By SHANNON O. WELLS
Pitt is in the middle of searches for several top executives and deans, but Chancellor Joan Gabel said at the Jan. 18 Senate Council meeting, that, “I don’t want anybody to be concerned that there’s something amiss.”
Right now, there are searches ongoing for a provost and deans of the engineering and education schools. Search committees are being formed for dean of the School of Law, vice provost for student affairs and director of the Learning, Research & Development Center. In addition, just this month, Chief Financial Officer Hari Sastry announced he was leaving at the end of February for a job at Georgetown.
Gabel acknowledged that it “feels like a lot of searches” are underway, and “it is a lot of searches.”
“My observation, and I imagine many of you are hearing this from your colleagues, is that this is happening in higher ed for a couple of different reasons,” she said. “I think that no one changed jobs during the pandemic, and there was pent up demand or retirements or (openings to fill). A lot of people stayed interim for extended periods of time. We had some of that here.”
Gabel said she’s “hearing this from everybody” when she attends national meetings. “I think this is a pretty normal cycle in things, and we’re receiving expressions of interest in applications from very strong candidates.
“Most of these departures are bittersweet at best,” she added. “But it does give us an opportunity to bring fresh perspectives, diverse points of view and different lived experiences to the University, and that’s a good thing.”
Gabel said the search for a permanent replacement for former Provost Ann Cudd is “much further along, obviously, thanks to many of you in this room. The committee is reviewing applications in the process of doing the rounds of interviews, and we are on schedule,” she added. “I’m very hesitant, but it’s on schedule, so it should be in the early part of this term.”
Gabel thanked the search committee members and chair Anantha Shekhar, senior vice chancellor for health sciences. “And lots of our community members have participated as well. And it has been a good opportunity for me to learn going through charging the committee and thinking about attributes. So I’m very grateful for that opportunity,” she said.
Searches for deans of the Swanson School of Engineering and School of Education continue to move forward. Position profiles have been approved, and the committees are now in the process of reviewing applications “with the expectation that first-round interviews are imminent,” Gabel said.
The School of Law search committee is being formed, with interviews to occur “later in the semester,” Gabel said, noting the sequence of searches is staggered both for efficiency and so incoming dean candidates “would know who the provost will be. We think most people would like to know who they would be reporting to, so we’re trying to sequence it so that works. We’re optimistic about that timing.”
The vice provost for student affairs search committee is being finalized and the director of Learning, Research & Development Center search is coming together. Four Faculty Assembly members affiliated with LRDC were elected by to serve on the committee: Jennifer Iriti, Natasha Tokowicz, Angela Allie and Liz Rangel.
Computer center sit-in anniversary: This year’s Jan. 15 celebration of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday also marked the 55th anniversary of the peaceful sit-in at Pitt’s computer center that led to positive changes for minority students, staff and faculty. Gabel said the University had an observance of MLK Day on Jan. 15 that included “a very moving acknowledgement” of the computer center protest, “and what it meant for our campus.”
In 1969, 40 members of Pitt’s Black Action Society staged a peaceful sit-in at the Cathedral of Learning’s eighth-floor computer center, calling for improvements to Black life on campus. A set of demands was presented to then-Chancellor Wesley Posvar asking for more equitable representation and campus programming of interest to the Black community, specifically an academic program devoted to Black studies. Posvar responded positively, leading to the establishment of the Department of Africana Studies.
Gabel called this a “very important moment in the history of the University. … We were very lucky because several members of the Black Action Society from those days are still very active and engaged alums of the University and participate in the events,” she said, thanking Clyde Wilson Pickett, vice chancellor for equity, diversity, and inclusion, and Carla Panzella, interim vice president of student affairs and dean of students, for their efforts to celebrate MLK Day and the protest anniversary.
Pitt’s first Winter Commencement: Noting there were “lots of people to thank there,” Gabel mentioned Special Events, Student Affairs, Facilities, Communications, and the Provost’s Office. “Congrats to all the graduates,” she said. “It was my first commencement. That’s such a joyful day. And I thought it was really lovely and a nice new tradition for us.”
Senate president’s report
Senate Council President Robin Kear provided an update regarding capacity concerns at the Disability Resources and Services Testing Center, particularly during peak testing times, which she discussed at the Jan. 12 Faculty Assembly meeting. Since then, Kear has talked with interim Provost Joe McCarthy to discuss the issue and next steps.
“He’s advised me that there are various short- and long-term solutions being discussed, including more resources for the testing center in the short term. And discussion of this issue for the Senate will continue in the Educational Policies committee,” possibly at its February meeting.
Annual Senate Plenary: It will take place at noon March 7 in the William Pitt Union Assembly Room. The tentative title is “Bringing Disciplines Together to Solve Big Problems,” which will focus on how this “can and does happen here at Pitt and in the Pittsburgh education community.” Speakers and other details are still in the works, but Kear encouraged anyone with ideas on the topic or interdisciplinary teams to approach to contact her.
Policies under consideration
The Senate passed two policies that have made their way through shared governance and will now head to the chancellor.
The updated vaccine policy outlines shots required for students and for employees in high-risk areas. Pitt’s previous vaccination policies were “spread out across different areas within the policy domain,” said Tom Songer, chair of the Faculty Affairs committee and assistant epidemiology professor in the School of Public Health. This policy brings them all together.
The new policy also incorporates various post-pandemic changes, including Pitt’s discontinuation of COVID-19 vaccination requirements. Noting the committee gave the COVID vaccination requirement “a lot of thought,” Tom Hitter, assistant vice chancellor for policy development and management, said much has changed in how COVID vaccine is handled since the 2021 interim policy that required it.
Since the public health emergency expired, the availability of vaccines is different for COVID than it was in 2021. “That was a big consideration,” Hitter said, “Additionally, the vaccinations that are required for students are all statutorily required. COVID is not statutorily required, and the (Centers for Disease Control) does not require a COVID vaccine.
“It highly recommends staying up to date with your vaccine but doesn’t require it,” he added, “so the committee decided it was best to be consistent with the CDC on that front.”
Senate Council also approved an amended version of the University’s Access to and Use of Computing Resources policy. The Senate Computing and Information Technology Committee approved a draft policy in September to clarify questions regarding computer access and modify outdated language in the original policy, and Faculty Assembly OK’d the policy at its Jan. 10 meeting.
Angie Zack, who served on the policy committee, described the draft as an “update of existing policy and the revisions including updates concerning fair and equitable use of resources, privacy language, and the responsibility of the users and the University with respect to use of University-owned computers and resources.”
Other policies
Assistance to Animals, Therapy Animals and Pets: Open for comment through Feb. 7, the policy committee had Senate representation and will move through the Equity, Inclusion and Anti-Discrimination Advocacy Committee before reaching Faculty Assembly.
FERPA: Access to and Disclosure of Education Records: The policy committee had a Senate representative and will next move through the Educational Policies committee before coming to Faculty Assembly.
ER 04 Domestic Partner Benefits potential decommissioning: “I’ve been informed that in consideration of all feedback that was received, this has been decided not to decommission, but rather to revise this policy with the current practice to update the policy,” Kear said.
The Feb. 7 Faculty Assembly meeting will be completely virtual because the Posvar Hall conference room is being used for Board of Trustees meetings that week.
Shannon O. Wells is a writer for the University Times. Reach him at shannonw@pitt.edu.
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