Sixteen University of Pittsburgh faculty members earned the 2025 Chancellor’s Distinguished Awards across three categories. The awards honor outstanding individuals whose scholarly commitments and contributions in research, teaching or public service have advanced the Pitt community or their respective fields.
Each recipient receives a letter from Chancellor Joan Gabel, a $2,000 cash prize and a $3,000 grant to support their work. Awardees will be recognized at the Faculty Honors Convocation at 3 p.m. April 3 in Alumni Hall.
Four recipients are affiliated with our centers:
Michael Madison (GSC), a professor and John E. Murray Faculty Scholar in the School of Law, was recognized for the establishment of a framework for governing knowledge commons, work that has had a global impact on the field. Madison’s peers described him as “a preeminent scholar of knowledge commons,” an “interdisciplinary community builder” and a “visionary thinker” whose work has been highly influential in the field of intellectual property.
Olga Klimova (REEES), a teaching associate professor of Slavic languages and literatures and director of the Russia Program in the Dietrich School, was recognized for her continuous and creative innovation of Russian language instruction as well as her high-profile and widely recognized service as a national leader in the space.
Harvey Borovetz (ASC), a distinguished professor of bioengineering in the Swanson School, was awarded for helping establish an infrastructure for teaching biomedical engineering at the North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, as well as for providing nearly 20 years of teaching, training and mentoring to students in the North Carolina school’s biomedical engineering program and leading its Bioengineering Advisory Board.
Mary Rauktis (GSC, ESC), a research associate professor in the School of Social Work, was honored for building supportive systems for humans and animals, improving pet food distribution processes and access to pet care, making acute care for pets affordable for low-income owners and enhancing treatment foster care for humans and animals locally and internationally.