University of Pittsburgh Names 16 Legacy Laureates

 

PITTSBURGH—The University of Pittsburgh has named 16 new Legacy Laureates, alumni recognized for their outstanding personal and professional accomplishments. This year’s honorees are James S. Broadhurst, the late William S. Dietrich II, Sofian Effendi, Mahmoud A. ElSohly, David C. Frederick, Drew H. Gitomer, Harvey M. Golomb, Priscilla H. Hamilton, Robert J. Henkel, Frank E. Mosier, Tim Murphy, Sito J. Narcisse, Paul A. Rockar Jr., Edward W. Sites, Frederick W. Thieman, and Ruby Leila Wilson. The laureates were honored during Pitt’s Oct. 13-16 Homecoming festivities.

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

James S. Broadhurst

James Broadhurst is chair of Eat’n Park Hospitality Group, Inc., parent company of one of the tristate area’s favorite family restaurants—Eat’n Park—as well as downtown Pittsburgh’s Six Penn Kitchen and Parkhurst Dining Services and Cura Hospitality, which provide dining services to colleges, universities, corporations, museums, and senior living communities throughout the mid-Atlantic region. He earned a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Pittsburgh’s Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business in 1966.

Widely regarded as one of Pittsburgh’s most prominent civic leaders, Broadhurst serves on numerous boards, including the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and the UPMC Cancer Centers Council, and chairs the boards of the Pittsburgh Foundation, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, and the United Way of Allegheny County. His dedicated contributions have earned him numerous awards, including the Pennsylvania Restaurant Association’s Restaurateur of the Year award and the Katz School Distinguished Alumnus Award.

Broadhurst’s commitment to higher education is evident through his service on the Board of Trustees of the Pennsylvania State University and the establishment of special scholarship programs that provide educational support to employees of Eat’n Park. His remarkable generosity toward the University of Pittsburgh includes gifts to the School of Nursing and the Katz School of Business and those to establish the Broadhurst Basketball Excellence Fund and the Broadhurst Science Center at Pitt’s Titusville campus.

William S. Dietrich II

William Dietrich was credited with transforming Dietrich Industries, Inc., a small steel warehouse and distribution business founded by his father, Kenneth P. Dietrich, into the nation’s largest manufacturer of light metal framing for the construction industry. After Worthington Industries bought Dietrich Industries in 1996, Dietrich continued to serve as a director until his retirement in 2008. While leading Dietrich Industries through a period of remarkable growth, Dietrich earned his Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in political science from the University of Pittsburgh in 1980 and 1984, respectively. 

Dietrich, who is being honored posthumously, having passed away on Oct. 6, 2011, will be remembered for his exceptional and well-targeted philanthropy, including what many consider one of the great hallmarks of his life—his historic $125 million gift to the University of Pittsburgh. It is the largest individual gift to Pitt in its 225-year history and is one of the 10 largest gifts made by an individual to a public university in the United States.

Dietrich, who earned the rank of distinguished Eagle Scout and served in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, devoted himself to a wide range of civic duties, including service as a member of Pitt’s Board of Trustees from 1991 to 2011 and as the board’s chair from 2001 to 2003. He also served as chair of the board’s audit, investment, and conflict of interest committees in addition to serving on the boards of several other institutions, including Carnegie Mellon University, the Carnegie Museum of Art, Chatham University, and the Pittsburgh Symphony Society.

His passionate interest in history and economics inspired him to author two books: In the Shadow of the Rising Sun: The Political Roots of American Economic Decline and Eminent Pittsburghers: Profiles of the City’s Founding Industrialists. He was a regular contributor to Pittsburgh Quarterly, and, at the time of his death, was writing a third book.

Sofian Effendi

Sofian Effendi’s distinguished academic career began at Gadjah Mada University (UGM), the largest and oldest national university in Indonesia. After traveling to the United States to continue his studies at the University of Pittsburgh, where he held both a Fulbright Scholarship and a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship, he earned his Master of Public and International Affairs in economic and social development and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public and International Affairs in 1975 and 1978, respectively. 

