Newsmakers

EQUALITY UNDER THE LAW

Benjamin Todd Jealous, president and CEO of the NAACP, delivered the May 15 commencement address for the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. The University conferred 232 Juris Doctor degrees, 15 Master of Laws degrees, eight Master of Studies in Law degrees, and one Certificate in Disability Legal Studies. The ceremony was  held in Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall and Museum.

Marriage, Men, and Money

M. Belinda Tucker, a professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences in the University of California at Los Angeles, was the keynote speaker during an April 22 luncheon sponsored by Pitt’s Center on Race and Social Problems (CRSP). Tucker’s speech was titled “Marriage, Men, and Money: African American Women’s Continued Investment in the Romantic Ideal.” The talk in the Cathedral of Learning was part of the center’s Reed Smith Spring 2009 Speaker Series.

PITT JAZZ ENSEMBLE

About 20 Pitt jazz student musicians who make up the Pitt Jazz Ensemble performed April 9 in the William Pitt Union’s Assembly Room. Mark Whitfield, critically acclaimed as one of the most dynamic guitarists on the New York jazz scene, joined the ensemble for the evening. Sean Polun (A&S ’09) plays the double bass. Sophomore Michael Robinson (left) plays the tenor sax and Eric Bray, a junior, performs on the baritone sax. The group played under the direction of Leon Lee Dorsey, Pitt assistant professor of jazz studies and coordinator of the Jazz Studies Program.

FAREWELL WISHES FOR GOLDY

The University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs held an
April 14 retirement celebration for Professor Donald M. Goldstein in honor of his 35 years of service to the University. Goldstein, pictured above with his wife, Mariann, is an internationally renowned scholar with expertise in a wide range of subjects, including 20th-century military history, public administration, political science, arms control, national interest and national security, and the theory and practice of international affairs. The event, which featured “Goldy” bobbleheads, was held in the University Club. A separate celebration was held April 6 in Washington, D.C.