\n\tBonneau\u2019s service to the Senate includes serving on Faculty Assembly from 2010-13 and 2016-18, as a member of Senate Council from 2011-13 and 2017-18, a member of the Tenure and Academic Freedom Committee from 2011-18, co-chair of Faculty Affairs 2017-18, and president of the University Senate from 2018 to 2021.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cEven though he\u2019s an obvious choice, it feels strange for me to be giving an award to Bonneau. This isn\u2019t because he doesn\u2019t deserve it. He does, but he\u2019s an old and dear friend,\u201d Kanthak said, recalling her first campus interaction with Bonneau when he \u201cattempted a \u2018gotcha\u2019 question at my job talk, which, by the way, I hit out of the park.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThat was three promotions, three (academic) papers, two kids and two wives ago,\u201d she quipped.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tKanthak credited Bonneau, whom she worked with on a series of papers about women\u2019s political ambition, with encouraging her to run for shared governance office.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cYou will not be able to say no, or else you will be a hypocrite,\u201d she quoted him saying. \u201cThen the next thing you know, you will be the president of the University Senate.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tCalling him a \u201cfighter\u201d and \u201cfierce advocate for what\u2019s right,\u201d she said Bonneau oversaw great changes here at Pitt, including shepherding the University through the COVID pandemic. \u201cHe comforts the afflicted, and he afflicts the comfortable, not just because it\u2019s the right thing to do, but because he genuinely loves the sport of taking bullies down.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tPresenting him with the 2026 Senate Service Award plaque, Kanthak concluded that \u201ceveryone should be so lucky to have a friend as dear as Bonneau, and no one should be so unfortunate as to have an enemy as tenacious as Bonneau.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tVice President John Stoner, noting that he and Bonneau have not always agreed \u201con a number of things,\u201d said he\u2019s never doubted Bonneau\u2019s commitment to making Pitt a better place. \u201cAnd I think all of us should be so lucky to be considered thusly. Many thanks, Chris. It has been a pleasure over the last number of years.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tRobin Kear, the immediate past president of the Senate, told Bonneau that \u201cit was always a pleasure to work with you and learn from you and learn how your mind works. And sometimes I really appreciated you being the bad cop,\u201d she said. \u201cYou take that role unwillingly. And sometimes somebody\u2019s got to do it, and nobody does that as well as you.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWe miss that role for sure in our officer group here, but I just really wanted to say that I appreciated being president when you were immediate past president, and everything that you did and that we were able to do together,\u201d she added. \u201cIt was a pleasure.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tShannon Wells is a University Times reporter. Reach him at shannonw@pitt.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\t\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tHave a story idea or news to share? Share<\/a> it with the University Times.<\/p>\n