By SHANNON O. WELLS
For leaders of a major university at the outset of a fresh academic year, few things are more invigorating than looking at data that shows climbing student enrollment numbers.
Pitt Chancellor Joan Gabel’s enthusiasm was palpable as she shared enrollment news for the 2024-25 academic year during her report to Senate Council on Sept. 19 at Posvar Hall.
“This year's incoming class is one of the largest and most talented first-year and transfer classes,” she said, noting that while the census won’t “lock” until the end of September, “we do know that we had a record of over 61,000 applications this year.”
Pitt also saw a 7.5% increase in graduate and professional applications this year, for which Gabel thanked Amanda Godley, vice provost for graduate studies.
The numbers are even more impressive given what Gabel called the “debacle” of severely delayed FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) forms for students.
“We have great appreciation (for) Marc Harding, vice provost for enrollment, and the entire (Office of Admissions and Financial Aid) team there, who always work incredibly hard,” she added, “but with the unique challenges associated with the FAFSA … well, I think debacle is the only word that comes to mind, they really went above and beyond … So, very nice numbers.”
Gabel said she got to see some of the eager enrollees in person while taking part in Welcome Week in August. She thanked Rachel Richelieu, vice chancellor for communications and marketing, for what Gabel called some “really lovely collaboration” between Richelieu’s team and the Office of Student Affairs.
“We saw the new ‘It’s Possible at Pitt’ (marketing) story all over the place, in tents and T-shirts and that sort of thing,” Gabel noted, displaying an ink pen with the new logo.
Freedom of speech
Describing a “busy summer” behind the scenes on campus, Gabel said considerable work and thought was devoted to address “common questions that have been on many campuses regarding freedom of speech.”
She expressed “great appreciation” to Tom Hitter, assistant vice chancellor for policy development and management, as well as “several people in this room who worked together,” she said. “We consolidated existing policies — no change in policy — but pulled together policies from various places in which policies sit to one resource at freespeech.pitt.edu, so it would be easy to find (policies) in the event that there were questions or concerns for easier access to information.”
Homecoming weekend
Gabel said she’s looking forward to Homecoming weekend. The Pitt Panthers football team takes on the Youngstown State Penguins starting at 3:30 p.m. Sept. 21 at Acrisure Stadium.
“It's homecoming week already — it's early this year — and so this sort of vibrant kickoff kind of activity goes right through this weekend,” Gabel said.
With Pitt’s volleyball team ranked No. 1 in the country, Gabel said she enjoyed the “wonderful front-porch experience” of watching the team defeat No. 3 Penn State at the Petersen Events Center on Sept. 18.
“The Pete was sold out — 11,800 tickets out, as we say — shattering last year's record,” she said. “There were 8,000 tickets (sold) last year. So that's a nice increase in terms of community engagement and just a fun way for us to come together as a community.”
Plan for Pitt
Switching to more aspirational news, Gabel emphasized continuing work on various initiatives for the strategic Plan for Pitt.
“When we were talking about the development of the strategic plan (and) listing out the initiatives,” she reiterated that “most of the initiatives … were not written for the strategic plan. They were initiatives that different people in this room — if they're not part of the shared governance process, (they’re) members of the community who do different things across campus — that we met in the course of shared governance while the strategic plan refresh was underway.
“They described work they were doing that made sense to include because it had a University-wide impact, and then were just included in the description of the strategic plan in the different timelines associated with how we were going to look at outcomes under the (plan),” Gabel added. “So, the strategic plan was not a brand-new set of things, but rather a capture of things that were already happening.”
Several of those goals already have come to pass, Gabel noted, including the Digital Futures Initiative and the launch of the Center for Excellence in Online Education. An annual report will be available for the Sept. 26 Board of Trustees meeting that she said will list everything set to occur this year.
“And by this year, we actually mean calendar year 2024, because the Board of Trustees likes calendar-year reporting, which is a little awkward, since we do everything in academic-year reporting,” Gabel noted, “but we'll make it work, and that will be publicly available, of course, on the (Plan for Pitt) website.”
Staff union election
The chancellor also mentioned that the election is underway to “decide whether eligible Pitt staff members will join the United Steelworkers union. I've been asked to remind that all employees whose positions are included in the potential bargaining unit are eligible to vote,” she said.
Ballots were mailed August 15, and the deadline to receive ballots was Sept. 19. The counting of ballots is expected to begin Sept. 25.
Gabel added that certain graduate student workers also have filed for an election with the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board (PLRB), “and we've been working cooperatively with the Steelworkers and the PLRB around composition of the unit and to prepare to proceed through that election process as well,” she said. “There are different groups, including the chancellor's office and the administration that can keep Senate Council updated over the coming weeks and months on that process.”
Shannon O. Wells is a writer for the University Times. Reach him at shannonw@pitt.edu.
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