SGB announces new dean of students, SafeRider improvements

At its weekly meeting on Tuesday at Nordy’s Place, Student Government Board President Sarah Mayer announced the new dean of students and associate vice provost, Marlin Nabors. 

“Dr. [Carla] Panzella recently announced the incoming dean of students, who’ll be coming to us from Endicott College, which is really exciting,” Mayer said. “I’ve been in discussion with the vice provost to set up a meeting for us to discuss how admin can better support students.”

The search for the new dean of students has been ongoing since September. The position has been vacant since May and is filled on an interim basis by Lorraine Craven, who serves as the acting dean of students.

“I had the privilege of meeting with all the candidates and getting to know them. I also met with Dr. Panzella to give student insight on the search and give further recommendations,” Mayer said. “[Nabors] will begin his work next semester.” 

Facilities, Transportation and Technology Chair Olivia Budike discussed her committee’s developments to improve SafeRider, a complimentary transportation service that provides non-emergency service from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. for Pitt students, faculty and staff. 

“We’re going to try to advocate to improve SafeRider, whether it’s little things like them updating their website or putting a sign that they’re a SafeRider on their van, just little improvements like that,” Budike said. 

Budike announced her committee will begin doing “random SafeRider checks” to monitor progress in improving SafeRider conditions. 

“The first week of the spring semester, we’re going to split up into three groups and take SafeRider to see if they’re making the changes they said they were going to,” Budike said. “We’ve also been discussing bigger changes we want to implement, like making shuttle routing more efficient and putting bus stop signs in the right places.”

Board member and Support, Advocacy and Prevention Liaison Shanthi Bhaskar introduced a Civic Collective ad hoc committee charter. The committee would aim to “unite and impact engagement efforts across various student groups and student organizations.” 

“Guided by the senate’s past engagement work, it will focus on groups affected by common social and community challenges,” Bhaskar said. “We hope to have a diverse landscape of civic initiatives and, through shared partnership, initiate social outcomes.”

Board member Mercy Akanmu introduced a charter for the Social Innovation Summit ad hoc committee. The committee would aim to “discuss and coordinate a conference that fosters dialogue, collaboration and innovation among the topics of diversity and social wellness.”

“Through this conference, the committee seeks to bring things together through various university focus areas, community leaders and professionals to create solutions to make social change.”

Both charters will be voted on at SGB’s next public meeting to allow time for public review and commentary. 

Allocations:

Movement Exchange requested $19,980 to go on a trip. The board denied the request in full. 

African Students Association requested $19,058.55 to hold an event. The board amended and approved the request to $18,866.79.

Student Emergency Medical Services requested $3,881 to attend a competition. The allocations committee recommended reducing the amount to $2,000, but the board approved the full request.

Archery Club requested $2,345 to attend a competition. The board voted and approved the request asynchronously.

National Panhellenic Council requested $2,058.16 to hold an event. The board voted and approved the request asynchronously.