Retirees from 2024-25 include three with 50+ years

As we approach the beginning of a new school year, let’s look back on all the faculty and staff who retired from Pitt since July 1, 2024.

Those numbers include at least three people with 50 or more years at the University:

  • Alan Meisel (53 years), professor, School of Law, is a leading national and international authority on end-of-life decision making and informed consent to medical treatment, is the founder of the University of Pittsburgh's Center for Bioethics and Health Law and the Law School's Health Law Certificate Program.

  • Robert “Bob” Hoffman (51 years), director of operations at the School of Computing and Information (SCI), started as a student employee in 1974 in the Department of Computer Science, was hired as staff member in the Department of Psychiatry in 1977, and in 1980 returned to computer science, where he’s been every since.

  • Jerome Taylor (56 years), associate professor, Africana Studies, Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences. During his time at Pitt, Taylor has been a faculty member in clinical psychology, director of the Clinical Psychology Center, chair of the graduate program in social psychology, chair of psychology’s racial justice committee, and chair of the Department of Africana Studies.

Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences

George Reid Andrews, distinguished professor, History, 43 years

Angela Athanas, teaching associate professor, mathematics, 25 years

Daniel E. Balderston, A.W. Mellon professor of Modern Languages, Spanish and Portuguese, 17 years

Dave Emala, engineering supervisor, Research Support Services, 44 years

Thomas Callister Hales, A.W. Mellon professor of Mathematics, 23 years

Desmond (John) Hillier, professor, Physics & Astronomy, 31 years

Geeta Kothari, teaching professor, English, 36 years

Colin Maccabe, distinguished professor, English, 40 years

Adrian Michael, professor, Chemistry, 34 years

Hiroshi Nara, professor, East Asian Languages & Literatures, 37 years

Lester Olson, professor, Communication, 39 years

M. Christine O'Neill, senior instuctor, Linguistics, 25 years

B. Guy Peters, Maurice Falk professor of American Politics, 41 years

D. Mark Possanza, associate professor, classics, 32 years

Lynn Rago, administrative officer, Biological Sciences and Neuroscience departments, 20 years

Aurea Maria Sotomayor, professor, Spanish and Portuguese, 14 years

Jerome Taylor, associate professor, Africana Studies, 56 years

Craig S. Wilcox, professor, Chemistry, 38 years

Health Science Library System

Małgorzata Fort, head of digital resource development, 26 years

Helena VonVille, research and instruction librarian, 6 years

Mary Lou Klem, assistant director advanced information services

Pitt–Bradford

Bill Kline, director of Computer, Telecommunications and Media Services, 41 years

David Soriano, associate professor, Chemistry, 41 years

Leasa Maley, assistant director of auxiliary services, 37 years

Don Ulin, professor, English, 27 years

Pat Frantz Cercone, executive director of communications and marketing, 25 years

Jody Randolph, education program database coordinator, 24 years

Nancy McCabe, professor, writing, 24 years

Pitt–Greensburg

Todd Miller, maintenance II (Local 95A), 35 years

Pitt–Johnstown

Thomas Brubaker, technical director of the Pasquerilla Performing Art Center, 29 years

Susanne Bodenschatz, administrative assistant, Nursing Division, 21 years

Victoria Czarnek, mathematics instructor, 22 years

Joni Hoffman, events manager, 44 years

Donna Kowalczyk, elementary education assistant professor,  27 years

Joseph Moxim, purchasing specialist, 41 years

John Mullennix, psychology professor, 27 years

Susan Palov, administrative assistant to the president, 20 years

Shelley Peruso, executive director Health and Wellness Services, 12 years

Daniel Santoro, sociology associate professor, 34 years

Susan Wieczorek, communications associate professor, 34 years

Todd Williams, building operations manager and head baseball coach, 28 years

John Ziats, buyer, 43 years

Pitt IT

Karen Bird, HCM Solutions benefits analyst, 3 years

Bruce Bollinger, operations NMS engineer, 20 years

Sandra Brandon, strategy and innovation leader, 14 years  

Chris Fording, department applications supervisor, 19 years

Joseph (Jay) Graham, chief strategy and innovation leader, 36 years

Diana Matusik, senior client applications support analyst, 35 years

James Segneff, client services technical lead, 42 years

Sandi Starr, database administration, 10 years

Pitt Press

John Fagan, marketing and sales director, 7 years

Pitt Research

Carolyn Weber, technology licensing associate, Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, 25 years

