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Pitt chancellor emeritus Nordenberg named Thiel College Trustee Emeritus

Posted January 21, 2019   Print
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GREENVILLE, Pa.-- Thiel College’s Board of Trustees conferred trustee emeritus status on former long-time member and chancellor emeritus of the University of Pittsburgh Mark A. Nordenberg, J.D. ’70, H’97. The Board of Trustees will meet for the first time in 2019 in early February.

Nordenberg, a professor of law and university administrator for nearly 40 years, is a lifelong advocate for education. He and his wife, Nikki (Pirillo) Nordenberg ’71, have been generous supporters of Thiel.

Nordenberg joined the Board in 1987 and served for 10 years.

He is chair of the university’s Institute of Politics. A professor of law and university administrator, Nordenberg served as the seventeenth Chancellor of the University of Pittsburgh from 1996–2014. Nordenberg’s career in higher education began in 1977 as a visiting professor in the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. Over the years, he served as the Dean of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and other various administrative positions before becoming interim Chancellor of the University of Pittsburgh in 1995, a position which became permanent the following year.

His influence on Pitt has been vast. He is credited with initiatives that have improved the university's academic, research and athletic standing, along with significant enrollment growth and an endowment that grew from $463 million to $2.99 billion during his tenure.

A Minnesota native, Nordenberg completed his Bachelor of Arts at Thiel College in 1970 and his law degree at the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1973.

“We are grateful and optimistic about the continued commitment Mark has shown to his alma mater,” President Susan Traverso, Ph.D., said. “His profound professional and civic accomplishments are evidence of Mark’s vision and of the positive impact he has had as an educational and community leader.”

Throughout his career, Nordenberg has received numerous accolades for his many contributions to the organizations he has supported, to include:

  • Excellence-in-Teaching Award—1984, University of Pittsburgh
  • Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award—1985, University of Pittsburgh
  • Distinguished Service Professor of Law—1994, University of Pittsburgh
  • Person of the Year in Education—1997, Vectors
  • Pittsburgher of the Year and Co-Pittsburgher of the Year—1999 and 2001, Pittsburgh Magazine.
  • endowed Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg University Chair—2005, University of Pittsburgh Board of Trustees
  • Presidential Leadership Award—2009, The Gordie Foundation
  • Nordenberg Residence Hall—2012, Pitt Board of Trustees
  • Louis and Barbara Thiel Distinguished Service Award—2014, Thiel College
  • Elsie Hilliard Hillman Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Public Service—2014
  • Chairman’s Award for Leadership in Science, Technology and Education—2014, Carnegie Science Center of Pittsburgh

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