INSIDE Benefits open enrollment period begins................. 2 Pitt showcases work of its emerging artists............ 3 PittNewspaper of the University of PittsburghChronicle Volume VIII • Number 14 • April 16, 2007 University and City of Pittsburgh Officials Dedicate Pitt’s New Public Safety Building Pitt’s police, environmental health and safety departments housed at 3412 Forbes Ave. JOE KAPELEWSKI/CIDDE JOE KAPELEWSKI/CIDDE Dick Thornburgh (LAW ’57) displays a souvenir from his first, unsuccessful run for public office. Campaigning in 1966 as a Republican candidate for the U.S. Congress, he promised to “stir things up” if elected. University Dedicates Dick Thornburgh Room In Hillman Library By Sharon S. Blake Pitt dedicated the Dick Thornburgh Room in the University’s Hillman Library on April 5. The event also marked the establish- ment of The Dick Thornburgh Forum in Law and Public Policy, which will provide Participants in the ribbon-cutting ceremony to dedicate Pitt’s new Public Safety Building were, from left: Jay Frerotte, director an organizational framework for activi- of the University’s Department of Environmental Health and Safety; Pitt Executive Vice Chancellor Jerome Cochran; Allegheny ties and programs based on Thornburgh’s papers, career, contributions, and interests. County Chief Executive Dan Onorato; Pitt Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg; Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl; Pittsburgh Police An endowed fund has been established to Chief Nathan Harper; Pitt Police Chief Timothy Delaney; and State Senator and Pitt Trustee Jay Costa. support the forum, and plans are under way for an advisory committee to assist with By John Fedele ongoing fundraising and provide input on programming and activities. City of Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Raven- safety staff necessitated this move to the Thornburgh, a 1957 graduate of Pitt’s stahl and Chief of Police Nathan Harper new facility. The new facility ensures that School of Law and a member of the and Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan our public safety personnel have the most University’s Board of Trustees, served as Onorato joined Pitt Chancellor Mark A. Nor- modern facilities and equipment to do their Governor of Pennsylvania, Attorney General denberg, Executive Vice Chancellor Jerome jobs of keeping faculty, staff, students, and of the United States under two presidents, Cochran, and Police Chief Timothy Delaney residents safe.” and the highest-ranking American at the in officially dedicating the University’s new The $6 million, four-story building United Nations. Currently, he is counsel to Public Safety Building, at 3412 Forbes Ave., houses the University’s Police Department the international law firm of Kirkpatrick Oakland, during a ribbon-cutting ceremony and Department of Environmental Health & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis LLP in its and open house April 9. and Safety (EH&S). The new building Washington, D.C., office. An estimated 150 people—including was needed, Pitt officials said, because the Public Safety Building at 3412 Forbes Ave. “The name Dick Thornburgh is syn- local government and public safety officials, University’s Police Department has grown onymous with accomplishment and with business owners, and community leaders to more than 130 employees, including 74 into the City of Pittsburgh and Allegheny integrity in public service,” said Pitt Chan- as well as members of the University com- commissioned officers, making it the third- County’s 911 system. In addition, the police cellor Mark A. Nordenberg. “Throughout a munity—attended the event. largest police force in Allegheny County. areas include rooms for evidence storage and distinguished public career that has spanned “The University of Pittsburgh’s public The facility will serve as a command post protocol and interrogation and observation. more than a quarter century, University of safety operation has been a great partner during major emergencies, and sharing the There is also a holding room, separate detec- Pittsburgh trustee and alumnus Dick Thorn- that we could always rely on in our efforts space will assist the two departments in tive area, and ammunition safe. burgh has made extraordinary contributions to make our city safer,” Ravenstahl said. coordinating their activities. The University of Pittsburgh Police to the public good. His legacy of achieve- “The new facility is another example of the The new facility not only provides the Association donated exercise equipment in ment and impact is chronicled in the exten- University’s commitment to that mission, for Police Department and EH&S with added the building’s first-floor gym. sive Dick Thornburgh Archive Collection, the students, the faculty and staff, and the space but also creates a visible police pres- Occupying the fourth floor, EH&S which is accessible through the beautifully Oakland community. We wish them nothing ence for visitors entering Oakland from has office space for 18 staff members and designed Dick Thornburgh Room. Both