Miriam Freeman, grants & contracts specialist III—pre-award, Department of Surgery, Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute, 24 years

School of Business

Lawrence Feick, professor, Business Administration, 43 years                 

Pandu Tadikamalla, professor, Business Administration, 47 years

School of Education

Aisha White, director of the Positive Racial Identity Development in Early Education (P.R.I.D.E.) program in the Office of Child Development, 12 years

School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences

Ronald Schwesinger, senior financial research administrator, 46 years

Sheila Pratt, professor, Department of Communication Science and Disorders, 32 years

School of Law

Mary Nell Cummings, professor, 11 years

LuAnn Driscoll, director of administrative services, 51

Martha Mannix, professor, 31 years

Alan Meisel, professor, 53 years

Beth Ann Pischke, project manager – online legal programs, 41 years

Judith Teeter, professor, 17 years

School of Medicine

Richard Morycz, associate professor, Psychiatry, 47 years

Gale Richardson, professor, Psychiatry, 35 years

Robert Arnold, distinguished service professor, Medicine, 35 years

Colleen Mayowski, assistant professor, Medicine, 8 years

Gloria Carter, associate professor, Pathology, 22 years

John Williams, professor, Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, 26 years

Ronald Roth, professor, Emergency Medicine, 35 years

John Kreit, professor, Medicine, 32 years

Frank Lieberman, professor, Neurology, 25 years

Timothy Ward, professor, Orthopaedic Surgery, 39 years

Sanjay Lambore, associate professor, Pediatrics, 20 years

Marie Ganott, associate professor, Radiology, 39 years

Chester Mathis, distinguished professor, Radiology, 32 years

Sally Carty, professor, Surgery, 33 years

Cathy Cohen, assistant professor, Radiology, 22 years

Neal Mason, research associate professor, Radiology, 23 years

Yingze Zhang, professor, Medicine, 22 years

Donna Stolz, professor, Cell Biology, 28 years

Matthew Muldoon, professor, Medicine, 35 years

Dennis Krivinko, assistant professor, OB-Gyn & Reproductive Science, 15 years

Ghennady Gushchin, assistant professor, Psychiatry, 22 years

Elizabeth Venditti, associate  professor, Psychiatry, 21 years

Andrew Peitzman, distinguished professor, Surgery, 40 years

Kurt Ackerman, associate professor, Psychiatry, 27 years

Stephen Badylak, professor, Surgery, 22 years

Li Meng, associate professor, Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, 27 years

James McGee, associate professor, Medicine, 23 years

Stephen O'Keefe, professor, Medicine, 22 years

Kenneth Smith, professor, Medicine, 24 years

Arthur Levine, distinguished university professor, Neurobiology, 26 years

Andrew Eller, professor, Ophthalmology, 40 years

Cuneyt Alper, professor, Otolaryngology, 31 years

Joseph Locker, professor, Pathology, 12 years

Joseph Newsome, research associate professor, Pathology, 25 years

Carol Greco, associate professor, Psychiatry, 29 years

Martin Lubetsky, professor, Psychiatry, 39 years

Christopher Martin, associate professor, Psychiatry, 32 years

Kenneth Perkins, professor, Psychiatry, 39 years

Philip Orons, professor, Radiology, 34 years

Ira Fox, professor, Surgery, 17 years

Department of Medicine staff

Joy Jenko Merusi, communications manager, 23 years

Yizeng Tu, laboratory research technician IV, 25 years

Janet Brunner, faculty affairs manager, 50 years

Patricia McGuirk, executive assistant , 25 years

Kathleen Kulka, manager laboratory 1, 40 years

Susan McQuiston, manager laboratory 1, 30 years

School of Nursing

Alice Blazeck, assistant professor, 24 years

Brenda Cassidy, associate professor, 16 years

Annette Dabbs, professor, 21 years

Willa Doswell, associate professor, 30 years

Ann Mitchell, professor, 33 years

School of Social Work

Rafael Engel, associate professor, 37 years

Swanson School of Engineering

Leonard Casson, associate professor emeritus, Civil and Environmental Engineering, 38 years

William J. Federspiel, professor, Bioengineering, 30 years

Tin-Kan Hung, professor, Bioengineering, 50 years

University Center for International Studies

Brenda G. Jordan, director of University of Pittsburgh National Consortium for Teaching About Asia coordinating site, and staff member in Pitt’s Asian Studies Center, 24 years