F E A T U R E I N T H I S I S S U E In a sign of the times, WPIC Library has closed its doors...........................2 Some 40-year staff members reminisce about the campus changes they’ve witnessed..............................9 While most of us are sleeping, some U N I V E R S I T Y Pitt staff are just starting their work day. A look at the “dark” side of Pitt. See pages 4-6. TIMES VOLUME 41 • NUMBER 9 JANUARY 8, 2009 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH Pitt takes cost-cutting steps University wants your elt-tightening is a neces- stated that while the University we possibly can.” sity on college campuses expects to move ahead with some Rather than order across- 2 cents on Pitt benefits Bthis season and Pitt is appointments, the hiring review the-board cuts, Knapp said A&S aculty and staff now can let the University know what they no exception. Executive pay has process has been implemented administrators are counting on think of Pitt’s employee benefits. been frozen, hiring decisions are “with the expectation that levels of department chairs to determine F Pitt’s Benefits Department, in cooperation with the Staff being scrutinized and classroom hiring will be significantly reduced where savings can be found. Association Council (SAC), is launching an internal benefits survey resources are being consolidated during the current year, as we wait “We’re trying to do things in an online at the Human Resources web site, www.hr.pitt.edu. The survey as the University responds to for the economy to stabilize.” intelligent way,” he said. link will be operational until Jan. 23. uncertain economic times. In addition, the five super That includes canceling classes According to John Kozar, director of Benefits, the survey is A second round of budget responsibility center heads (Nor- that fail to meet minimum enroll- soliciting opinions on Pitt’s current benefit offerings. cuts in Harrisburg is likely to lop denberg, Executive Vice Chan- ments (unless there is an extenuat- Questions also are included to obtain feedback on the University’s additional amounts from Pitt’s cellor Jerome Cochran, Provost ing reason to keep them); combin- Benefits Department customer service and internal communication, budget by the end of the fiscal year, James Maher, Senior Vice Chan- ing low-enrollment sections of the and opinions on additional benefits or services that should be con- bringing the expected reduction to cellor for Health Sciences Arthur same course into one, and offering sidered. The survey takes approximately five minutes to complete, Pitt’s combined $189.25 million in Levine and Vice Chancellor for some courses less frequently. Kozar said. state support to more than $11.3 Budget and Controller Arthur It also means that some part- A summary of the results will be released in February, he said. million. Ramicone) are responsible for time faculty are finding they Sherry Viann Shrum, chair of the SAC benefits committee, urged q determining where in their units no longer are needed as A&S employees to complete the survey. No layoffs or hiring freezes to find their area’s share of the state attempts to put as many tenure- “Benefits are very expensive to the University and during these have been implemented as a result money that likely will be withheld stream faculty into the classroom tough economic times it is critical that the current benefit pack- of the state budget cuts, accord- at the end of the fiscal year. as possible. ages being offered to staff members are fully utilized and that staff ing to Vice Chancellor for Public q Knapp said some faculty course members understand all of the benefits that are available to them,” Affairs Robert Hill. However, In the School of Arts and releases for administrative work Shrum said. “It is equally important that staff members are able to some vacant staff positions are Sciences, adjustments are being are being eliminated and some voice their opinion on the benefits being offered and that they have being left unfilled as a way to make made in the classroom. Faculty are vacancies are not being filled. In a high level of satisfaction with those benefits.” up some of the reduction in state not being laid off, nor are teach- addition, “we are not necessar- The survey addresses both those concerns, she said. “It will also funding and all hiring must be ing loads increasing, said Senior ily replacing courses” when, for give the University some insight on benefits they might want to approved by the appropriate super Associate Dean James Knapp. example, a faculty member is out offer in the future and help them gauge their cost effectiveness,” responsibility center head. However, “We are asking chairs on medical leave, he said. Shrum added. In a Dec. 18 University Update, to make sure the faculty resources Faculty have been very under- —Peter Hart n Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg