoral fellow at MIT.

He earned his M.S. in physics from Beijing Normal University and his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Texas at Austin.

Liu is a theorist whose work involves quantum coherence in a way that transcends condensed atomic gases as well as solids.

* Assata-Nicole Richards joins A&S as an assistant professor of sociology from the University of Pennsylvania, where she completed her doctorate and served as a teaching assistant.

Richards’s research interests include social movements, prisons, research methods, survey research, organizational theory, life course perspective and quantitative methods and statistics. Her dissertation is a study of the U.S. prison system using the National Institute of Justice database.

* Brian Traw is an assistant professor of biological sciences, coming from the University of Chicago where he was a V. Dropkin postdoctoral fellow.

Traw received his A.B. in biology from Harvard and his Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology from Cornell. His research focuses on plant evolutionary ecology, looking primarily at traits that protect mustard plants from leaf-eating insects, and focusing on identifying genes responsible for basal expression and induction of defenses in the model mustard, arabidophsis thaliana.

* Erin Graff Zivin joins Pitt as an assistant professor of Hispanic languages and literatures. She has taught Hebrew, English and Portuguese.

Zivin earned her B.A. in social science, with honors, from the University of California at Berkeley. She spent a year as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar at the Universidad de Chile and returned to Berkeley to earn her M.A. in comparative literature and Latin American studies. She received her Ph.D. in Spanish and Portuguese from New York University.

Zivin’s area of research involves a philosophical/theoretical focus on questions of identity and alterity. Though her current research focuses on modern Latin America, she sees her work opening out into a pan-Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian framework, including medieval and early modern Spain and Portugal, and their colonial empires.

Business
The new two-year M.B.A. program at Katz Graduate School of Business has introduced a “coaching program” designed to gauge and improve competencies, such as interpersonal or writing skills. Employers, professors, project teammates and others provide the basis for competency ratings for second-year M.B.A. students.

The school also contracted with the theatre arts and communication departments, as well as other academic programs, to help round out the future M.B.A.s. Students meet either one-on-one with faculty from other academic programs or in special seminars. “We’re making use of the entire campus,” said Dean Frederick Winter. He expects students to reduce class schedules this fall to accommodate time needed for coaching.

M.B.A. candidates can expect a “position coach” as well. Position coaches, such as retired executives and other seasoned professionals, will provide students with expertise from their respective specialties.

Also new for second-year M.B.A. students, the school has developed two non-credit courses, “Dealing With Ambiguity” and “Business in the News.”

The Katz school will extend its reach internationally in 2005 by adding Manchester, U.K., as a fourth location offering the international executive M.B.A. Current locations for the program include Pittsburgh, Prague and Sao Paulo.

The school welcomed two new full-time faculty this fall.

Mei Feng, assistant professor of business administration, will receive her doctorate in accounting from the University of Michigan Business School in the near future. She holds a Master of Arts in accounting from Renmin University and a Bachelor of Arts in accounting from Nankai University, both located in the People’s Republic of China.

Her interests include financial accounting and reporting, voluntary disclosure, role of financial analysts, financial statement analysis and management compensation.

Tansev Geylani, assistant professor of business administration, completed his Ph.D. in marketing at Carnegie Mellon. He holds an M.S.I.A. from CMU and an M.B.A. from Koc University in Istanbul, both in marketing, as well as a B.S. in mechanical engineering from the Middle East Technical Unit in Ankara, Turkey. His research interests include game theoretical modeling, industrial organization and marketing channels.

The College of Business Administration joined with Pitt’s School of Engineering for a new Semester at Sea program this year. Engineering and business students studied manufacturing and the global supply chain in the Pacific Rim. This is the first program for non-marine engineering students aboard the S.S. Universe Explorer and includes site visits to manufacturing facilities, as well as invited lecturers from manufacturing engineers, managers and corporate executives working at the countries visited by Semester at Sea.

Education
What’s new in the School of Education includes a grant, a master’s program with an international flavor, expanded and new laboratory facilities and faculty hires.

The school recently received a $236,300 grant from The Grable Foundation to develop an electronic portfolio system supporting the preparation of teachers and school leaders. This system will permit students to learn to be stronger educators by observing and reflecting upon their teaching or school leadership activities.

Over the summer, Dean Alan Lesgold signed an agreement with the University of the Humanities (UH), Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, under which Pitt will offer a master’s degree in higher education management on the UH campus. A number of courses will be taught in Ulaanbaatar during summers by Pitt faculty, and additional courses will be offered during the academic year by recent graduates of Pitt’s doctoral program who now work in Mongolia.

“Mongolia, now coming free of the Communist era, is also seeing an expansion of universities and a huge pent-up desire for further education. With the staffing we can provide and the training we offer, we are confident that they too will be extremely successful,” Lesgold said.

The Center for Physical Activity and Weight Management Research, directed by John Jakicic, associate professor of health, physical and recreational education, has moved its laboratory to the Birmingham Towers on Pittsburgh’s South Side. The new lab provides additional space for offices and physical activity areas.

In Posvar Hall, the Macintosh lab has been remodeled so that two classes can be held simultaneously. The two labs, one for Macs and one for PCs, each holds 20 computers, a podium, projector, smart board and printer. The Macintosh lab computer operating system also has been upgraded to Mac OS 10.3.

Three faculty have joined the school since January, Consuella Lewis, John Patrick Myers and Eva Shivers.

Lewis, assistant professor in administrative and policy studies, has been a third-grade teacher; dean of the Office of Black Student Affairs, the Claremont Colleges; associate dean for residential life at Spelman College, and assistant dean of students, University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana.