Effendi returned to UGM, where he played a major role in establishing the UGM Population Studies Center and was the founding director of the UGM Graduate School of Public Policy and Administration. From 2002 until 2007, he served as president of UGM. Currently, he is a professor of public policy at UGM and a senior decentralization advisor to the United Nations Development Programme in Indonesia.

Effendi’s leadership and scholarship have been recognized through a number of prestigious government appointments, including service as chair of the National Civil Service Commission of Indonesia, where he led reforms and introduced legislation to help the country’s civil servants. He is the author of numerous articles and paper and is a member of many professional and public organizations, including the Indonesian Academy of Sciences.

His many awards and honors include a 2009 Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs. Effendi also is a member of the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs Board of Visitors and International Advisory Board.

Mahmoud A. ElSohly

Mahmoud ElSohly has commanded a distinguished career in biochemical pharmacology. He is a research professor at the University of Mississippi’s National Center for Natural Products Research in the Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, a professor of pharmaceutics in that university’s School of Pharmacy, and director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse Marijuana Project. He also serves as president and laboratory director of ElSohly Laboratories, Inc., a multifaceted laboratory that offers analytical and advisory services in the area of drug testing to commercial and governmental clients. ElSohly earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy in 1975.

ElSohly has worked on many projects to advance human health and alleviate the suffering of others, including a vaccine to protect people with severe allergies to poisonous plants as well as drugs that stimulate the appetite of patients being treated for cancer or AIDS. ElSohly and his Pitt alumnus wife, Hala (PHARM ’75), isolated a compound to treat malaria, allowing the World Health Organization to create the first supply of a drug to treat the disease in Western Europe.

A fellow of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, American College of Forensic Examiners International, and American Institute of Chemists, ElSohly has been recognized by The Scientist, Science Watch, and the Journal of Analytical Toxicology as one of the most-cited authors in forensic sciences in the world. He has presented at more than 200 scientific meetings of professional societies and holds more than 20 patents.

David C. Frederick

David Frederick is a partner at Kellogg, Huber, Hansen, Todd, Evans & Figel, P.L.L.C., specializing in appellate and U.S. Supreme Court cases. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree, summa cum laude, in political science in 1983 from the School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh. Frederick holds the distinction of being Pitt’s first Rhodes scholar. While at Pitt, he was among the first students to matriculate in the University honors program, was an award-winning debater in the William Pitt Debating Union, was a member of the academic honor societies Omicron Delta Kappa and Phi Beta Kappa, and was the recipient of Rotary Ambassadorial and Truman scholarships and the University’s Emma W. Locke Award.

Frederick served as a law clerk for the Honorable Joseph T. Sneed III of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Byron R. White, was counselor and assistant to the solicitor general in the U.S. Department of Justice, and has extensive experience in private law practice.

One of the nation’s leading appellate attorneys, Frederick has published four books and authored many articles and commentaries on trial advocacy, the Supreme Court, and the history of the Ninth Circuit, in addition to having argued 36 cases in front of the Supreme Court.

A loyal Pitt alumnus, Frederick helped to establish the G. Alec Stewart Endowed Student Research Fund in memory of the founding dean of the University Honors College and is an active volunteer with the Pitt Alumni Association.

Drew H. Gitomer

Drew Gitomer has dedicated his career to the advancement of education research while contributing to literature on teaching, teacher development, and assessment. He is the Rose and Nicholas DeMarzo Chair in Education at the Rutgers University Graduate School of Education. After beginning his career in education as an outreach worker for the School District of Lancaster in Pennsylvania, he enrolled at the University of Pittsburgh, where he served as a graduate research assistant and earned his Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from the School of Arts and Sciences in 1982 and 1984, respectively.

In 1985, Gitomer joined the Educational Testing Service (ETS), which administers exams such as the SAT and GRE, as a scientist in its research division. He went on to become senior vice president for research and development and distinguished researcher and director of the Understanding Teaching Quality Center at ETS. Gitomer also spent time as a senior fellow at the University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Center, one of the oldest nonprofit academic research organizations in the United States. His research has been funded by such prestigious organizations as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Education, and the William T. Grant and Spencer foundations.

Gitomer serves on the boards of the Educational Policy Institute and American Psychological Association, among others, and has been an editor and reviewer for scholarly texts and journals, including the American Educational Research Association’s Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, Educational Researcher, and Review of Educational Research.

