PittChronicleNewspaper of the Universi ty of Pit tsburgh Volume XIV • Number 8 • March 4 , 2013

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Chancellor’s Senatetestimony.......................2

Women’s historymonth...........................6-7

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By Adam Reger

Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg has announced the winners of the 2013 Chancel-lor’s Awards for Staff Excellence in Service to the University and to the Community. The honorees were recognized during Pitt’s annual Honors Convocation, which was held Feb. 22 in the Carnegie Music Hall, Oakland. Each of the awardees receives a $2,500 cash prize. In addition, the names of

Chancellor Names 2013 Awardees for Staff Excellence in Service to the University, Community

the awardees will be inscribed on plaques displayed in the William Pitt Union.

The Chancellor’s Award for Staff Excellence in Service to the University recognizes staff members who not only exceed job standards and expectations in performing their duties, but also make a

Kenyon Bonner Sherry Miller Brown Gina L. Huggins

Nick Mihailoff Cheryl Paul Charles Staresinic

By Sharon Blake and Debbie Goldberg

The University of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia University have entered into an agreement to advance the preservation of, and access to, late U.S. Senator Arlen Specter’s archive, the Arlen Specter Col-lection, which is part of the Arlen Specter Center for Public Policy at Philadelphia University.

The Arlen Specter Col-lection—comprising more than 2,700 boxes of papers, photographs, audio and video materials, and memorabilia—includes a wide range of historic documents on such important events in modern U.S. history as:

• the Warren Commis-sion’s investigation into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy (as an aide to the commission, Specter advanced the lone-gunman “single bullet” theory); and

• Specter’s crossing party lines to become the only Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee to vote against the nomination of Judge Robert H. Bork to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1987.

Under the agreement, Pitt’s University Library System will organize and manage the Arlen Specter Collection over the next four years and store the collection for a period of 30 years. Philadelphia University retains ownership of the archive, and the

Pitt and Philadelphia University Enter Into an Agreement to Manage Late U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter’s Archive

two universities will collaborate on educa-tional programming related to the archive and facilitate access to it by students, researchers, and the general public. The agreement forges a working partnership that will allow the sharing of exhibitions and

other scholarly work emanat-ing from the archive by the two academic institutions at opposite ends of the Com-monwealth, with Pittsburgh in the west and Philadelphia in the east. The center’s first exhibition, focusing on the Warren Commission’s report, will open in October 2013 and run through April 15, 2014, in observance of the 50th anniversary of the Nov. 22, 1963, Kennedy assassination.

“Over the course of his distinguished career, Senator

Arlen Specter played a key role in some of the most significant political events of recent American history. He also was a good friend to Pitt, to Pittsburgh, and to the region that we call home,” said Pitt Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg. “The University of Pitts-burgh is extremely fortunate, therefore, to partner with Philadelphia University as the repository of the late Senator’s archive of historically priceless materials—treasures that will benefit students, scholars, and the

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Arlen Specter

By Cara Masset

Last week in Washington, D.C., a sena-tor presented an unusual gift to an unusual man—a replica of a ceramic tile from the f loor of the hallowed Capitol building, where the nation’s legislators have convened for most of American history. The occasion was Pennsylvania U.S. Senator Robert P.

History MakerPitt alumnus, trustee William E. Strickland Jr. honored by U.S. Senator Casey at Black History Month celebration in the Capitol

From left, Pitt alumnus and trustee William E. “Bill” Strickland Jr. (A&S ’70), president and CEO of the Manchester Bidwell Corporation; Pitt Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor Patricia E. Beeson; U.S. Senator Robert P. Casey Jr.; and Pitt Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg.

Casey Jr.’s Black History Month celebration Feb. 25, when Casey honored the accom-plishments of Pitt alumnus and trustee William E. “Bill” Strickland Jr. (A&S ’70), president and CEO of the internationally renowned Manchester Bidwell Corporation, an arts education and jobs training center

in Pittsburgh that grew out of Strickland’s passion for pottery.

“Bill’s career began with ceramics and now it has come full circle,” Casey said. “He’s here in the Capitol of the United States, walking across the ornately patterned and col-ored tile f loors through-out the Brumidi Corridors, where numerous other pres-tigious men and women have walked before him. So I thought it appropriate to present a man who appreci-ates beauty, ceramics, and history with a decorative ceramic tile from the floor of the Capitol.”

The floor of the Senate chamber is where Casey began heralding Strickland’s achievements during the Black History Month event. Before an audience of sena-tors and, in the Senate gal-lery, invited guests including Pitt Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg and Pitt Pro-vost and Senior Vice Chancellor Patricia E. Beeson, Senator Casey said: “As I have every year since I came to the Senate, I rise to commemorate Black History Month. This year, we are privileged to recognize Bill Strickland, a man whose approach is

unique and whose accomplishments are of great consequence to African Americans and, in fact, to all Americans. …

“Bill believes passionately in the idea that each of us, regardless of race, creed,

or ethnicity, is born into this world as an asset, not a liabil-ity, and that, when given the right training and opportu-nity, each of us is capable of world-class results,” Casey continued. “Or, in Bill’s own words, ‘Never give up on the poor kids.’ And Bill never has. Today I am proud to share some of the extraordi-nary achievements that have resulted from Bill’s simple but powerful pledge.”

Casey then recounted elements of Strickland’s story: How he grew up in the Manchester neighborhood of Pittsburgh, on the city’s North Side. How he founded the Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild in 1968, while still a Pitt student, to bring arts

education and mentorship to inner-city youth in his area of the city. How two years later, he graduated cum laude from the Uni-versity with a bachelor’s degree in history

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“It was very moving to join other friends and admirers of Bill Strickland as Sena-tor Casey paid well-deserved tribute to Bill’s life of amazing impact from the floor of the United States Senate.” —Mark A. Nordenberg

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2 • Pitt Chronicle • March 4, 2013

By Cara Masset

Four Pitt juniors who have demon-strated leadership and global awareness—through activities such as fundraising for North Korean refugees, translating Spanish documents for a U.S. Congressional com-mittee, and studying abroad on multiple continents—are the first recipients of the University Honors College’s annual G. Alec Stewart Student Achievement Award, established this academic year for Pitt juniors and named to honor the memory of the Honors College’s late founding dean. The four awardees are Michael Deckebach, Rashmi Kumar, Julia Radomski, and Joseph Thomas, all enrolled in the Kenneth P. Diet-rich School of Arts and Sciences.

The students were recognized Feb. 22 at a reception following Pitt’s Honors Convocation. Carolyn Stewart, G. Alec Stewart’s widow, presented award citations and $1,000 prizes to the winning students. The students selected to receive the award had shown in their application essays that they are not only leaders and global citizens but students who are carrying out the life lessons that G. Alec Stewart was known for imparting: follow a course of study with breadth and depth, take initiative, and have a willingness to help others.

“This award serves several important goals,” said Edward M. Stricker, dean of the University Honors College. “The first is to honor Dean Stewart by highlighting and advancing important aspects of his legacy. A second goal is to honor students for their exemplary academic achievements while they still are students at Pitt. A third goal is to make clear that in addition to providing a rich array of educational opportunities for undergraduate students, the University Honors College publicly recognizes and thereby draws attention to character traits in our students that will foster outstanding citizenship before and after graduation—traits found in the students who have been honored this year.”

Information on the 2012-13 G. Alec Stewart Student Achievement Award win-ners follows.

Michael Deckebach is majoring in religious studies and history and minoring in political science. My studies have fas-cinated me with the complexity of human life, he wrote in his award application. He is president of Pitt’s Talk About It Campaign, which is raising awareness on campus about depression treatments and suicide preven-tion, and he is a program coordinator in Sutherland Hall with Pitt’s Office of Resi-

Inaugural G. Alec Stewart Student Achievement Awards Are Presented

From left, awardee Michael Deckebach; Carolyn Stewart, widow of University Honors College founding dean G. Alec Stewart; awardee Rashmi Kumar; and Edward M. Stricker, dean of the University Honors College. Not pictured are awardee Joseph Thomas, who was attending a student conference in Miami on labor issues, and awardee Julia Radomski, who is studying abroad in Cuba.

dence Life. He has tutored high school stu-dents in the Pittsburgh area, volunteered as an English teacher in Peru, and participated in a leadership program in Israel. Deckebach is from Toledo, Ohio.

Rashmi Kumar is majoring in molecu-lar biology and English literature and minor-ing in chemistry. The same critical thinking process through which I analyzed how water channels transport water in a biochemistry class can be used to analyze dystopian symbolism in a T.S. Eliot poem, she wrote in her award application. She is president and cofounder of Pitt’s chapter of the Global Medical Brigade, and she is working as a student researcher in the laboratory of Lisa Borghesi, an immunology professor in Pitt’s School of Medicine. Kumar was born in India and later settled with her family in Fort Collins, Colo.

Julia Radomski, who is currently studying abroad in Cuba, is majoring in anthropology and economics, minoring in Spanish, and pursuing a Certificate of Latin American Studies and a Certificate of Women’s Studies. Honors college advis-ing led me to take courses in a variety of fields in order to focus my broad interest in humanitarian issues, she wrote in her award application. Last summer she interned with the Committee on Education and the Work-force, Democratic Office, of the U.S. House of Representatives, where she translated documents from Colombian congressional labor committee staff, among other duties. Radomski is from Silver Spring, Md.

Joseph Thomas is majoring in biol-ogy and political science and minoring in chemistry and neuroscience. I am both fas-cinated and driven by the interplay between governments, their people, and the health of populations, he wrote in his award applica-tion. He is the business manager for the Pitt chapter of Liberty in North Korea, which raises funds for North Korean refugees, and he is the cofounder and president of Americans for Informed Democracy at Pitt. He has volunteered at a school in India and at a health care clinic in Honduras. Thomas is from Somerset, Pa.

Next year, during their senior year, the four awardees will serve as ambassadors for the University Honors College by intro-ducing incoming students to academic and cocurricular opportunities offered by the college—helping the next generation of students to show initiative, explore multiple fields of academic study, and become well-rounded global citizens.

(This is Pitt Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg’s written testimony that was submit-ted to the Pennsylvania State Senate Committee on Appro-priations on Feb. 28, 2013.)

