Pitt to Hold March 5 Open Forum on Search for Provost Maher’s Successor

All members of the University of Pittsburgh community are invited to participate in an open forum to discuss the search for a successor to Provost James V. Maher. The session will take place from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday, March 5, in 2700 Posvar Hall, on the Pittsburgh campus.

Faculty, staff, and students who cannot attend may view a live Web cast of the forum and submit questions online at http://tinyurl.com/ydygecs. Individuals on Pitt’s regional campuses may also participate via live videoconference at the following locations:

Bradford:         237 Swarts Hall
Greenburg:  250 Millstein Library
Johnstown:   201 Biddle Hall
Titusville:     G7 Haskell Library

The forum will be a free-flowing exchange, during which the search committee, chaired by Distinguished Service Professor of Pharmacy and Vice Chancellor for Research Conduct and Compliance Randy P. Juhl, former dean of the School of Pharmacy, will brief attendees on the search process and time line. Those attending can provide input on the process, the time line, and the present and future challenges they feel the new provost will face.

Provost Maher, widely credited with helping lead Pitt through a period of unparalleled progress, announced in November that he would leave that position and return to the Pitt faculty. Juhl says the advances Pitt has made over the last decade make the position of provost all the more attractive.

The 21-member search committee already has a good representation of faculty, staff, and students of various disciplines and ranks, said Juhl. Nonetheless, he is looking forward to hearing what the Pitt community has to say.

“This forum gives us the opportunity to review some of the finer points with people and to reinforce things we’ve thought about already,” said Juhl. “The more people we talk to, the better.”

The search committee has retained the services of R. William Funk & Associates, a national search firm serving the higher-education sector. The committee hopes to select a diverse and highly qualified pool of 70 to 90 candidates. That list will be shortened to four or five names that will be presented, without the committee’s rankings, to Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg, who will make the final decision.

The goal is to have the new provost named by July 1 of this year and in place by the start of the Fall 2010 academic year. For more information on the search, visit www.provostsearch.pitt.edu.