Harvey M. Golomb

Harvey Golomb is senior advisor to the medical center president at the University of Chicago, where he has devoted 36 years to the research and treatment of cancer. 

After earning his Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in 1968, he spent time as a captain in the U.S. Army Medical Service Corps assigned to the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, received a National Institutes of Health fellowship in the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine’s Division of Medical Genetics, and received a fellowship in hematology/oncology at the University of Chicago Medical Center.

Golomb is an internationally recognized expert on the genetic abnormalities that cause various cancers and is a leading authority on the treatment of hairy cell leukemia. He was among the first physicians in the world to perform clinical studies using interferon to boost a patient’s own immune system as a weapon against cancer.

The author of more than 350 peer-reviewed publications and nearly 300 scientific abstracts, Golomb has served in editorial capacities for multiple journals and publications and as president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. He is a diplomat of the American Board of Internal Medicine and a fellow of both the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American College of Physicians. His numerous awards and honors include the Philip S. Hench Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

Priscilla H. Hamilton

Priscilla Hamilton is a highly decorated colonel in the U.S. Army Dental Care System whose long and distinguished career has been devoted to serving our country and improving the health and the quality of the lives of service members and their families. She earned her Doctor of Dental Medicine degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine in 1982.

A veteran of Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, in which she served with the 257th Medical Detachment and the 5th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, Hamilton has held a wide range of command, staff, and operational assignments around the world. She is the first woman to serve as commander of the U.S. Army Dental Command and oversees 5,000 personnel worldwide.

Hamilton is a fellow of the International College of Dentists, American College of Dentists, and American College of Healthcare Executives. She is certified by, among other professional organizations, the American Board of General Dentistry, on whose Board of Directors she served as a member, ending her term of service as the board’s president.

Her service to the U.S. Army has earned her numerous awards, including the Legion of Merit (with two Oak Leaf Clusters), Bronze Star, and Meritorious Service Medal (with five Oak Leaf Clusters). In 2011, Pitt’s School of Dental Medicine named Hamilton Distinguished Alumnus of the Year in Dental Medicine. 

Robert J. Henkel

Robert Henkel has overseen the operation of a number of health care organizations, instituting changes to improve health, safety, and operational practices that have benefited patients across the country. He is president of healthcare operations and chief operating officer of Ascension Health, the nation’s largest nonprofit Catholic health system. He earned his Master of Public Health degree from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health in 1983.

Henkel joined Ascension Health in 1998 after holding a wide range of executive positions at health care facilities throughout the country, including the Eye & Ear Hospital in Pittsburgh; Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach, Fla.; and the St. Louis Healthcare Network, where he led the discussion and process that resulted in the merger of six St. Louis, Mo., hospitals and three medical groups.

A fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE), Henkel has given presentations to organizations such as the World Health Care Congress and at events such as the annual ACHE breakfast with the Healthcare Leadership Network of the Delaware Valley. In 2010, he received a Regent’s Award from the ACHE. 

In addition to performing his professional responsibilities, Henkel serves on the boards of the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Metro St. Louis and the Marian Middle School, a St. Louis Catholic school committed to breaking the cycle of poverty by preparing disadvantaged young women for academic success. 

Frank E. Mosier

Frank Mosier’s nearly 40-year career with petroleum began after earning his Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering degree from the University of Pittsburgh in 1953. That same year, Mosier, a veteran of the U.S. Army, joined Standard Oil of Ohio as an engineer and quickly rose through the corporate ranks, becoming president in 1987. 

After the British Petroleum Company acquired Standard Oil in 1987, Mosier became president of BP America and was elected vice chair of its board in 1988. After retiring in 1991, Mosier was named an honorary commander of the Civil Division of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II for a lifetime of work that included playing a significant role in building the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System.

Mosier has been active in many professional and civic organizations, including the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the National Council of the Boy Scouts of America, and the Technology Leadership Council of Northeast Ohio. He has served as a director of Centerior Energy Corporation, Boykin Lodging Company, and Associated Estates Realty Corporation.

