By SUSAN JONES
Chancellor Joan Gabel started off the first Senate Council meeting of the new semester on Sept. 19 by expressing gratitude for the shared governance process.
“Many thanks to all of our Senate officers, from faculty, the different student organizations and staff for everything that we’re going to undertake together over the course of the year and the conversations we’ve had,” she said. “I think we’ve always all appreciated how beneficial this process is and what a unique benefit it is to our community to be in a shared governance environment, but I think we appreciate it now more than ever.”
Gabel also said she was impressed by the turnout for the three town halls she and other senior leaders led in the spring and summer. She said that about 2,000 people tuned in for each of them.
“I think that’s amazing, and shows a real commitment of time and attention for all of us to the variety of things coming over the transom these days,” Gabel said. “We received very helpful questions beforehand, and that allowed us, I think, to strike the perpetually difficult balance … between disseminating Information and respecting time.”
Another town hall is being discussed, but no date has been set, the chancellor said, noting that Pitt community members don’t have to wait until a town hall if they have a question. “You can ask us either in this format or however you would like to,” she said.
Gabel moved on to the University budget for 2025-26 and the delay in funding from the state. She pointed out that Pitt’s Board of Trustees passed a balanced budget in July that assumes flat funding from the state.
“But the state has not passed their budget yet. We’ve had a few moments of optimism where it looked like they were close, but they haven’t passed it yet,” she said. “We are advocating for the importance of the University as a receiver of their support and awaiting the outcome of their budget process. So I don’t have a prediction yet, as much as I would like to, on when they might cross the finish line, but … we are hoping for soon. That would make everything just a wee bit easier.”
The state budget is now almost three months overdue, and there has been no hint to when the work on the budget might be completed.
Pointing to Pitt’s largest-ever first-year incoming class this fall, Gabel said that applications for 2026-27 are already 15% ahead of last year at this time. She also said graduate and professional enrollment is up 4.9% from last year. The final census of students will be done by the end of the month.
Gabel will present her annual report to the Board of Trustees on Sept. 26 and then will make that report available to everyone online.
Other updates from Gabel included:
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An employee engagement survey done by the Office of Human Resources in the spring had 40% participation. Details of the results will be coming later.
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The collective of third-party supporters that was formed to support Pitt Athletics name, image and likeness program has been absorbed into the athletic department because legal changes made the collective “suboptimal in terms of being the point of contact for student athletes and this type of fiscal support,” Gabel said. “There’s a lot of compliance rules around this now, and they’re still emerging. And there’s also federal legislation on the floor in terms of how this will all work. So stay tuned.”
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Contract negotiations continue with staff and grad worker unions, with tentative agreements on 12 topics with staff and 10 with grad workers.
Senate president report
Kris Kanthak, who was elected to a two-year term as Senate president in the spring, was officiating her first University Senate meeting.
“These are difficult times, and I know that many in our community are facing uncertainty, fear and even anger,” she said. “I hope the University Senate will continue this year to be a forum for our entire community to come together to support one another, to build connections and to work toward shared goals.”
She noted that earlier in the week she was asked to discuss faculty well-being at the Board of Trustees’ Well-being committee meeting.
“I highlighted the sentiments of uncertainty faculty and others in our community are feeling these days,” Kanthak said, including staff, students and post docs. “I advocated for continued University town halls and other communication efforts, as well as support for bottom up solutions to supporting and sustaining our communities.”
She said the trustees have not previously asked for a report like this, “and I find that to be really heartening.”
“I think the question of community well-being is a huge one,” she said. “… I really want to highlight this idea of bottom up solutions. … It would really be lovely if Chancellor Gabriel could solve all of our problems. I don’t know that that’s possible. And so I do think the Senate is going to play a huge role.”
She encouraged anyone with thoughts about how to effectively strengthen the Pitt community to get in touch.
Staff Council report
Lindsay Rodzwicz, president of Staff Council, spoke a few times during the meeting, including giving her regular report. She said that Staff Council welcomed 29 additional members in August, the largest new member cohort that she’s aware of.
After Gabel gave a shout out to everyone involved in opening the new Recreation and Wellness Center, Rodzwicz echoed how amazing the facility is, but noted that she continues to hear from staff and faculty who are really interested in learning about access.
“We are working on it and hope to announce something soon too,” Gabel replied.
Rodzwicz and Marley Pinskey, president of the Student Government Board, also commented on concerns among staff and students about pedestrian safety.
“The largest concern we heard (at the fall safety fair) from our campus community was about pedestrian and bicycle safety, especially in light of all the construction that’s on campus,” Rodzwicz said. “And I just wanted to say we’re encouraging all of our community members to be as aware of their surroundings as possible, no matter how you’re navigating campus on foot or bike or scooter or in an automobile.”
She said she hoped to have more discussions in shared governance about safety. Pinskey said SGB has reached out to Pitt administration and the city about those same safety concerns.
Susan Jones is editor of the University Times. Reach her at suejones@pitt.edu or 724-244-4042.
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