University of Pittsburgh Chancellor Patrick Gallagher to step down

After nine years of leading the University of Pittsburgh, Patrick Gallagher announced Thursday that he intends to step down as chancellor in the summer of 2023.

“Serving as chancellor at one of the greatest public research universities in the nation is deeply fulfilling and rewarding,” wrote Gallagher in a message to the university community. “I am very proud of where Pitt is today, and I think the University is well positioned for a new leader to take the helm and thrive.”

Announcing his departure with advance notice should enable Pitt’s Board of Trustees to conduct a national search for Gallagher’s successor, which they hope to name prior to his departure.

Gallagher, 59, led Pitt during a tenure that included founding the new School of Computing and Information, working on economic initiatives like a biomanufacturing facility slated for the Hazelwood Green development, and adding academic offices in sustainability, equity and diversity, and community engagement. He took over for Chancellor Emeritus Mark Nordenberg in summer 2014.

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Pitt enrollment remained relatively steady under Gallagher, hovering about 34,000 students across the university’s five campuses. Late in his tenure, Pitt faced economic hardship and a decline in international enrollment brought on by the pandemic.

Before joining the university, Gallagher spent about two decades in the public sector, including serving as director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology and acting deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald said Gallagher has been a “tremendous leader.” He said Gallagher has taken Pitt to even greater prestige and has helped contribute to the county’s economic vitality.

“In addition to being a great academic institution, Pitt has been an economic generator because of its work to develop technologies and grow them here, an effort that Chancellor Gallagher has championed,” Fitzgerald said in a statement.

Gallagher will remain at the University as a full-time faculty member in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Physics and Astronomy.