Pitt faculty, students lobby in capital

Pitt is hitting the road in “Road Rules” fashion. On Monday, faculty and students piled onto a… Pitt is hitting the road in “Road Rules” fashion. On Monday, faculty and students piled onto a charter bus parked in front of the William Pitt Union. Destination: Harrisburg. Goal: “to lobby for money for higher education,” according to James Morrill, associate director of Alumni Outreach.

The Alumni Legislative Network annually travels to Harrisburg to inform elected officials of Pitt’s achievements and to stress the importance of higher education, he said.

Beth Johnson, who originally helped organize the event, said it becomes “Pitt Day in Harrisburg” each year as people come out to hear Chancellor Mark Nordenberg talk and the Pitt Symphonic Band play in Harrisburg.

Although the event was formed more than 10 years ago, a new program, Pitt on the Road, was added onto the day’s events in which alumni and friends of Pitt were issued an invitation in the style of a passport.

The “passport” detailed “in-flight entertainment” by the Pitt Men’s Glee Club and a walking tour of various showcases, displaying Pitt’s ongoing accomplishments and developments.

The showcases, which also took place in Harrisburg, covered topics ranging from biotechnology, improving schools and the Society of Automotive Engineers’ student project to design and build a Formula-1-style race car.

Pitt’s Cancer Institute also contributed an exhibit “to show how UPCI is committed to improving the understanding of cancer and development of new, life-saving approaches to prevention, detection, diagnosis and treatment of cancer,” said manager of professional education for UPMC Cancer Centers Anne Kisak.

Pitt on the Road will also make stops in New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., in March and April.