Her interests focus on public policy and higher education access and retention, faculty tenure and socialization, diversity in higher education, leadership and political economy of education, and international and comparative education.

Lewis received her B.A in political science and a M.S. in counseling and development from Indiana University, Bloomington, a certificate in management development from Harvard and a Ph.D. in higher education from Claremont Graduate University.

Assistant professor Myers, previously a project research assistant at the University of Toronto, joins the program in social studies education in the Department of Instruction and Learning.

Fluent in Italian and Portuguese and with a basic knowledge of Spanish, Myers spent five months in Brazil investigating educational activism and teaching for social change. He also was part of a workshop for UNICEF on global education in Kyrgyzstan.

He received a B.A. in urban history from Haverford College, an M.A. in educational thought and sociocultural studies from the University of New Mexico and is near completion of a Ph.D. in comparative, international and development education from the University of Toronto.

Shivers, assistant professor in psychology in education, recently completed her Ph.D. in psychological studies in education at UCLA.

Her research specialties include child care policy, social and emotional development of low-income children of color, effective early education in low-income communities of color, child care workforce issues, and provider-child relationships in child care settings.

In addition to her position in psychology in education, Shivers has affiliations with the school’s Office of Child Development and with the Center for Race and Social Problems in the School of Social Work.

She received her B.A. in English literature from Arizona State University and a J.D. from Howard University.

“Over the next few years, the School of Education will be changing a lot, as we replace those who recently retired,” said Dean Lesgold. “Our goal is to become even stronger in service, teaching and research that aims directly at improving education for lifetime success and health – both regionally and around the world.”

Engineering
A new graduate computer engineering program offering both M.S. and Ph.D. degrees kicks off this fall semester. The program is housed jointly in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (formerly the Department of Electrical Engineering) and in the Department of Computer Science (Arts and Sciences).

“The creation of the graduate computer engineering program reflects the growing computer engineering industry,” said U.S. Steel Dean of Engineering Gerald D. Holder. “The strength of the undergraduate program and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering will help propel the new program and attract students for in-depth computer engineering research.”

The Institute of NanoScience and Engineering will use a $5 million grant from the Provost’s office to construct a nanofabrication facility in Benedum Hall. The University-wide facility, expected to be fully operational in 2005, will support collaboration among faculty from Arts and Sciences, engineering and the medical community, according to Michael Lovell, associate dean for research at the engineering school.

New faculty at the school include: Kent A. Harries, associate professor, who joined the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in July. Harries was an assistant professor at the University of South Carolina and a research engineer at the ATLSS Center at Lehigh University. He received his Ph.D. in structural engineering and master’s and bachelor’s degrees in civil engineering and applied mechanics from McGill University in Montreal.

Harris’s research interests include the seismic design and retrofit of building structures, the design and behavior of high-rise structures, the use on non-traditional materials in civil infrastructure, applications of full-scale structural testing and the history and philosophy of science and technology.

W.K. Whiteford Professor Savio L-Y Woo, formerly of Pitt’s Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. Woo’s transfer included moving the Musculoskeletal Research Center to the Department of Bioengineering. Woo also is a professor of mechanical engineering and of rehabilitation science and technology, and vice chairman for research in the Department of Bioengineering’s internship/mentorship program.

Working with the Katz Graduate School of Business, the engineering school now offers a Master of Business Administration and Master of Industrial Engineering (M.B.A./M.S.I.E.) degree. The integrated 22-month program prepares students for a career in product development and management at manufacturing and service companies.

General Studies
Among the new CGS programs are:
* The graduate certificate in gerontology interdisciplinary program arms participants with an understanding of the biological, psychological and sociological aspects of aging, as well as specialized knowledge in a selected discipline. The program features specialty tracks in dentistry, law, nursing, occupational/rehabilitation therapy, public health and social work, in addition to a track that spans several disciplines.

The certificate is offered in collaboration with Pitt’s Institute on Aging and the University Center for Social and Urban Research.

* Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, which was established with a $100,000 grant from the Bernard Osher Foundation. The institute offers lectures and courses specifically designed for people age 55 and older. (See July 22 University Times.) The program will engage a core of Pitt emeriti faculty and community scholars as instructors. CGS staffer Judith A. Bobenage is the new coordinator.

* An endowment from CGS alumnus Tom R. Slone established the Tom Slone Scholarships program for mentors in the Big Brothers Big Sisters youth mentoring organization who enroll in CGS. For fall 2005, five $1,000 scholarships have been awarded.

* CGS and Community College of Allegheny County (CCAC) have entered a new agreement – the CCAC transition year experience program – to assist students who wish to transfer to Pitt after completing two years at CCAC.

* A new joint program between CGS and Bidwell Training Center Partnership improves access to continuing education for Bidwell graduates. The program offers financial and academic support to help promote the educational welfare of Pittsburgh’s economically disadvantaged populations.

In other CGS news, John English, who has been hired as manager of credit programs, is responsible for program delivery, budgetary planning and orchestration of credit-related programs within CGS.

Long-time staffer Dean M. Julian has been named manager of recruiting, a new position focusing on recruitment of adult and nontraditional students.

Jane S. Micale, who earned a master’s in social work and a Ph.D. in administration and policy studies from Pitt, has been promoted to assistant dean of student affairs, where she serves as the ombudsperson for student-related issues, oversees the admissions and advising components of the college, works as a contributor to program development and distributes financial aid and scholarships.

