At graduation, Pitt students are often full of ambitious goals. Some may want to become… At graduation, Pitt students are often full of ambitious goals. Some may want to become professors. Others may find administrative positions at universities and businesses, perhaps even becoming university presidents or advising national corporations.

Dr. Judith Rodin, the featured speaker at Pitt’s 2006 Commencement on April 30th, has achieved all of this and more.

After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. in Psychology, she earned her Ph.D. in Psychology at Columbia University. She taught at NYU and Yale before becoming a provost there and serving as dean of Yale’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. From 1994 to 2004 she served as the first female president of an Ivy League university at Penn. She is currently the president of the Rockefeller Foundation.

“I think, for a lot of people, she’s kind of an interesting role model of the different things one can do in one’s life and the different paths life can take you on,” said Richard Tofel, Vice President of the Rockefeller Foundation.

Tofel spoke of the strong approach Dr. Rodin has taken in the short time she has presided as president over the Foundation. “I’ve been enormously impressed, in particular about her very, very clear sense of vision, a fierce determination and a strong sense of team building and collegiality.”

“In many respects, she embodies the values of accomplishment and achievement that Pitt is all about,” said Robert Hill, an executive administrator at Pitt.

Hill is on the committee that searches for candidates to speak at Commencement. The committee of 10 to 12 faculty members recommends a number of names each year to Pitt Chancellor Mark Nordenberg, who then makes the final decision.

“She is a highly respected, charismatic, dynamic and very successful leader,” Nordenberg said.

Aside from her strong leadership qualities, Nordenberg spoke of her as a warm, friendly person.

“She and I were together at a meeting in Washington, D.C., when the appointment of the new president of [Carnegie Mellon University] was announced. Dr. Cohen had been a dean at Yale when Rodin was provost there. She immediately sought me out to say Jerry Cohen was a terrific person and that she thought the two of us would become good friends and committed partners, and that has become very true,” Nordenberg said.

“In recent years, we have had commencement speakers who have had an impact on Western Pennsylvania, but her national and international reach in a more public and obvious way would set her apart,” Hill said.

“[Students] will take away the memory of a great speaker, who, in many ways, led the life and achievement that would be inspiring to them.”