Orangis leaves Pitt’s IA office

As the Pitt Capital Campaign continues to rise, the Department of Institutional Advancement… As the Pitt Capital Campaign continues to rise, the Department of Institutional Advancement has lost another key member of its team.

A favorite of many students and a catalyst in many of Pitt’s fund raising successes in the last decade, Patricia Orangis is leaving Pitt to pursue fund raising at Duquesne University, where she will be heading the team for major and planned gifts.

Orangis, the executive director of annual giving, has worked at Pitt for 11 of the last 16 years.

She started at Pitt with a six-year run in the Office of Institutional Advancement, working with the budget, alumni and office management. In 1993, she began working at Carnegie Mellon University with annual funds and large gifts before returning to Pitt five years later.

In her most recent tour of duty at Pitt, Orangis was involved in the Freedom Honor Society book and meal fund for minority students, the Panther Racing Team’s annual construction of a racecar for national competition and Pitt Program Council’s Book Fund, which raised upward of $30,000.

Michelle Wydra, former PPC executive board director, said that in the early stages of the Book Fund, Orangis came to PPC’s office and retreats to explain what was necessary to create an endowment.

“She [is] the most approachable person,” Wydra said, “even for personal things. She [is] like an adviser.”

During her time at Pitt, Orangis has been known for her attention to student needs, often inviting students to meet financial donors and gathering student input before making major decisions.

“If you want to know what’s going on, ask the students,” Orangis said.

“She wanted to make sure that students got something out of [the capital campaign],” Wydra said.

Orangis said that, among other reasons, the idea of working for a Catholic school felt good to her – she herself is Catholic. She also feels the position is “a terrific opening.”

“It’s obviously a great place to work,” she said, adding that, at a smaller school such as Duquesne, the fund raising is often “easier to get your arms around.”

She added that she felt a need to allow “new blood” to circulate in Pitt’s institutional advancement department and that she has high hopes for the young staff members.

Orangis’ departure is the latest in a string of high-ranking resignations this school year, including Carol Carter, the former vice chancellor of institutional advancement and head of Orangis’ department, who left in October 2002.

Orangis said she is unsure as to whether she would ever return to Pitt again, but her ties are deep.

“I’m an alumnus of Pitt,” she said. “I’m still a donor.”