Mosier’s dedication to the University of Pittsburgh includes a record 25 years of extraordinary service as a member of the Swanson School of Engineering’s Board of Visitors and the University’s Board of Trustees, serving five years as the Board of Trustees’ vice chair. His exceptional philanthropy has led to the establishment of the Frank E. Mosier Scholarship and the Frank Mosier Chemical Engineering Learning Center. For his distinguished accomplishments, Mosier has received many honors—among them, the University of Pittsburgh Bicentennial Medallion of Distinction and the Swanson School of Engineering’s Distinguished Alumnus Award.

Tim Murphy

U.S. Congressman Tim Murphy has devoted his career to the betterment of his fellow citizens. He spent three decades as a practicing psychologist, working at and consulting in hospitals and schools around Western Pennsylvania, where he also offered his expertise to the media. He taught at the University of Pittsburgh, where he earned his Doctor of Philosophy degree from the School of Education in 1979.

In 1996, Murphy was elected to the Pennsylvania State Senate, where, a year later, he authored the Commonwealth’s historic Patients’ Bill of Rights. In 2002, Murphy was elected to the U.S. Congress, where he is serving his fifth term representing the 18th District of Pennsylvania. He is one of only a few representatives with a background in health care, and he leads advocacy efforts for increasing health care affordability and accessibility for all Americans, authoring legislation and books in an effort to advance knowledge and understanding of mental health. 

In the U.S. House of Representatives, Murphy serves on a wide range of committees, serving as chair of the Congressional Steel Caucus, cochair of the Congressional Mental Health Caucus and GOP Doctors Caucus, and vice chair of the Subcommittee on Environment and Economy, and cofounding the Congressional Natural Gas Caucus.

Murphy joined the Navy Reserve Medical Service Corps in 2009 in order to work with wounded warriors with traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder. His commitment to mental health treatment and practice was recognized by the American Psychological Association in 2005, when it awarded Murphy its Outstanding Leadership Award. Murphy also serves on the boards of Westmoreland Community Action and the University of Pittsburgh Institute of Politics.

Sito J. Narcisse

Sito Narcisse has built a career dedicated to helping underserved students in urban areas to succeed when others thought they would fail. He is headmaster of the English High School, America’s oldest public high school, in Boston, Mass., where he has forged partnerships with corporations and institutions of higher education to help underserved students in that urban setting. As a William A. Yeager fellow, he earned his Doctor of Education degree in administrative and policy studies from the University of Pittsburgh School of Education in 2007. 

After beginning his career at Ravenwood High School in Nashville, Tenn., as a French instructor, Narcisse became chair of the French department; came to Pittsburgh to serve as assistant principal of Woodland Hills High School; and was later recruited to serve as the founding principal of University Preparatory School, a unique partnership between the University of Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Public Schools.

He is a member of such organizations as the American Educational Research Association; the American Association of School Administrators; the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, now known as ASCD; the National Association of Secondary School Principals; and the University Council for Educational Administration.

Narcisse has been honored for outstanding minority leadership by the City of Boston and as a Black male educator by the Union of Minority Neighborhoods. Additionally, the Massachusetts Senate has recognized his work at the English High School as well as his commitment to and passion for education.

Paul A. Rockar Jr.

Paul Rockar Jr. is one of the Pittsburgh region’s most respected physical therapists, having devoted 30 years to helping patients lead fuller lives. He is chief executive officer and partner of UPMC Centers for Rehab Services, one of the nation’s largest networks of community-based comprehensive outpatient rehabilitation services. Rockar earned his Master of Science degree, cum laude, in health-related professions with an emphasis in orthopaedic and sports physical therapy in 1981 from what was then the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Health Related Professions, where his exemplary performance earned him the distinction of being named a University scholar.

In addition to having extensive experience as a rehabilitation scientist, Rockar is the author or coauthor of numerous textbooks and articles and an adjunct assistant professor at Slippery Rock University, Duquesne University, and Pitt. He helped to develop and expand Pitt’s orthopaedic physical therapy track of study in what is now the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences.