This is the 226th birthday of the University of Pitts-burgh. Today, then, we will formally conclude our year-long celebration of the 225th anniversary of our founding as a log-cabin academy on Feb. 28, 1787. The telling and timeless example set by the pioneering people of western Pennsylvania, in making edu-cation a priority even as they struggled with survival at the edge of the American frontier, reaffirms the key role that education always has played, both in individual pursuit of the American dream and in our collective progress.

The type of work done by Pitt and other research univer-sities has become even more critical as we move further into the innovation economy of the 21st century. A recently released report by the National Research Council (NRC)—requested by Congress, written by a blue-ribbon panel chaired by the former CEO of DuPont, and entitled Research Universities and the Future of America—strongly emphasizes that point:

“America is driven by innovation—advances in ideas, products, and pro-cesses that create new indus-tries and jobs, contribute to our nation’s health and security, and support a high standard of living. In the past half century, innovation itself has been increasingly driven by educated people and the knowledge they produce. Our nation’s primary source of both new knowledge and graduates with advanced skills continues to be our research universities.

“However, these institu-tions now face an array of challenges, from unstable revenue streams and anti-quated policies and practices to increasing competition from universities abroad. It is essential that we as a nation reaffirm and revitalize the unique partner-ship that has long existed among research universities, the federal government, the states, and philanthropy and strengthen its links with business and industry. In doing so, we will encourage the innovation that leads to high-quality jobs, increased incomes, and security, health, and prosperity for our nation” (emphasis added).

Those are powerful words. In fact, with the increasingly competitive global economy as a backdrop, the report refers to research universities as “a major national asset—per-haps even its most potent one.”

The report goes on to list some specific advances that can be attributed to this potent national asset: “Lasers, radar, synthetic

Maintaining Momentum During Challenging Times

insulin, blood thinners, magnetic resonance imaging, computers, and rocket fuel are among the countless innovations in which university research has played an essential role.” That list has special significance for the University of Pittsburgh, because insu-

lin first was synthesized by a Pitt faculty member in a Pitt lab, and a Pitt graduate was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his critical role in the development of the science of magnetic resonance imag-ing. That Pitt is so strongly connected to two of these seven key advances is a source of institutional pride.

The NRC report goes on to create a different kind of list by cataloging the critical challenges facing America’s research universities today. Though we are affected by them all, we know one par-ticularly well. As stated in the report, “State funding for higher education, already eroding in real terms for more

than two decades, has been cut further during the recent recession.”

In fiscal year 2012, Pitt faced state fund-ing challenges taking multiple forms. One was coping with a steep reduction to our base appropriation. The budget originally enacted reduced our appropriation by 22 percent, or about $40 million. Then, in the fall of 2011, 50 percent of our capital proj-ects support, or another $20 million, was withdrawn, and in January of 2012, we were directed to place an additional 5 percent, or $7 million, into “budgetary reserve.” That totaled $67 million in sequential reductions to state support for FY 2012. The bad news continued when an additional set of deep and disproportionate cuts was proposed for FY

The type of work done by Pitt and other research universities has become even more critical as we move further into the innovation economy of the 21st century.

Mark A. Nordenberg

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Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg

March 4, 2013 • University of Pittsburgh • 3

Continued from page 1significant impact on the University through their commitment and performance. The following five staff members were chosen to receive the award: Kenyon Bonner, associ-ate dean of students, director of student life, and program director of the RISE mentoring program; Sherry Miller Brown, director of the McCarl Center for Nontraditional Student Success within the College of Gen-eral Studies; Gina L. Huggins, program administrator for the Pitt School of Law’s Center for International Legal Education; Nick Mihailoff, facilities manager of the Pymatuning Laboratory of Ecology in the Department of Biological Sciences within the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences; and Cheryl Paul, director of engi-neering student services in the Swanson School of Engineering.

The Award for Staff Excellence in Service to the Community recognizes staff members whose work in the community surpasses the expectations of the organiza-tions they serve and whose commitment and effort have made a significant impact on the community. This year’s award recipient is Charles Staresinic, director of communication for aca-demic affairs in the Office of the Senior Vice Chancellor for the Health Sciences.

Bonner was praised for his role in improving the operations of Pitt’s Office of Student Life. In his notifica-tion letter, the chancellor wrote that Bonner has shown extraordinary dedication to the University, its students, and colleagues, and he cited a number of colleagues who spoke of Bonner’s hands-on involvement in Student Life’s operations. They recounted instances of Bonner staying until 2 a.m. to monitor the success of a student orien-tation event or assuming the duties of staff members whom he thought could use some rest. Bonner’s leader-ship skills and ability to engage students and staff were listed among his great-est attributes. Vice Provost and Dean of Students Kathy Humphrey applauded Bonner’s “measured, thoughtful, and conscientious leadership, even in the face of uncertainty, particu-larly during the chaos of last year’s bomb threats.”

As director of the College of General Studies’ McCarl Center for Nontraditional Student Success, Brown works to support the University’s nontraditional students not only academically but personally and pro-fessionally. In his Feb. 13 notification letter to Brown, Chancellor Nordenberg praised her commitment to students, writing that she consistently exceeds “the amount of time, degree of enthusiasm, magnitude of involvement, and depth of personal con-nection” required by her position. Brown uses her own story of nontraditional student success—having obtained a PhD over 18 years—to inspire both prospective and enrolled students who may be struggling as they pursue their educations. Norden-berg’s letter relayed comments made by Janet Owens, outreach coordinator for Pitt’s Office of Veterans Services, who wrote that Brown’s support has “literally saved the lives of several student veterans who were experiencing very dark days.”

As program administrator for the School of Law’s Center for International Legal Education, Huggins provides a friendly and professional public face to current, incoming, and prospective stu-dents. Among the factors that Nordenberg

cited for his selection of Huggins was the number of times students reported choos-ing Pitt over other law schools because of Huggins’ warmth and helpfulness during the initial contact with Pitt’s School of Law. The length to which Huggins will go to provide personal attention was also mentioned, including Huggins’ visiting sick students at their homes—the sort of care that led one year’s class to nickname Huggins “Mom.” The chancellor quoted a colleague who said, “If we had more people like Gina in the University, we would need fewer people in the University. She simply does it all.”

Mihailoff manages the facilities of the Department of Biological Sciences’s Pymatuning Laboratory of Ecology in Linesville, Pa. Despite the enormity of the land and University resources under his care—25 buildings on 350 acres of land—Mihailoff has drastically improved the site’s equipment and facilities, which the chancellor noted were in significant

disrepair prior to Mihailoff’s arrival. He has managed to make these improvements while saving the lab hun-dreds of thousands of dollars by using surplus equipment. The chancellor also praised Mihailoff’s “customer-first approach,” citing the assis-tance he provided to a pro-fessor who returned from a field ecology class to find that his car had been dam-aged by a destructive wood-chuck. Mihailoff arranged repairs at a local mechanic’s shop, made calls to locate the needed auto parts, and later live-trapped the guilty woodchuck.

Paul was cited for her service as volunteer faculty advisor to the University’s Delta Chi fraternity. In his letter to her, Chancellor Nordenberg quoted a fra-ternity member who wrote that Paul has “served as this fraternity’s most valuable asset.” Indeed, under Paul’s guidance, the fraternity’s average grade-point average has risen above the Univer-

sity average. The chancellor also quoted a fraternity member’s mother, who wrote to describe the care and assistance her son had received. “Although I realize Pitt offers excellent academics,” she wrote, “any school is only as good as the people they are lucky enough to employ and hopefully recognize for their commitment, effort, and excellence in going so far above and beyond what is expected.”

As president of the Friends of the Law-renceville Library since 2009, Staresinic has been instrumental in helping to keep four branches of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh (CLP) system open, including the historic Lawrenceville branch. As a volunteer, he drafted promotional materi-als and organized fundraising events. The chancellor’s letter quoted CLP President and Director Mary Frances Cooper, who lauded Staresinic for sharing his time helping the library, “whether by speaking on its behalf at the Allegheny Regional Asset District or staffing a lemonade stand” to raise money for children’s programs. Staresinic is also held in high regard by his University colleagues, both within and outside the schools of the health sciences. The chancellor’s letter praised Staresinic’s “trademark serenity, gentility, kindness, respect, and good humor,” adding that Staresinic has repeatedly demonstrated that his work does not have departmental borders.

Chancellor Names 2013 Awardees for Staff Excellence in Service to the University, Community

The Chancellor’s Award for Staff Excellence in Ser-vice to the Uni-versity recognizes staff members who not only exceed job standards and expectations in performing their duties, but also make a significant impact on the University through their commitment and performance.

Continued from page 1

and foreign relations. And how, in 1972, he assumed leadership of the Bidwell Training Center—cofounded by Pitt alumnus Rev. James J. Robinson (A&S ’51)—and molded it into a successful jobs training program for disadvantaged adults.

Manchester Bidwell Corporation, a nonprofit corporation comprising the guild and training center, has proven to be a successful model for change. Strickland’s orga-nization is known for providing an empower-ing atmosphere of art, light, music, and respect. Through the National Centers for Ar ts and Technology, the newest segment of the Manches-ter Bidwell Corporation, the model has been rep-licated in San Francisco, Cincinnati, Cleveland, New Haven, and Grand Rapids, with 20 other centers in development in Israel, Canada, Ireland, and the United States. The newest center, the Brockway Center for Arts and Technology, is sched-uled to open in Brockway, Pa., this spring.

Following Casey’s remarks on the Senate f loor, a symposium titled “Bill Strickland and Social Entrepreneurship” took place in the same room of the Rus-sell Senate Office Building in which both John and Robert Kennedy announced their campaigns for president and in which both the McCarthy hearings and the Watergate hearings were held. There, a distinguished panel discussed how Strickland has demon-strated that people’s lives can be improved when the best practices of entrepreneurial behavior and social change are brought together to give disadvantaged youth and adults the opportunities and skills they need to overcome social and economic barriers to success.

The symposium panelists included Chris Moore, producer and host with WQED Multimedia in Pittsburgh; Sally Osberg, president and CEO of the Skoll Foundation in Palo Alto, Calif.; Kath-ryn Merchant, president of the Greater Cincinnati Foundation; Carlton Highsmith, board chair for the Connecticut Center for Arts and Technology; former Pitt School of Education fac-ulty member Bruce Jones, who is now a professor of education and political science at the Univer-sity of South Florida; and Germaine Wat-kins, a graduate of the Apprenticeship Training Program at Strickland’s Manches-ter Craftsmen Guild and now a photogra-phy inst ructor with the guild. U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown from Ohio, and U.S. Repre-sentatives Mike Doyle and Tim Murphy, both from Pennsylvania, were among those in attendance.

