Carolyn Ban, Dean of Pitt's Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, to Resign, Effective Aug. 1, 2006

PITTSBURGH—Carolyn Ban, dean of the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA) at the University of Pittsburgh since 1997, will resign as dean, effective Aug. 1, 2006, to return to teaching and research; she will continue her academic career as a professor in GSPIA. A search committee will be formed this summer to identify her successor.

"Dean Ban's distinguished service has been characterized by her high ambition, sense of vision, boundless energy, and effective management style," said Pitt Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg. "She has been a leader in the larger University, as well as in her school, and also enjoys great respect in the broader community. We are very fortunate that she will continue to contribute to Pitt's progress from the faculty when her deanship comes to an end."

"It has been a real pleasure to work with Dean Ban, both in her role as dean and in her participation in the activities of our Council of Deans, and it is with deep regret that I have accepted her resignation," said Pitt Provost James V. Maher. "Her decision to step down from the deanship will conclude almost 10 years of very successful administrative leadership and service to the school and to the University. Dean Ban has done impressive work to develop GSPIA's core assets, including strengthening the school's faculty profile and research portfolio, aligning its curricula to faculty expertise, and building new, high-quality programs."

Under Ban's leadership, GSPIA tripled its endowment, established a new major in Urban and Regional Affairs and a new master's degree program in International Development, expanded the Ridgway Center for International Security Studies, and created the Ford Institute for Human Security, the Johnson Institute for Responsible Leadership, and the GSPIA Nonprofit Clinic. In addition, the school expanded its programs across the Atlantic by creating the Center for Public Policy and Management (GCPPM), the first public policy graduate school in Macedonia. The GCPPM will graduate its first class this year, on May 28.

Ban also has helped GSPIA develop depth and breadth in its international connections, increase enrollment, maintain its commitment to diversity and the education of international students, and position the school as a leader in the use of technology in the classroom.

Ban has served as a member of the Executive Council of the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA) since 1997, serving as president in 2001-2002. She is a member of the American Society for Public Administration, serving in a number of leadership roles, including chair of the Section on Personnel and Labor Relations and the National Finance Committee, as well as on the board of the Section on Women in Public Administration.

In addition, she has been a member of the American Political Science Association since 1966, acting as secretary-treasurer of the Section on Public Administration. She served on the editorial boards of a number of professional journals, including Public Administration Review, Administration and Society, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Review of Public Personnel Administration, and Public Productivity and Management Review.

Her books include How Do Public Managers Manage? Bureaucratic Constraints, Organizational Culture, and the Potential for Reform, (Jossey-Bass, 1995) now in its third edition, and Public Personnel Management: Current Concerns, Future Challenges (Longman, 2001), also in its third edition. She also has published numerous professional articles and book chapters.

Ban earned the Bachelor of Arts degree in political science at Smith College, graduating cum laude; the Master of Arts degree in regional studies of the Soviet Union at Harvard University; and the Ph.D. degree in political science at Stanford University.

She began her career as an assistant professor of political science at Ohio State University. She worked as policy analyst and acting division chief for the Civil Service Reform Act Evaluation Management Division of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management and as a senior research analyst for Educational Systems Corporation before returning to academia, attaining the rank of professor in the Graduate School of Public Affairs at the State University of New York at Albany. Ban also has been a guest scholar at the Brookings Institution.

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