Dear Pitt students, faculty and staff,
I am delighted to announce that after a robust and competitive national search, Dr. Joseph J. McCarthy will be the University of Pittsburgh’s next provost and senior vice chancellor, pending approval from the Board of Trustees. Dr. McCarthy, who has served in the interim role since July 2023, is an accomplished academic leader and scientist who brings to this role a proven commitment to putting students first. He has already hit the ground running, launching the University’s Academic Leadership Team structure, leveraging his cost management expertise to address the value proposition of higher education, and representing Pitt on the state’s Higher Education Task Force, helping the University to amplify how we fit into the overall state funding model. I’m excited to officially welcome him to the University’s senior leadership team.
As chief academic officer, Dr. McCarthy will continue to oversee undergraduate, graduate and professional education; the colleges, schools and academic units across Pitt; academic and research programs and policies; promotion and tenure; and faculty development. He will also continue to work closely with the campus presidents, others and me to elevate greater impact for our students, the commonwealth and beyond.
No stranger to the University, Dr. McCarthy has represented Pitt for over a quarter century, from assistant and associate professor to the William Kepler Whiteford Professor in the Swanson School of Engineering’s Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering. He has also served as the interim dean of the David C. Frederick Honors College and the vice provost for undergraduate studies. In this latter role, he helped Pitt to reduce student debt and equity gaps, record our highest student retention and four- and six-year graduation rates in history, and launch the data-driven and nationally recognized Pitt Success Pell Match Grant Program, among many other important accomplishments. An alumnus of Fox Chapel Area High School, Dr. McCarthy earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Notre Dame and his doctorate at Northwestern University in the field of chemical engineering.
Please join me in congratulating Dr. McCarthy and thanking Dr. Anantha Shekhar, our search committee chair and the senior vice chancellor for the health sciences and John and Gertrude Petersen Dean of the School of Medicine. I’m also grateful to the entire search committee for its willingness to serve and its work to yield such a tremendous pool of candidates, as well as to the many members of the University community who participated during the search process.
Finally, this search provided me an invaluable opportunity to learn so much more about Pitt. I’ve gained a deeper appreciation for our values of academic excellence, innovation, inclusion, collaboration and community that not only permeate all reaches of the University but collectively represent “It’s Possible at Pitt.” I’m confident that Dr. McCarthy, as my first — and most significant — hire to date, represents the very best of this spirit of possibility.
Hail to Pitt!
With warm regards,
Joan Gabel