Kelly J. Otter has been hired as assistant dean of academic programs, overseeing the development of new and existing majors and programs in both the degree division, which includes the University External Studies Program (UESP), and the noncredit programming areas, which include workforce development initiatives and the Third Age Learning Center.

Otter also teaches in Pitt’s Department of Communication. She holds a Ph.D. in arts and humanities education from NYU.

Erroline M. Williams, currently working toward her doctorate in administrative and policy studies in higher education at Pitt, has been named manager of workforce development, where she will initiate education and training collaborations with businesses and organizations in the region.

Information Sciences
The school has established a new program on security assured information systems. The establishment of that track came with a certification by the National Security Agency as a Center for Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education for the years 2004-2007.

In addition, SIS has added a laboratory for educational research in security assured information systems.

“We’re in the process of developing a collaborative master’s degree program in digital libraries and information with Carnegie Mellon’s School of Computer Science, which has been approved by Pitt and it’s working its way through Carnegie Mellon,” said Dean Ronald Larsen. “Assuming approval, that should start next fall.”

Also under development is an experimental use of touch-sensitive technology in the IS Building’s lobby. The touch-sensitive wall screens, activated by I.D. tags, will be a source of information such as building navigation, maps and a directory. The technology also will have the capability to convey messages to specific persons.

Larsen said the school also was experimenting with a new approach to distance education, offering a certificate through the systems and technology enrichment program. STEP attempts to tailor programs for businesses and industries needing technology training for their employees.

The school has hired two new full-time faculty, with a third person having a secondary appointment at SIS’s Department of Library and Information Science (DLIS).

Daqing He joins DLIS as an assistant professor. His research interests include information retrieval, web-user context learning and modeling, interactive retrieval interface design, computational linguistics and World Wide Web log mining and analysis.

After earning B.S. and M.S. degrees at the University of Aeronautics and Astronautics in Beijing, China, he earned a Ph.D. degree from the Division of Informatics at the University of Edinburgh. Since then, he has worked as a research fellow at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, U.K., and, most recently, as a research scientist at the University of Maryland at College Park.

Glenn L. Ray has joined the Department of Information Science and Telecommunications as assistant professor. Ray’s professional and research interests include software engineering, object- and aspect-oriented analysis and design, rule-based systems, web services, formal methods, geographic information systems and distance education.

Prior to coming to Pitt, Ray was an assistant professor at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, Ga. In addition, Ray has served as an analyst/architect for digital ESP, Inc., of Raleigh, N.C.; as president and owner of Capital Communications of America, a telecom and Internet services marketing firm in Tallahassee, Fla.; as a legislative coordinator for the Florida Association of Counties, and as a petroleum geologist/geophysicist for Amoco Corp. in New Orleans.

He earned his Ph.D. in earth science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a Master of Software Engineering Science degree from Florida A&M and a B.S. degree in geology from Florida State.

In addition to his secondary appointment at SIS, Stuart William Shulman is a new assistant professor in Pitt’s University Center for Social and Urban Research.

Shulman’s research centers on emerging issues in digital government. Most recently, he examined the impact of new communications technologies, such as the Internet, on public involvement in the regulatory rule-making process, leading to more sophisticated and manageable information systems for citizen/government interaction. Shulman was an assistant professor in Drake University’s environmental science and policy program prior to coming to Pitt. He earned a Ph.D. in political science at the University of Oregon and a B.A. in political science and English from Boston University.

Terry Kizina is the school’s director of recruitment, admission and financial aid, a newly created position.

Law
In addition to seven new visiting professors, the School of Law hired Janice M. Mueller, who specializes in intellectual property and patent law, to the full-time faculty as professor. Mueller holds a B.S. in chemical engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and a J.D. from William Mitchell College of Law.

A registered U.S. patent attorney and chemical engineer, Mueller spent three years litigating patent and copyright infringement cases in the civil division of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Before coming to Pitt, Mueller taught at John Marshall Law School in Chicago and at Suffolk University Law School in Boston.

This year, the law school introduced a new program, the J.S.D. for LL.M. graduates who wish to pursue advanced independent study, research and writing.

The school also opened two new law clinics, the Family Law Clinic and the Community Economic Development Clinic.

This spring and summer, the Barco Law Library underwent major renovations and expansion, now complete, and a five-year program renovating the school’s 14 classrooms also has been completed, according to Dean David Herring.

Herring announced this spring that he was stepping down from the deanship June 30, 2005, to return to the full-time law faculty. (See May 13, University Times.)

“As I look toward our upcoming year, I see three important challenges,” Herring said. “One is our dean’s search. Our school’s reputation is firmly established, and we have a great opportunity to hire a real leader in legal education.”

A second challenge, he said, is building on the success of the school’s student scholarship program, which has contributed to rising student qualifications.

“Third, I’m particularly excited about our new clinical programs, especially the establishment of the Community Economic Development Clinic, which takes us into transactional law, a new area for our school. The clinic will work with entrepreneurs, nonprofits and community groups, particularly in poor neighborhoods.”

Public and International Affairs
This semester the school welcomes 201 students, one of its largest incoming classes in several years, to its largely renovated space on the 3rd floor of Posvar Hall. Approximately a quarter of the students are from outside the United States. “I am happy that international student enrollment, which declined sharply immediately after Sept. 11, has rebounded,” said Dean Carolyn Ban.

GSPIA also boasts a cohort of outstanding faculty recruits this year. Assistant professor Charli Carpenter earned her Ph.D. at the University of Oregon, wrote a dissertation on the implementation of the civilian immunity norm and taught international relations at Drake University before coming to Pitt.