Rockar is a member of a number of professional organizations, including the American Physical Therapy Association, which he serves as vice president, and is the recipient of many awards, including the Carlin-Michels Achievement Award of the Pennsylvania Physical Therapy Association. He is involved with the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences Alumni Society, of which he is past president, and, with his wife, Judy, is the benefactor of a variety of University of Pittsburgh programs, including the Paul and Judy Rockar Endowed Scholarship Fund, which they established.

Edward W. Sites

Professor Emeritus Edward Sites holds the record as the longest-serving faculty member in the history of the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work and is known as one of its most successful principal investigators.  He developed a comprehensive child-welfare training program now used in every Pennsylvania county—one of the nation’s largest child-welfare training systems and a model program for other states. Sites earned his Master of Social Work degree, summa cum laude, from the Pitt School of Social Work and his Doctor of Philosophy degree from the Pitt School of Education in 1964 and 1976, respectively. 

Throughout his career, Sites has promoted ecumenical understanding, tolerance, cooperation, and education, most notably through his 38-year leadership of the joint Master of Divinity/Master of Social Work degree offered by Pitt and the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. He is the only social worker who was appointed to serve on the Pennsylvania Board of Psychologist Examiners, and he has served on other governing bodies that hear charges of unethical conduct brought against social workers. Because of Sites’ expertise and impact, former Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell asked Sites to accompany him to Haiti after its devastating 2010 earthquake to aid in the rescue effort of 54 orphans.

Lauded for his many contributions to his profession, Sites has been honored as the Social Worker of the Year in Pennsylvania by the National Association of Social Workers, and he has received the Bertha Paulssen Award from the Lutheran Theological Semi-nary at Gettysburg and the Chancellor’s Distinguished Public Service Award and School of Social Work Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Pittsburgh.

Frederick W. Thieman

Frederick Thieman has devoted a significant portion of his career to public service, beginning with his first position as a clerk to Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Thomas W. Pomeroy Jr. and continuing in his present role as president of the region’s oldest foundation, the Buhl Foundation. Thieman earned his Juris Doctor degree, magna cum laude, in 1977 from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, where he was a member of the Order of the Coif, an Owens fellow, class marshal, and assistant editor of the University of Pittsburgh Law Review.

In 1993, President Bill Clinton appointed Thieman U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania. In that role, he led the formation of the Youth Crime Prevention Council in Allegheny County, an organization whose methods of combating and preventing violent juvenile crime became a national model for stemming the tide of youth violence. In addition to being known for his public service, Thieman has earned a reputation as one of Pennsylvania’s leading trial attorneys.

Thieman’s service on a number of nonprofit boards, foundations, and committees has garnered him numerous honors and awards, including the Western Pennsylvania Community Leadership Award from the U.S. Department of Justice and the Distinguished Service Award from Pitt’s School of Law. Thieman serves on Pitt’s Dick Thornburgh Forum for Law and Public Policy advisory board and the Institute of Politics Board of Fellows.

Ruby Leila Wilson

Ruby Wilson has been a leader in the field of nursing and nursing education, pioneering many innovative education practices throughout her career. She is assistant to the chancellor for health affairs and professor and dean emeritus of the School of Nursing at Duke University. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing Education degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing in 1954.

Wilson first joined Duke’s School of Nursing in 1955. As a young faculty member, she was the principal developer of the country’s first clinical master’s program in nursing and the first primary nursing project, which revolutionized the way nurses interact with doctors and led to dramatic improvements in patient care. She went on to serve as dean of Duke’s School of Nursing for 13 years before accepting her current position.

A longtime advocate for legislative policy on health and nursing matters, Wilson consulted on nursing curricula in the United States and numerous foreign countries, including China, India, and Thailand, where she was a visiting professor and consultant for the Rockefeller Foundation.

Wilson’s many honors include election as a fellow of both the American Academy of Nursing and the Institute of Medicine, induction into the North Carolina Nurses Association Hall of Fame, designation as a Living Legend of the American Academy of Nursing, receipt of the Duke University Medal for Distinguished Meritorious Service (Duke’s highest honor), being named a Distinguished Alumnus of the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing, and having the Ruby L. Wilson Patient Assessment Lab and the Ruby L. Wilson Professorship at Duke named after her.

###

10/17/11/mab/lks/jdh