12 Pitt Women to Be Honored at Women’s History Month Reception

The Winter 2009 issue of Pitt Magazine with profiles honoring 12 of Pitt’s phenomenal women.

During the 2008-09 academic year, the University of Pittsburgh is celebrating the 110th anniversary of a significant moment in its history. Members of the Class of 1898, sisters Stella and Margaret Stein became the first women to graduate from the Western University of Pennsylvania, which later became the University of Pittsburgh. The Stein sisters were the top two in academics in their graduating class, and they have served as an inspiration to the countless other women who have attended Pitt.

In this spirit, and to mark March as Women’s History Month, the publisher and editors of Pitt Magazine, the University’s quarterly flagship publication, are recognizing a group of 12 phenomenal Pitt women at a by-invitation-only reception from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. March 5 at the Twentieth Century Club, 4201 Bigelow Blvd., Oakland. Pitt Magazine is also featuring profiles of the women in its Winter 2009 issue.

“The story of the Stein sisters is a great beginning to Pitt’s long and wonderful history of attracting and educating remarkable women,” says Cindy Gill, Pitt Magazine’s editor in chief. “The magazine takes particular pride in offering a special tribute to a contemporary group of accomplished University women as a way for all of us to reflect upon and celebrate the achievements of Pitt women through the ages.”

The Pitt Chronicle will honor these women by reprinting the Pitt Magazine profiles in the Chronicle’s March 16, 23, and 30 issues.

The honorees are:

Susan G. Amara, Thomas Detre Professor and chair, Department of Neurobiology, Pitt School of Medicine; codirector, Center for Neuroscience;

Agnus Berenato, head coach, Pitt Women’s Basketball;

Eva Tansky Blum, (A&S ’70, LAW ’73), trustee and cochair, Building Our Future

Together capital campaign;

Yuan Chang, professor of pathology, Pitt School of Medicine;

Helen Faison (EDUC ’46, ’55G, ’75G), emeritus member of the Pitt Board of Trustees;

Angela M. Gronenborn, UPMC Rosalind Franklin Professor and chair, Department of Structural Biology, Pitt School of Medicine;

Kathy W. Humphrey, vice provost and dean of students;

Amy Krueger Marsh, treasurer and chief investment officer, Pitt Office of Budget and Controller;

Eleanor Ott, 2008 Truman Scholar, Pitt Class of ’09;

Alberta Sbragia, Mark A. Nordenberg University Chair and director of Pitt’s European Union Center for Excellence and the European Studies Center;

Jeannette South-Paul, (MED ’79), UPMC Andrew W. Mathieson Professor and chair,  Department of Family Medicine, Pitt School of Medicine; and

Gwen Watkins, vice president, Steering Committee, Staff Association Council;  community activities coordinator, Office of Community and Governmental Relations.