Distinguished Alumni to Be Honored at University of Pittsburgh 30th Annual Honors Convocation Feb. 24

PITTSBURGH-Three University of Pittsburgh alumni will be honored during Pitt's 30th Annual Honors Convocation, to be held at 2 p.m. Feb. 24 in the Carnegie Music Hall, 4400 Forbes Ave., Oakland. A reception will immediately follow in Pitt's Connolly Ballroom, Alumni Hall, 4227 Fifth Ave., Oakland.

The keynote speaker will be Bebe Moore Campbell-a member of the University of Pittsburgh Board of Trustees since 2005 and the author of the New York Times bestselling novel 72-Hour Hold (Knopf, 2005), the story of a mother struggling to cope with her daughter's bipolar disorder. The title of her address is "Embrace the Work." Campbell, who graduated from Pitt in 1971 with the Bachelor of Science degree in elementary education, was cofounder of Pitt's Black Action Society.

(NOTE: Due to an emergency, best-selling author and Pitt Trustee Bebe Moore Campbell is unable to deliver her scheduled address at the University of Pittsburgh's Honors Convocation Feb. 24. Former U.S. Attorney General and Pennsylvania Governor The Honorable Dick Thornburgh will speak at the University's Honors Convocation at 2 p.m. Feb. 24 in the Carnegie Music Hall, 4400 Forbes Ave., Oakland. He will address the issue of responsibility among high achievers.) (amended 2/24/06)

The convocation also will recognize outstanding students, staff, and faculty, including recipients of the 2006 Chancellor's Distinguished Teaching Award, Chancellor's Distinguished Research Award, and Chancellor's Distinguished Public Service Award.

Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg and Pitt Alumni Association President Keith E. Schaefer (CAS '71) will present the 2006 Distinguished Alumni Fellow awards, which recognize outstanding professional achievement and service to the community on the part of the alumni.

Recipients of the alumni awards will be J. Roger Glunt, president of Glunt Development Co., Inc., and Jayar Construction Co., Inc.; Pitt Trustee Richard L. Thornburgh, former Pennsylvania governor and attorney general of the United States; and Stephen R. Tritch, president and chief executive officer of Westinghouse Electric Company.

Glunt, who received the Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Pitt in 1960, served as board chair of the National Housing Endowment; as president of the Builders Association of Metropolitan Pittsburgh, the Pennsylvania Builders Association, and the National Association of Home Builders; as a member of the Fannie Mae National Advisory Council; and as a board member of the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh. He was inducted into the National Housing Hall of Fame in 1999 and received in 2004 the Hearthstone Builder Lifetime Public Service Award.

Glunt served on Pitt's Board of Trustees and was honored in 2005 with the University's Trustee Medallion. He is a past president and Director Emeritus of the Pitt Alumni Association-which named him Volunteer of the Year in 2000-and the past president of the Pitt Band Alumni Council, which honored him with the Alumni of Distinction Award in 2003. He is a member of the School of Information Sciences' Board of Visitors and chair of the School of Nursing's Board of Visitors and Volunteer Advisory Committee for Pitt's current $1 billion capital campaign, helping the school raise more than 90 percent of its multimillion dollar goal in record time. He also received the School of Nursing's Honorary Alumni Award.

In 2004, Glunt received the Council for Advancement and Support of Education's Robert L. Payton Award for Voluntary Service.

Thornburgh, who earned the LLB degree at Pitt's School of Law in 1957, served as attorney general in the cabinets of Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush and as under-secretary-general for administration and management for the United Nations. He also served as Director of the Institute of Politics at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Thornburgh was a founding member of the National Organization on Disability, and he played a major role in the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act. His disability rights advocacy earned him the 2001 George Bush Medal. In 2003, he and his wife, Ginny, received the Henry B. Betts Award from the American Association of People with Disabilities, and the award funds were used to help establish Pitt's Thornburgh Family Lecture Series in Disability Law and Policy.

In 1998, Thornburgh donated the Dick Thornburgh Archival Collection to Pitt's University Library System. He received an Honorary Doctor of Public Service degree from Pitt in 1984 and a Pitt Bicentennial Medal of Distinction in 1988; he was named a University Legacy Laureate in 2000.

While a student at Pitt, Thornburgh was a member of the Order of the Coif and an editor of the University of Pittsburgh Law Review.

Before becoming president and CEO of Westinghouse Electric Company, Tritch began his career at that company as a product engineer 35 years ago. Tritch managed Westinghouse's commercial nuclear operations-including the British Nuclear Fuels business group in the United Kingdom.

Tritch, who earned the Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering degree at Pitt in 1971 and the M.B.A. in 1977, is a member of the American Nuclear Society and the Board of Directors of the Nuclear Energy Institute, which helped shape global policy promoting the use of safe, dependable, and cost-effective nuclear energy.

Tritch helped start the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, a joint effort of Pitt and Carnegie Mellon University together with the Westinghouse Electric Company. The center-which recently celebrated its 20th birthday-is recognized as one of the world's leading centers in implementing new high-performance computing technologies for science and engineering research.

Through a generous gift to the University, Tritch established the Stephen R. and Tami A. Tritch Engineering Legacy Fund. He serves on the School of Engineering's Board of Visitors and, in 2003, received the Department of Mechanical Engineering's Distinguished Alumnus Award.

Receiving the Chancellor's 2006 Distinguished Teaching Award are: Helen G. Cahalane, a clinical associate professor in the School of Social Work; Richard A. Henker, an associate professor in the School of Nursing's Department of Acute and Tertiary Care; Amy L. Seybert, an assistant professor in the School of Pharmacy's Department of Pharmacy and Therapeutics; and Margaret S. Smith, an associate professor in the School of Education's Department of Instruction and Learning.

The Distinguished Research Award recipients in the senior scholar category are Michelene Chi, a professor in the Department of Psychology in the School of Arts and Sciences (A&S); Rob Coalson, a professor in A&S' Department of Chemistry; and Scott Mao, a professor in the engineering school's Department of Mechanical Engineering. Receiving the Distinguished Research Award in the junior scholar category are Guo-Qiang Bi, an assistant professor in the School of Medicine's Department of Neurobiology, and Richard Debski, an assistant professor in the School of Engineering's Department of Bioengineering.

Winners of 2006 Chancellor's Distinguished Public Service Awards, which honor faculty who have made outstanding contributions to the community, are: George C. Bandik, senior lecturer and director of undergraduate studies in A&S' chemistry department; John C. Camillus, Donald R. Beall Professor of Strategic Management and professor of business administration in the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business; and Kenneth S. Thompson, an associate professor in the School of Medicine's Department of Psychiatry.

Each winner of the teaching and public service award will receive a $2,000 cash award and a $3,000 grant to support the faculty member's teaching functions; each winner of the research award will receive a $2,000 cash prize and a $3,000 grant to support the faculty member's research.

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

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