Her research and teaching interests include international norms and identities, gender and violence, war crimes, comparative genocide studies, human rights and humanitarian action.

Carpenter’s research focuses on the network around war-affected children’s human rights, particularly rights of children born as a result of wartime rape. She has consulted with UNICEF this summer to coordinate a fact-finding study on children born of rape growing up in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Currently, she holds a research and writing grant from the MacArthur Foundation to conduct fieldwork in the former Yugoslavia.

George Dougherty Jr., assistant professor, came to Pitt from Georgia Tech’s School of Public Policy. He previously served as assistant professor and director of the Master of Public Administration program at Piedmont College and principal consultant at Evaluation Resources.

Prior to joining the faculty at Piedmont, Dougherty was a research coordinator at the University of Georgia’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government, where he provided applied research and evaluation services to state, local and nonprofit agencies.

His research efforts focus on improving developmental disability and mental health service delivery, court administration practices, and management capacity-building for small nonprofits.

Dougherty earned his undergraduate degree in management from Georgia Institute of Technology and an M.A. and Ph.D. in political science from the University of Georgia with specializations in public administration, public policy and international relations.

Professor Janne Nolan comes to Pitt from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University. Nolan has served on the faculty of the international security program at Georgetown University and is working on a book about dissent and national security.

She also has held numerous senior positions in the private sector, including foreign policy director at the Century Foundation of New York, senior fellow in foreign policy at the Brookings Institution and senior international security consultant at Science Applications, International.

Her public service includes positions as a foreign affairs officer in the Department of State, senior representative to the Senate Armed Services Committee for former Sen. Gary Hart (D-Colo.), and member of the National Defense Panel, the Secretary of Defense’s Policy Board and several other congressionally appointed blue ribbon commissions. She has served as an adviser to several presidential and Senate campaigns.

Social Work
“This year, a number of the projects which the School of Social Work has been working on will come to fruition,” said Larry E. Davis, dean and Donald M. Henderson Professor. “Most notably, we hope to complete a state-of-the-art conference center/distance learning facility on the 20th floor in the Cathedral of Learning.”

This conference center will provide a welcome environment for discussion of current topics of concern to both scholars and members of the Pittsburgh community, he said. “By providing a place for the exchange of information and ideas the conference center also serves to support the important goal of enhancing the intellectual climate of the school as well as the entire University.”

The school hired associate professor John Wallace, who joined the faculty in January. Wallace is a seasoned researcher on issues of race and substance abuse, as well at the role of congregations and other faith-based organizations in the delivery of social services and the holistic revitalization of communities.

In addition, Gary Koeske will assume responsibilities as the director of the doctoral program. Koeske received his M.S. and Ph.D. from Northwestern University after completing his undergraduate work in psychology at the University of Wisconsin.

He joined Pitt’s social psychology program in 1968 and in 1974 moved to the School of Social Work, where he has taught research methodology and statistics courses in the M.S.W. and Ph.D. programs.

 

HEALTH SCIENCES

Dental Medicine
The dental school continues to expand its Multidisciplinary Implant Center. For people with tooth loss, an implanted replacement tooth stimulates the bone, ultimately maintaining the bone and soft tissue and giving a more natural look and feel.

Last year, the center’s inaugural year, 2,481 procedures were performed and 278 implants were placed, according to school officials. “As one of the most aged populations in the country, there is a particularly extensive need for these services,” said Thomas W. Braun, professor and dean. “The volume of patients continues to grow and we are doing everything in our power to keep up with the demand. Additionally, this is one of the rare centers in the country that functions across each specialty to educate the dental student in management of all aspects of implant placement,” Braun explained.

This year, the implant center plans to increase the first-professional experience to 25 percent of the class and clinical activity in the center by 25 percent. The center also plans to offer a three-part implant continuing education course.

The school’s dental hygiene program will collaborate with Carlow University to provide free dental cleanings and visual oral exams to anyone who quit smoking via the Carlow smoking cessation and prevention education program.

News about the faculty at the dental medicine school includes:

* W.H. Milligan III recently was promoted to associate dean of clinical affairs. Milligan also serves as a clinical associate professor in the Department of Restorative Dentistry.

Milligan coordinates two practice management courses, a pathobiology course and lectures in microbiology. He also conducts OSHA updates for faculty and students and serves as director of the sterilization equipment evaluation service. He serves on the continuing education steering committee, and chairs the infection control committee and the Clinical Affairs Council.

Milligan received his D.M.D. from Southern Illinois University and his Ph.D. in microbiology from the dental medicine, medicine and public health schools at Pitt.

New faculty hire Deborah Polk, assistant professor in the Department of Behavioral Sciences, received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Indiana University. She held postdoctoral fellowships at Pitt and Carnegie Mellon.

Daniel Ratkus was named assistant professor in the Department of Restorative Dentistry. Ratkus received his D.M.D. from Pitt and has been a clinical instructor, general practice module, at Pitt’s dental medicine school. He also served as a dental officer with the U.S. Navy and currently is in the Dental Corps Reserve.

Christine Wankiiri-Hale was named assistant professor in the Department of Restorative Dentistry. She received her D.M.D. from Pitt.

Health and Rehabilitation Sciences
New degree and educational offerings along with new technology for the emergency medicine department top this year’s changes at the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (SHRS).

The Department of Physical Therapy has received approval for a transitional Doctor of Physical Therapy (t-D.P.T.) degree to begin next year. This degree offers practicing physical therapists with a master’s or bachelor’s degree an opportunity to upgrade their degree to a doctorate.

