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Mentors Steered Provost from Welding School to Academia

“I know very well the benefits of hands-on and informed advising,” Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor Ann E. Cudd told the 2019 Mentoring and Advising Summit on March 7.

Calling herself “a very disaffected student” in her rural high school, Cudd recalled “graduating a year early because I just had to get out of there.”

But her high school guidance counselor listened to her and understood her, she said, when she made a surprising announcement about her post-high-school plans: She was headed to welding school.

Free speech on campus a timely topic for Senate Council’s Spring Plenary

Campus Mentors, Advisers Share Strategies to Address Changing Student Needs

When Pitt’s Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor Ann E. Cudd was in high school, she planned to graduate early to attend vocational welding school — but a mentor changed her path.

A guidance counselor encouraged her to apply for a scholarship to a New England college, and that, Cudd said, “set me on an intellectual path that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise.”

Provost's Event Honors Newly Promoted Women Faculty

When Vivian Curran spoke at a recent panel event with Jeannette South-Paul, she highlighted the connections between her own work in comparative law and South-Paul’s work in family medicine.

“She has done so much ground-breaking work on the use of language in medicine and how physicians need to address the language of their patients,” said Curran, Distinguished Professor of Law.

Summit Highlights Diversity, Excellence and Growing Roles of Mentors, Advisors

In a keynote at the University’s 2019 Mentoring and Advising Summit, which took place  Thursday, March 7, Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor Ann E. Cudd recalled that while attending a rural high school, her career prospects seemed limited. She planned to study welding at a vocational institute, with the hope of becoming a sculptor of Irish metalwork.

But a mentor changed her mind.

Administration, Faculty Union Organizers Dispute Size of Bargaining Unit

The Union of Pitt Faculty is butting heads with University administration after the University presented legal arguments disputing the size of the union’s proposed bargaining unit in a pre-hearing teleconference.

During the call on March 1, the University argued that the School of Medicine, which comprises roughly 3,600 faculty, according to the University, should be included in the faculty union’s main bargaining unit.

Cudd Preaches Diversity in Meeting with Staff Council

Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor Ann Cudd, here just six months, told Staff Council on Feb. 20 that she “will be giving deans an incentive to widen their pools” for hiring more diverse faculty, especially African-Americans, Latinx and Native Americans.

“I’m really interested in diversity hiring,” she said in response to member questions about low levels of black students and faculty, as well as general diversity, on campuses. “If we don’t have a diverse faculty and staff here, it doesn’t feel like it’s such a welcoming place.”

Pitt Takes Innovative Step toward Access and Affordability with Pell Grant Matching Program

Pitt’s recently announced plan to match Pell grants starting this fall may be a first for U.S. higher education institutions.

Megan Coval, vice president of policy and federal relations for the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, said she’s not heard of any similar program within the 3,000 colleges and universities her organization represents.

Faculty urged to participate in search process to replace Levine

Chancellor Patrick Gallagher is urging faculty to participate in the search process to fill Dr. Arthur Levine’s position.

Since Levine announced in January that he was stepping down from his roles as senior vice chancellor for health sciences and dean of the School of Medicine, the University has begun the process of finding someone to fill his roles.