CHANCELLOR OF THE UNIVERSITY AND DISTINGUISHED SERVICE PROFESSOR OF LAW MARK A. NORDENBERG • Pitt was ranked as the nation’s top public university in last year’s edition of Saviors of our Cities: A Survey of Best College and University Civic Partnerships, a well deserved acknowledgment of a very strong record of community commitment. The University also received national recognition as one of the best places for biomedical researchers to work, as one of America’s most “veteran friendly” universities, and as one of the country’s best employers of people over fifty. Pitt’s progress over a more extended period of time can be measured in a number of ways. Because the University’s principal missions are education and research, two indicators of growing stature, as measured by the marketplace, are especially telling. From 1995 to 2010, applications for admission to the undergraduate programs of the Oakland campus have nearly tripled, climbing from 7,800 to more than 22,600. During that same period, the University’s annual research expenditures more than tripled, growing from $240 million in 1995 to $735 million in 2010. Those dollars not only fund pioneering work and are a recognized sign of institutional strength but also support large numbers of local jobs. In fact, applying standard conventions, Pitt now supports, directly and indirectly, close to 26,500 jobs through its research expenditures alone. Any institution of higher learning makes many of its most important contributions through the work of its graduates, and the recognition earned by Pitt alumni would be the envy of any university. Among many other honors, during the past decade graduates of the University The past academic year was Mark Nordenberg’s fifteenth • Pitt was among the top five universities, private or of Pittsburgh have claimed the Nobel Peace Prize, the year of service as Chancellor of the University of Pittsburgh. public, in terms of the research grants competitively Nobel Prize in Medicine, the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, the It was a year that presented a broad range of serious won by members of its faculty from the National National Medal of Science (this country’s highest challenges – for the world’s economy and for higher Institutes of Health – joining Harvard, Johns scientific honor), the Fritz Medal in Engineering (that education generally, as well as for the University. It also Hopkins, Penn and the University of California at discipline’s highest honor), the Shaw Prize in Medicine was a year of extraordinary accomplishment for Pitt, San Francisco. (awarded in Hong Kong and also known as “the Nobel of clearly reflecting a determined commitment to ensure • Pitt also ranked among the top ten universities the East”) and the Albany Prize in Medicine (this country’s that institutional momentum was maintained and that nationally in terms of total federal science and largest award in that discipline). Pitt continued to build strength, even in the aftermath of engineering research and development support. The stature of any university also is directly dependent what now is known as the “Great Recession.” Consider The other universities in that “top ten” are Johns on the achievements of its faculty, and Pitt faculty the following telling examples of position and progress. Hopkins, Washington, Michigan, Penn, UCLA, members continue to claim the highest honors in their • For the fourth consecutive year, Pitt was ranked in Duke, Columbia, Stanford and the University of fields. Examples reflecting the breadth of faculty the very top cluster of the nation’s public research California at San Francisco. accomplishment include election to such prestigious universities in The Top American Research • For the third time in five years, a Pitt undergraduate societies as the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute Universities, an objective assessment undertaken was named a Rhodes Scholar. Since only thirty-two of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, annually by the Center for Measuring University Rhodes Scholars are selected annually from the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the Performance. The other distinguished universities among the very best students at the country’s American Association for the Advancement of Science, in that top group were Berkeley, Illinois, Michigan, best universities, this is a truly noteworthy the National Academy of Education, the American Academy North Carolina, UCLA and Wisconsin. accomplishment. In fact, only four public universities of Nursing, the American Educational Research Association, have claimed three Rhodes Scholarships in the and the World Academy of Art and Science. Looking to the last five years – Florida State, North Carolina, UCLA and Pitt. 200 MEDIA INFORMATION 2010 PREVIEW COACHING STAFF PANTHER future, it may be especially telling that more junior members of the Pitt faculty regularly claim the most prestigious “early career” awards for their high potential