“Hearing the panelists who came from all over the country talk about this model that we’ve developed and why they believe this could make a big difference

in the national conversation about education was the highlight of the day,” Strickland said later. “I’m deeply grateful to Senator Casey for bringing everyone together for this extraordinary event. It was a meaning-

ful celebration of the work that the center does, not just me.”

“It was very moving to join other friends and admirers of Bill Strick-land as Senator Casey paid well-deserved tribute to Bill’s life of amazing impact from the floor of the United States Senate,” Chancellor Nordenberg commented. “Bill has received many national and international honors, but this clearly was one of the truly memorable moments of his life. At the symposium honoring Bill as a social entrepre-neur that was held in the Russell Senate Building and attended by a large audience of people from around the country, Bill specifically recognized the important role that the University of Pitts-burgh had played in his life. That also was very

moving, since Bill is one of our most distinguished graduates and one of our lon-gest-serving trustees, and has been honored in many ways by the University, including as the recipient of an honorary degree.”

Strickland’s 2002 Pitt honorary Doctor of Fine Arts diploma is now part of a memorabilia collection that Strickland says his mother started for him when he was a child; she kept a chest with clippings of Cub Scout reports and newspaper articles. Since then, his memorabilia collection has grown to reflect his numerous honors, including selection as a MacArthur “genius” Fellow in 1996; being named a Pitt Distinguished

Alumni Fellow in 1997; being inducted into the University’s

inaugural Legacy Laureate class in 2000; being named the 2007 Pittsburgher of the Year by Pittsburgh Maga-zine; and receiving the 2011 Goi Peace Award from the

Goi Peace Foundation in Japan that recognizes

individuals and orga-nizations that have made outstanding contributions toward the realization of a peaceful and har-monious world for humanity and all life on earth. He also has added his book Make the Impos-sible Possible: One Man’s Crusade to In sp ire Others to Dream Bigger and Achieve the E x t ra ord in a r y (Currency, 2007).

St r ickland is now proud to add another

memento to his col lec t ion — t he decorative ceramic tile from the floor of the U.S. Capitol.

History MakerPitt alumnus, trustee William E. Strickland Jr. honored by U.S. Senator Casey at Black History Month celebration in the Capitol

“Bill believes passion-ately in the idea that each of us, regardless of race, creed, or ethnicity, is born into this world as an asset, not a liability, and that, when given the right training and opportunity, each of us is capable of world-class results. Or, in Bill’s own words, ‘Never give up on the poor kids.’ And Bill never has.”—Sen. Bob Casey

William E. Strickland

4 • Pitt Chronicle • March 4, 2013

By B. Rose Huber

Although Pittsburgh is at or near the top of numerous quality-of-life rankings, transportation remains a key concern for the region until a stable funding solution is found, according to a report released Feb. 24 by PittsburghTODAY, a regional indicators program based at the University of Pittsburgh’s University Center for Social and Urban Research (UCSUR).

Pittsburgh Today & Tomorrow 2013 draws a comprehensive profile of how Pitts-burgh is faring compared with 14 other benchmark regions nationwide in 11 key quality-of-life catego-ries: the arts, demographics, the economy, education, the environment, govern-ment, health, housing, public safety, sustainability, and transportation. The other benchmark regions are: Baltimore, Boston, Char-lotte, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Denver, Detroit, Indianapo-lis, Kansas City, Milwau-kee, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Philadelphia, Richmond, and St. Louis.

While most of the news is positive, there are sev-eral areas of concern for the region in addition to transportation, according to the report, among them the environment, government, health, and building sustainable communi-ties.

“Pittsburgh Today & Tomorrow is simply a must-read for Greater Pittsburgh’s leaders and citizens who want the facts on how the region is doing and what the most critical issues are for its future,” said Doug-las Heuck, director of PittsburghTODAY. “The report looks at the key categories of regional quality of life, showing how Pittsburgh compares with regions across the country. We get behind the numbers through interviews with regional leaders in

Transportation Top Concern for Pittsburgh, Says Regional Study by PittsburghTODAY and Pitt’s UCSUR

a broad range of sectors who weigh in on the key challenges and opportunities facing Pittsburgh.”

Findings are based on PittsburghTO-DAY’s reporting and UCSUR data. The report’s key findings follow.

Arts: Groups and organizations are finding ways to flourish despite challeng-ing economic times. The seven-county Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area is home to 486 arts and cultural organizations.

Demographics: The region is getting decidedly younger. The population of 20-to-34 year-olds grew by seven percent over the past five years and is expected to grow another eight percent by 2020.

Economy: Pittsburgh is one of the most affordable places to live for moderate-income families. It’s also one of only three U.S. cities that have recovered from the recession that began in 2007.

Education: The region remains among the nation’s leaders in terms of the per-centage of the population that has a high school degree or its equivalent—or better. Gradu-ation rates have improved or stayed the same in 70 percent of schools in the area.

Environment: The air is the cleanest it has been since the Industrial Revolution, but a chronic sewage overflow problem continues to plague the region’s streams and rivers.

Government: The region currently has an overabundance of governments, making consolidation a popular topic. People resid-ing in the seven-county Pittsburgh Metro-politan Statistical Area are ruled by more than 900 distinct government entities.

Health: Despite the region’s broad health care network, the region has higher-than-average rates of diabetes, obesity, and

deaths from cardiac arrest. Pittsburgh also ranks poorly in health-related behaviors, with comparatively low levels of physical activity and high rates of smoking.

Housing: The area remains in the midst of a solid housing recovery, and the appreciation of home values in the region is the envy of most of the benchmark regions. Third-quarter home prices appreciated 5.8 percent from 2007 to 2012.

Public Safety: Few regions can boast lower crime rates than Pittsburgh, as bur-glaries and thefts have steadily declined since 2006.

Sustainability: Social equity is key to sustainable communities, and Pittsburgh has work to do. Sharp racial disparities in quality-of-life measures ranging from household income to health insurance exist throughout the region.

Transportation: Funding for transpor-tation has been a significant problem for the Pittsburgh region in the past several years. Despite Governor Tom Corbett’s recent transportation funding proposal, the fate of public transit in Allegheny County remains unclear. The steep cuts in transit service the Port Authority avoided at the last moment in 2012 remain a possibility until a stable funding solution is found. Data show the cuts could add an extra 11 minutes to a daily commute. Additionally, a national report on structurally deficient bridges identified 1,133 such structures in the region.

The report and additional information are available at http://www.pittsburghto-day.org/special_reports.html in the spe-cial reports section. Print copies may be requested by contacting Emily Craig at edc20@pitt.edu.

“Pittsburgh Today & Tomorrow is simply a must-read for Greater Pitts-burgh’s leaders and citizens who want the facts on how the region is doing and what the most critical issues are for its future.” —Douglas Heuck

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It was a day to honor members of the Pitt community—and to reflect upon a rare, strong partnership between two neighboring research universities. Pitt held its annual Honors Convocation on Feb. 22 in Carnegie Music Hall. Jared L. Cohon, Carnegie Mellon University’s president, served as the event’s keynote speaker and was awarded an honorary degree by Pitt Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg. Chancellor Nordenberg called Cohon “a devoted partner of Pitt and a wonderful friend to me…[H]e helped create an institutional culture that fostered levels of collaboration between Pitt and CMU that are unique in the world of higher education. That spirit of cooperation has made both institutions stronger and has provided a distinctive form of strength to the region.” 1. Pitt’s 2013 Distinguished Alumni Fellows addressed the convocation. From left, Tom R. Slone (CGS ’88), chair and CEO of Touchstone Communications; Johanna M. Seddon (A&S ’70, MED ’74), professor of ophthalmology at Tufts University and director of the Ophthalmic Epidemiology and Genetics Service in the New England Eye Center; and Catherine U. Dischner (NURS ’79), assistant deputy under secretary for health for organizational integration in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. 2. Chancellor Nordenberg smiles as Pitt Vice Provost and Dean of Students Kathy Humphrey (middle) congratulates Pitt senior Kate Malekoff on her receipt of the 2013 Omicron Delta Kappa (ODK) Senior of the Year award. ODK is an honorary society that recognizes students who maintain a high standard of leadership in collegiate activities. 3. From left, Pitt Board of Trustees Chair Stephen R. Tritch; Jared L. Cohon, CMU president; and Chancellor Nordenberg show the audience Cohon’s framed Pitt citation and honorary doctoral degree diploma.

March 4, 2013 • University of Pittsburgh • 5

Newsmakers

Wendell G. Freeland, a former Pitt trustee as well as a prominent lawyer and civil rights activist, delivered a Jan. 31 talk titled “What You Should Know About Some of Our Past.” Freeland discussed the racial discrimination he faced while growing up and when he was in the U.S. Army, where he served as one of the famed World War II Tuskegee Airmen. Freeland detailed his lifelong dedication to fighting discrimination, seeking to ensure the civil rights of all. His talk in Forbes Tower was presented by Pitt’s School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences and Office of Health Sciences Diversity.

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Pitt’s Omicron Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate Greek-lettered Black fraternity, marked the centennial anniversary of its founding during a Jan. 18-21 celebration in Oakland. The Omicron Centennial Ball and Dinner was held Jan. 19 in Alumni Hall’s Connolly Ballroom. Pitt Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg and Mark S. Tillman, the general president of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, delivered remarks. The keynote speaker was Chaka Fattah, U.S. Congressman for the 2nd District and an Alpha Phi Alpha member. From left are Nordenberg, Omicron chapter president and Pitt senior Matthew Sauers, and Tillman.

A CENTENNIAL CELEbRATION

Pitt 2013 Marshall Scholar Paras Minhas participated in a Feb. 13 debate on the question “Should a Physician Be Mandated to Perform, Show, and Explain High-Resolution Ultrasound Images of the Patient’s Pregnancy to Each Woman Presenting for Abortion Care?” The debate, hosted by Pitt’s William Pitt Debating Union, was the fifth in a series of Marcella L. Finegold Memorial Public Debates and the first such debate stemming from a collaboration between the Department of Communication in Pitt’s Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences and the Pitt School of Medicine. Minhas is a Pitt senior majoring in microbiology in the Dietrich School, an undergraduate debater, and a 2012 Goldwater Scholar and Amgen Scholar. He has been admitted to the Pitt School of Medicine through its Guaranteed Admissions Program.

