Chancellor, mayor, others dedicate Sennott Square

Two Pitt students joined Chancellor Mark Nordenberg, Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy and Provost… Two Pitt students joined Chancellor Mark Nordenberg, Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy and Provost James Maher in cutting the ribbon on Pitt’s biggest academic building since 1978 in yesterday’s dedication of Sennott Square.

The ceremony included speeches by sophomore David E. Rodriguez, chair of the Business Student Council, and Laura Dietz, a teaching fellow in the department of psychology, as well as words from the chancellor, mayor and provost. The speakers addressed an audience that included prominent members of Oakland’s business and academic communities.

Chancellor Nordenberg opened the ceremony by noting his first office as a visiting law professor overlooked the corner of Bouquet and Forbes avenues, a site that, at the time was “crying out for the merciful swing of a wrecking ball.”

Twenty-five years later, the opening of Sennott Square marks the culmination of what Nordenberg called “one of the busiest periods of campus construction in the University’s history.”

The building, which combines retail space on the ground floor with classrooms and academic centers, will offer a “new home” to departments such as the undergraduate College of Business Administration, the computer science department and the department of psychology.

Maher commented in his 32 years at Pitt, “the department of psychology has never had one home.” Similarly, the College of Business Administration has spent the six years since its reinstatement at Pitt spread out over campus, and the computer science department has gown steadily without any location to grow into.

Sennott Square includes a floor for each department, offering a central area for each department, as well as “first rate” facilities, said Maher.

Students from the business and psychology departments welcomed the new space.

“Networking has become more important than ever” said David E. Rodriguez, who spoke on behalf of Pitt’s undergraduate business students, adding that the scattered location of business classes and resources has made networking difficult. Condensing business advising, resources and classes onto one floor will allow for students to form connections that are especially important in the business field, he said.

Teaching fellow Laura Dietz agreed.

Although she chose to attend Pitt because of the collaboration between the various research areas in the psychology department, Dietz said that she found herself running from the Cathedral of Learning to the old engineering building to Posvar Hall on a daily basis. The new centrally located psychology department will make collaboration much more convenient, Dietz said.

Nordenberg thanked political and community leaders and representatives, including Murphy, Governor Mark Schweiker and former Governor Tom Ridge and in particular Merle Ryan, the Deputy Secretary for Public Works in the Department of General Services. From the construction of the Trees Hall pool in the 1960s, Ryan has been involved in “literally every project on the campus,” Nordenberg said.

“I should say we’ve given something back,” Nordenberg continued, explaining that Ryan met his wife while working at the University. “I guess we’re still ahead, Ryan.”

Nordenberg also thanked Assistant Vice Chancellor Ana Guzman, who he said has done “more work with fewer people at the highest level of quality.”

In addition to new academic space, Sennott Square represents a “tangible reflection of our new era of partnership and progress within our community,” Nordenberg said, combining educational facilities with retail space.

Calling Oakland an educational, medical, technical and cultural capital of Western Pennsylvania, he said that the series of new buildings in central Oakland are signs of a revitalizing force in the area.

“Many people believe that this is Oakland’s time,” Nordenberg said, “and I agree with them.”