University of Pittsburgh Names 13 New Legacy Laureates

Issue Date: 
November 1, 2010
Pitt’s 2010 Legacy Laureates gathered in Alumni Hall for a luncheon on Oct. 28. During the meal, the Laureates were seated with students from their respective schools and they participated in roundtable discussions. First row, (from left), Judith H. LaRosa, John C. Mascaro, Byong Hyon Kwon, Janice M. Holder, Jerri Lynn Lippert, and Jagdish N. Sheth. Second row, (from left) James P. McDonald, Robert J. Cindrich, John J. Driscoll, Thomas Reinsel, Lucile Adams-Campbell, John T. Tighe III, and Harry E. Rubash. Pitt’s 2010 Legacy Laureates gathered in Alumni Hall for a luncheon on Oct. 28. During the meal, the Laureates were seated with students from their respective schools and they participated in roundtable discussions. First row, (from left), Judith H. LaRosa, John C. Mascaro, Byong Hyon Kwon, Janice M. Holder, Jerri Lynn Lippert, and Jagdish N. Sheth. Second row, (from left) James P. McDonald, Robert J. Cindrich, John J. Driscoll, Thomas Reinsel, Lucile Adams-Campbell, John T. Tighe III, and Harry E. Rubash.

The University of Pittsburgh has named 13 new Legacy Laureates, alumni recognized for their outstanding personal and professional accomplishments. The laureates were honored during Pitt’s Oct. 28-31 Homecoming festivities.

The Pitt Legacy Laureate program was launched in 2000. Following are brief biographies of this year’s honorees.

Lucile Adams-Campbell

Lucile Adams-Campbell is a professor of oncology at Georgetown University Medical Center and associate director of minority health and health disparities research at the medical center’s Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center.

A 1983 graduate of Pitt’s Graduate School of Public Health, Adams-Campbell earned her PhD in epidemiology, the first African American woman in the United States to do so. She went on to become an internationally recognized expert in minority health and health disparities research, identifying and addressing public health issues in the United States, Africa, and the Caribbean.

Adams-Campbell has held a series of academic and administrative appointments at Howard University; served as director of the Howard University Cancer Center; and led several large cohort studies of African American women, including the Boston University Black Women’s Health Study, considered to be the largest medical study to explore the disproportionately high rates of disease among Black women.

Among Adams-Campbell’s many honors was her selection as a Fellow of the Institute of Medicine, the American College of Epidemiology, and the Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine Program for Women. She also has served as an adjunct professor and guest lecturer at a number of prestigious universities.

The recipient of GSPH’s Health Gold Medallion Award, Adams-Campbell was named a Pitt Distinguished Alumni Fellow in 2000. While a student at Pitt, she received the Student Leadership Award.

Robert J. Cindrich

Robert J. Cindrich has most recently served as senior vice president and chief legal officer of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. He earned a law degree and Order of the Coif from the Pitt School of Law in 1968.

Cindrich’s legal career includes appointment as a U.S. attorney by President Jimmy Carter and as a U.S. District judge by President Bill Clinton. A founding partner of a prestigious law firm, he is a member of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America and the Academy of Trial Lawyers of Allegheny County. He also served as a member of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s Civil Procedural Rules Committee.

Cindrich’s legal career includes clerking for the Honorable Ruggero J. Aldisert of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, representing underprivileged defendants as assistant public defender for Allegheny County, serving the interests of the people as assistant district attorney and U.S. attorney, and chairing the Pennsylvania Legislative Reapportionment Commission, which resulted in his appointment to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania by President Bill Clinton. He also served his country in the U.S. Army Reserve and the U.S. Air Force Reserve.

Cindrich’s many awards include selection as Jaycee Man of the Year in Law and Government and receipt of the Joseph F. Weis Jr. Distinguished Service Award from the Academy of Trial Lawyers of Allegheny County.

Cindrich currently serves as chair of Pitt’s School of Law Board of Visitors and is an adjunct professor in the law school. He has provided generous financial support, including gifts to the the Honorable Ruggero J. Aldisert Endowment.

John J. Driscoll

A 1966 graduate of Pitt’s School of Law, John J. Driscoll was appointed in 1994 by then-Pennsylvania Governor Robert P. Casey Sr. to be a judge of the Westmoreland County Court of Common Pleas, a position to which he was elected in 1995. He also serves as an administrative judge of the Westmoreland County Juvenile Court.

