Roberts retires after 35 years at Pitt

After he got his driver’s license, 16-year-old Grady Roberts took his father for a drive to… After he got his driver’s license, 16-year-old Grady Roberts took his father for a drive to the local distributor to buy a couple cases of soda. On the drive back home, Roberts’ father realized the worker had given him too much change, so he told Roberts to take him back so he could return the extra money.

“I looked at him and he was serious,” Roberts said. “He said ‘take me back.'”

For 35 years, Roberts has brought that spirit to Pitt. Now, from his sparsely decorated office on the 21st floor of the Cathedral of Learning, he can look down on Oakland and remember driving with his father.

“That made an impact on me in how you treat people, how you respect people, how you meet a person where a person is,” he said.

Roberts, an associate dean and associate professor emeritus of student affairs in Pitt’s School of Social Work, will retire after this year with a reputation for being one of the most personable figures in the University. Over the years, he has admitted more than 5,000 students to the School of Social Work; more than one-third of them were nonwhite.

“People say there are no qualified disadvantaged students out there,” he said. “A part of me says ‘yes they are and I’m gonna get them.'”

His record of diverse admissions is just one of the achievements that pad Roberts’ lengthy list, many of which focus on the students he has worked with.

“I think it’s more than students,” he said. “I view it more as individuals, as human beings. And I think that inherent in any good relationship is respect.”

The respect that Roberts has brought to his interactions has to do with recognizing the different contributions that different people make and realizing that none are better or worse than others, he said. The different skills “can cut through issues of race and sex and ethnicity.”

“Once you connect in that manner, I think people are generally going to reply in kind,” Roberts said.

Roberts said that, in 35 years and three different chancellors at Pitt, the biggest change he’s seen has been in the perception of the University nationwide; it’s come from being thought of as a second-tier “backup school” to a “first-rate institution.”

“I really think Pitt’s on a roll,” he said. “From my perspective, it’s a different type of spirit.”

Roberts also said one of the key changes is Pitt’s relationship with Pittsburgh, which he said has improved dramatically.

“I think there’s a different type of ability to be more involved … with the surrounding communities,” he said. “This is not to say there are not issues, but there were years there was downright hostility.”

He said he told students that part of being successful in education was not to focus on the problems they will face, but instead to say “in spite of.”

“As long as we are alive there are issues, there are differences, there are concerns,” he said. “If you’ve had a positive experience, pass it on. That’s what I tell my students.”

Raised in a family where education was stressed, valued and expected, Roberts and his three sisters all emerged as educators, contributing a total of more than 135 years to education in the country. He said that, for years, his method of dealing with obstacles has been “a good support base. A good family and good friends.”

“I’ve been blessed,” he said simply. “Life has been good to me.”

This will be Roberts’ second retirement. In 1993, he retired from the United States Air Force as a full colonel after 30 years of service. He said he’s looking forward to having the freedom to “continue to develop as a person.”

‘Time is very important right now,” he said, “time to explore many things in life I’ve always wanted to explore.”

Roberts still plans to have intellectual stimulation, although he said he will miss the people he’s been with at Pitt. He intends to be active in the community where he and his father used to drive to Pirates games.

“Getting off at Fifth and Bigelow, you could smell the hot dogs. There was a sense of excitement. It was a joy, coming to Oakland with my father,” he said, remembering his childhood trips to Oakland and Forbes Field. “Pittsburgh’s someplace special. It’s a good town.”

Roberts’ retirement is effective June 30.