Key Areas

Executive communications • crisis communications • marketing • multimedia initiatives • digital strategies • community outreach • institutional communications • public art • University of Pittsburgh Press

Professional Biography

Louise Cavanaugh Sciannameo serves as Associate Provost for Strategic Communications at the University of Pittsburgh, where she leads strategic communications for the Office of the Provost and affiliated academic and administrative units. In this role, she advises senior leadership on institutional communications, crisis management, executive messaging, and strategic initiatives that advance the University's academic mission. She also serves as co-chair of the University's Public Art Committee and as the Provost's liaison to the University of Pittsburgh Press.

A higher education communications leader with more than 25 years of executive experience, Sciannameo has held senior leadership roles across public research and private universities, leading communications, marketing, public affairs, community relations, government relations, executive communications, and organizational strategy. Prior to her current appointment, she served in several leadership positions at the University of Pittsburgh, including Executive Director of Executive Communications. She also served as Vice President for Communications, Community Relations and Government Relations at Carlow University, where she provided strategic leadership across a broad institutional portfolio, including Campus Safety, for nearly a decade. She later served as Vice President of Public Affairs for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, overseeing communications during a time of emerging industry changes.

An award-winning communications executive, Sciannameo's work has earned national and international recognition from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), the International Association of Business Communicators, the Telly Awards, MarCom Awards, the Public Relations Society of America, and the Association for Women in Communications.

Sciannameo earned a Master of Arts from Chatham University and a Bachelor of Arts in English, magna cum laude, from John Carroll University. She is also a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School's Crisis Leadership in Higher Education executive program and holds the Advanced Certificate in Strategic HR Management from Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations and the Executive Certification in Negotiation from the University of Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business.

A committed nonprofit and civic leader, Sciannameo serves on the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, where she chairs the organization's Marketing and Communications Committee. She also serves on the Board of Directors of the Oakland Transportation Management Association and is a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals – Pittsburgh Chapter.