In his new role as inaugural director of the Rees-Chancellor\u2019s Scholars program, Peter Levins will continue working closely with Pitt students.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing able to work with our fantastic students here at Pitt one-on-one and help them achieve those goals is really what I think I bring,\u201d Levins said.<\/p>\n
Levins, a former national fellowship advisor at Pitt, was named the inaugural director of the Rees-Chancellor\u2019s Scholars Program<\/a> in August. Levins hopes to continue to work one-on-one with scores of students throughout their four years in the new role, while incorporating interdisciplinary seminars and specific types of intellectual training into the program.<\/p>\n The Rees-Chancellor\u2019s Scholars Program, formerly known as the Chancellor\u2019s Scholars Program, grants a merit-based full-ride scholarship for incoming first-year students. The program was expanded last year after a $30 million donation from Pitt alum and former chancellor\u2019s scholar Michael Rees. His donation allowed for more students to join the program and created a new \u201cwrap-around staff\u201d dedicated to helping the program, Levins said.<\/p>\n In an interview with The Pitt News, Levins said he believes he can bring a good understanding of what students need, thanks to his past as a National Fellowships Advisor and scholar.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI really come from that kind of area of student support, really wanting to see students be able to take the amazing things they\u2019re doing in their disciplines, in their different departments here and find a place in the world for that to go,\u201d Levins said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Levins also does what he calls \u201cacademic recruiting\u201d of potential students.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to go out like athletic coaches, see students who in high school are doing amazing things. When we can see, \u2018Hey, this person is winning competitions at the international level or the Science Olympiad<\/a>,\u2019 we can say \u2018Hey, come to Pitt,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Levins said his overarching goal is to develop the intellectual identity and model of the program as a national leader in selective merit scholarship programs. He hopes to establish a curriculum built on interdisciplinary seminars.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI hope to really maintain our amazing tradition of really the central kind of location of intellectual curiosity,\u201d Levins said. \u201cMy goal is to maintain that tradition and ensure that with this kind of expansion, we\u2019re able to help the students during their four years of exploring our curriculum and transfer what they\u2019re doing here onto the national stage.\u201d<\/p>\n He said he would employ critical components of design thinking<\/a> in the development of the Rees-Chancellor\u2019s program seminars, drawing on the ideas of experts Bill Burnett and Dave Evans from the Stanford Life Design Lab Team<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n