Pitt trustees OK $100 million in campus renovations, hear from new Chancellor Joan Gabel and name a chairman

University of Pittsburgh trustees on Friday elected a new chairman, received their first full report from Chancellor Joan Gabel on university progress, and approved $100 million in campus building renovation projects.

Board members meeting in the William Pitt Union in Oakland also encountered protests.

They ranged from a boisterous but orderly rally before the meeting by unionized faculty trying to secure a contract, to four interruptions during the meeting, itself, by people who yelled out their concerns about fossil fuel divestment and transgender rights.

During the 90-minute meeting, Louis Cestello, PNC Bank regional president and a vice chair of the board of trustees since 2021, was voted in as Pitt’s new chairman. He replaces Douglas Browning, who resigned abruptly as chairman on Aug. 14 due to “an unanticipated personal matter,” officials said at the time.

Cestello will serve through June.

Speaking to trustees, Gabel outlined her thinking on strategic initiatives and more immediate personnel moves. She said a search committee is being formed to replace Provost Ann Cudd, now the president of Portland State University, who left Pitt over the summer.

Pitt hopes to name a successor by spring, Gabel said.

Deanships in education, engineering and law also are open, and the search for a new dental school dean is nearing the finish.

Gabel said reaction in state circles “has been universally positive” to Pitt’s offer last week to freeze in-state tuition in 2024-25, provided it receives a 9.25% appropriation increase.

Speaking with reporters after a meeting that highlighted sprawling academic and athletic brick-and-mortar projects, the new chancellor said Pitt is not projecting budget deficits like those that have prompted cutbacks at Penn State University and West Virginia University.

“I’m very confident in our financial position,” she said.

But Gabel said she is concerned that lack of an appropriation from the state so far in 2023-24 undermines efforts to keep prices lower for in-state students. Pitt uses its state appropriation to discount tuition by thousands of dollars for Pennsylvanians.

During Friday’s meeting, the board approved:

• The Crawford Hall renovation at a cost not to exceed $75 million;

• The 11th and 12th floor renovation of the Chevron Science Center at an estimated $17 million;

• A seventh- and eighth-floor renovation of Alumni Hall at an estimated $8 million;

• Sale of the University of Pittsburgh Applied Research Center (U-PARC) property in Harmar to A&W LLC and A&W #2 LLC for $5 million.

Prior to the meeting, more than 100 members of the Union of Pitt Faculty, part of the United Steelworkers union, crowded a lobby area, pressing for Pitt to agree to what would be the campus union’s first contract. They chanted, sang and listened to speakers before dispersing without incident as the meeting approached.

“Let’s let those nice people behind those doors over there hear our voices and let them know we are not satisfied,” said part-time English instructor Tyler McAndrew, referring to the trustees. “”We know that when we fight, we win.”

The people who interrupted the board proceedings were escorted out by campus police but were not charged, officials said.

Pitt says it has a process in which members of the public can request an invitation be granted to address the board by submitting a written request 15 days prior to public meetings for consideration by the chair. The topic to be discussed should be included in the request, Pitt said.

Asked about the disruptions, Gabel said she believes there are other ways for people to draw attention to their causes, be it at scheduled discussions or other campus events.

But, she added, “I absolutely support their right to protest.”