we have are being as well used as CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Health’s Department of Biostatis- five-level scale ranging from “neg- tics, concluded that the margins of ligible” to “serious,” with “some safety identified by the FDA may concern” being the midpoint. In be inadequate. a prepared NIH release, NTP The subcommittee, consisting associate director John Bucher of two members of the Science stated, “We are expressing this Board and five scientists from level of concern because we see government and academia, dis- developmental changes occurring agreed with the FDA’s choice to in some animal studies at BPA exclude certain studies from its exposure levels similar to those Just how safe is safety assessment and found, in experienced by humans.” part, that in light of other stud- In the same release, Michael ies (and several published after Shelby, director of the NTP the draft was completed) that the Center for the Evaluation of Risks margins of safety may be “far less to Human Reproduction, noted your water bottle? than those defined by FDA as that more research is needed to ‘adequate.’” understand how the findings relate In addition, the panel pointed to human health and develop- out that the draft assessment did ment, “but at this point we can’t not examine cumulative expo- dismiss the possibility that the s your water bottle making you liquid infant formula or from sures, noting: “The human health effects we’re seeing in animals sick? What about the plastic BPA, an ingredient polycarbonate baby bottles when risks of the food contact applica- may occur in humans,” adding that Icontainer that holds the lunch boiling water is added to powdered tions may be understated when concerned parents can choose to you brought from home? formula. only a single source of exposure reduce their children’s exposure Among the most recent chemi- in many plastics, As often is the case, even the is considered and limited data are to BPA. cals targeted for public concern is the most recent scientists can’t agree about the available regarding other food q is bisphenol A, an industrial safety of BPA, leaving consumers contact exposures,” such as those In response to consumer chemical mainly used to make chemical to stir unsure whether they ought to be from polycarbonate “sippy” cups concerns, some manufacturers polycarbonate plastics and epoxy concerned. or sport bottles. and retailers already are turn- resins. scientific debate. A draft assessment by the U.S. q ing to alternatives. Toys ‘R’ Us BPA is among a number of xen- Food and Drug Administration A report released last Septem- has announced it will phase out oestrogens (artificial compounds should look for further identifica- concluded last August that “an ber by the National Toxicology baby products containing BPA. that mimic the effects of natural tion on the product package (such adequate margin of safety exists for Program (NTP) found that human Wal-Mart has stopped stocking estrogens) counted as estrogen- as “PC” for polycarbonate) or BPA at current levels of exposure exposure to BPA is of “some con- baby products containing BPA disrupting chemicals. contact the manufacturer. from food contact uses.” cern” for effects on development in Canada and plans to phase Polycarbonate plastics are People can be exposed to BPA But FDA’s own Science Board of the prostate gland and brain and them out this year in the United among those “other plastics” des- when it migrates from plastic subcommittee on BPA, in its for behavioral effects in fetuses, States. ignated with a 7 in the triangular containers into food or drinks, scientific peer-review of the infants and children. “BPA-free” is turning up recycling code stamped on the particularly during heating, or draft assessment, disagreed. The NTP, a research program at on more and more product product. However, not all plastics when it leaches from can linings. subcommittee, which included the National Institutes of Health’s labels. Tennessee-based Eastman marked with a 7 contain polycar- Babies are exposed to the chemical Howard Rockette, chair of National Institute of Environ- Chemical Co. is marketing a bonates. To be certain, consumers when BPA migrates into canned Pitt’s Graduate School of Public mental Health Sciences, uses a CONTINUED ON PAGE 3 1 U N I V E R S I T Y TIMES point for the WPIC community,” Epstein said, recalling it as a space for many receptions and events. Closing the book(s) on WPIC’s library “It was a big recruiting tool,” she said, noting that prospective fter 66 years, the library by the end of March, but exact work of moving the materials, hires always were shown through at Western Psychiatric plans for dismantling the collec- the technical aspects are daunt- the collection, which was highly AInstitute and Clinic has tion are still in progress, Epstein ing as well.