By SHANNON O. WELLS

Based on what she shared in her report to Senate Council on Nov. 13 in Posvar Hall, Chancellor Joan Gabel is wasting no time in building a positive relationship with Pittsburgh’s next mayor.

Gabel said she met with Mayor-elect Corey O’Connor, who beat incumbent Mayor Ed Gainey in the spring primary and Republican Tony Moreno in the Nov. 4 election, on the morning of the Senate Council meeting. O’Connor, she reported, is “very excited” about a partnership with Pitt.

“Obviously, we are the University of Pittsburgh. This is a very important relationship for the institution, and we do a lot of things together, cutting across student opportunities, capital and facilities and academic programs, and work together in all of those categories,” Gabel said. “But the main thing I wanted to share, with his permission, is that he’s eager to actually be on campus, as appropriate.”

Gabel said O’Connor “particularly mentioned students” in their conversation, noting that he was around campus a lot during the election, and “wants to continue that.”

Gabel asked student government representatives around the room, along with faculty and staff to consider “what you think might be mayoral, and we can work with you to make that connection or introduction or otherwise work on (meeting) schedules.

“It was a very nice meeting,” she said of O’Connor. “It gave me a lot of optimism about the ongoing nature of our relationship.”

Other updates

Regarding the re-opening of the federal government following the longest-ever shutdown in U.S. history, Gabel thanked David Brown, vice chancellor for government relations and advocacy, and his team for their work during this period, along with Provost Joe McCarthy and Rob Rutenbar, senior vice chancellor for research.

“We have everything continuing to hum with as little disruption as possible, beyond the obvious, from the shutdown itself,” she said. “So, onward — on both of those fronts.”

Gabel also acknowledged the Town Hall held Oct. 22, which she noted involved much discussion about the state budget.

“If you had a question that you posed during the Town Hall that didn’t get answered or you asked a follow up by now, you should have received your response. … If somehow we missed you, please don’t hesitate to reach back out so that we can get an answer to your question.”

She thanked all those who took part in the event. “There’s a lot of work ahead of time, all of you who pose questions, and several people who get everything set up, and of course, our amazing IT folks who make it happen.”

Gabel said another town hall will be scheduled when “enough concentrated questions start to emerge.

“We have been using sort of a sniff test to determine when to do the next one. … If you already know there’s something, you don’t have to wait for a town hall to ask us a question … or if you would prefer just emailing and connecting, and if we don’t know the answer, we will get you to whomever does,” she noted.

Accolades

Gabel concluded her report with “shout-outs” to a variety of groups of campus:

Three School of Medicine faculty members — John Byrd, Terry Dermody and Kate Rubins — were elected to the National Academy of Medicine.

Pitt Sustainability was named among the top 50 in the 2026 edition of Princeton Review’s Guide to Green Colleges, marking the first time Pitt entered the top 50. “We love that sort of thing. Congratulations to them, and thank you for the underlying work that goes into that,” she said.

She thanked the Office of Engagement and Community Affairs for organizing another successful Pitt Day of Caring on Oct. 17, which drew more than 100 Pitt volunteers who connected and worked with 16 different community partners across Pittsburgh.

She acknowledged everyone who helped put together and participate in the Forging the Future event, which brought together leaders from more than 20 countries and across the country to experience “how Pitt’s leading the life sciences century. … We had 30 million impressions from that event. It was a great event in its own right, but also a nice multiplier of some of the work that we’re doing.”

Policy updates

In her report to Senate Council, President Kris Kanthak reiterated several items shared during the Nov. 5 Faculty Assembly meeting, while providing an update on three Pitt policies set to be decommissioned. They include:

• Policy AO 40 U-PARC and its corresponding procedure, which established the responsibilities and guidelines regarding the rental of facilities at Pitt’s Applied Research Center (U-PARC) by programs, sponsored projects, departments or University schools, “tecause the University doesn’t have the property that it was creating a policy for, which makes sense,” Kanthak said.

• Policy AC 09: Certification of English Language Fluency for teaching, which establishes the responsibility of the University to determine that all individuals who teach possess adequate English language fluency for effective communication with students.

• Policy AC 31: Financial aid, Satisfactory Academic Progress, used in determining financial aid eligibility.

Members of the Pitt community have until Dec. 5 to submit feedback on these decommissioning policies.

Shannon O. Wells is a writer for the University Times. Reach him at shannonw@pitt.edu.

 

Have a story idea or news to share? Share it with the University Times.

Follow the University Times on Twitter and Facebook.