work. Over the course of his years in office, Chancellor Nordenberg has received many forms of professional recognition for his own accomplishments. Among other honors, he has been named Pittsburgh’s Person of the Year by both Vector’s Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh magazine. Even more recently, he was named a History Maker by the Senator John Heinz History Center, was awarded the Homer S. Brown Law Association’s Spirit Award, and received the Presidential Leadership Award from six national foundations and professional organizations for his efforts to promote a vibrant intellectual and social campus climate that de-emphasizes alcohol. To celebrate the remarkable progress achieved during his first decade as Chancellor, University trustees, alumni leaders and special friends contributed $2.5 million to endow a faculty chair in his name. At the time of that announcement, the late Chief Justice Ralph J. Cappy, then PROFILES the Chair of the University’s Board of Trustees, stated: “This endowed chair indicates the extraordinary esteem in which we hold Mark Nordenberg, not only as an individual and a leader who has brought the University to an unprecedented level of success and achievement but also as a true academic at heart. And for a person who is 2009 SEASON IN REVIEW a true academic, the highest honor one can bestow is to Chancellor Mark Nordenberg and his wife Dr. Nikki Nordenberg in one of the Cathedral of Learning’s 27 nationality classrooms. endow a faculty chair in his or her name in perpetuity.” Chancellor Nordenberg joined the faculty of Pitt’s of the region, and issues of governance in the city’s public Pitt student-athletes also are a source of pride because School of Law in 1977 and quickly built a reputation as schools. He served as the founding chair or co-chair of of the way that they represent our University, contribute an outstanding teacher. He was the initial recipient of the such technology-driven economic development initiatives to the broader community, and achieve academically. Excellence in Teaching Award now presented annually by as the Pittsburgh Digital Greenhouse, the Pittsburgh Life During the last year, 141 Pitt student-athletes earned a RECORD BOOK PITT HISTORY PRO FOOTBALL the School’s graduating class. He also was one of the first Sciences Greenhouse, the Robotics Foundry, and the grade-point-average between 3.0 and 3.49; 93 earned faculty members to receive the Chancellor’s Distinguished Technology Collaborative. He is a past Chair of both the GPA’s between 3.5 and 3.99; and twelve student-athletes Teaching Award, recognizing teaching excellence Pennsylvania Association of Colleges and Universities achieved a perfect 4.0 grade-point-average. A member of university-wide. His area of academic specialty is civil and the Pittsburgh Council on Higher Education. He also our women’s volleyball team (Meagan Dooley) was named litigation, and he has served as a member of both the is a member of the board and executive committee of the the overall female scholar-athlete of the year by the Big U.S. Supreme Court’s Advisory Committee on Civil Rules Allegheny Conference on Community Development and a East Conference, and a member of our football team and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s Civil Procedural Director of Bank of New York Mellon. (Conor Lee) was named the 2008 Big East scholar- Rules Committee. Chancellor Nordenberg is a strong supporter of Pitt athlete of the year in that sport. Earlier in his career, Chancellor Nordenberg served athletics. He is a past Chair of the Big East Conference Born in Duluth, Minnesota, Chancellor Nordenberg as Dean of the School of Law and Interim Provost of the and currently serves on its executive committee. He is a first moved to this region as a high school senior, when University. In 1994, he was elevated to the special faculty past member of the NCAA’s board of directors and its his father was transferred to Pittsburgh by U. S. Steel. rank of Distinguished Service Professor. In 1995, he was executive committee. He also serves as the Big East He is an honors graduate of North Allegheny High School, elected Interim Chancellor by the University’s Board of representative to the Presidential Oversight Committee Thiel College and the University of Wisconsin Law School. Trustees, and in 1996, following a national search, he of the Bowl Championship Series. He has been married for nearly 40 years to Nikki Pirillo was elected Chancellor. Chancellor Nordenberg has long recognized that a Nordenberg, who earned her Ph.D. at Pitt. The Nordenbergs Chancellor Nordenberg has long been an active vibrant athletic program not only serves as a unifying have three adult children – Erin, Carl and Michael – each contributor to the broader community, leading efforts force within the University but provides a critical link to of whom is a graduate of the University’s Falk Laboratory focused on such key issues as the proposed consolidation the broader community.