University Honors College announces internal search for next dean

The University Honors College officially created a search committee last week, five months after Dean Edward Stricker announced that he would be stepping down before the fall of 2017.

Senior Director of International Programs Ariel Armony will head the dean search committee, made up of 10 Pitt student and faculty members. The committee is looking for tenured faculty members who already work at the University and will accept nominations and applications until Feb. 1.

Other qualifications the committee outlined for its ideal candidate include a successor who is committed to helping undergraduate students find research and scholarship opportunities, while also providing innovative ideas for enhancing or creating programs at Pitt.

Since joining the Pitt community in 1971, Stricker was a part of the psychology, biology and neuroscience departments. Stricker, who took the Dean position in July 2011, is leaving UHC and returning to a teaching position.

“I look forward to returning to the Department of Neuroscience, where I will continue to teach and generally help students reach their fullest potential and thereby advance the mission of the University of Pittsburgh,” Stricker said in the June press release announcing his decision.

During his time as dean, Stricker implemented Health Professions Advising, a program for undergraduate students to talk to other advisors and professors about setting up long-term academic plans for a healthcare profession. He also created Academic Community Engagement Advising, to help students find local opportunities related to their academic interests, and expanded honors housing on upper campus to include over 700 students.

Stricker is one of four deans stepping down during Chancellor Patrick Gallagher’s second year at Pitt. Kenyon Bonner was named dean of students in late February after his predecessor, Kathy Humphrey, assumed the role of Pitt’s senior vice chancellor for engagement and chief of staff.

Current searches for the first dean of Pitt’s new School of Computing and Information and for the next dean of Pitt’s Dietrich’s School of Arts and Sciences commenced earlier this semester after the current dean, John Cooper, also announced in June that he wanted to return to teaching.

For additional information about the UHC position, visit the UHC website or email UHCDeanSearch@pitt.edu.