Eltz Named Pitt's Director of News

September 30, 2002

David R. Eltz has been named director of news at the University of Pittsburgh, Pitt Assistant Vice Chancellor for University News and Magazines John Harvith announced today. The appointment is effective Oct. 1.

For the past two years, Eltz has played key roles at the two award-winning magazines produced by the University's Department of Public Affairs. Since July 2001, he has served as the senior editor of Pitt Med, the 18,000-circulation quarterly magazine of the University's School of Medicine. In 2000-2001, he was associate editor of the 200,000-circulation Pitt Magazine, the University's quarterly flagship publication.

As director of news, Eltz will oversee Pitt's day-to-day news operation. He also will serve as executive editor of the Pitt Chronicle, the University's weekly faculty-staff newspaper. He will report directly to Harvith.

Eltz will work closely with local and regional media outlets and assist Harvith in developing and placing Pitt stories of national interest.

"Through his exemplary work as a journalist and magazine writer and editor, David Eltz has shown that he possesses the energy, enthusiasm, expertise, and creativity to move Pitt's news operation to an even higher level of accomplishment and fashion the award-winning Pitt Chronicle, already one of the nation's leading faculty-staff newspapers, into a model publication for other universities to emulate," says Harvith.

Eltz earned the Bachelor of Arts degree in professional writing at the California University of Pennsylvania in 1997. He was a staff writer at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review from 1998 to 2000, writing news stories and features in a wide range of beats, from business, crime, and school boards to suburban county government and downtown Pittsburgh development.

From 1995 to 1998, he served as a staff writer for the Uniontown, Pa., Herald-Standard, writing spot news, investigative reports, profiles, and features. And, since 1995, he has written freelance magazine features for the Pittsburgh City Paper, I.D. (International Design), and Comair Navigator, among other outlets.

For his work at Pitt Magazine, Eltz won a gold Mercury Award for Best Article of the Year in 2000, and a bronze Best Article of the Year award from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), District II, in 2001.

During his tenure as senior editor, Pitt Med has won a 2002 CASE Gold Medal for special interest magazines and a 2002 CASE District II Accolades Gold Medal for general interest magazines.

Originally from Hawley, Pa., near Scranton, Eltz lives in Forest Hills.

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