Board committees vote to rename building, expand endowment fund

Two Pitt Board of Trustees committees — the Institutional Advancement Committee and the Budget Committee — voted on new actions last week.

The Institutional Advancement Committee voted last Thursday to approve a building renaming on the Bradford branch campus. The building, formerly known as the Engineering and Information Technologies Building, will be renamed as George B. Duke Engineering and Information Technologies Building. The committee voted unanimously in favor of approving the resolution.

Duke, a generous supporter of the Bradford campus, has been on the Pitt-Bradford advisory board since 2000. According to Kris Davitt, the senior vice chancellor for philanthropic and alumni engagement, Duke made “significant” financial contributions during that time, especially towards the new engineering and technology building. Davitt said the building will provide “specialized education spaces for our students.”

The Budget Committee voted last Wednesday to change the board-designated restrictions on the Helen Clay Frick quasi-endowment fund. Davitt asked the committee to consider expanding the board-designated restriction on the fund.

Davitt said the fund was originally donated in 1937 by Helen Clay Frick without any restrictions, but then-Chancellor Rufus Fitzgerald in 1953 directed the gift to the Department of Fine Arts. Then in 1972, the Investment Committee approved to change the fund to be a quasi-endowment, with the income to be used for the collection development for the Fine Arts Library, according to Davitt.

She said the University does not need the funds for collection development, and requested that the restriction be expanded for general use for the Fine Arts Library.

The committee voted unanimously in favor of approving the resolution.