By SUSAN JONES

Chancellor Joan Gabel used the Feb. 8 Board of Trustees meeting to add more details to the five pillars that have been identified as the University’s key values for the revamped Plan for Pitt.

She also gave an update on where the hiring process stands for a new provost, which is nearing the end of the interview phase. “The pool was excellent and has yielded excellent candidates, and we anticipate meeting our goal of introducing the next provost imminently.”

The Trustees were greeted by protesters in the William Pitt Union lobby who spoke out in support of Palestinians and environmental issues, and by transgender rights activists outside holding signs.

Plan for Pitt

Gabel’s presentation to the board echoed ones she had given earlier to Senate Council and Faculty Assembly.

Under each of the five pillars, items have been added giving specific examples of what the goals will include (see attached slides).

For instance, under “We will cultivate student success” one of the attributes “Develop upstream enrollment plan,” which Gabel describes as “being intentional and purposeful about how we create a plan to invite the students here and have students that we invite ultimately choose us.”

The goals range from improving retention to making sure students are successful after they leave Pitt.

On the pillar of “We will propel scholarship, creativity and innovation,” Gabel said, “One of the things we heard from a lot of different stakeholders — certainly faculty and staff, but others too — is that we have opportunities around the comprehensiveness of the faculty and staff on this campus that we could do even more with in terms of multi- and interdisciplinary research and work. And we want to make sure we incentivize and encourage that, remove barriers to that.”

She said Pitt also wants faculty and staff to be able to pursue distinctions and awards. She cited Rory Cooper, who among his many honors was recently admitted to the National Academy of Engineers.

Of interest to faculty and staff, Gabel said the pillar of “We will be welcoming and engaging” includes a desire to be an employer of choice for the region.

“We want to make sure that everyone who works here — faculty, staff, everyone — has the appropriate amount of satisfaction, fulfillment and optimism about showing up for work every day; that they feel respected; that they see dignity in their role; that they see opportunity that is fairly and equitably distributed, and that they’re paid fairly,” the chancellor said. “And we are, I think, doing a lot of really good things there, but we have more work to do.”

The pillar of “We will hold ourselves accountable and promote trust” includes enhancing fiscal transparency and promoting free expression of ideas. But one of the things Gabel stressed was that Pitt has to be better about amplifying its story.

Gabel said she’s heard for years, as a Pitt mom and as someone with friends at the University, that “there are amazing things happening here that maybe you don't know about if you're not directly connected to the community. And I can say, having arrived relatively recently, that Pitt’s national reputation is extremely strong. But there's a wide-held belief, that I agree with, that the reality is even better than that reputation. And we want to close that gap. We want the world to know about the amazing things that we're doing.”

This ties in with the last pillar of “It’s Possible at Pitt,” which emphasizes leaning into the University’s strengths to take strategic risks and invest in “things that we can uniquely do well.” She cited the life sciences expertise here, which will only grow with the new BioForge project, as well as work by Rory Cooper on assistive technologies and by José-Alain Sahel on restoring eyesight. 

“And other things that we don't know about yet,” Gabel said, “that may not have percolated up yet. … But we want to make sure we leave the space so that when they do percolate up we’re ready, and we can lean into them and advance them and promote them.”

She followed this outline with an example of the types of stories Pitt wants to tell in a new video, which can be found on the University of Pittsburgh YouTube channel.

Susan Jones is editor of the University Times. Reach her at suejones@pitt.edu or 724-244-4042.

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