Andrew R. Blair, Pitt Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs, to Return to Faculty in September

Andrew R. Blair

Andrew R. Blair, vice provost for faculty affairs at the University of Pittsburgh since 1999, will step down from his administrative role and return to the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business as a professor of business administration and economics in September 2012, Pitt Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor Patricia E. Beeson announced May 10.

“I have known and admired Andy Blair for more than 25 years,” said Pitt Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg. “I was first impressed by the important contributions that he made as a senior member of the leadership team in the Katz School and have worked even more closely with him during his distinguished service as vice provost for faculty affairs. Andy is an accomplished professional, a completely committed member of the Pitt community, and a person who is widely respected for his values. That combination of qualities positioned him to help fuel Pitt’s progress, and we thank him for all of the many things that he has done to make our University a better and stronger place.”

“Andy has had 13 exemplary years of service as vice provost,” said Beeson in making the announcement. “During that time, he helped establish programs that fostered excellence in Pitt faculty and academic administrators, including orientation sessions for new faculty, department chairs, and senior administrators and annual retreats for department chairs.”

As vice provost, Blair worked closely with Pitt faculty and administrators as he oversaw established policies and procedures. He supervised the faculty appeal processes and the review of appointment, promotion, and tenure guidelines for compliance with University policy. He advised deans and campus presidents on policies affecting faculty members, and he helped develop Pitt’s first guidelines governing the appointment of postdoctoral scholars and associates and research associates. He also was responsible for monitoring the annual faculty review process and overseeing the faculty evaluations of deans and department chairs.

As chair of the Provost’s Advisory Council on Instructional Excellence and through his work with the Center for Instructional Development and Distance Education, Blair contributed to the development and success of such programs as the Innovation in Education Awards, which foster collaboration among Pitt faculty in developing innovative teaching methods.

Prior to assuming the position of vice provost, Blair served as associate and then executive associate dean of the Katz School and as director of the International Business Center and the Center for International Enterprise Development. During the 1990s, he was significantly involved in Central Europe’s transition to market-oriented economies, serving as one of the Katz School’s principal representatives to three new Western-style management programs that the school helped to found.

Blair joined the Katz School faculty in 1971, after serving on the faculty for a decade at Fordham University, where he earned his bachelor’s, master’s, and PhD degrees in economics.

Blair will continue to serve in the Office of the Provost during the Fall Term on a reduced basis to assist during the transition to a new vice provost for faculty affairs; a screening committee will be formed soon with the intention of naming Blair’s successor.