Board of Trustees

The University of Pittsburgh Board of Trustees is responsible for advancing the purposes of the University; promoting and protecting its independence, academic freedom, and integrity; and enhancing and preserving its assets for the benefit of future generations of students and society at large. Trusteeship is a public trust, and the trustees bear responsibility for the financial and academic development of the University, for overseeing the management of its resources, and for ensuring that the University meets its obligations to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and to society in general.

The Board of Trustees delegates general administrative, academic, and management authority to the chancellor and chief executive officer of the University. The board retains ultimate responsibility for all University affairs, however, and reserves its authority directly in at least three areas: selection of a chancellor and chief executive officer; approval of major institutional policies, particularly those related to the fiduciary responsibilities of the board; and definition of the mission and goals of the University.

The Board of Trustees is composed of 36 voting members consisting of the chancellor and chief executive officer; 17 term trustees elected by the board; six alumni trustees elected by the board, on nominations by the Pitt Alumni Association Board of Directors; and 12 commonwealth trustees, four each appointed by the governor, the president pro tempore of the Senate, and the speaker of the House. There is, in addition, a class of 15 special trustees elected by the Board of Trustees. They may attend all meetings of the board and are entitled to exercise all rights, responsibilities, and privileges of trusteeship, except the right to vote at board meetings. The Board of Trustees includes the governor of Pennsylvania, the secretary of education, the chief executive of Allegheny County, and the mayor of the City of Pittsburgh, all four of whom are nonvoting, ex officio trustees.

Administration

The University of Pittsburgh is an institution of higher learning and research in which policy is shaped with the involvement of trustees, administrators, faculty, staff, and students. An environment of collegiality permits individuals and groups to share information and express views in an open and responsive manner. Consultation and consensus building are important means for approaching decisions, especially in academic matters.

The chancellor is the chief academic and administrative officer of the University. He is responsible to the board as the interpreter of the public interest and as the representative of the administration, faculty, staff, and students. The chancellor’s deputies in guiding instruction and research are the executive vice chancellor, the provost, the senior vice chancellor for the health sciences, the presidents of the regional campuses, the deans of the various schools and faculties, the department chairs, and the directors of University centers and institutes. The chancellor, the provost, the senior vice chancellor for the health sciences, the deans, and the regional campus presidents are recruited and selected in accordance with procedures that involve representative members of the faculty and staff as well as student leaders.

Other principal administrative officers of the University include the executive vice chancellor, the vice chancellor for student affairs, the vice chancellor for institutional advancement, general counsel and secretary of the Board of Trustees.