Summertime, when life moves slower and the world is calmer, … never mind, none of that was true at Pitt this summer. The pace of news continued at breakneck speed with changes coming both from inside and outside the University.
The biggest news was probably the dissolution of the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at the beginning of July. It was replaced with the Office of Institutional Engagement and Wellbeing. For now, the new office is primarily focused on disability resources, sexual misconduct prevention and civil rights and Title IX violations.
Here’s what you might have missed this summer.
MAY
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Kristin Kanthak, a political science professor, was elected University Senate president, and Julia Meade, an assistant professor of pediatrics, will serve as vice president. Click on their names to read interviews of each.
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At its May meeting, Pitt’s Board of Trustees re-elected John Verbanac to a second term as chair and approved leasing the Quality Inn site to Radnor Property Group, which plans to develop the site into a 240- to 260-unit apartment building with a 15,000- to 30,000-square-foot grocery store on the first floor.
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Pitt agreed to pay a $7.85 million settlement in a class action seeking a partial refund of tuition and fees for students who were forced into remote learning in spring 2020.
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The Pitt School of Dental Medicine, the Education and Training Center at Pitt-Titusville and Titusville Area Hospital announced in June that they are partnering to establish the state’s first Regional Training Center to offer dental training and care in rural Pennsylvania communities. The center will train general practice dental residents, dental hygienists and dental assistants. Patients will be able to receive routine dental care at the Regional Training Center beginning in July 2026.
JUNE
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On June 11, Chancellor Gabel and other senior leaders led the second town hall webinar to address issues related to changing federal guidance and other questions.
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On June 9, the Union of Pitt Staff said it had rejected the University’s “take it or leave it” deal, in which the union would have to agree to the higher health and dental insurance costs that non-represented staff will have in fiscal year 2025-26 in order for bargaining unit staff to receive raises — set at 2.5% — for the same period.
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In June, the University of Pittsburgh joined with 23 other public and private universities in filing an amicus brief in support of Harvard University’s lawsuit against the Trump administration, which has cut or frozen roughly $2.8 billion of Harvard’s research grants and contracts.
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The long-awaited settlement in the House v. NCAA case — which will allow universities to pay student-athletes, past and present — was issued on June 6, but it’s not clear yet what that will mean at Pitt. The settlement will allow colleges to pay current players directly for use of their name, image and likeness starting July 1, with a cap of $20.5 million per school for the 2025-26 academic year. Student-athletes also can still negotiate external NIL deals under the settlement, but would have to report any third-party compensation greater than $600. It also includes $2.8 billion to pay past players who missed out on earning money from NIL deals between 2016 and 2024.
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The University of Pittsburgh joined 11 other universities and three higher education trade groups in a lawsuit against the Department of Defense over the agency’s plan to cap indirect research cost rates at 15 percent.
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Work was completed on the restoration of the Heinz Chapel spire.
JULY
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The University budget approved by the Board of Trustees included 2.5% raises for staff outside the union bargaining unit and for most faculty; 2% tuition hikes for in-state students and 4% for out-of-state and a projected research base of $1.2 billion.
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At the July Board of Trustees meeting, senior leaders said a hiring freeze adopted in March would be transitioned to controlled hiring.
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A federal spending bill signed by President Trump included cuts to loans for graduate students and changes in student loan repayment plans.
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The newly rebranded Pitt Digital eliminated all 13 of its in-house help desk analyst positions as part of its transition to an outsourced, vendor-managed model. The move, officials said, would provide increased capacity and improved response times.
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Pitt announced it was leasing three buildings, including a Hampton Inn on Hamlet Street, to house part of the large incoming first-year class.
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The University said that the Pitt Seed program, which has handed out more than $5 million in grants to faculty and staff since its inception in 2018, has been eliminated, along with two full-time positions that supported the program.
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The Mobile Panther ID debuted, which allows students, faculty and staff to use an app on their phones to access buildings, dining halls and campus recreation facilities; check out books at Hillman Library; and more instead of using their plastic Panther ID card, if they choose.
You can find updates on August’s news throughout today’s University Times.
— Compiled from University Times reporting.
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