By SHANNON O. WELLS
Michael Rees, a Pitt alum and new benefactor for the David C. Frederick Honors College, sees a clear — yet largely untapped — connection between common athletic recruitment practices and the nurturing of strong academic potential.
“Many universities, including the University of Pittsburgh, want to excel in athletics. And if you're going to excel, you better do a heck of a job recruiting,” he said. “You hear of all these athletes being recruited at eighth grade, ninth grade, 10th grade, 11th grade. Well, how do we do that on the academic side? …
“Just like college coaches are looking at showcases and playoff games in various sports, what should we be doing to identify these great academic candidates that we think will really benefit from this environment at the Frederick Honors College?” he asked. “How do we identify them early, and then how do we recruit them?”
Rees, a 1997 graduate of Pitt’s Swanson School of Engineering, shared this philosophy while announcing a $30 million gift from him and his family to the University during a virtual media briefing on Nov. 12. The financial gift is geared toward creating a program within the Frederick Honors College to attract outstanding first-year students and support them through their undergraduate degree.
Specifically, the gift is intended to create an endowed fund that can expand the number of honors college students receiving full room, board and tuition scholarships through the existing Chancellor’s Scholarship program.
The cohort of 64 students at a time, now known as Rees-Chancellor Scholars, will receive an annual, funded enrichment opportunity that cover costs of experiential learning opportunities. The financial support is meant to fuel students’ pursuit of passions and development of leadership skills.
“Michael Rees exemplifies the possibilities of a Pitt education,” Chancellor Joan Gabel said in a statement. “His transformational gift not only ensures that the best and brightest continue to choose and be served by Pitt, but that our honors college continues its incredible momentum.”
In addition to providing scholarship support for research, internships, career development and other enrichment experiences, the gift will accommodate additional staff members to the honors college, creating a team to support the cohort.
The new team members will be charged with establishing a recruitment pipeline “to attract the best candidates and work with each student to personalize their Frederick Honors experience,” receiving targeted guidance in applying and preparing for international scholarships such as Rhodes and Fulbright, an announcement about the gift said.
Through an individualized educational and co-curricular program supported by dedicated advisors, the gift is intended to create one of “the most holistic scholarship programs and robust honors college educations in the country,” it explained.
Rees, who founded Dyal Capital and now serves as co-president and member of New York-based Blue Owl Capital Inc., was active as an undergraduate in the then-University Honors College.
In addition to completing bachelor’s degrees in mechanical engineering and political science at Pitt and earning a Chancellor’s Scholarship, he also received the prestigious Goldwater Scholarship and the Department of Defense Research Fellowship. Rees went on to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he earned graduate degrees in mechanical engineering and technology policy.
“My time at Pitt laid the foundation for my career, and my honors program experiences are what really shaped me into the person I am today,” he said. “I’m excited to see the next generation of students enjoy even greater benefits and to help this program reach new heights.”
Regarding the concept, Rees said he reflected on what a “fantastic experience” he had at Pitt’s honors college and what could be done to foster “continuous improvement.”
“We thought about various metrics and ways to measure success of an honors college. … One of the things we thought about was those national awards that put the University and the honors college on the map for really developing the highest level in academic achievement,” he said. “We started talking about how we could enhance the number of students that came to the University on this Rees-Chancellor scholarship, and how we could attract them.”
The idea came to encompass enhancing the cohort a “little more each year” along with the enhancing the experience at the University and honors college while counseling students toward a “long-term successful academic career,” and position them to win national awards.
“I think (that) has a very positive-reinforcement loop back to then recruiting and attracting great candidates, developing them and winning awards,” Rees said. “That's the sort of three-step process and cycle that we envisioned.”
Shannon Gottesman, of the Office of Philanthropic and Alumni Engagement, said she first met with Rees in New York in 2023, and from there Rees visited campus to talk with Frederick Honors College Dean Nicola Foote.
“That's actually a very short amount of time to work on a transformational gift of this size,” Gottesman said. “You want to be in the weeds with every single thing, down to when we sign the documents. I just want to give kudos, because for us, these take years and years of building of a relationship with alumni the minute they walk out the door and then to have it here.”
Rees said while he wishes “every student coming to Pitt” could be a Rees-Chancellor Scholar and get the same opportunity financially, developmentally and from an enrichment perspective, “hopefully others will see this model and want to contribute and sort of expand this overall effort,” he noted. “That would be fantastic.”
Shannon O. Wells is a writer for the University Times. Reach him at shannonw@pitt.edu.
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