The Department of Health Information Management has added an option to the health information sciences emphasis, which will allow graduate students to become credentialed as registered health information administrators.

Undergraduate certificates have been approved and are now offered within the undergraduate program in rehabilitation science. In the emergency medicine department, personal digital assistant (PDA) technology is being integrated directly into the clinical environment. Goals include increasing patient contacts by streamlining the data collection process, reducing the utilization of paperwork following patient interaction, saving resources and time and decreasing the clinical workload in order to expand didactic areas. Bob Seitz, clinical coordinator, will be using PDAs this year to track clinical events.

The Department of Communication Science and Disorders clinical doctorate degree in speech-language pathology has been approved.

Malcolm McNeil, communication science and disorders department chairman, collaborated with the University Library System to establish the clinical aphasiology electronic archive (http://aphasiology.pitt.edu/), a collection of papers presented at the Conference on Clinical Aphasiology from 1974-2003. The archive now serves as a worldwide resource.

New faculty hires at SHRS include:

* Dan Ding, assistant professor, rehabilitation science and technology, received her Ph.D. in mechanical and automation engineering from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She is a research scientist at the Human Engineering Research Laboratories, a joint effort of the VA Pittsburgh Health Care System, Pitt and UPMC.

* Michael McCue, associate professor of rehabilitation science and technology and director of the rehabilitation counseling program, completed his postdoctoral training in clinical neuropsychology at Pitt and received his Ph.D. in rehabilitation counseling and educational research here, an M.Ed. in rehabilitation counseling from Kent State and a B.A. in psychology from John Carroll University.

His research interests include rehabilitation of acquired brain injuries and developmental learning disabilities; development and evaluation of intervention approaches for promoting self-direction in individuals with disabilities, and development of distance education programs in rehabilitation using Internet-based resources.

* Mary Lou Leibold, assistant professor in occupational therapy, received her M.S. in occupational therapy from Virginia Commonwealth University and her B.A. from Penn State. In addition to her clinical experience in acute and sub-acute care, acute rehabilitation, home care, skilled nursing and long-term care, Leibold currently serves on the faculty of Chatham College.

Medicine
Following is a sampling of new projects and initiatives at the school during the upcoming year:

* Construction continues on the $205 million, 10-story Biomedical Science Tower 3. The facility’s 330,000 square feet of research space will support the development of drug therapies, vaccines, regenerative medicine and other research. The first phase of construction will be finished in spring 2005 with some operations starting to move in. The entire project is slated for completion by winter 2005. *

The new Office of Enterprise Development promotes and manages entrepreneurial business opportunities stemming from scientific research in Pitt’s six Health Sciences schools. Enterprise Development is led by Carolyn E. Green, former director of the Limbach Entrepreneurial Center at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute. The Limbach Center will be part of the new enterprise development office.

* Starting this fall, the medical school will launch the Pittsburgh Academy of Master Medical Educators, recognizing master teachers in medical education. The academy’s goal is to bolster the educational aspect of the medical school’s mission. S

chool officials provided a small sampling of the medical school’s new faculty, who join more than 1,700 colleagues there.

* Susan Amara, Thomas Detre professor and chair of neurobiology, was recruited from Vollum Institute, Oregon Health and Science University. She received her Ph.D. in physiology and pharmacology and held a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, San Diego. She was a Schering Plough Fellow in molecular biophysics and biochemistry and assistant professor at Yale. Her research focus is on cellular and molecular biology of neurotransmitter transporters and how they contribute to central nervous system function. She holds 19 U. S. patents.

* David K.C. Cooper, visiting professor of surgery, holds M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of London and was an immunologist at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. He previously worked as a cardiothoracic transplant surgeon and director of research and education at the Oklahoma Transplantation Institute.

* Angela Gronenborn, director of a new structural biology program, has worked as chief of the structural biology section in the Laboratory of Chemical Physics, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health.

She received her undergraduate and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Cologne, where she developed an interest in NMR spectroscopy. Gronenborn was first a postdoctoral fellow then a member of the scientific staff in molecular pharmacology and physical biochemistry at the National Institute for Medical Research, Mill Hill, London.

Gronenborn has served on the advisory panel for the biophysics program of the National Science Foundation and the National Task Force on AIDS Drug Development.

Jay Kolls, professor of pediatrics and chief, Division of Pulmonary Medicine, Children’s Hospital, was recruited from Louisiana State University School of Medicine where he was a professor of medicine and pediatrics.

He earned his M.D. from the University of Maryland, was a resident at LSU and held a fellowship in pediatric pulmonology at Tulane University School of Medicine. His research has focused on the cytokine modulation of pulmonary host defenses in normal and immuno-compromised hosts.

* Eric Lagasse, associate professor of pathology, was recruited from StemCells Inc., where he directed the liver stem cell discovery program. He received his Pharm.D. from the University of Strasbourg, France; his Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of Basel, Switzerland, and served his postdoctoral fellowship in the departments of developmental biology and pathology at Stanford University Medical School. His research has focused on the development of novel, cell-based therapies for patients suffering from liver diseases through the use of stem/progenitor cells.

Lagasse is an inventor who holds a U.S. patent covering the methods of composition for modulating the life space of hematolymphoid cells.

* Laura Niedernhofer, assistant professor of molecular genetics and biochemistry, was recruited from Erasmus University in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. She received her M.D. and Ph.D. in biochemistry from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and an M.S. in physiology from Georgetown University School of Medicine.

Her research has focused on developing mouse models to study the role of DNA damage and repair in cancer and aging.

