University Times

Gail Austen has been promoted to director of the Academic Resource Center (ARC) in the School of Arts and Sciences (A&S).

Austen will provide leadership in academic programming, staff and resources management, and will build partnerships with other A&S centers such as the Advising Center, the Writing Center, the Mathematics Assistance Center and with centers within the Division of Student Affairs.

Austen began her employment at Pitt in 1968 as counselor/adviser for first-generation students in the University Challenge for Excellence Programs (UCEP). In 1972 she was named staff associate/assistant to the director of UCEP, followed by assistant director for enrollment services and programs (1991-1999) and interim director (1999-2002) of UCEP.

In 2002, Austen was named associate director of ARC, where she has been managing professional and support staff and the day-to-day operations of the center. She also has been responsible for developing outreach programs and for grant writing and program development to prepare low-income, first-generation and underrepresented students for graduate school.

Austen also served as registrar and assistant to the dean on the fall 2005 Semester at Sea voyage.

Austen is a member of the University’s study abroad scholarship committee, and has served on a number of Pitt committees, including the Pitt Divestment Coalition, the minority retention and admissions committee, the provost’s advisory committee on women’s concerns and the Equipoise admissions committee.

She is a founding member of a number of groups including Black Voices for Peace, the Kente Arts Alliance, the National Black Independent Political Party, the national free South Africa committee, the House of the Crossroads Treatment Center and the Afro-American Cultural Society. She also holds membership in the American Anthropological Association.

Austen earned her bachelor’s degree in French literature in 1968 and has completed post-baccalaureate studies in psychology, both at Pitt. She currently is enrolled in the doctoral program in the Department of Anthropology, studying cultural anthropology with research interests in identity and power.

She earned a National Institutes of Health three-year research grant to support her doctoral research.

*****

J. T. (Tom) Cain, professor of electrical and computer engineering, was named recipient of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Richard M. Emberson Award.

The award acknowledges “distinguished service to the development, viability, advancement and pursuit of the technical objectives of the IEEE.” Presented to an IEEE member, the award consists of a bronze medal, illuminated certificate, honorarium and travel expenses to the award ceremony.

Cain received his BS, MS and PhD from Pitt. His current research interests are in the areas of RFID and systems-on-a-chip with emphasis on embedded systems and micro-electro-mechanical systems.

The award will be presented in September at an honors ceremony in Quebec City, Canada.

*****

Law professor Lawrence A. Frolik has been named a TIAA-CREF Institute fellow. The TIAA-CREF Institute fellows program is designed to help the institute foster and conduct objective research and provide intellectual and scholarly leadership.

Frolik, who has published 13 books in the areas of elder law and aging and the law, is the co-author of the casebook, “Law of Employee Pension and Welfare Benefits.”

Membership in the TIAA-CREF Institute fellows program is restricted to nationally prominent leaders with interests in research, teaching and policy making in areas of relevance to TIAA-CREF, including employer-sponsored pension plans, retirement savings, retiree health insurance and financial education.

*****

Candi Castleberry-Singleton has been named to the newly created position of chief diversity officer at UPMC. Castleberry-Singleton, formerly vice president for global inclusion at Motorola, began her duties Feb. 1.

Castleberry-Singleton will develop and implement UPMC’s diversity and inclusion strategy, which includes recruitment and retention, building an inclusive environment, training and cultural competency and improved community partnerships.

She will oversee the UPMC Office of Diversity and will be responsible for establishing system-wide diversity and inclusion goals, measuring the health system’s progress toward them and partnering with UPMC leadership to achieve them.

At Motorola, she led the company’s diversity councils and developed and implemented strategies designed to embed inclusive practices into the company’s day-to-day business practices. She previously was employed at Sun Microsystems and the Xerox Corp.

*****

Bovey Lee, assistant professor in the Department of Studio Arts, is a recipient of a 2008 Pennsylvania Council on the Arts individual creative artists fellowship. Lee’s creative works received the $10,000 award in the category of drawing/artist books/printmaking.

*****

Michael E. Hackett has been named workforce training coordinator for outreach services at Pitt-Bradford.

Hackett joins the Office of Outreach Services and the Business Resource Center. These units are responsible for providing high-quality, customer-focused professional and personal development programs and business planning services. Hackett will help companies meet their training needs by developing courses eligible for funding through WEDnetPA, Pennsylvania’s guaranteed free training program.

That training can include anything from customized courses in hazardous materials and land management to more generalized instruction in computers, human resources and management skills.

Hackett comes to the Bradford campus after working 15 years for Blair Corp., where he was manager of the customer service department.

Before working for Blair, Hackett was a registered representative and agent for New York Life for 11 years and taught health and physical education in public schools in Pittsburgh and Warren, Pa., for seven years.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in health and physical education from Slippery Rock University.

*****

The Pennsylvania Academy of Ophthalmology presented its Humanitarian Service Award to Evan L. Waxman, associate professor of ophthalmology and director of medical education at the School of Medicine and director of comprehensive eye services at Eye and Ear Institute.

Waxman received the award for establishing a mobile eye clinic to provide free ophthalmologic examinations to uninsured patients in Pittsburgh and surrounding areas.

###

The People of the Times column features recent news on faculty and staff, including awards and other honors, accomplishments and administrative appointments.

We welcome submissions from all areas of the University. Send information via email to: utimes@pitt.edu, by fax at 412/624-4579 or by campus mail to 308 Bellefield Hall.

For submission guidelines, visit www.umc.pitt.edu/utimes/deadlines.html online.