WHEN SHOULD ULTRASOUNDS bE USED?

FREELAND ADVOCATES CIVIL RIGHTS FOR ALL

By Kimberly Marcott Weinberg

The University of Pittsburgh at Brad-ford has named its sport and fitness center in honor of Pitt-Bradford President Emeritus Richard McDowell and his wife, Ruth.

The University of Pittsburgh Board of Trustees approved the naming of the Dr. Richard and Ruth McDowell Sport and Fitness Center during its Feb. 22 meeting in Oakland.

The sport and fitness center opened in the fall of 2002 and includes the KOA Arena, the Kenneth M. Jadlowiec Fitness Center, an exercise studio, the Tom L. McDowell Fieldhouse (named in honor of McDowell’s father), the Paul C. Duke III Aquatic Center, as well as offices, classrooms, and athletic training facilities.

“I am tremendously pleased that one of the most vibrant buildings on campus now carries the name of a vibrant leader,” said Livingston Alexander, Pitt-Bradford’s president. “Dr. McDowell’s unrelenting enthusiasm, optimism, and dedication car-ried Pitt-Bradford into the 21st century, well poised for the national recognition we’re seeing today.”

McDowell served as president of Pitt-Bradford from 1973 to 2002, lead-ing it to some milestones of progress: the gain-ing of its baccalaureate-degree-granting status in 1979, the expansion of the physical campus, and the growth of the student body to 1,200.

McKe a n C ou n t y Senior Judge John M. Cleland, chair of the Pitt-Bradford Advisory Board from 1995 to 2005, said, “It is more than fitting that Dick receive this honor. The campus is largely his vision, and his legacy is being duly recognized. And certainly, Ruth has been Dick’s partner for many years, and it’s appropriate that they are recognized together for the team they are.”

When McDowell became Pitt-Brad-ford’s president at age 29, he was the young-est college president in the nation. Prior to that, he had served the university in several other capacities, including assistant to the president for academic affairs, director of

Pitt-Bradford Sport Center Named in Honor of Campus President Emeritus Richard McDowell and His Wife, Ruth

admissions, and as a faculty member. Following his retirement as presi-

dent, McDowell taught courses in leader-ship and fundraising at Pitt-Bradford. He holds a bachelor’s degree from High Point University and master’s and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from St. Louis University. High Point University awarded McDowell an honorary doctorate in 1996. In 2001, he was awarded the Pitt-Bradford Alumni Associa-tion Teaching Excellence Award, and, in 2002, he was recognized for his support of athletics by induction into Pitt-Brad-ford’s Athletic Hall of Fame.

Over the years, the McDowells have supported a wide range of important initiatives at the Bradford campus. They established the Pitt-Bradford Athletics Endowment; joined with other donors and relatives of Richard McDowell to

create the Zelda N. Hyatt Undergraduate Student Research Fund; and gave gener-ously to the Bradford Education Foundation at Pitt-Bradford, specifically for grants to expand and revolutionize the availability and use of technology throughout the curriculum for all Pitt-Bradford majors.

“I am tremendously pleased that one of the most vibrant buildings on campus now carries the name of a vibrant leader. Dr. McDowell’s unrelenting enthusi-asm, optimism, and dedication carried Pitt-Bradford into the 21st century, well poised for the national recognition we’re seeing today.”—Livingston Alexander

Dr. Richard and Ruth McDowell Sport and Fitness Center

From left, Pitt Board of Trustees Chair Stephen R. Tritch, Richard McDowell, and Pitt Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg

6 • Pitt Chronicle • March 4, 2013

1908 Pi Theta Nu, the first Pitt sorority forms in 1908. Women’s organizations are rare until after 1910.

1910 Jean Hamilton Walls receives the bachelor’s degree in physics at Pitt, the first Black woman to do so at the University. In 1938, she becomes the first Black woman to receive the PhD degree (in English) at Pitt.

1919 Virginia Proctor Powell Flor-ence is the first African American

woman in the United States to complete a professional education program in librarianship. She gradu-ates in 1923 from the Carnegie Library School, which later became part of Pitt’s

School of Information Sciences. (In 2004, a plaque honoring Florence is installed in the Information Sciences Building lobby.) The Women’s Athletic Asso-

ciation forms to manage intramural sports. Pitt’s first Dean of Women, Thyrsa Wealth-eow Amos, arrives from the psychology department at the University of Kansas.

1924 Women’s Varsity Basketball team sweeps its home game opponents and loses only one game on the road.

1942 Eighty-two percent of the students in the professional nursing

program enlist in a unit of the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps organized by the University. Because of a wartime shortage of nurses, the federal government mandates that nursing schools receiving federal money accept Black students. In

1943, Adena Johnson Davis becomes the first African American admitted to the School

of Nursing. She graduates in 1947.

1969 Chancellor Wesley Posvar creates the Advisory Committee on Women’s Opportunities to address the agenda of the newly formed University Committee for Women’s Rights.

1972 The Pitt Women’s Studies Program is founded.

1973 Pitt establishes the Women’s Center to serve as an advising center to campus and community women.

1909 Shortly after the University moves to Oakland, Pitt opens its School of Education. Women flock to the new program, with the number of women students at Pitt jumping from about 40 to more than 300 in the first year.

1914-15 Women’s basket-ball organizes, the first competitive sport for women at Pitt.

Jean Hamilton Walls

Pi Theta Nu, 1909

Virginia Proctor Powell Florence

Blossom Henry

1983 The Provost’s Advisory Committee for Women’s Concerns is created.

1996 Pitt establishes a Faculty Medical and Family Leave Policy, which, among other benefits, allows pregnant women and new mothers time off.

2000 Katherine Detre, Distinguished Professor of Epidemiology in Pitt’s Graduate School of Public Health, begins leading a national study—involving 2,368 patients at 40 sites across the United States—to determine the best way to treat people with both Type 2 diabetes and early coronary artery disease. The study attracts funding for the largest combined grant in Pitt history, $65 million.

2001 Jeannette South-Paul (MED ’79) is the first female chair of a Pitt medical department and the first Black female chair in the nation of a medical department at a nonhistorically Black college or university. South-Paul is the Andrew W. Mathieson Professor and chair in Pitt’s Department of Family Medicine.

2002 The Pitt Board of Trustees elects Pitt Assistant Chancellor B. Jean Ferketish to serve as the new secretary of the board. She continues to serve in that position.

1949 Flora Diemert begins her term as the first female president of Pitt’s Student Congress (now Student Government Board). The 1950 edition of The Owl credited the 1949-50 Congress, led by Diemert, for fostering a more inclusive Congress by establishing a Foreign Students Committee and a High School Relations Committee.

1957 Lucille B. Crozier (EDUC ’34, A&S ‘46G) becomes the first female Pitt Alumni Association president. She was also an Alumni Trustee from 1971 to 1974 and Emeritus Trustee from 1977 to 1997.

1914 Women constitute 25 percent of Pitt’s student body, with 600 female students attending.

Women’sHistoryMonthSelected Highlights of Women’s History at the University of Pittsburgh

Margaret Stein Stella Stein

1895 Sisters Margaret and Stella Stein are the first women to enter the Western University of Pennsylvania (now the University of Pittsburgh) as full-time sophomores. The sisters graduate in 1898, tied for first place in their class, and returned to earn their master’s degrees in 1901.

1920 Lantern Night, a candlelight ceremony for freshman women, begins.

Pitt’s 1924 women’s basketball team

Jeannette E. South-PaulKatherine Detre

1918 Pitt hires its first woman faculty member, Blossom Henry.

March 4, 2013 • University of Pittsburgh • 7

Jennifer R. Grandis

2003 Suzanne Broadhurst is elected vice chair of Pitt’s Board of Trustees and served in that position until 2012. She has made countless other contributions to Pitt, including her service as a member of several board committees as well as the boards of visitors of the School of Nursing and the School of Education. Broadhurst is director of corporate giving for Eat’n Park Hospitality Group.

2004 Wangari Muta Maathai, who earned the Master of Science degree in biology at Pitt in 1965, is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her 30-year effort to reforest her native Kenya and improve the economic status of women there, while fighting for democracy and against corruption and tribalism. Pitt conferred on Maathai an honor-ary Doctor of Public Service degree during an Oct. 26, 2006, ceremony in Alumni Hall. Maathai died Sept. 25, 2011, at age 71.

Under the leadership of Irene Frieze, professor of psychology and then-president of the University Senate, the Senate sponsored a plenary session on the roles of women at Pitt that led to three Senate ad hoc committees addressing women’s concerns: the Committee for the Support and Advancement of Women at Pitt (2004-06); the Committee for the Promotion of Gender Equity (2007-08), and the Committee for the Promotion of Gender Equity II (2009-10).

2005 The director of Pitt’s European Union Center, Alberta Sbragia, is named Jean Monnet Chair ad personam by the European Commission, which also designates Pitt’s center a European Union Center of Excellence. Sbragia, a Pitt professor of political science, is one of only two academics to be named Jean Monnet Chair ad personam in 2005. In 2006, Sbragia is named the inaugural holder of the Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg University Chair and, in 2010 vice provost for graduate studies.

2006 Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg tells the University’s Board of Trustees that Pitt will honor Helen S. Faison—Pitt alumna, emerita trustee, and trailblazing educator—by creating the Dr. Helen S. Faison Chair in Urban Education, the first fully endowed chair in the 96-year history of Pitt’s School of Education, where Faison earned her BS, MEd, and PhD degrees in 1946, 1955, and 1975, respectively.

2007 Anna Quider, a Pitt Honors College student majoring in physics and astronomy, the history and philosophy of science, and religious studies, is named a Marshall Scholar for 2007. Quider is the ninth Pitt student to win a Marshall Scholarship, one of the most competitive and prestigious merit scholarships available to graduating American seniors.

Eva Tansky Blum (A&S ’70, LAW ’73) and her brother, Burton Marvin Tansky (A&S ’61), are named cochairs of the University’s $2 billion “Building Our Future Together” fundraising campaign. Blum is the senior vice president and director of community affairs for PNC Bank and president of The PNC Foundation.