* Gerard Vockley, professor of pediatrics and chief, Division of Genetics, Children’s Hospital, came to Pitt from the Mayo Clinic where he was a professor and chair of medical genetics. He holds a Ph.D. in genetics and a M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. He was a pediatric resident at the University of Colorado and held a fellowship in human genetics at Yale.

His research focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of inborn errors of energy metabolism, especially molecular characterization of disorders of fatty acid oxidation.

Nursing
“The nationwide shortage of registered nurses (RNs), a rapidly growing elderly population and technological advances have created a great demand for nurses with specialized skills,” said Dean Jacqueline Dunbar-Jacob.

The nursing school constantly is adapting to the changing times, she said. That means adding technology components in health care, communication and decision-making training, as well as in training nurses for growing responsibilities in clinical environments and in nontraditional areas, such as community-based care, preventive health education, research, nursing education, health care administration and informatics.

New this year is the second-degree accelerated B.S.N. program, which enables students with a baccalaureate degree in another field to earn one in nursing. This program builds upon a student’s previous education while providing the science and nursing content to enable students to earn a B.S.N. degree in three terms.

The nursing school has named Janice S. Dorman associate dean for Scientific and International Affairs. Dorman comes from Pitt’s Graduate School of Public Health, where she served as associate dean of research and associate professor of epidemiology.

Dorman has conducted extensive international research on the genetic epidemiology of diabetes and other autoimmune diseases, and their impact on women’s health.

She is principal investigator of three National Institutes of Health-funded grants, including a sub-project for the World Health Organization (WHO) Multinational Project for Childhood Diabetes, known as the WHO DiaMond Project. She also serves as director of molecular epidemiology for the WHO Collaborating Center for Diabetes Registries, Research and Training. As director of the International Molecular Epidemiology Task Force, Dorman coordinates international training programs in molecular epidemiology.

New faculty at the School of Nursing include:

* Eileen Chasens, who joins the Department of Health and Community Systems, is the director of the new accelerated R.N.-to-B.S.N. program. Her area of scholarship is in sleep, with a focus on diabetes and other chronic disorders. Chasens earned a Doctor of Science in Nursing at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and recently completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania.

* Dorothy Hawthorne joins the Department of Health Promotion and Development. Hawthorne earned her Ph.D. in nursing from the University of Florida with a minor in sociology. Her research specializes in the onset of puberty in African-American girls with a focus on girls with sickle cell anemia.

* Mi-Kyung Song joins the Department of Acute/Tertiary Care. Song earned her doctoral degree at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Nursing with a minor in biostatistics. Her research interest is on the care of patients with life-threatening illness and their families, with a focus on advance care planning and improving end-of-life care.

* Deborah White joins the Department of Health Promotion and Development. White earned her Ph.D. in nursing from the University of Florida. Her research interest is preschool children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, with a focus on improving parent-child interactions.

Pharmacy
The School of Pharmacy celebrated its 125th anniversary this past year capped by a gala in June that raised more than $30,000 for scholarships.

Effective May 1, Patricia D. Kroboth was appointed dean of the School of Pharmacy, having served two years as interim dean. (See April 29 University Times.)

The school joined other schools of pharmacy this year in implementing a shared on-line application process, PharmCAS. The result was an increase in Pharm.D. program applicants to 1,200 for the approximately 100 places in the first-year professional program.

Another new initiative is medication therapy management services, focusing on improving the health care of the community. The faculty, led by Melissa Somma and Robert Berringer, will develop and evaluate new pharmacy service models to reduce the incidence of adverse drug events and optimize collaborative therapy with other health care providers.

This initiative will provide insights into the best ways to implement the changes in pharmacy service mandated by the Medicare Modernization Act. It also will provide pharmacy students with training experience in state-of-the-art community clinical services.

The school also has moved its Data Coordination Center and Drug Information Services into new offices in Falk Clinic.

The school’s graduate program recently added a clinical research specialist program for clinical scientist graduate students seeking clinical experiences. The American Society of Health System Pharmacists has sanctioned these experiences for a residency certificate. Students completing the program now will receive the residency certificate in addition to their Ph.D. degree.

The graduate program also has increased its international presence and partnerships, including partnering with the University of Leiden, The Netherlands.

New pharmacy faculty include:

* Robert Berringer, assistant professor, was the clinical services manager for Heritage Information Systems, Inc., in Richmond, Virginia. He will be working toward the development and expansion of the community pharmacy partnerships. He received his B.S. in pharmacy and Pharm.D. degrees from Pitt.

* Assistant professor Lindsay Corporon came from the University of Washington Cancer Care Alliance in Seattle, where she was a clinical pharmacist. She received her Pharm.D. degree from Drake University.

* Tanya Fabian, assistant professor, is a graduate of the School of Pharmacy’s Pharm.D. and Ph.D. programs. She will teach pharmacology and pharmacokinetics. She is researching prevention of anxiety and depression in cardiac patients.

* Assistant professor Maggie Folan is a graduate of Duquesne School of Nursing and Pitt’s pharmacy Ph.D. program. She will teach pharmacology. She is researching the effects of drugs on the brain.

Public Health
Beginning this fall, the Graduate School of Public Health (GSPH) is offering a certificate in global health designed to educate students about current health patterns and transitions occurring globally, as well as about the effects of dynamic global environmental, political, economic, health care and social changes on these patterns.

The global health certificate is the second certificate program GSPH has introduced recently, along with a certificate in public health preparedness and disaster response.

The school’s Epidemiology Data Center celebrated the official grand opening of its $1 million addition with a ribbon-cutting ceremony this spring. The addition increases the center’s space by 3,600 square feet.