Driscoll entered private practice in 1970 and has been admitted to practice before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. From 1982 to 1994, he served as the Westmoreland County District Attorney.  He also was elected president of the Pennsylvania District Attorney’s Association and served as past chair of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s Criminal Procedural Rules Committee.

Driscoll has published numerous opinions in the areas of criminal and family law, including matters involving custody, juveniles and dependent children, divorce, and matrimony.

Driscoll served in the U.S. Navy and received the Naval Achievement Medal, the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal, the Presidential Unit Citation, and a National Defense Service Medal for exceptionally meritorious service as part of the U.S. Naval Support Activity in Danang, Republic of Vietnam.

Among his many professional awards is the Fred Funari Mental Health Association Award of Distinction from Mental Health America of Westmoreland County in 2005, for his efforts to aid juvenile offenders. His contributions to the community include service as a trustee of the Excela Health Westmoreland Hospital; as past president and the 1981 Paul Harris Fellow of the Rotary Club of Greensburg; as past president of the American Cancer Society of Westmoreland County; and as a member, director, and solicitor of the Westmoreland Chamber of Commerce.

A generous contributor to the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg, Driscoll currently serves on its Advisory Board.

Janice M. Holder

In 2008, Janice M. Holder became the first woman to serve as the chief justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court and one of only 20 women to have served as a chief justice in the United States at that time. Appointed in 1996 to the Tennessee Supreme Court by Governor Donald Sundquist, she is currently serving her second elected eight-year term on the court as one of only three female supreme court justices in Tennessee’s history.

Holder earned a bachelor’s degree summa cum laude from Pitt’s School of Arts and Sciences in 1971 and was a University Scholar. She began her career as a senior law clerk for Chief Judge Herbert P. Sorg of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. In Tennessee, she was elected to the Circuit Court of the 30th Judicial District at Memphis.

Holder is the recipient of numerous professional awards and honors, including the Sam A. Myer Outstanding Young Lawyer Award from the Memphis Bar Association and the Charles O. Rond Outstanding Jurist Award. She was recognized by the National Association of Women Judges at its 2007 conference honoring women leaders of state courts and by the American Bar Association’s Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs in 1999 for her exceptional work in establishing the Tennessee Lawyers Assistance Program, which assists attorneys with issues ranging from chronic depression to substance abuse.

Holder has been recognized as an advocate for improving the legal system through her leadership of Justice for All Tennessee, a plan to better serve those who use the Tennessee justice system. She is a member of and leader in numerous professional organizations, including the American Bar Association and the Conference of Chief Justices. She frequently appears as a speaker at legal and educational events, conferences, and seminars sponsored by such groups as the Southern Trial Lawyers Association and the Tennessee Bar Association.

An accomplished athlete and skilled equestrian, Holder has earned a third-degree black belt in karate.

Byong Hyon Kwon

Byong Hyon Kwon is the Republic of Korea’s former Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the People’s Republic of China, a position held at a time when there was a marked warming in relations between the two countries. Kwon earned a Master of Public and International Affairs degree from the University of Pittsburgh in 1968.

Kwon’s diplomatic career spans four decades, including service in a series of diplomatic postings in Australia, China, Japan, Myanmar, and the United States. His service has resulted in numerous awards and decorations. He continues to foster strong relations between the Republic of Korea and China by serving as the chair of the Korea-China Economic Development Association and working toward the elimination of land degradation and desertification in China through the planting of the Korea-China Friendship Great Green Wall. The reforestation project is aimed at “taming the Yellow Dragon”—the notorious dust storms from China’s deserts. As a result of these efforts, he was named the inaugural recipient of the Sustainable Land Management Champion award, given by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.

Kwon also is committed to higher education and has been honored by serving as Invited Eminent Professor at Myongji University in the Republic of Korea and as Professor Emeritus at Luoyang Institute of Science and Technology in China. At Pitt, he is a member of the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs’ (GSPIA) Board of Visitors and has made generous gifts to create the Korean Alumni Endowment. GSPIA has honored Kwon as a Distinguished Alumnus.


Judith H. LaRosa

Judith H. LaRosa is the first vice dean for the School of Public Health at SUNY Downstate Medical Center, where she also serves as a professor and interim chair of the Department of Community Health Sciences. She earned her BS in nursing and MS in  nursing education from the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing in 1963 and 1964, respectively.

