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November 7, 1996

UPG, Katz searches in early stage;

A search committee has been appointed to find a replacement for George Chambers, retiring president of Pitt's Greensburg campus (UPG).

The 13-member committee is chaired by Robert Pack, vice provost for Academic Planning and Resources Management on the Pittsburgh campus.

Pack said members of the committee will meet some time during the week of Nov. 18 to be formally charged by Provost James Maher.

Chambers, who announced his retirement in September, will step down from his post on Jan. 1. He has served as UPG's president since 1980.

Search committee member Guy Rossetti, UPG's vice president of Administrative Affairs, said he did not know if an interim president would be named to replace Chambers until a permanent president is appointed.

Along with Pack and Rossetti, the search committee includes the following UPG faculty, staff and students: Richard Blevins, English; Mary Jane Dugan, administration of justice/psychology; J. Thomas Kelly, Admissions/Student Aid; Diane Marsh, psychology; Mark McCulloch, history/behavioral sciences; Carl Poke, political science; Charles Westbrooks, director of Safety and Security, and Jason Gongaware, president of the Student Government Association.

Other members of the search committee are: Jack Millstein, president of Millstein Industries and vice president of the UPG Advisory Board; Colleen Peterson, president of Port of Call Trave l Agency and president of the Pitt-Greensburg Alumni Association, and John Robertshaw Jr., CEO of Laurel Vending and a member of the UPG Advisory Board.

Staff support for the committee is being supplied by Joan Cutone, a space planning associate at UPG.

In other search news:

* About 60 applications and/or nominations have been received by the search committee for a new vice chancellor for Institutional Advancement, according to committee chair Associate Chancellor Vijai Singh.

The committee has begun interviewing applicants. However, it will continue to accept applications and nominations. "The search is still going on," said Singh. "Anyone can apply any time until a final selection is made." Singh said the committee hopes to submit a list of finalists to Chancellor Mark Nordenberg in either late November or December. "That's our target," he said.

The Office of Institutional Advancement has been without a vice chancellor since Lawrence Weber resigned in October 1995. Margaret McDonald, former assistant vice chancellor for academic affairs in the Health Sciences, has been serving as interim vice chancellor for Institutional Advancement since Weber's departure. She is not seeking the permanent position, according to Singh.

* Advertisements have been placed in various publications and one meeting has been held in the search for a new permanent dean of the Katz Graduate School of Business and undergraduate School of Business Administration, according to search committee chair Beverly Harris-Schenz, vice provost for Faculty Affairs.

"We're basically getting organized," said Harris-Schenz. "We placed our ads and we have started to think about how to attract persons both through the ad network and personal contact." To date, the committee has received less than a dozen applications and nominations. It hopes to complete its search by early March, according to Harris-Schenz.

H. J. Zoffer retired this summer after 27 years as Pitt business school dean. Andrew Blair, director of Pitt's International Business Center, has been serving as interim dean since July 29 and will continue to serve until a permanent dean is named.

A previous search ended in failure this summer when the University could not reach an agreement with any of the finalists selected during that search. Provost James Maher blamed the search's failure on the competitive environment for business school deans. Over the past year, about 60 U.S. colleges and universities have conducted or launched searches for business school deans.

–Mike Sajna

Filed under: Feature,Volume 29 Issue 6

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