The Pitt women’s basketball team earns its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance during the 2006-07 season. The Panthers post a school-record 24 wins that season. The Pitt team later advances to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen in both 2008 and 2009.

Angela Gronenborn, the UPMC Rosalind Franklin Professor and Chair in the Pitt School of Medicine’s Department of Structural Biology, is elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences. She is a leading structural biologist and expert in nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

2008 The lab of Yuan Chang, a professor of pathology in Pitt’s School of Medicine, and Patrick Moore, a Pitt professor of microbiology and molecular genetics, discovers that the Merkel cell polyomavirus causes an aggressive skin cancer. In 2003, she and Moore discovered a herpes virus as the cause of Kaposi’s sarcoma, the leading AIDS malignancy.

Pitt alumnus Lucile L. Adams-Campbell is elected to the Institute of Medicine. She is the associate director for minority health and health disparities research and professor of oncology at Georgetown University Medical Center’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center.

2009 Eleanor Ott, a Pitt Honors College graduate, is named a Rhodes Scholarship winner. A former Pitt Chancellor’s Scholar, Ott was a 2008 Truman Scholarship winner. During her time at Pitt, Ott tutored refugees who had come to the United States seeking better lives—and spent her summers working at a refugee camp in Zambia.

2010 Patricia E. Beeson is elected the first female provost and senior vice chancellor of Pitt by the University’s Board of Trustees. Beeson, with her successful 27-year career as a Pitt faculty member and administrator, was recommended by Pitt Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg.

2011 Roberta Luxbacher is the first woman to be named a Swanson School of Engineering Distinguished Alumnus, an award presented annually since 1964. Luxbacher, who also serves on the Swanson School’s Board of Visitors, received her bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering in 1978 and is currently the general manager of corporate planning for ExxonMobil.

Katherine Wisner, Pitt professor of psychiatry and director of Women’s Behavioral HealthCARE at the Western Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute, receives the 2011 Women in Science Award from the American Medical Women’s Association. Since 1993, the annual award honors a woman physician who has made exceptional contributions to medical science, especially in women’s health.

Lt. Gen. Patricia D. Horoho (NURS ’92G), the first nurse and first woman appointed to the position, becomes the Army’s 43rd Surgeon General in a ceremony at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall. She was nominated to the position by President Barack Obama May 10 and was later approved by the U.S. Senate.

Nancy E. Davidson and Jeannette E. South-Paul are elected to the Institute of Medicine. Davidson is a Pitt professor of medicine, Hillman Professor of Oncology, associate vice chancellor for cancer research, and director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and UPMC Cancer Centers. South-Paul is Pitt’s UPMC Andrew W. Mathieson Professor and chair, Department of Family Medicine.

2012 Pitt trustee and alumnus Eva Tanksy Blum is elected vice chair of Pitt’s Board of Trustees. Blum, senior vice president and director of community affairs for PNC Bank and chair and president of The PNC Foundation, cochairs Pitt’s $2 billion Building Our Future Together capital campaign.

Jennifer R. Grandis is elected to the Institute of Medicine. She is Distinguished Professor and vice chair for research, Department of Otolaryngology, Pitt School of Medicine, and leader of the head-and-neck cancer program at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute.

Elodie Ghedin, assistant professor in the Pitt School of Medicine’s Department of Computational and Systems Biology, is named a 2011 MacArthur Fellow. Ghedin, a parasitologist and virologist, said she will use the unrestricted award of $500,000 to expand her parasitology research and explore new avenues in the evolution of RNS viruses, such as HIV and influenza.

Toi Derricotte, an English professor in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, is elected to the Academy of American Poets Board of Chancellors, the academy’s advisory board of distinguished poets. A renowned poet, Derricotte is the cofounder of the Cave Canem Foundation, which has been offering workshops and retreats for African American poets since 1996.

2013 Yuan Chang, Distinguished Professor and American Cancer Society Professor in the Pitt School of Medicine’s Department of Pathology, is elected to the National Academy of Sciences.

Anna Balazs, a Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering, is named the 2013 Mines Medalist by the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology. Considered a pioneer in predicting the behavior of complex polymeric materials through theoretical modeling, Balazs is only the fifth researcher to win this prestigious award.

Wangari Muta Maathai

Alberta Sbragia Helen S. Faison

Patricia E. Beeson

Elodie Ghedin

Suzanne Broadhurst

Angela Gronenborn

Yuan Chang

More recently...

Katherine Wisner

Toi Derricotte Anna Balazs

Eva Tansky Blum

Nancy E. DavidsonLt. Gen. Patricia D. Horoho

Lucile L. Adams-Campbell

8 • Pitt Chronicle • March 4, 2013

Continued from page 2

Maintaining Momentum During Challenging Times

2013. However, encouraging revenue num-bers, combined with strong support from the General Assembly and the cooperation of the Administration, led to the restoration of those proposed cuts and a budget that held Pitt’s funding flat, at the FY 2012 level.

In addition to experiencing these recent cuts to state support, Pitt also is facing seri-ous fiscal challenges from federal and local government. At the federal level, sequestra-tion poses a grave threat to funding streams that are critical to Pitt’s principal missions—particularly federal support for student aid and for university-based research. Locally, the City of Pittsburgh, as directed by the state-appointed Intergovernmental Coop-eration Authority, has begun a new quest to exact additional revenues from the nonprofit community, even though Pitt was a leader in the creation of the Pittsburgh Public Service Fund. Pitt has made voluntary contributions to the City for many years, and City leaders have expressed satisfaction with the level of those payments.

Given the funding challenges presented on the federal, state and local levels, it would not be inaccurate to characterize the last year as a time of great challenge for Pitt. However, to stop there would miss a very important point. Even in the face of these challenges, the “people of Pitt” were able to maintain the University’s momentum by crafting another year of remarkable accomplishments.

Indeed, Pitt maintained the sustained progress that has propelled it into the very top ranks of American universities. These efforts have been widely recognized by outside entities like The Prince-ton Review, which just this month included Pitt in its “Best Value Col-leges” list for 2013. Kip-linger’s now has ranked Pitt as a top value in public higher education for eight consecutive years. Such rankings are particularly mean-ingful because they are grounded in assessments of both cost and quality. Kiplinger’s list of the top public university values “ranks schools on more-tangible measures of academic quality—including test scores and four-year gradua-tion rates—as well as affordability.” And The Princeton Review “con-siders data on more than 30 factors in academics, cost of attendance, and financial aid.”

Given these “best-value judgments,” it is not surprising that Pitt has become an insti-tution of choice for hard-working and high-achieving students from throughout the Commonwealth. To give just one tell-ing example, the undergraduate programs on our Pittsburgh campus attracted 7,826 applications for admission for the fall of 1995. Applications for admission to those same programs for this fall had more than tripled, to 24,871, and applications for those programs already have passed the 26,500 mark for next fall’s class. Once enrolled, these students have a record of perform-ing at the highest levels. Pitt has become a leader, among other measures, in producing students who earn such high national honors as Rhodes, Marshall, Goldwater, Truman, Udall, and Fulbright scholarships.

During the past year, Pitt also was

ranked by the National Science Foundation as among America’s top five universities in total federal science and engineering research and development support. Our annual research expenditures, which had topped $800 million when federal stimulus funding was supporting additional grants, still are close to $750 million per year and remain an important force in the economic rebirth of the Pittsburgh region. And as Pitt climbs ever higher within the ranks of this nation’s top research universities, we are advancing the goal publicly adopted by our Board of Trustees more than a dozen years ago—that “[b]y aggressively supporting the advancement of Pitt’s academic mission, we will clearly establish that this is one of the finest and most productive universities in the world.”

Pitt’s accomplishments over the past decade were recognized by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education in a reaccreditation report released last summer. The Middle States team praised the Univer-sity of Pittsburgh as a “world-class research university” with an “unwavering commit-ment to excellence.” However, the team also highlighted steep reductions in state support as the “greatest challenge to the University.” In the language of the report, “[w]hile the University has been advancing, state sup-

port has been diminished at an alarming rate.” The report further characterized state funding cuts as going “beyond bone to marrow.”

The accrediting team catalogued the University’s extensive efforts to deal with these reductions. “In response to these cuts, the University “already has made operational efficiency a priority; and it has under-taken budget cuts, redesign of benefits, efficiencies, pro-ductivity increases, and the imposition of University-wide salary freezes.” After that report was written, and in order to deal with the historically deep cuts that were imposed for FY 2012 followed by f lat funding for this year, the Univer-sity instituted a program that led 352 experienced staff members to take early retirement.

The reaccreditation repor t also commented on the long-term conse-quences of reduced funding for public higher education and for public research uni-

versities, in particular: “[I]n the decades ahead, great cities and states will depend increasingly on the existence of great uni-versities within them (the University today is a wonderful example of this synergy) . . . [R]educing public support for the Univer-sity of Pittsburgh and institutions like it is singularly short-sighted, even if judged in narrow economic terms... .” This view also was advanced by the National Research Council report, which asserted that only by revitalizing support for research universities will we “encourage the ideas and innova-tions that will lead to more high-end jobs, increasing middle-class incomes, and the security, health, and prosperity we expect.”

In mid-November, the Governor’s Advisory Commission on Postsecondary

During the past year, Pitt also was ranked by the National Science Foundation as among America’s top five universities in total federal science and engineering research and devel-opment support. Our annual research expenditures, which had topped $800 million when federal stimulus funding was supporting additional grants, still are close to $750 million per year and remain an important force in the economic rebirth of the Pittsburgh region.

Given the funding chal-lenges presented on the federal, state and local levels, it would not be inaccurate to character-ize the last year as a time of great challenge for Pitt. However, to stop there would miss a very important point. Even in the face of these challenges, the “people of Pitt” were able to maintain the University’s momentum by crafting another year of remark-able accomplishments.

Education produced a thoughtful and tem-perate report, identifying Pennsylvania’s postsecondary education system as a key Commonwealth asset but also mindful of the economic challenges that remain with us. That report specifically recommended that funding for the next fiscal year be main-tained, at a minimum, at FY 2012 levels, asserting its belief that “it is imperative to the health and vitality of our postsecond-ary system that funding not fall below this level.” The context for that observation was described by the Commission in the follow-ing way:

“Due to the economic downturn and General Fund pressures, Pennsylvania’s higher education funding has declined over 20 percent in nominal dollars from its FY 08/09 peak. This level of funding impacts both the affordability of postsecondary education for families in the Commonwealth and the ability of institutions to maintain high levels of quality while advancing their missions.”

