Pitt Names New Vice Chancellor for Communications

Kenneth P. Service, executive director of the Pittsburgh Council on Higher Education (PCHE), has been named vice chancellor for communications at the University of Pittsburgh. The appointment is effective Aug. 1, and marks a return to Pitt for Service, who previously was director of news and information at the University, a position he held from 1994 to 2001.

In commenting on this appointment, Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg stated, “It is my good fortune—and the good fortune of the University of Pittsburgh—that Ken Service has agreed to return to Pitt. He is a highly respected communications professional who knows the University, its higher education partners, and the broader community very well. Beyond respecting his professional stature, all those who know Ken recognize him to be a caring, capable, thoughtful, and kind person. And I look forward to working with him again.”

Prior to becoming executive director of PCHE in 2010, Service was vice president for institutional relations at La Roche College. In addition, he has held a number of senior communications and institutional advancement positions at other universities, including Duquesne University, Carnegie Mellon University, and the University of Cincinnati. He also held director positions for media relations and corporate information for Duquesne Light Company from 1987 until 1994. In 2011, he was included in the Irish Voice newspaper’s Irish Education 100, a designation that includes top figures in education across North America who have Irish heritage.

Service is a founding member of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) National Counselors for Higher Education section and a past member of the section’s executive committee. In 1998, he was inducted into the PRSA College of Fellows.

Active in the community, Service currently serves on the boards of directors of United Cerebral Palsy/Community Living & Supporting Services (UCP/CLASS) of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Mercy Health System, Bulgarian Macedonian National Educational and Cultural Center, Sisters Place, Holy Family Institute International Undergraduate Education Program, and the Sister Thea Bowman Scholarship Foundation, and on the advisory boards of the Greater Pittsburgh Nonprofit Partnership and the Southwestern Pennsylvania Food Security Partnership. 

Service has an English degree from Canisius College and is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati Graduate School of Business Executive Program.