By SHANNON O. WELLS
At the inaugural Senate Council meeting of 2025, Chancellor Joan Gabel said she and her colleagues are actively engaged in advocacy in Harrisburg on behalf of the University and in partnership with other state-related universities. She said that work will pick up after Gov. Josh Shapiro gives his Pennsylvania budget address on Feb 4.
“This is taking two parallel tracks right now. One is the typical advocacy that it always does, just for support in general, and the other is that … we are in the process of participating in the newly formed State Board for Higher Education,” she said, noting that the legislature passed the statute that created the new process last year.
Kevin Washo, senior vice chancellor for University relations, is representing Pitt on this council, which is led by Kate Shaw, who served as Shapiro’s deputy secretary and commissioner for postsecondary and higher education.
Dwayne Pinkney, Pitt’s executive senior vice chancellor for administration and chief financial officer, represents the University on the Funding Council, which is developing the actual budget formula.
“This work is happening in these two parallels together,” Gabel said. “While we are also advocating in general for funding writ large, we are not hearing a lot in terms of particular concerns. We’re also not hearing ‘Yes, for sure, everything is just fine,’ so we’re waiting to hear about the governor’s budget.
“When he makes that address, and the reactions to that address start to come in, (is when) we’ll know where we stand,” she added, “and then we start to react from there.”
She also noted the Jan. 23 announcement that junior U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick (R-Pennsylvania) was named chair of the Subcommittee for the Middle East.
“So we’re looking to see what that will mean,” Gabel said. “That does not have a direct implication for higher ed, but just in terms of our delegation and their role in the new administration, that should be interesting.”
In other news, Gabel provided a brief update on the working group to study antisemitism on Pitt’s campus. Kathleen Blee, distinguished professor in the Department of Sociology and former dean of the Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences, was recently chosen to co-chair the group along with Jennifer Murtazashvili, professor in Pitt’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs.
“They bring a tremendous shared expertise across a variety of attributes that I think will be very helpful for us,” Gabel said. “Naming the co-chairs is the key step, and now (they) can work together to finalize all the committee appointments with great gratitude to the University Senate, and then we charge the committee and the work will begin.”
In University leadership news, the chancellor welcomed Marlin Nabors, who began as Pitt’s associate vice provost and dean of students on Jan 2. Jayne McGoey started as internal audit chief executive on Jan. 13, “after serving as assistant director for a very long time,” Gabel said, replacing John Elliott, who retired at the end of last year after nearly 30 years in the role. “So, a very nice baton passed there.”
She recognized Jerry Dickinson, who was named dean of the School of Law and started in the role on Jan. 15, after serving as vice dean and a member of the law school faculty for the past seven and a half years.
Gabel called Dickinson a “very widely respected constitutional law scholar and former Fulbright Scholar,” and expressed “very high appreciation to the whole search committee for that process, and to the provost, and to Mary Crossley for serving as interim dean, and to the whole group who participated in such a wonderful outcome.”
Senate president report
Before sharing her report to Senate Council, President Robin Kear welcomed everyone to the spring 2025 academic term and commented on the blast of “proper” January weather to the area.
“I hope you have all managed to stay warm this week,” she said. “It is certainly a proper Pittsburgh January with snow cover and all. If not as much snow, perhaps, as Minnesota, but yes, we do have a proper January, and I’ve seen fewer students out on Wednesday than I ever saw in a Wednesday in the term when I was out. So you’re either inside or just running from building to building.”
She said the University Senate elections information was sent out around midday Jan. 22 to all eligible faculty. Two officer positions — president and vice president — are open for two-year terms, and three, three-year Faculty Assembly positions are open “for those areas that have someone expiring, and three seats on all Senate committees, as we always do for three-year terms.”
Kear offered a reminder that one-third of the faculty committee membership turns over on the Senate committees each time, “and we are again using an online form, which I think makes it easier to get participation.” Anyone interested should submit a nomination form by the end of February.
The Senate nominating committee, which is chaired by the immediate past president, will “take it from there. And then I will be moving into that role after July 1,” she said, replacing current past Senate Council president Chris Bonneau.
In other news, Kear said she and other Senate officers met with Tony Delitto, associate provost for digital education, who’s working on Pitt EDGE, the Center for Excellence in Digital Education, offering what Kear called “more effective programs in an online environment.
“It was very helpful to talk with Tony and hear more about the infrastructure that’s being put in place,” she said. “And I heard interest last week, so we will be inviting Tony to come to next month’s Faculty Assembly to talk more about it” on Feb. 12.
Shannon O. Wells is a writer for the University Times. Reach him at shannonw@pitt.edu.
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