By SUSAN JONES
The Pitt Board of Trustees voted on several appointments at its April 4 meeting, most notably to install Joe McCarthy as the University’s next provost.
McCarthy, whose selection was announced last month, will assume the title immediately of provost and senior vice chancellor and be an officer of the University. As Pitt’s ninth provost, he oversees the academic mission of the University.
The new provost came to Pitt 26 years ago as a faculty member in the Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering in the Swanson School of Engineering. He has been interim provost since last July when Ann Cudd left to become president of Portland State University in Oregon, and before that he was vice provost of undergraduate studies since 2017.
Chancellor Joan Gabel, in recommending his election, cited McCarthy’s many accomplishments: “He's helped Pitt to reduce student debt and equity gaps, record our highest student retention and four- and six-year graduation rates in history and launched the data-driven and nationally recognized Pitt Success Pell Match grant program, and I'm excited to welcome him permanently to the University senior leadership team.”
Board secretary
Phil Bakken, who currently serves as chief of staff to the president and corporation secretary to the Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska System, has been selected as the new vice chancellor and secretary to Pitt’s Board of Trustees.
His appointment was announced last week and approved by the Board of Trustees at its April 4 meeting. He will start at Pitt around June 28, succeeding Paul Supowitz, who has served as secretary on an interim basis since September in addition to his permanent duties as special assistant for strategic initiatives in the Office of the Chancellor.
“Phil brings to Pitt an extensive and impressive record of experience in higher education,” said Chancellor Joan Gabel, who chaired the search committee. “I look forward to working with him as a member of the leadership team as he extends Paul’s great work of shepherding the board’s activities during an important time for our University.”
As secretary, Bakken will advise and facilitate the work of the board in exercising its duties of oversight of University affairs and promotion of its charitable, scientific and educational purposes.
Bakken has held roles of increasing responsibility during his eight year in the University of Nebraska System, including president of the University Technology Development Corporation, interim assistant vice president for budget, special assistant to the president and industry relations coordinator. The industry relations coordinator role earned him the Vice Chancellor’s Award for Invaluable Service at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Bakken has a bachelor’s degree in economics and a master of business administration, both from Nebraska Wesleyan University, which recognized him with a Young Alumni Achievement Award in 2022. After college, he worked at the Arbor Day Foundation.
Vice chairs of the board
The Board of Trustees also voted between three candidates to fill two vice chair positions. The board has been without a vice chair since Lou Cestello was named chair after the abrupt departure of Doug Browning last summer.
The board conducted a rare, public role call vote to select between Lisa Golden, a former president of the Pitt Alumni Association and an emergency room physician; Adam Walker, CEO of Summit Packaging Solutions and a former NFL running back; and John Gismondi, a lawyer and professor of practice in the School of Law.
Several of the 36 voting members said that all three candidates were well qualified, and the voting was very close. In the end, Golden and Gismondi were elected as vice chairs, who can fill the role of chair if that person is unavailable and are voting members of all standing committees of the board. They will take office on July 1, 2024.
After the vote, the board read a resolution of appreciation for outgoing chair Lou Cestello, who will be succeeded by John Verbanec at the beginning of July.
The board also continued in its efforts to reduce the number and categories of trustees. A change to the bylaws was approved that holds two term trustee positions for the last two immediate past presidents of the Pitt Alumni Association as ex officio voting members.
Valerie Njie, immediate past president of the Alumni Association, said she was pleased with the vote. Njie, who is on the board’s Governance committee that recommended the changes, said that over the past year and a half, “we spent a lot of time talking about special, term and emeritus, but not a whole lot of time talking about the Alumni Association, and yet we bring a lot of value to the table. I mean, we represent 350,000 individuals.”
Verbanec, who had been one of the 12 trustees appointed by the commonwealth, was elected as a term trustee coinciding with the beginning of his term as chair. Several other term trustees also were elected as part of the process to convert special and alumni trustees to term trustees over the next few years.
Susan Jones is editor of the University Times. Reach her at suejones@pitt.edu or 724-244-4042.
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