People: Kathy Humphrey

Kathy Humphrey has two sons – twin 16-year-old boys.

She worries about them like any mother… Kathy Humphrey has two sons – twin 16-year-old boys.

She worries about them like any mother would, especially now that they’re in the process of getting their drivers’ licenses.

But when her phone rings at 3 a.m. alerting her of a mishap or injury, it could be any one of the thousands of kids who depend on her.

“I don’t know every student here, but I’m responsible for them,” said Humphrey, Pitt’s vice provost and dean of students.

This two-titled job description alludes to how busy she is. Humphrey spends her days managing Pitt’s Office of Student Affairs, which includes an organization on just about every floor of the William Pitt Union.

Her other duties include helping Pitt reach its retention and diversity goals, recruitment and reviewing faculty for tenure, among other things.

She even teaches a student development theory class.

If a student needs her, Humphrey will change her day’s plan without flinching.

“If anything happens to a student, I’m there,” she said. “No day is typical.”

Humphrey likes staying busy, though.

“I’m not a lay-on-the-beach kind of person,” she said of how she handles what little free time she has. “I watch 30 minutes of TV every night, or rather, it watches me.”

Her jam-packed schedule suits Humphrey. She has been married 22 years and is involved in her church, Leadership Pittsburgh and the Red Cross.

She can be found meeting with students long after the 9-to-5 crowd has left the University. In fact, she attends Student Government Board meetings every Tuesday night during the school year at 8:45 p.m.

“I have to stay current,” said Humphrey.

Plus, SGB needs her, said board president Sumter Link, who has been working alongside Humphrey to develop his plan to introduce a fall break at Pitt.

“She’s spectacular,” he said.

“She really loves doing work for students.”

Sometimes, Humphrey will take time to tour the tables in Nordy’s Place to ask students what’s going on around campus.

“I’m created to work with this group,” she said. “I try to understand their world.”

Even when she doesn’t agree with a student proposal, Humphrey has taught herself to hear them out. She prides herself in her ability to see things through students’ eyes.

“She will come and ask SGB members, including myself, about things she is doing,” said Link.

“She wants to know if students will like them and how to tailor her plans to them.”

Humphrey is constantly trying to find ways to make student life more enjoyable.

Her most recent project is the transformation of the Union’s fifth floor into a “stress-free zone.”

Though plans are still in their earliest stages, Humphrey’s face lights up as she describes the virtual video games and massage chairs she envisions students getting the chance to use.

She calls herself a super-sized resident’s assistant with the goal of developing community at Pitt. Before coming to Pitt in 2005,

Humphrey worked at Saint Louis University, the school where she received her doctorate.

The biggest change, though she stresses loving her students at both schools, is Pitt’s commitment to its undergraduates.

“[Chancellor] Mark Nordenberg loves students,” she said. “It makes my job easy. I was always having to fight for students in the past.”

Now, when she has an idea about how to improve student life, she said, Pitt’s administration is almost always receptive.

This probably has to do with the type of students Pitt breeds, said Humphrey.

“Our students are so accepting and so willing to engage and make a difference,” she said.

And it might go without saying, considering her role at the University, but Humphrey’s advice for new students at Pitt is to get involved immediately – and to hit the books, because though it might feel like it, it’s not high school any more.

“Study from day one,” she said.

“And be good.”