At the University of Pittsburgh, current levels of state support are equal to the levels of support received in 1995—in nominal dollars, with no adjustment for inflation. Of course, our expenses have not remained flat over that extended period. In fact, over those years, the Consumer Price Index has risen by nearly 55 percent, and the Higher Education Price Index has risen by more than 75 percent. Dealing with a 2013 cost structure when state support has been taken back to 1995 levels, then, is one very signifi-cant challenge. It also should be noted that Pitt enrollments have grown by nearly 3,000 students and our annual research expenditures have increased by more than $500 million since 1995, so the Common-wealth is receiving a much higher rate of return from every dollar invested in Pitt.

The report of the Governor’s Advisory Commission explicitly recognizes that “lower than average levels of state funding per stu-dent” have been a key driver in positioning Pennsylvania below many states in terms of affordability. That report also focuses on institutional cost structures and urges that affordability be a shared commitment—of the Commonwealth and of the postsecond-ary institutions it supports.

A shared commitment to cost con-tainment was central to the Governor’s well-received proposal that state support for higher education not be further reduced

Pitt’s accomplishments over the past decade were recognized by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education in a reaccredita-tion report released last summer. The Middle States team praised the University of Pittsburgh as a “world-class research university” with an “unwavering commitment to excellence.” in the next fiscal year but be maintained at current levels. As we pledged at the time, Pitt will work to keep tuition increases as low as they can be. Given the context already described, doing so will be very challenging—just as it was last year. As the Commonwealth moves forward with its budget-building process, then, we will be examining available options within the University Planning and Budgeting Com-mittee and with the Budget Committee of our Board of Trustees.

As noted, the Governor’s Commission had proposed flat funding as a minimum for the next fiscal year. It further proposed funding increases, tied to the development of a performance-based system for the

allocation of such increases, in the years ahead. It is our sincere hope that, as we move to a time that is less chal-lenging economically, further investments in institutions of higher education, particularly those that have demonstrated real impact—in education, in research, and in public ser-vice—can and will be made.

In the words of our founder Hugh Henry Brackenridge, a distinguished member of the Pennsylvania Legislature and a Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, “We well know the strength of a state greatly consists in the superior mental powers of the inhabit-ants... .” We have been fortu-

nate to see the remarkable impact that Pitt, as a top research university, has made—in the lives of its students, in the economic growth of its home region, and in the health and strength of the larger society.

With gratitude for past support, we look forward to a strong partnership with the Commonwealth as we work to extend our University’s strong, unbroken, 226-year-old tradition of building better lives.

With gratitude for past support, we look forward to a strong partnership with the Commonwealth as we work to extend our University’s strong, unbroken, 226-year-old tradition of build-ing better lives.

March 4, 2013 • University of Pittsburgh • 9

Pitt and Philadelphia University Enter Into an Agreement to Manage Late U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter’s Archive

Continued from page 1

public for generations to come.” “The Arlen Specter Center for Public

Policy will be enriched by this new ini-tiative between Philadelphia University and the University of Pittsburgh,” said Philadelphia University President Stephen Spinelli Jr. “I am particularly grateful to Elsie Hillman, a prominent political and philanthropic leader in Pennsylvania, for her efforts to initiate and promote this beneficial partnership and for her philanthropic support of the Arlen Specter Center.”

Specter passed away in October 2012 after having represented the Commonwealth for 30 years as Pennsylvania’s longest-serving U.S. Sen-ator and one of the most influential U.S. senators of his time. In Decem-ber 2010, he donated his extensive archive, encom-passing 50 years of public service, to Philadelphia University to establish the Arlen Specter Center for Public Policy. The cen-ter’s mission is to foster greater understanding of political science, govern-ment, and history through research, educational pro-gramming, and exhibi-tions inspired by Spec-ter’s career as reflected in his extensive archive.

The center is a $5 million initiative that includes the restoration of Philadelphia University’s historic Roxboro House, where the center will be housed. Construction got under way in December 2012 on the $4 million renovation project, which is scheduled to be completed by February 2014. A ceremonial groundbreaking for the center will take place on May 23, 2013. Visit www.philau.edu/spectercenter for more information.

The Arlen Specter Collection will be archived and housed in the University of Pittsburgh’s Archives Service Center, 7500 Thomas Blvd., Point Breeze, three miles from the University’s Pittsburgh campus. As a state-of-the-art repository for manu-scripts and records collections, the building is equipped with a high-bay storage facility that is unique in Pennsylvania.

Pitt’s University Library System has a history of archiving and managing collec-tions of important elected officials, includ-ing the papers of Pitt alumnus and trustee Dick Thornburgh (LAW ’57), former governor of Pennsylvania and former U.S. attorney general; the late longtime civil

rights champion and Pitt alumnus K. Leroy Irvis (LAW ’54), who in 1977 became the first African American speaker of the House of Representatives in Pennsylvania and the first Black speaker of any state house since Reconstruction; the late U.S. representative and Pitt alumnus John P. Murtha (A&S ’61); and former U.S. repre-sentative from Pennsylvania Jason Altmire

(District 4).“The collaboration

between Philadelphia University and the Uni-versity of Pittsburgh will be extremely beneficial in helping to transform the deep and rich archive of Senator Specter into an outstanding research and public information asset,” said Karen Albert, direc-tor of the Paul J. Gutman Library at Philadelphia University and coordina-tor of the Arlen Specter Center for Public Policy. “The joint application of expertise, resources, and commitment will allow both institutions to employ our distinc-tive capabilities to orga-nize, digitize, and manage these valuable materials, and we look forward to working with our col-leagues at the University of Pittsburgh.”

“This par tnership relative to the Specter Collection will result in the documentary records of Pennsylvania’s longest-

serving U.S. Senator being readily avail-able to students and faculty here at Pitt, as well as to visiting researchers. In con-sidering the sweep of historical events and the changing political climate that Senator Specter not only witnessed but contributed to as a central figure, we know his col-lection will provide significant resource material on a wide range of subjects. We look forward to working with Philadelphia University to advance the research interests in the collection,” said Michael J. Dabri-shus, assistant university librarian at the University of Pittsburgh.

Philadelphia University, founded in 1844, is a coeducational private university with 3,600 students enrolled in more than 60 undergraduate and graduate programs. Philadelphia University includes the Kanbar College of Design, Engineering and Commerce; the College of Architecture and the Built Environment; and the College of Science, Health and the Liberal Arts. Visit www.PhilaU.edu for more information.

Specter passed away in October 2012 after having represented the Commonwealth for 30 years as Pennsylvania’s longest-serving U.S. Senator and one of the most influential U.S. senators of his time. In December 2010, he donated his extensive archive, encompass-ing 50 years of public service, to Philadelphia University to establish the Arlen Specter Center for Public Policy.

By Allison Hydzik

Physically active adults undergoing bariatric surgery are less likely than their less-active counterparts to have depressive symptoms and to have recently received medication or counseling for depression or anxiety, according to new research led by the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health.

“Typically, clinical professionals manage thei r pat ients’ depression and anxiety with counseling and/or antide-pressant or anti-anxiety medication,” said Research Assistant Professor Wendy C. King, an epidemiolo-gist within the Graduate School of Public Health and lead author of the research, which is reported in Febru-ary’s issue of the Journal of Psychosomatic Research. “ Re ce nt r e se a rch h a s focused on physical activity as an alternative or adjunct treatment.”

Adults with severe obe-sity are nearly twice as likely to have a major depressive disorder (13.3 percent) or anxiety disorder (19.6 per-cent) when compared to the general population (7.2 and 10.2 percent, respectively). King noted the importance of treating these conditions prior to surgery, as preoperative depression and anxiety increase the risk of these conditions occurring after surgery—and have been shown to negatively impact long-term surgically induced weight loss.

As part of the Longitudinal Assessment of Bariatric Surgery-2, an observational study designed to assess the risks and benefits of bariatric surgery, King and her colleagues assessed participants’ physical activity for a week prior to undergoing bar-iatric surgery by using a small electronic device worn above the ankle. Participants also completed surveys to assess mental-health functioning, depressive symptoms, and treatment for psychiatric and emotional problems, including depression and anxiety.

The study included 850 adults who were seeking bariatric surgery between 2006 and 2009 from one of 10 different hospitals throughout the United States.

About one-third of participants reported depressive symptoms, while two in five reported taking medication or receiving counseling for depression or anxiety. “Those

Even Limited Physical Activity May Help Lower Rates of Depression in Bariatric Surgery Patients, King-Led Study Finds

who reported treatment were more likely to report impaired mental-health functioning and depressive symptoms, highlighting the need for better treatment modalities,” King said.

The association between physical activ-ity and these outcomes was strongest when only physical activity of moderate intensity was considered. However, the number of

steps a person walked each day, no matter the pace, also was related.

“Another goal of this study was to determine the physical activity thresholds that best differentiated men-tal-health status,” King said. “We were surprised that the thresholds were really low.” Just one hour of moderate-intensity physical activity a week—or eight minutes a day—was associated with 92 percent-lower odds of treat-ment for depression or anxi-ety among adults with severe obesity. Similarly, just 4,750 steps a day—less than half the 10,000 steps recommended for a healthy adult—reduced odds of depression or anxiety treatment by 81 percent.

“It could be that, in this population, important mental

health benefits can be gained by simply not being sedentary,” King said.

Because this was an observational, cross-sectional study—meaning patients’ regular physical activity behavior and depressive symptoms were measured at the same time—it could not prove that a patient’s physical activity influenced mental-health status.

“Results of the study are provocative, but we would need further research to verify that physical activity was responsible for lower levels of depressive symptoms in this patient population,” said study coauthor Melissa A. Kalarchian, a professor of psy-chiatry in the Pitt School of Medicine and at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic of UPMC. “Nonetheless, physical activity is a key component of behavioral weight management, and it is encouraging to con-sider that it may have a favorable impact on mental health as well.”

The research was funded through a cooperative agreement by the National Insti-tute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

Adults with severe obesity are nearly twice as likely to have a major depressive disorder (13.3 percent) or anxiety disorder (19.6 percent) when compared to the general population (7.2 and 10.2 per-cent, respectively).