the but continued success in their new home.” Forbes Avenue, the primary route into a training classroom. The department is Thornburgh Room and the Dick Thornburgh “Community safety—and particularly Oakland from the west. responsible for developing, implementing, Forum for Law and Public Policy are trea- the safety of a community where large The 26,000-square-foot building and administrating a variety of health and sures from which students, scholars, and the numbers of young people study, work, and includes a parking deck and surface parking safety programs, which are established to public will benefit in perpetuity.” live—has been one of our University’s ongo- to accommodate police and EH&S vehicles, ensure worker safety, environmental pro- Designed to showcase Thornburgh’s ing priorities,” said Nordenberg. “And the as well as a secure structure for motorcycles tection, and compliance with local, state, legacy, The Dick Thornburgh Room is a University’s sizeable investment in this new and bicycles. and federal regulations. EH&S conducts glass-enclosed reading and research room Public Safety Building is also another sign The Police Department’s areas feature such services as fire drills and emergency with natural teak walls and floor-to-ceil- of Pitt’s broader commitment to its Oakland a state-of-the-art campuswide security preparedness exercises (65 in 2006), indoor ing windows. Large glass cases flank the neighbors, to the City of Pittsburgh, and to monitoring and command center with three air-quality assessments, hazardous materials entrance and provide museum-quality dis- the members of our own community of Pitt dispatch desks and a bank of four 52-inch training, and fire protection system review. play space for items from the Dick Thorn- faculty, staff, and students.” video screens that can be configured in The department educates 5,500 attendees at burgh Archive Collection—a chronicle of Cochran said, “The growth in size and multiple ways to display security camera live and online training sessions each year, Thornburgh’s more than 25 years in public scope of responsibilities of Pitt’s police video, dispatch and call screens, and weather force and of our environmental health and information. The system is fully integrated Continued on Page 2 Continued on Page 3 2 • Pitt Chronicle • April 16, 2007 New Public Safety Building Dedicated BrieflyNoted Pitt Alumnus Will Talk About His Experiences as a Hollywood Executive, Producer, Lawyer Benefits Fair Scheduled for JOE KAPELEWSKI/CIDDE April 17-18; Open Enrollment During an April 19 appearance in 324 Cathedral Period Begins This Week of Learning, Pitt alumnus and New Castle native John perform under the direction of Dellaverson will talk about his experiences as a Hol- Eligible Pitt faculty and staff members may Nathan Davis, head of the Pitt Jazz lywood executive, producer, and entertainment lawyer. change their current benefits elections during Studies Program. The ensemble The free public event, scheduled to begin at 5 p.m., the University’s annual benefits open enrollment has served as artists-in-residence is being cosponsored by the Steeltown Entertainment period, April 17 through May 9. Changes will be for one week every year since Project, Pitt In Hollywood, and the University’s Film effective July 1, 2007. 1980 in Jamaica, performing for Studies program. See www.steeltown.org for more Apart from this annual open enrollment schoolchildren in rural villages, information. period, the only time faculty and staff may absorbing Caribbean culture, Dellaverson will discuss his journey from Pitts- change their benefits elections, according to IRS and building goodwill and burgh to becoming executive vice-president of Lions The new Public Safety Building’s command center regulations, is when a change-in-status (i.e., life friendships. Proceeds from this Gate Entertainment and chair of its subsidiary Cinegate event) occurs—marriage, divorce, birth of a child, year’s concert will help fund the as well as his career as an entertainment attorney and Continued from Page 1 a spouse’s gain or loss of employment, etc. annual trip. producer. Gate Entertainment is a leading independent Pitt’s Office of Human Resources will sponsor Curtis Fuller is regarded reviews all laboratory designs and renova- studio that has produced and distributed such movies tions, and conducts annual inspections in a benefits fair from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 17 as one of the most distinctive as Crash and Saw and such television series as Weeds more than 1,750 University labs. In 2006, and 18 in the Alumni Hall Ballroom. During the trombone stylists in jazz. He emerged and Kill Pitt, an upcoming series currently filming in EH&S reviewed and provided safety analysis fair, faculty and staff may talk with representa- from the thriving Detroit music scene Pittsburgh. of more than 1,600 research protocols. tives of Pitt’s benefits department and the of the late 1940s and early ’50s, From 1983 to 2000, Dellaverson was a partner at With staff experienced in hazardous University’s insurance carriers.