As Deputy Director of the Office of Research on Women’s Health at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), LaRosa coauthored the legislatively mandated guidelines on the Inclusion of Women and Minorities as Subjects in Clinical Research. She has held positions spanning education, research, and clinical practice and has affected the way health professionals approach disease prevention and intervention by increasing their understanding of cultural and gender differences regarding disease and risk. She was the principal investigator for numerous studies with grant funding totaling more than $3.2 million.

LaRosa previously served as professor and chair of Community Health Sciences at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine and director of the Tulane Xavier National Center of Excellence in Women’s Health.

LaRosa has received many honors for excellence in teaching and committed service, among them the NIH Merit, Performance, Special Achievement, and Director’s awards as well as the International Institute of Boston’s Golden Door Award. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, the American Heart Association, and the New York Academy of Medicine. She has both authored and reviewed articles, chapters, and abstracts for a number of professional nursing journals.

LaRosa serves on the Pitt School of Nursing’s Board of Visitors.

Jerri Lynn Lippert

Jerri Lynn Lippert currently serves as the chief academic officer for the Pittsburgh Public Schools. She earned her bachelor’s, master’s, and PhD degrees from Pitt’s School of Education in 1996, 1997, and 2003, respectively.

Lippert began her career as a physical education instructor and went on to serve as assistant principal of Pittsburgh’s Oliver High School and principal of Allegheny Traditional Academy Middle School. She was named executive director of curriculum, instruction, and professional development and of the National Board of Teacher Certification for the Pittsburgh Public Schools. Among her many accomplishments as executive director was securing $9 million in funding to promote the professional development of principals throughout the district.

Lippert was a member of the design team that developed and shaped the Empowering Effective Teachers in the Pittsburgh Public Schools Plan, a landmark initiative that received $40 million in funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. She also engineered the research-based Inclusive System of Evaluation program to determine better ways to ensure that all students have access to effective teachers and to develop methods that support, evaluate, and reward teachers.

The Pittsburgh City Council recently honored Lippert by declaring June 11, 2010, as Dr. Jerri Lynn Lippert Day in recognition of her commitment to educating students and training professionals in the Pittsburgh Public Schools. Lippert remains dedicated to physical fitness and has set 10 U.S. records in bench-press weight lifting.

John C. Mascaro

John C. Mascaro is the founder and chair of Mascaro Construction, one of the largest general contracting, construction management, and architectural firms in the nation. He earned his BS and MS degrees in civil engineering from Pitt’s Swanson School of Engineering in 1966 and 1980, respectively.

Under Mascaro’s leadership, Mascaro Construction is at the forefront of green construction and is currently ranked a Top Green Contractor by Engineering News-Record.

Mascaro has received many awards for his professional accomplishments and has been honored by the University as a Distinguished Alumnus in the Swanson School  and its Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He also was named to the Swanson School of Engineering Hall of Fame.

Mascaro has served in various positions with numerous professional and civic organizations, including director and president of the Master Builders Association of Western Pennsylvania and founding benefactor of the National Aviary. His volunteer work for the University includes chairing the Construction Management Industry Advisory Board and serving as a member of the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation Advisory Board.

His gifts to establish the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation, the John C. Mascaro Learning Center, and the Peter J. Mascaro Endowed Fund in the Construction Management Program have been critical to strengthening the Swanson School of Engineering.

James P. McDonald

James P. McDonald serves as the managing director of BNY Mellon’s Global Philanthropy and Employees Program, director of the BNY Mellon Foundation, and president of the BNY Mellon Foundation of Southwestern Pennsylvania. He earned a master’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work in 1982.

McDonald’s  27-year career has been dedicated to the development and management of innovative human resources policies, health-service programs, and charitable-giving initiatives for BNY Mellon. In his current position, he utilizes charitable donations, sponsorships, and employee involvement to benefit needy communities worldwide. He also works to develop self-sufficiency through such workforce initiatives as job training, education, mentoring, and skills development.

A member of the boards of directors of the United Way of Allegheny County and the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, McDonald encourages BNY Mellon employees to contribute their time, talent, and funding to their local communities.

McDonald’s generosity and community service extend to the University, where he financially supports the School of Social Work and serves as a member of the school’s Board of Visitors. He also serves on the University’s Board of Fellows of the Institute of Politics.

Thomas Reinsel

Thomas Reinsel is the chief executive officer and a founder of RippleRock, a technology company that provides software developers with expert consultation in the management of the life cycle of software applications. He earned a BS degree in information science and an MS degree in telecommunications from the University of Pittsburgh School of Information Sciences in 1990 and 1991, respectively.