10 • Pitt Chronicle • March 4, 2013

Newsof note

Army Officer Named Director of Pitt’s Office of Veterans Services

Ryan Ahl has been named direc-tor of the University of Pittsburgh’s Office of Veterans Services, where he will assist veterans in their transi-tion from military to University life, support their academic successes, and help them and their families receive military education benefits. Prior to arriving at Pitt, Ahl served for 10 years as an infantry squad leader with the Pennsylvania Army National Guard, participating in more than 500 missions in Iraq. Since July 2012, Ahl has served as a maintenance control officer with the brigade support battalion of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard.

Law Professor Presents Research in Australia

Pitt Assistant Professor of Law Jessie Allen—an expert on one of the most important legal treatises ever written in the English language, Sir William Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765-1769)—gave a presentation in December at an international sym-posium at Australia’s University of Ade-laide. Allen’s paper, “Reading Blackstone in the 21st Century and the 21st Century Through Blackstone,” combined original research on the U.S. Supreme Cou r t ’s recent increased cita-tions of Blackstone’s Commentaries with material from Allen’s blog , Black s tone Weekly, http://black-stoneweekly.word-press.com. Black-stone’s Commentaries consolidated English common law into a unified and rational system and greatly influ-enced legal education in both England and America.

Allen presented a second paper, “Theater of International Justice,” at Australia’s University of Mel-bourne Law School. At a freestanding seminar of the law school’s Insti-

Ryan Ahl

tute for International Law and the Humanities, Allen responded to the critique of international human rights tribunals as not “real” courts by analyzing the theatrical nature of international rights adjudication and its effects.

History Graduate Receives Award for Dissertation on Haitians in Cuba

Re c e n t g r a d u -ate Matthew Casey (A&S ’06G, ’12G) has received the 2011–12 E d u a r d o L o z a n o Memorial Disser ta-tion Award from Pitt’s Center for Latin Ameri-can Studies and Depart-ment of Hispanic Languages

and Literatures for his dissertation, “From Haiti to Cuba and Back: Haitians’ Experi-ences of Migration, Labor, and Return, 1900–1940.” The selection committee wrote that Casey’s dissertation, written for his PhD in history, “challenges the traditional percep-tion of Haitian workers in Cuba” and praised his use of Cuban nationalization records. Casey is now an assistant professor of history at the University of Southern Mississippi.

The award—presented annually for the best doctoral dissertation at the University of Pittsburgh on a topic related to Latin America, the Caribbean, or Latin American communities—is named after Pitt librarian Eduardo Lozano, who was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and directed the Latin American collection at Hillman Library from 1967 until his death in 2006, developing it into one of the most outstanding collections of its kind.

An honorable mention was given to Laura Macia-Vergara (A&S ’12G) for her dissertation, “Dealing with Grievances: The Latino Experience in Pittsburgh,” which she wrote while earning a PhD in anthropology. She is a project coordinator with the Department of Behavioral and Community Health in Pitt’s

Graduate School of Public Health.

Geology Professor Awarded National Science Foundation CAREER Grant

Emily Elliott, assis-tant professor of environ-mental isotope geochem-istry in the Department of Geology and Planetary Sciences within Pitt’s Ken-neth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, has been awarded a five-year, $550,000 CAREER grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The

CAREER Program offers prestigious awards that support junior faculty members doing groundbreaking research who demonstrate a great understanding of their fields.

Through her research, Elliott intends to prove that poor constraints on nitrogen releases in urban environments have quite heavily influenced the nutrient sources of urban ecosystems like streams and riverine systems. She plans to compare the reactive

nitrogen deposition, fluxes, and specia-tion between urban and rural environ-ments; examine the mechanisms that retain nitrogen in urban ecosystems; and determine how the ecosystem responds to the addition of atmospheric nitrate. This research will be aided not only by this NSF CAREER grant, but also by the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and Carnegie

Science Center.Ell iot t has been

a member of the Uni-versity’s faculty since 2007 and has had nearly a dozen articles pub-lished in refereed jour-nals since that time. She recently received an honorable mention from the 2013 Carnegie Science Awards in the Environmental Award

category for her examination of the pollut-ants caused by power-plant stacks.

Student Conduct Officer Selected to Serve on County Advisory board

Deborah Walker (GSPIA ’03, CGS ’01), student conduct officer in Pitt’s Division of Student Affairs, has been selected to serve on the Allegheny County Department of Human Services (DHS) Block Grant Advisory Board. She will be responsible for helping to distribute state-allocated block grant funds for mental health, behavioral health, drug and alco-hol abuse treatment, homelessness, child welfare, and human services projects. Last year, the board distributed more than $128 million. The board comprises 48 members

who reflect the diversity of the populations served by DHS.

“I’m honored to have been selected as part of the DHS Block Grant Advi-sory Board, knowing that I will help make a sig-nificant impact on improv-ing the lives of residents of Allegheny County,” Walker said.

Pitt business School Recognized as a Top 100 Social Media-Friendly School

The University of Pittsburgh’s Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business has been selected as a Top 100 Most Social Media–Friendly MBA School for 2013 by OnlineMBAPage.com. Staff at OnlineMBAPage.com compiled data from the social media accounts of more than 400 business schools, ranking them based on their presence and activ-ity levels on social media plat-forms Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Google Plus, Pin-terest, and Flickr. This is the first year the rankings have been issued.

Jessie Allen

Emily Elliott

Deborah Walker

Pitt Vice Provost and Dean of Students Kathy Humphrey was one of five African American leaders from across the state honored by Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett for their commitment and dedication to their communities.

Part of the Corbett administration’s Black History Month activities, the ceremony at the State Museum in Harrisburg was held Feb. 27 to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation by Abraham Lincoln. Items from the State Museum’s Emancipation Proclamation exhibition were on display during the ceremony.

“We honor five people today—a youth advocate, two educators, a community outreach leader, and a doctor,” Corbett said. “Generations to come will see the impact they have on others and their communities because of the dedication and optimism they share with all of us.”

Also recognized were Cassandra Vaughn, director of community-based services for Big Brothers Big Sisters in Harrisburg; Denise Williams, executive director of the Mount Ararat Community Activity Center in East Liberty; Deborah Witt, a Thomas Jefferson University Hospital medical doctor and an assistant professor of family medicine within Jefferson Medical College; and Ron Jackson, dean of students for the Community College of Philadelphia.

All five honorees were nominated by members of the Governor’s Advisory Commission on African American Affairs.

The governor’s office said in a news release that “Humphrey has dedicated her career to helping college students cultivate their purpose and find their passion, as well as giving them the tools to find success in both the classroom and the world.”

Among Humphrey’s community activities are her service as a board member of the American Red Cross of Southwestern Pennsylvania and as board vice chair of Leadership Pittsburgh. She also serves on the board of Three Rivers Adoption Council.

“During Black History Month, we will continue to celebrate historic figures such as Martin Luther King Jr.,” said Karen Stokes, executive director and chair of the Governor’s Advisory Commission on African American Affairs. “But it is just as important to recognize the contributions made by people like little league coaches, teachers, and community volunteers. Their strength and dedication is a hall-mark of the African American community.”

Governor Honors Kathy Humphrey as Everyday Hero

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Governor Tom Corbett (left) and Kathy Humphrey

March 4, 2013 • University of Pittsburgh • 11

Happenings

ConcertsUniversity of Pittsburgh Symphony Orches-tra, program including Benjamin Britten’s Simple Symphony and Department of Music alumnus Wyatt True as violin soloist in Roger Zahab’s vioentel-echron, 8 p.m. March 6, Bellefield Hall Auditorium, Pitt’s Department of Music, http://www.music.pitt.edu

The Early Mays, American folk music, noon March 8, Cup and Chaucer Café, Hillman Library ground floor, The Emerging Legends Series, University of Pittsburgh Library System, Calliope: The Pittsburgh Folk Music Society, http://www.calliopehouse.org

IonSound Project: Android ballet, the second installment of CreatION Sound, featuring students and their created instruments and compositions, 7 p.m. March 9, Bellefield Hall Auditorium, Pitt’s

Department of Music, 412-422-8042, http://www.music.pitt.edu

ExhibitionsUniversity Art Gallery, Capturing the Street: Garry Winogrand and Ned Bosnick, photographs of people captured in fleeting moments of everyday life, through March 22, Frick Fine Arts Building, www.haa.pitt.edu/collections/university-art-gallery

Senator John Heinz History Center, 1968: The Year That Rocked America, collection of artifacts and displays revealing how 1968 shaped our country, through May 12; From Slavery to Freedom, antislavery movement to the modern quest for civil rights, including material from Pitt-produced exhibition Free at Last? Slavery in Pittsburgh in the 18th and 19th Centuries displayed at Heinz History Center in 2008-09, ongoing, 1212 Smallman St., Strip District.

University Art Gallery, Capturing the Street: Garry Winogrand and Ned Bosnick, through March 22

Frick Art and Historical Center, A Kind of Alchemy: Medieval Persian Ceramics, a look at the diversity of ceramics made in ancient Persia, through June 16, 7227 Reynolds St., Point Breeze, TheFrickPitts-burgh.org, 412-342-4075.

Lectures/Seminars/Readings“Ancient Perspectives on Plato and Platonism: The Creation of the Cosmos,” Christina Hoenig, PhD candidate from Cambridge University, 4 p.m. March 4, 206 Cathedral of Learning, Pitt Department of Classics, www.classics.pitt.edu

“Is the Ivory Tower an Iron Cage? Why We Need to Reform Humanities Education,” Russell Berman, Walter A. Haas Professor in the Humani-ties at Stanford University, 5 p.m. March 5, 602 Cathedral of Learning, Pitt Department of German, Humanities Center, Cultural Studies Program, EUCE/ESC, 412-624-5909, www.german.pitt.edu

“The No Miracles Argument: A Fallacy?” Leah Henderson, fellow of the Center for Formal Epis-temology, Carnegie Mellon University, 12:05 p.m. March 5, 817 Cathedral of Learning, Pitt’s Center for Philosophy of Science, 412-624-1052, pittcntr@pitt.edu, http://www.pitt.edu/~pittcntr

“The Confucian Analects and the Invention of the Human in Early China,” Vincent Leung, Pitt assistant professor of history, noon March 6, 3703 Posvar Hall, Pitt’s Asian Studies Center, http://www.ucis.pitt.edu/asc/

“Figuring out Europe: Nation, State, and the European Union in the German Public Sphere,” Russell Berman, Walter A. Haas Profes-sor in the Humanities at Stanford University, with responses by Pitt Professor of Slavic Languages and

The Early Mays, Cup and Chaucer Café,March 8

Literatures Nancy Condee, Pitt Assis-tant Professor of History Gregor Thum, and Pitt Vice Provost for Graduate Studies Alberta Sbragia, 12:30 p.m.

