In one of her final acts as provost, Ann Cudd appointed Michael Bridges as the executive director of the University Center for Teaching and Learning, effective July 1. He has served as interim executive director over the past year.

He will report directly to Interim Provost Joe McCarthy, who also assumed that leadership role on July 1. Cudd’s last day at Pitt was June 30, as she leaves to become president of Portland State University in Oregon.

“I have found that Mike and I share a common sense of the critical importance of the University Center for Teaching and Learning to the University of Pittsburgh,” Cudd said in her announcement. “With this sense of purpose, along with his vision, knowledge, and experience, he is the right person to help lead our efforts to provide innovation and excellence in support of on-campus teaching, learning, assessment, diversity in the curriculum, and other teaching activities across the institution.”

Bridges replaced Cynthia Golden when she stepped down in June 2022 as associate provost and executive director of the teaching center. Golden came to Pitt in 2009 as leader of the teaching center’s predecessor, the Center for Instructional Development and Distance Education.

Prior to joining the University of Pittsburgh, Bridges was the executive director of online learning & strategy at Duquesne University. He was previously the vice president for educational strategy and excellence at iCarnegie Global Learning and has held leadership roles in faculty development at Carnegie Mellon University and UPMC St. Margaret Hospital. 

Bridges earned his Ph.D. in social psychology from CMU, where he still teaches a course in survey research design.