{"id":306350,"date":"2026-10-14T09:24:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T09:24:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/306350\/"},"modified":"2026-10-14T09:24:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T09:24:15","slug":"peter-levins-is-the-inaugural-director-of-pitts-rees-chancellors-scholars-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/306350\/","title":{"rendered":"Peter Levins is the inaugural director of Pitt\u2019s Rees-Chancellor\u2019s Scholars Program"},"content":{"rendered":"

Following a competitive national search, the David C. Frederick Honors College at the University of Pittsburgh has named Peter Levins as the inaugural director of the Rees-Chancellor\u2019s Scholars Program<\/a>. He will lead the design and execution of a prestigious four-year curricular and co-curricular model for the program.<\/p>\n

Levins<\/a> joined the Frederick Honors College in 2024 as a national fellowships advisor. A two-time Fulbright awardee who holds dual bachelor\u2019s degrees from Cornell University and a PhD from Brown University, Levins has taught at Pitt, Brown and the Rhode Island School of Design. As national fellowships advisor, he mentored Pitt students to numerous prestigious national honors \u2014 including Beinecke, Fulbright, Churchill and Gilman scholarships \u2014 while expanding applicant pipelines across the University\u2019s Pittsburgh and regional campuses, an integral objective of the Plan for Pitt<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Levins\u2019 appointment follows a transformative $30 million gift<\/a> in November 2025 from alumnus Michael Rees (A&S \u201997, ENGR \u201997, FHC \u201997) and his wife, Allison. The gift significantly expands Pitt\u2019s historic Chancellor\u2019s Scholarship \u2014 first established in the 1970s \u2014 into the renamed Rees-Chancellor\u2019s Scholars Program. The gift funds full tuition and room and board for future cohorts of scholars alongside additional grants for global study, internships and research.<\/p>\n

Under Levins\u2019 leadership, the Rees-Chancellor\u2019s Scholars Program will introduce a comprehensive four-year framework centered on leadership, service and high-impact discovery. Key programmatic expansions include:<\/p>\n

\tA signature co-curricular journey to the University of Oxford in England, alongside funded support and advising for international internships and study abroad opportunities.
\n\tDirect pairing with faculty mentors starting as early as a scholar\u2019s first semester to guide hands-on research, scientific communication, symposium presentations and authorship.
\n\tPersonalized advising to prepare scholars for competitive national awards such as the Goldwater, Truman, Fulbright, Marshall and Rhodes scholarships.
\n\tLeveraging the program\u2019s strong alumni network and outside partners for skill-based workshops and individual coaching to translate academic theory into real-world civic and industry leadership.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeter distinguished himself through a compelling vision for the future of the Rees-Chancellor’s Scholars Program as the nation’s premier merit scholars<\/a> program,\u201d said Nicola Foote, dean of the David C. Frederick Honors College. \u201cHis deep commitment to student mentorship and international scholarship makes him the ideal leader to guide our scholars as they prepare for lives of purpose and global impact.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m honored to be selected to lead the reimagining and expansion of a longstanding and respected Pitt scholarship tradition,\u201d said Levins. \u201cI look forward to building upon an incredibly strong foundation to create an intentional, supportive four-year environment where our scholars can reach beyond traditional academic boundaries to solve the most pressing real-world problems.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pitt\u2019s undergraduate application is currently open, and prospective students should submit a completed application to both the University and the Frederick Honors College by the Dec. 1 priority deadline for consideration as a Rees-Chancellor\u2019s Scholars candidate. Prospective students can visit the Rees-Chancellor\u2019s Scholars Program website<\/a> to learn more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Following a competitive national search, the David C. Frederick Honors College at the University of Pittsburgh has named…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":306351,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[73,75,74],"class_list":["post-306350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306350"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306350\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}