Bill Schackner stories, Page 10
University of Pittsburgh trustees chair abruptly resigns
Douglas Browning has resigned as chairman of the University of Pittsburgh Board of Trustees due to “an unanticipated personal matter,” officials confirmed on Tuesday. He notified the university Monday evening. By Tuesday morning, his bio had been removed from the university website. The site now lists Louis R. Cestello, vice...
Many Western Pa. colleges still looking to enroll students for fall in late push
Acceptance letter in hand, Dana Sinatra appeared to be destined to enroll at Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus, and play basketball there. But Sinatra, 19, a forward on her high school basketball team, began to have doubts several months ago about the 1½-hour travel distance from her McDonald home....
WVU facing possible academic program cuts, 7% faculty reduction
West Virginia University has unveiled preliminary recommendations to discontinue 32 of its 338 majors and reduce faculty ranks in Morgantown by 7% to confront enrollment losses and adapt to shifting student demand. Twelve of the majors are undergraduate level and 20 are at the graduate level, officials with the state’s...
Free speech group says Penn State’s funding cut to student newspaper suggests lack of support for free expression
A group that advocates for speech and press freedoms is criticizing Penn State University’s decision to eliminate funding for its student newspaper, The Daily Collegian, saying the cut suggests the university does not truly support free expression. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression registered its concerns in a letter...
Penn State works to trim deficits that have placed it in ‘vulnerable state,’ president says
A plan to phase out funding for The Daily Collegian over the next two years is part of a broader financial belt-tightening to address deficit spending at Penn State and its branch campuses. “As an institution, we have been spending more money each year than we bring in, which has...
Biden administration rolls out new income-driven student loan repayment program
Students hoping to reduce or even eliminate their remaining student debt can now enroll online in the Biden administration’s new income-driven student loan repayment plan called Saving on a Valuable Education, or SAVE. It may take some patience, though, because the website application containing the SAVE enrollment option — active...
Penn State eliminates funding for well-respected, student-run newspaper The Daily Collegian
Terry Mutchler, a prominent Philadelphia lawyer and former Daily Collegian writer, likened Penn State University’s elimination of funding for its storied student newspaper to “ditching the Creamery,” another mainstay on the University Park campus. “Am I aware of it? I had to double my blood pressure medication,” quipped Mutchler, a...
Pitt to raise in-state tuition for undergrads on its main campus by 2%
The University of Pittsburgh is increasing its base tuition for in-state undergraduate students on its main campus by 2% this fall, but will freeze tuition on its branch campuses in Hempfield, Johnstown, Bradford and Titusville. Out-of-state undergraduates will see increases of 7% on the main campus, while graduate students from...
Point Park University names Chris W. Brussalis as president
Trustees at Point Park University Tuesday evening removed the “interim” from Chris W. Brussalis’ title and made him the institution’s ninth president, six months after he stepped in following the departure of Don Green. Brussalis, 59, a North Hills resident, is a known entity both on campus and in Pittsburgh....
Penn State tuition to increase by 2% for in-state University Park students
In-state undergraduate tuition is going up this fall and next by 2% on Penn State University’s main campus, but will be frozen for Pennsylvania undergraduates both years on branch campuses statewide. University trustees, meeting Friday at Penn State Behrend in Erie, locked in 2023-24 and 2024-25 tuition schedules for the...
Tuition remains frozen for Pennsylvania-owned universities
For the 85,000 students attending a Pennsylvania state-owned university who have hoped for relief from rising prices, the news is official. Tuition will remain unchanged for the 2023-24 academic year, now that the State System of Higher Education approved a fifth consecutive tuition freeze across the 10 institutions. By a...
Pennsylvania-owned universities could see 5th year of tuition freeze
State System of Higher Education administrators plan to recommend Thursday that the system’s governing board freeze tuition for an unprecedented fifth consecutive year across Pennsylvania’s 10 state-owned universities. The board of governors is expected to vote on the proposal at its quarterly meeting in Harrisburg. An affirmative vote would keep...
