Pitt Chancellor Honors Baldwin

University of Pittsburgh Chancellor Mark Nordenberg has selected James L. Baldwin of Bradford as a recipient of the 2009 Chancellor’s Award for Staff Excellence in Service to the University.

Baldwin is the assistant dean of academic affairs, director of enrollment services and registrar and director of Science in Motion at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford.

He is one of three staff members university-wide to receive the award, which was created to recognize staff members who make a significant impact on the university through their commitment and performance.

The Chancellor’s Award for Staff Excellence is the highest honor a staff member can receive. Baldwin and the other recipients will be honored at Pitt’s honors convocation Feb. 27, 2009.

In his letter of congratulations, Pitt Chancellor Mark Nordenberg said Baldwin was chosen based on “the number of letters you received as an outpouring of support attesting to the magnitude of the extra time you devote to the University of Pittsburgh; the many ways you volunteer to help others; and your willingness to undertake and create new initiatives at our Bradford campus, such as the College in the High School program and the Women’s Leadership Conference.”

Baldwin’s nomination, which was submitted by both the Pitt-Bradford Staff Association and Dr. Livingston Alexander, president, was supported with letters not only from members of the Pitt-Bradford staff, but also from high-ranking enrollment officers at the University of Pittsburgh’s Oakland campus.

In his recommendation, Alexander wrote, “I regard him as one of the most dedicated and accomplished professionals I know.”

Baldwin has worked at Pitt-Bradford since 2000. As registrar, he created a database to allow prospective transfer students to determine how credits earned at other institutions will transfer to Pitt-Bradford.

He was instrumental in starting Pitt-Bradford’s College in the High School program, which offers college credit for select courses taught in area high schools, and serves as director of the Science in Motion program, which last year served more than 30,000 students in a five-county region.

Last year, Baldwin was the driving force behind the first women’s leadership conference, which was attended by more than 70 Pitt-Bradford faculty, staff, students and high school students from four area high schools.

“I was really surprised and thrilled when I learned that I had been selected as a recipient of the award,” Baldwin said. “I am so honored to have been nominated by the staff association and for all of the wonderful letters of recommendation and support from my colleagues. I wish that all the staff could have been recognized, because I truly believe that Pitt-Bradford’s staff are the hardest working and most dedicated staff throughout the entire university.”

Baldwin earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania and is currently pursuing a doctorate in higher education administration from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln.

He and his wife, Catherine, live in Bradford with their two daughters.

This is the fourth time a Pitt-Bradford employee has been recognized by the chancellor. Last year, Peter J. Buchheit, director of facilities management, received the Chancellor’s Award for Staff Excellence in Service to the Community, an honor also earned by mail carrier Donald O. Johnson in 2006.

In 2004, Rhett Kennedy, associate dean of student affairs and director of residential life and housing, received the Chancellor’s Award for Staff Excellence in Service to the University.