Pitt Honors College celebrates 25 years

To his colleagues at Pitt, G. Alec Stewart’s passion for his job surfaced on a daily… To his colleagues at Pitt, G. Alec Stewart’s passion for his job surfaced on a daily basis.

For the late Stewart, the founder and former dean of Pitt’s Honors College, the creation of the college 25 years ago presented the opportunity to progress the University that he loved from a regional campus to an internationally known center of research.

On Saturday morning, 19 distinguished Pitt faculty and alumni along with current Honors College students honored Stewart’s contributions to Pitt as well as the impact of the Honors College on the University for its 25th anniversary. The celebration included a series of lectures and musical performances in the Bellefield Hall Auditorium.

Throughout the day-long celebration, current Honors College students introduced faculty and alumni whose presentations related to their specific fields of study. Many of the students worked directly with the faculty members whom they introduced.

Edward Stricker, the dean of Pitt’s Honors College, opened the ceremonies by outlining the opportunities the Honors College provides for students.

Stricker said the Brackenridge Research Fellowships, which allow students to conduct research with a member of Pitt’s faculty and then share their findings with students conducting research in other disciplines, help students develop a wide variety of skills.

“Here we have students who are drawn from disciplines all over campus — not just Arts and Sciences,” Stricker said. “[Students] learn how to communicate; they learn how to talk, and they learn how to listen.”

Stricker said that other Honors College programs, like the Bachelor of Philosophy degree, provide “exceptional students” with a challenging and well-rounded curriculum.

He said that undergraduate students pursuing the Bachelor of Philosophy degree must write an “original paper of high quality” and then defend it in front of a panel of experts. Stricker added that the degree and the Brackenridge Research Fellowships are unique to Pitt. Students who are not in the Honors College can also enroll in both of these programs.

Christian Fagan, a senior Honors College student majoring in economics and mathematics, said Pitt’s Honors College allowed him to immerse himself in his area of interest: game theory.

“It’s given me opportunities that aren’t available at all universities,” Fagan said in regard to his field of research. “You can make your education at Pitt as deep and as broad as you want it to be.”

During the celebration, Fagan introduced Nancy Pfenning, a professor of statistics at Pitt whose presentation related to Fagan’s game theory research.

Pitt Chancellor Mark Nordenberg lauded the contributions of both Stricker and Stewart to Pitt’s Honors College and the University as a whole. At the celebration, Nordenberg used a story that took place during the “Snowmageddon” of February 2010 to demonstrate Stewart’s dedication to his position.

“As I rounded a corner outside of my office, there was Alec, all bundled up and sitting on a bench on the first floor of the Cathedral,” Nordenberg said. “I asked him how he was doing, and he said he was doing just fine. And with a twinkle in his eye he said, ‘It’s a shame that a little bit of snow shut the University down for three days. I’m glad to get back to work.’”

Nordenberg said finding a replacement for Stewart after he died in April 2010 was “extraordinarily important” to the University. He said Stricker, who created the undergraduate neuroscience program, showed his dedication to the undergraduate student population when he closed his 43-year-old research lab at the University to focus on Pitt students.

Dick Thornburgh, former governor of Pennsylvania, former United States attorney general and a graduate of Pitt’s School of Law, also spoke about his collaboration with the University’s Honors College.

Thornburgh said he established The Dick Thornburgh Forum for Law and Public Policy in order to “create a framework for public education and civic activism.”

Thornburgh said his forum includes a collection of personal documents from his life, including college term papers and legal documents from his time as attorney general, as well as collaboration with all of Pitt’s schools to create undergraduate research fellowships. He said he hoped these research opportunities could provide new research in “overarching public policy, law and the role of the media.”

Along with his personal documents and research fellowships, Thornburgh said his forum also provides funding for the American Experience Lecture Series, which brings prominent national figures to speak on campus. He added that the collaboration between his forum and the Honors College works to improve Pitt’s standing on an international scale.

“These concurrent celebrations remind us of what this campus means to this great city, state and country,” Thornburgh said.