Pitt’s new chancellor begins her tenure with some questions for students, staff
College and university leaders who are new in their job almost always arrive on campus promising some form of a listening tour to take the pulse of the place. At the University of Pittsburgh, Chancellor Joan Gabel is taking things a bit further in her first week. She emailed Pitt’s...
Allegheny College’s new president says campus can overcome tough higher education market
Allegheny College didn’t have to look far to find its 23rd president. Ron Cole, 58, already had been named interim leader and then president with a short-term contract after Hilary Link announced her departure in September. Prior to that, he had been Allegheny’s provost since 2015 and a geology professor...
Children, relatives of alumni no longer have admissions edge at Carnegie Mellon, Pitt
For decades, Carnegie Mellon University viewed whether a student applicant was related to alumni as an “important” or “considered” factor in admissions decisions. But it appears that legacies, as children or relatives of alumni are called, no longer have an edge in admissions decisions at the highly selective university. In...
Outgoing Pitt Chancellor Patrick Gallagher reflects on tenure filled with challenges, growth
When Patrick Gallagher became chancellor of the University of Pittsburgh in 2014, higher education institutions already were staring down falling enrollments and growing questions about the worth of a college degree. Then the covid-19 pandemic hit, shutting down campuses for months. Now, with Gallagher’s tenure in its final days, Gallagher...
Borrowers disappointed with Supreme Court ruling striking down student loan relief
Out of cellphone range and running low on hope, Annie Quinn kept refreshing her phone while traveling through rural Maryland on Friday, bracing for what nine U.S. Supreme Court justices would decide about her financial future. The news, as she feared, wasn’t good. When her phone signal returned, Quinn, 38,...
Western Pa. campuses say diversity will remain priority following high court ruling
Just as they had before Thursday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down affirmative action in college admissions, campuses across Western Pennsylvania made one thing clear within hours after the historic ruling. They said they will find ways to keep their classes diverse, even without direct use of race. What that...
Student prices to rise at Pitt’s Greensburg, Johnstown branch campuses
Student fees are going up this fall on University of Pittsburgh branch campuses at Johnstown and Greensburg. A trustees panel voted Wednesday to raise the student activity fee for full-time Pitt-Johnstown students from $180 a year to $400. The panel also approved increasing the athletic and recreation fee at Pitt-Greensburg...
Pitt’s dean of education to become president at Charlotte HBCU
The University of Pittsburgh will be searching for a successor to School of Education Dean Valerie Kinloch, who is leaving to become the president of Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, N.C. She will assume the role of president of the historically Black college on Aug. 1 Kinloch has been...
Pitt, Penn State branch campuses bleeding enrollment; decline expected to continue
Brianna Guinther studies nursing minutes from her Greensburg home at a University of Pittsburgh branch campus, a leafy suburban setting with plenty of quiet study spaces and a new Life Sciences Building. Having Pitt-Greensburg as an option spared her a more arduous commute as she pursues a four-year degree. She...
Walk or run, this busy spot on Pitt campus has a new name
So, will it be Gallagher Walk or Gallagher Run? University of Pittsburgh trustees Friday renamed a spot in the heart of campus for departing Chancellor Patrick Gallagher, saying it reflected a transformational project during his nine-year tenure, and something else about him. The plaza and walkway that were chosen wrap...
Carnegie Mellon president, chair of Pa. university system named to Homeland Security panel
Carnegie Mellon University’s president and the Fox Chapel-based board chair of Pennsylvania’s state-owned university system have been added to an advisory council to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Farnam Jahanian from CMU and Cynthia Shapira from the State System Higher Education’s board of governors are among 20 additions announced...
Pitt students frustrated after being told following commencement they were short of degree requirements
College students trying to understand what precise combination of courses they need to graduate generally take it on faith that if they follow a campus adviser’s instructions, they will get their degree. But what if the adviser gets it wrong? What if they needed more courses than they were told...
Pitt committee approves $120M in construction for biomanufacturing facility in Hazelwood
A University of Pittsburgh trustees’ committee voted Monday to approve the $120 million construction of the core and shell of a planned cell and gene therapy manufacturing facility in Hazelwood. In a separate vote, the trustees’ Property and Facilities Committee authorized leasing space within the facility. Officials hope it will...
