Board approves new trustees, revised bylaws

The University’s board of trustees approved several measures at its meeting Friday morning, including trustee appointments and amendments to the University bylaws. The board’s governance and nominating and academic affairs and libraries affairs committees considered these items at their meetings over the last few weeks.

The board voted to approve several term, alumni and special trustee appointments, for both new and existing trustees. Tom Richards will also take the helm as the board’s new chairperson. Outgoing board chairperson Eva Tansky Blum and others who were up for appointment abstained from the vote.

The board also voted to appoint Blum and Michael Wells to the UPMC Board of Directors. Blum and Wells both abstained from the vote.

A change to the University bylaws was also approved by the board, which would change the title of “non-tenure-stream” faculty to “appointment-stream” faculty. The measure was previously reviewed by Faculty Assembly and Senate Council.

The meeting was also the last for several Pitt leaders in their current positions. The board passed resolutions of appreciation for Blum and Arthur Levine, the outgoing senior vice chancellor for health sciences and dean of the School of Medicine. Levine will move to a role at Pitt’s Brain Institute.