March 7, 602 Cathedral of Learning, Department of German,

Humanities Center, Cultural Studies Program, and EUCE/ESC, 412-624-5909, www.german.pitt.edu

“The Advent of Genome Medicine in Patient Care,” Hakon Hakonarson, direc-

tor, Center of Applied Genomics, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, noon March 8, A115 Crabtree Hall, Pitt Graduate School of Public Health, http://www.publichealth.pitt.edu

Pitt PhD DissertationDefensesLiang-I Kang, School of Medicine’s Cellular and Molecular Pathology Program, “A New Role for Tissue-Type Plasminogen Activator in Liver Injury,” 1 p.m. March 6, 1104 Scaife Hall.

W. Gerald Heverly, Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Science’s Department of Classics, “Neglected Warnings in the Iliad: A Study in Characterization,” 11 a.m. March 6, 817 Alumni Hall.

Jason Flatt, Graduate School of Public Health’s Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences, “Exploring the Relationship Between Cognitive Health and the Environment of Older Adults,” 10 a.m. March 8, 309B Parran Hall.

Lauren Collister, Dietrich School’s Department of Linguistics, “Multimodality As a Sociolin-guistic Resource: A Case Study of A World of Warcraft Community,” 10 a.m. March 8, G24 Cathedral of Learning.

Elizabeth Delorme-Axford, School of Medicine’s Cell Biology and Molecular Physiol-ogy Program, “Virus-Host Interactions at the Maternal-Fetal Interface,” 1 p.m. March 14, 503 Bridgeside Point II.

Frick Art and Historical Center,

A Kind of Alchemy: Medieval Persian

Ceramics,through June 16

Beverly Hills, California, 1980, by Garry Winogrand. Gelatin silver print. Collection of the UAG (1984.6.2) © The Estate of Garry Winogrand

By Allison Hydzik

When a child ends up in an emergency room at one of Pennsylvania’s rural hos-pitals, the emergency doctor has a tough decision to make: treat the child there with limited pediatric expertise or send him or her to Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, often hundreds of miles from home.

A new University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences project will use tele-medicine to make the decision easier. Today, March 4, a team of doctors, scientists, and emergency pediatric and rural health offi-cials will launch “Optimizing Utilization and Rural Emergency Access for Children,”

Pitt-UPMC Program Guides Expansion of Telemedicine Use in Pediatric Emergenciesor OUTREACH, a project designed to make telemedicine more effective in pediatric emergen-cies.

“About one-quarter of all pedi-atric emergency visits are to hospi-tals in rural areas, yet these hospitals rarely possess the equipment, expe-rience, and exper-tise necessary to p rov ide ef fe c -t ive emergency care to children,” said Jeremy Kahn, project leader and a professor of criti-cal care, medicine and health policy in Pit t’s School of Medicine and

Graduate School of Public Health. “Our goal is to make it quick and easy for rural emergency doctors to consult with pediatric specialists at UPMC to determine the best treatment plan for each child.”

The project is paid for with a grant of almost $1 million from the U.S. Depart-ment of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration. It is designed to address critical deficiencies in pediatric emergency care reported in the Institute of Medicine’s “Emergency Care for Children: Growing Pains.”

Kahn and his team will interview

hospital administrators, physicians, nurses, emergency transport personnel, patients, and families to identify issues surrounding pedi-atric emergency care and potential obstacles to using telemedicine in rural hospitals.

That information will be used to craft a standardized educational program to help these hospitals best use tele-medicine to improve pediatric emergency care through consul-tations with Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh specialists. The team will then partner with the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare, which oversees the state’s Medicaid program, to evaluate the effects of the program.

If successful, the program could be used as a model for pediatric emergency care nationwide.

“Our goal is to reduce unnecessary transfers while providing the same level of world-class service using telemedicine that our patients receive when they come directly to the Children’s campus,” said Harun Rashid, vice president of global health services and chief information officer at Children’s Hospital.

Kobe Long, a two-year-old from Wash-ington County, has cerebral palsy and has been helped twice in the last year by telemedicine. Both times, Kobe’s mother, Christa Bolen, had taken the child to Wash-ington Hospital due to breathing problems.

“Having the doctors examine him with telemedicine was different—but very easy,” she said. “You didn’t have to try to explain what was happening over the phone. The doctors at Children’s could see for them-

selves and decide on the best treatment.”In Kobe’s case, the doctors determined

that he needed to be f lown by medical helicopter to Children’s Hospital, where they were able to quickly intubate him and stabilize his breathing.

In addition to improving care and saving lives, the program could cut down on unnecessary travel for children and their families, as well as reduce medical costs.

“There is an inherent value in keeping a sick or injured child in his or her community when possible,” Kahn said. “They can recover with their family and friends close by and avoid excessive disruption to their family’s routine.”

In the last year, more than 400 children were transferred from a rural emergency department to Children’s Hos-pital of Pittsburgh—a journey that can involve several hours of travel time—only to be immediately discharged back to their communities. If these children were triaged via telemedicine, $800,000 could have been saved, according to data collected from the Children’s Hospital Emergency Department.

Initially, the OUTREACH program will be in five rural hospitals: UPMC Northwest Hospital in Seneca, Venango County; UPMC Horizon Hospital in Farrell, Mercer County; Washington Hospital in Washington, Wash-ington County; Armstrong County Memo-rial Hospital in Kittanning, Armstrong County; and DuBois Regional Medical Center in DuBois, Clearfield County. More hospitals will be recruited as the project progresses.

Jeremy Kahn

12 • P i t t Chron i c l e • March 4, 2013

PUBLICATION NOTICE Items for pub-lication in the newspaper’s Happenings calendar (page 11) should be received at least two weeks prior to the event date. Happenings items should include the following information: title of the event, name and title of speaker(s), date, time, location, sponsor(s), and a phone number and Web site for additional information. Items may be e-mailed to chron@pitt.edu, or sent by campus mail to 422 Craig Hall. For more information, call 412-624-1033 or e-mail robinet@pitt.edu.

University News and MagazinesUniversity of Pittsburgh400 Craig Hall200 South Craig StreetPittsburgh, PA 15260

PittChronicle

Newspaper of the University of PittsburghPittChroniclePUbLISHER Robert HillASSOCIATE PUbLISHER John HarvithEXECUTIVE EDITOR Cara MassetEDITOR Jane-Ellen RobinetASSISTANT EDITOR Adam RegerART DIRECTOR Gary Kohr-CravenerSTAFF WRITERS Sharon S. Blake Diane Hernon Chavis John Fedele B. Rose HuberCONTRIbUTING WRITERS Allison Hydzik Debbie Goldberg Kimberly Marcott WeinbergHAPPENINGS EDITOR Danielle Cameron

The Pitt Chronicle is published throughout the year by University News and Magazines, University of Pittsburgh, 400 Craig Hall, Pittsburgh, PA 15260. Phone: 412-624-1033, Fax: 412-624-4895. E-mail: chron@pitt.edu Web: www.chronicle.pitt.edu

The University of Pittsburgh is an affirmative action, equal opportunity institution that does not discriminate upon any basis prohibited by law.

3

By B. Rose Huber

Recent research offers a new spin on using nanoscale semiconductor structures to build faster computers and electronics. Literally.

University of Pittsburgh and Delft University of Technology researchers reveal in the Feb. 17 online issue of Nature Nanotechnology a new method that better preserves the units neces-sary to power lightning-fast electronics, known as qubits (pronounced CUE-bits). Hole spins, rather than electron spins, can keep quantum bits in the same physical state up to 10 times longer than before, the report finds.

“Previously, our group and others have used electron spins, but the prob-lem was that they interacted with spins of nuclei, and therefore it was difficult to preserve the alignment and control of electron spins,” said Sergey Frolov, assis-tant professor in the Department of Phys-ics and Astronomy within Pitt’s Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, who did the work as a postdoctoral fellow at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands.

Whereas normal computing bits hold mathematical values of zero or one, quan-tum bits live in a hazy superposition of both states. It is this quality, said Frolov, which allows them to perform multiple calculations at once, offering exponential speed over classical computers. However, maintaining the qubit’s state long enough to perform computation remains a long-standing chal-lenge for physicists.

“To create a viable quantum computer, the demonstration of long-lived quantum

Connecting the (Quantum) Dots New spin technique moves researchers at Pitt and Delft University of Technology closer to creating first viable high-speed quantum computer

bits, or qubits, is necessary,” said Frolov. “With our work, we have gotten one step closer.”

The holes within hole spins, Frolov explained, are literally empty spaces left when electrons are taken out. Using extremely thin filaments called InSb (indium antimonide) nanowires, the researchers created a transistor-like device that could transform the electrons into holes. They then precisely placed one hole in a nanoscale box called “a quantum dot” and controlled the spin of that hole using electric fields.

This approach—featuring nanoscale size and a higher density of devices on an electronic chip—is far more advanta-geous than magnetic control, which has been typically employed until now, said Frolov.

“Our research shows that holes, or empty spaces, can make better spin qubits than electrons for future quantum computers.”

“Spins are the smallest magnets in our universe. Our vision for a quantum computer is to connect thousands of spins, and now we know how to control a single spin,” said Frolov. “In the future, we’d like to scale up this concept to include multiple qubits.”

Coauthors of the paper include Leo Kouwenhoven, Stevan Nadj-Perge, Vlad Pribiag, Johan van den Berg, and Ilse van Weperen of Delft University of Technol-ogy; and Sebastien Plissard and Erik Bakkers from Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands.

The paper, “Electrical control over single hole spins in nanowire quantum

dots,” appeared online Feb. 17 in Nature Nanotechnology. The research was sup-ported by the Dutch Organization for Funda-mental Research on Matter, the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research, and the European Research Council.

Frolov and his Netherlands colleagues were recent winners of the 2012 Newcomb Cleveland Prize, an annual honor awarded to the author/s of the best research article/report appearing in Science, which is pub-lished weekly by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.