Posts tagged University of Pittsburgh
Professor Claude? College unions negotiate for protection against AI teachers and evaluators.
September 25, 2026 // Research universities, like Pitt and Carnegie Mellon University, have especially embraced AI as both an area of study and a resource to be mined. The two local schools have hosted notable industry gatherings around innovation, and their respective presidents each tout the tech’s capabilities. “We’ve seen a pretty rapid effort by universities to adopt AI tools, and with, I would say, much more kind of inconsistent thinking and policy development about guardrails and protections for how those AI tools might impact academic work at universities,” said Tyler Bickford, president of Pitt’s faculty union.
We finally know who paid for Josh Shapiro’s inauguration celebrations (kinda)
August 12, 2025 // A fundraising pitch prepared by Shapiro’s inauguration committee and reviewed by Spotlight PA promised high-dollar contributors face time with the governor. “VIP tickets to the Inaugural Celebration include access to the VIP lounge through the evening,” fine print on the document states. “A clutch with Governor-Elect Shapiro and Lt. Governor-Elect [Austin] Davis will be held in the VIP lounge at the start of the event.” Unlike some states, cities, and the federal government, Pennsylvania does not require top elected officials to disclose who contributes to celebrations held to mark their entrance into office. Shapiro has declined to do so voluntarily.
Some Penn State faculty want to unionize as the university considers campus closures
March 11, 2025 // Unrest has been growing among some faculty as the university makes cuts to close a deficit by this summer. An attempt to hold a vote of no confidence in Penn State president Neeli Bendapudi was tabled at a faculty senate meeting last week. Also at that meeting. Bendapudi laid out plans to close some of the Commonwealth campuses. Just how many campuses is uncertain, but none will close before the end of the 2026-27 year. Twelve of the 20 campuses ― Beaver, DuBois, Fayette, Greater Allegheny, Hazleton, Mont Alto, New Kensington, Schuylkill, Shenango, Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, and York ― are under consideration for closure. They will be evaluated by a team led by several top administrators appointed by Bendapudi; she expects to make a decision before commencement in May.
Five years after failed vote, Pitt grad students unionize
November 30, 2024 // From 2021 to 2023, nearly 64,000 U.S. grad student workers joined unions. By comparison, only 20,394 students unionized from 2013 through 2020. Today, four in 10 grad student employees belong to labor groups. This trend was, experts say, driven in part by the pandemic and by the administration change from Donald Trump to Joe Biden in 2021, which ushered in a National Labor Relations Board more amenable to organizers.
On a roll: Clinic nurses and others vote to join USW
November 5, 2024 // Nearly 80 Squirrel Hill Health Center workers voted Thursday to join the United Steelworkers union, the latest victory for the Pittsburgh-based labor organization that has been expanding membership in recent years to university faculty, librarians and professional football players. The newly unionized workers serve as nurse practitioners, physician assistants, registered nurses, medical and dental assistants, therapists, front desk staff and others who work at the center’s four Pittsburgh area clinics.