Dean Bernard Goldstein will head a committee (the Fifth Task Force for Research Planning in Environmental Health Sciences) this fall that will help document research opportunities for the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences incoming director.

The Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences recently established a Center for Environmental and Community Health designed to improve local environmental health by creating a central information resource, working with partner organizations to improve the availability of data and increasing public awareness. The center was made possible through funding from the Heinz Endowments.

An important component of the center is its adoption of a community-derived definition of environmental health to guide its activities, which will include socioeconomic as well as lifestyle and behavioral factors that have an influence on health.

The Health Policy Institute (HPI), part of the Department of Health Policy and Management, will celebrate its 25th anniversary beginning this month. The official celebration of HPI’s silver anniversary will take place Dec. 1, featuring a lecture, “Changing Healthcare in America” presented by Harvey V. Fineberg, president of the Institute of Medicine.

GSPH, together with the University Center for International Studies, will present the Inaugural John C. Cutler Annual Global Health Lecture on Sept. 20, in conjunction with Pitt’s International Week 2004.

Professors of human genetics Daniel Weeks and Ilyas Kamboh will serve as co-chairs of the school’s Department of Human Genetics.

Weeks also is a professor in the Department of Biostatistics. His research focuses on statistical human genetics in the area of mapping susceptibility loci involved in complex human diseases.

Kamboh previously served as an assistant professor at the Human Genetics Division at Pitt. He is a member of the Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, and the winner of a 2003 Excellence in Science Award. His research interests include the genetics of diseases such as cardiovascular and Alzheimer’s disease.

Among the new faculty at GSPH this fall are:

* Julie Donohue, an assistant professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management, received her Ph.D. in health policy from Harvard. Her research interests include the use of information and financial incentives to improve the quality of health care, the politics of regulation of health information and the quality of care for people with mental disorders.

* James Schlesselman, who has joined the Department of Biostatistics as a professor, received a Ph.D. in statistics from Princeton and was a professor at the University of Miami School of Medicine and chief of the Division of Biostatistics at the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer. His record of scholarly achievement includes having developed statistical methodology applicable to cancer.

* Felicia Wu, assistant professor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, who was recruited from Rand Company, received a Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon. She holds an A.B. and S.M. from Harvard in applied mathematics and medical sciences.

Wu has undertaken research in risk assessment and policy and communication and has a specific interest in genetically modified foodstuff, and the differential impact of environmental standards on mold and peanut farming in the international community.

REGIONAL CAMPUSES

Bradford
Pitt-Bradford will dedicate Blaisdell Hall, the campus’s fine arts and communication arts building, during the annual alumni and family weekend, Oct. 1 and 2.

As part of the festivities, Pitt Chancellor Mark Nordenberg will present an honorary degree to internationally known opera star and Bradford native Marilyn Horne. Horne served as honorary chair of the Blaisdell Fine Arts Challenge, which raised $3.4 million toward the new building.

The second phase of the building’s construction, which includes the 500-seat Bromeley Family Theater and an art gallery, was completed in April.

The building’s new art gallery, with nearly 1,000 square feet of exhibition space, will showcase the work of students and invited artists. This year the gallery will feature the work of Bovey Lee, a faculty member in Pitt’s studio arts department, as well as selected compositions from Pitt-Bradford students.

A new residence hall, to be completed next summer, will help to accommodate the highest number of resident students in Pitt-Bradford’s 41-year history, currently 585. The three-story residence hall will feature 22 four-person suites and three five-person suites. The cornerstone of the building will be laid Sept. 8.

The summer has seen a number of construction projects, including reconfiguring the road around campus (“The Loop”), installing new lighting, drainage and landscaping along the road, and installing monument signage at the campus’s second entrance.

In employee news, Donna M. Armstrong has been hired as an assistant professor of education. She earned an M.A. in leadership studies from Marshall University Graduate College, an M.A. in elementary education from West Virginia University and a B.S. in early/middle education from Bluefield State College.

For the past year, she has been principal of Hillsboro School, where she previously had served as dean of students and as an instructor. Prior to that, she worked as the special grants director for the Pocahontas County Board of Education.

Steven H. Hardin, who served as chairman of the School of Natural Sciences at Spalding University in Louisville, Ky., has been appointed vice president and dean of academic affairs.

At Spalding University since 1992, Hardin held many positions: assistant and associate professor of biology; biology program director; professor of biology; director of the graduate school; interim director of information technology; administrative coordinator of the international doctorate in educational leadership; dean of the college of arts and sciences; senior vice president for academic affairs; interim chief executive officer; interim president, and chairman of the school of natural science.

Hardin earned a doctorate in biology and biochemistry from the University of Kansas, an M.S. in biology and biochemistry from the University of Kansas, a B.S. in zoology and a B.S. in chemistry, both from the University of Louisville.

“We devoted a good part of the past year to creating a vision for the university and developing a strategic plan to guide us in achieving that vision,” said Livingston Alexander, UPB president.

Greensburg
Construction is under way on a three-story, 96-bed, apartment-style dormitory. The $4.2 million project is scheduled to be completed next July.

The building will house members of the Natural Sciences and New Technologies Village, one of four academic villages at UPG that integrate curricular and extracurricular experiences of students.

Currently, natural sciences and new technologies students are housed at other dormitories on campus, and the village’s programming takes place in the Lyceum.

A hallmark of the Natural Sciences and New Technologies Village, according to director Kerry Holzworth, is the hands-on approach to learning new technologies. Students are exposed to digital movie-making, web-page design, three-dimensional environmental modeling and animation design.

