UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH TO HOLD 25TH HONORS CONVOCATION

PITTSBURGH, Feb. 1 -- University of Pittsburgh Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg will preside over Pitt's 25th Honors Convocation at 3 p.m., on Wednesday, February 28, in the Carnegie Music Hall.

This year's keynote speaker will be Frances R. Hesselbein, 1998 recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and member of the first class of University of Pittsburgh Legacy Laureates, a program inaugurated in 2000 to annually honor renowned alumni of the University.

Hesselbein is chairman of the board of governors of both the Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management and the Josephson Institute for the Advancement of Ethics. Her expertise in guiding social sector and governmental organizations toward excellence in performance has been sought out by the U.S. Army, the World Bank, and Texaco, among many others. Hesselbein is editor-in-chief of the quarterly journal, Leader to Leader, and coeditor of a book of the same name.

Also during the Honors Convocation, three Distinguished Alumni Fellows will be honored. Initiated in 1993, the award recognizes graduates of the University who have distinguished themselves through professional achievement and service to the community. This year's recipients are:

David F. Bellet, CAS '67: Chairman and founder of Crown Advisors International, a private investment firm with offices in New York and San Francisco. Bellet's team invests in companies that have emerged as leaders in worldwide markets. Prior to his innovative formation of Crown Advisors in 1981, Bellet was a senior investment officer with Citibank's Investment Management Group.

Robert E. Colwell, ENG '77: Chief Technical Officer, Connected Products Division, Intel Corporation. Named an Intel Fellow in 1996, the highest technical grade in the company, Colwell is one of three senior architects responsible for conceiving Intel's P6 microarchitecture, the core of the company's Pentium II, Pentium III, Celeron, and Xeon product families.

Bobbie Gaunt, EDU '72: President and CEO of Ford Motor Company of Canada, Ltd. Gaunt is also a vice president and officer of Ford Motor Company. She is the first woman to head Ford of Canada, and the first woman at Ford to lead a national operation. Gaunt is a recipient of the YWCA's "Women of Distinction" award.

The Honors Convocation allows the University of Pittsburgh annually to recognize undergraduate, graduate, and professional academic achievement; student leadership; and faculty accomplishments.

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