Homeland Security official recommended for Board of Trustees

A Pitt alumna working for President Barack Obama’s administration has been recommended for… A Pitt alumna working for President Barack Obama’s administration has been recommended for election to the University’s Board of Trustees.

The board’s nominating committee made the decision yesterday morning to recommend Mary Ellen Callahan, a 1990 Pitt graduate, to the board. Callahan has worked as chief privacy officer and chief Freedom of Information Act officer in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The full board will vote on the recommendation at its next meeting on Oct. 30.

Callahan joined the Department of Homeland Security in March. Before that, she spent more than 10 years working as a partner in the law firm Hogan & Hartson LLP, where she specialized in privacy, data security and consumer protection law.

Chancellor Mark Nordenberg said in a statement that he thinks Callahan would serve as “an outstanding trustee.”

“The national academic honors that Mary Ellen Callahan earned as a University of Pittsburgh undergraduate helped establish a pattern that continues today — with Pitt widely recognized as one of the country’s leading producers of high-achieving students,” he said. “She has gone on to craft a distinguished professional career and has maintained strong connections to her alma mater through the Pitt Alumni Association.”

Callahan is the treasurer of the Pitt Alumni Association. She previously served as the organization’s vice president, treasurer and secretary.

She is also a Pitt Building Our Future Together capital campaign volunteer and a Pitt Career Network volunteer.