Reinsel began his career in computer-based information systems at Eli Lilly and Company; he went on to found Pepperweed Consulting, which grew to become a top-valued software reseller for HP and one of the leading information-technology consulting firms employed by Fortune 500 clients and government agencies.

Reinsel also served as an executive-in-residence and venture capitalist with Sewickley Oak Capital and was a founding member of the HP worldwide users group in 1993. In these capacities, he advised early-stage start-up companies, counseled expanding businesses, and hosted software-user conferences to aid in the transfer and development of ideas and best practices.

At Pitt, he has lectured on information technology management and is a member of the Industry Advisory Council of the School of Information Sciences, which has awarded him the Professional Achievement Award in recognition of his leadership in entrepreneurialism and information technology.

Harry E. Rubash

Harry E. Rubash is the Edith M. Ashley Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery in the Harvard Medical School and chief of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital. He earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Arts and Sciences in 1975 and his MD from Pitt’s School of Medicine in 1979.

Rubash began his career in Pitt’s medical school, completing fellowships at Rechts der Isar Hospital in Munich, Germany, and at Harvard University. He served as chief of orthopaedic service at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Oakland (since renamed the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System–University Drive), and as chief of the Division of Adult Reconstructive Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

Rubash has made significant contributions to major joint replacement surgery, including the development of innovative reconstructive techniques, the conducting of landmark research that has reduced complications and improved outcomes for patients, and the advancement of the study of biomechanics and failure mechanisms of joint arthroplasty in the hip and knee that has led to the development of enhanced implant designs.

Rubash is an internationally recognized orthopaedic surgeon and medical scientist who has been elected to many professional societies, among them the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) and the American College of Rheumatology, both of which have named him a Fellow. He also has received numerous awards and honors from such prestigious organizations as the AAOS and the American Fracture Association.

Rubash has shared his expertise at many conferences and seminars worldwide and has published extensively; he also has served as an editor for numerous professional journals and publications.

Jagdish N. Sheth

Jagdish N. Sheth is the founder and president of the Institute for Communications Research and Education, Inc., a consulting firm whose clients include AT&T, Ford Motor Company, and Sprint. He earned a master’s degree and a PhD from the University’s Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business in 1962 and 1966, respectively.

Sheth has had a distinguished career in academia, currently serving as the Charles H. Kellstadt Professor of Marketing and director of the Center for Relationship Marketing at Emory University.  Prior to holding these positions, he was a professor at the University of Southern California, the University of Illinois, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Columbia University.

Sheth’s expertise in marketing has been internationally recognized through numerous awards and appointments, and he is a prolific author, having published hundreds of articles and books, including the best-selling Clients for Life: Evolving from an Expert-for-Hire to an Extraordinary Adviser (The Free Press, 2002).

A dedicated philanthropist, Sheth founded the Sheth Family Foundation, which assists more than 60 charities and organizations in Georgia, where he resides, and in India, where he grew up. Beneficiaries of the foundation include Raksha, Inc.; Hosea Feed the Hungry and Homeless; and Helping the Blind in India.

Sheth’s generosity also extends to Pitt, where he has established the Madhuri and Jagdish N. Sheth Foundation Endowment for the Advancement of Marketing and the Jagdish N. Sheth Foundation Fund.

John T. Tighe III

John T. Tighe III is the founder, president, and chief executive officer of TMG Health, Inc., the nation’s largest provider of business process outsourcing services, supporting Medicare Advantage and Managed Medicaid plans for millions of members. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Pitt’s School of Pharmacy in 1978.

Under Tighe’s leadership, TMG Health has created more than 1,000 jobs and been recognized as one of the fastest-growing and most innovative companies in Pennsylvania and North America.

Tighe was the youngest person to serve as Pennsylvania’s secretary of administration, a position to which he was appointed by Governor Robert P. Casey Sr.; he later served as the governor’s deputy chief of staff. Tighe developed Pennsylvania’s Children’s Health Insurance Program, which became a model for the federal program.

Tighe is the recipient of many awards, among them the Pennsylvania Cultural Diversity Planning Dedication and Courage Award, and he was named to the New Spring Capital CEO Hall of Fame and the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Hall of Fame.

Tighe has demonstrated his long-term commitment to the University of Pittsburgh by providing generous financial support to the Schools of Pharmacy and Nursing and to the Department of Athletics and through his service as Governor Casey’s representative to the University’s Board of Trustees. He currently serves as a member of the School of Pharmacy’s Board of Visitors.