The number of resident students at the start of the 2004 fall term is expected to be about 580. To accommodate the additional 96 students from the new dorm, the Chambers Hall dining area is being expanded. The completion of this $3.8 million addition also is scheduled for next July.

In an artistic addition to the Greensburg campus, UPG alumnus Terry Bengel created Upward to the Light, the stained glass mural that now adorns the tower of Millstein Library.

The work is inspired by the Allegory of the Cave from Plato’s “Republic,” with its central idea of ascension and enlightenment.

Pitt-Greensburg also hired two full-time faculty members, Elisa E. Beshero-Bondar and Matthew R. Luderer.

UPG brought Beshero-Bondar on board as assistant professor of English. She received her doctorate in English literature from Penn State, where she was an instructor.

Luderer joins the faculty as assistant professor of chemistry. He received his doctorate in chemistry from the University of Connecticut, where he also worked in the Department of Chemistry.

Johnstown
UPJ President Albert L. Etheridge cited a variety of new features on the Johnstown campus. “Ten new faculty members have been hired; our advisory board is now comprised of 50 percent alumni; a new DVD has been created, ‘Pride in UPJ,’ to convey both pride and progress to many different audience groups; and a new web site will provide significant information and navigation improvements,” Etheridge said.

This year, UPJ also launched a learning community program to help new students adjust to college life. Quest Learning Community is a pilot program stemming from collaborative efforts between academic affairs and student affairs. The curricular experiences are directed toward addressing needs in the areas of decision-making, personal identity development, vocational development and integration within the university community.

As the campus’s first learning community, it will focus on first-year residents who have not yet declared majors, typically about a quarter of entering students.

These students are expected to benefit from programming, as well as curricular and co-curricular efforts, to assist them in academic, personal and vocational development.

Quest Program components include common classes, such as Composition I, Introduction to Psychology and a one-credit first year seminar course; co-curricular programming focused on social, educational and vocational development; advising functions that allow students to assess individual personal and vocational interests and abilities, and a shared experience in a residence hall wing.

New faculty at Johnstown include:

* Assistant professor of elementary education Natalie K. Conrad received her bachelor’s degree in elementary education at Pitt-Johnstown and a master’s degree in early childhood education and a doctorate in curriculum and instruction, both at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Her courses include instruction in reading, writing and literature I; instruction in reading, writing and literature II and reading in the content areas.

* Ako Inuzuka, assistant professor of communication, will teach courses in public speaking, theory of interpersonal communication and introduction to communication. Inuzuka earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Seinan Gakuin University, Fukuoka, Japan; a master’s degree in speech communication from San Jose State University, and doctorate in communication from Bowling Green State University.

* Maddumage Karunaratne, assistant professor of electrical engineering, will teach courses in computer systems, programming and applications, digital electronics and digital electronics laboratory.

He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka; a master’s degree from the University of Mississippi, and a doctorate from the University of Arizona.

* Mark Previte joins the UPJ faculty as assistant professor in social studies education. He holds a bachelor’s degree in education from Slippery Rock State College; a master’s degree in social studies from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and a doctorate in curriculum and instruction/social studies education from Penn State. His courses include teaching social studies in elementary education.

* Reece O. Rahman, assistant professor in psychology, will teach courses in introductory psychology, psychopathology and tests and measures. Rahman’s educational background includes a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Michigan, with a master’s degree and doctorate in clinical psychology, both earned at Kent State.

* Carrie Rohman received a bachelor’s degree in English/philosophy from the University of Dayton, and a master’s degree in English and doctorate in 20th century British literature and critical theory from Indiana University, Bloomington. As assistant professor of English, she will teach English composition, introduction to literature and survey of British literature.

* Robert Whitbred, assistant professor of communication, will teach courses in organizational communication, intercultural communication and public speaking. He received a bachelor’s degree in communication at the State University of New York at Buffalo, and a master’s in organizational communication and a doctorate in organizational communication and social network analysis, both from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

* Stanley J. Yerep, assistant professor of accounting, holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business education from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. His courses include accounting principles and intermediate accounting.

Titusville
Among recent notable events, the UPT physical therapist assistant (P.T.A.) program was awarded accreditation with high accolades by the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education. CAPTE found the P.T.A. program to be 100 percent compliant with the evaluative criteria. The accreditation is good for nine years. Malorie Kosht-Fedyshin was named director of the P.T.A. program in May.

UPT has added two new articulation agreements: the Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine from Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM), and Doctor of Pharmacy, from LECOM’s School of Pharmacy.

The cooperative Bachelor of Science in Business Management program with Pitt-Bradford graduated its first class in April.

In UPT people news:

* Melanie O. Anderson has been named assistant vice president for Academic Affairs. Previously, she served as director of continuing education and assistant professor of business at UPT.

* UPT Athletics Director Barbara W. Reagle removed softball from the sports lineup for this year, but added girls’ basketball. Bob Lynch was hired to coach the team.

* Beginning this month, consultant Mary Elizabeth Aukerman, director of the School of Nursing at UPMC Shadyside, will conduct a feasibility study for an associate degree in the nursing R.N. program, planned for fall 2005.

UPT is enjoying another record-breaking enrollment for the 2004-2005 academic year, according to John R. Mumford, executive director of Enrollment Management. He said, “This is the fifth consecutive year of increasing numbers of students applying directly to the Titusville campus, as well as our largest number of returning students, which reflects the appeal of our academic offerings and activities.”

In July, President Michael A. Worman announced his retirement, effective Aug. 31, 2005. (See July 8 University Times.