Pitt-Bradford to hold 50th Anniversary panel discussion

BRADFORD, PA – The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford will hold a panel discussion at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 6, featuring longtime and former employees telling stories from the college’s early years.

The discussion will take place in the KOA Speer Electronics Lobby of Blaisdell Hall. Panelists include Jeff Armstrong, Margaret Bryner, Dr. K. James Evans, Ray McMahon, and Dr. Michael Stuckart. Refreshments will be ’60s-authentic Bundt cake. Attendees will receive small 50^th anniversary gifts. The event, which is free and open to the public, is part of the university’s ongoing 50^th anniversary celebration.

Armstrong is the longest-serving member of Pitt-Bradford’s staff. He began working at Pitt-Bradford while in high school and worked personally for then-president Dr. Donald Swarts in his home. Today he is a maintenance worker III in the university’s facilities management department.

Bryner was the dean of women from 1970 until 1972, during a time when the dean still lived with the students in Emery Hall, a converted hotel downtown, and oversaw the co-eds’ move to the first apartments built on the current campus. In addition to supervising the young ladies, Bryner roused them to teach 7 a.m. physical education classes at the Bradford Family YMCA.

Evans has been dean of student affairs since 1976 and is widely believed to remember the name of every student he’s ever met. He has been involved in the growth and development of Pitt-Bradford for more than 35 years, including the major milestones of the college’s transformation into a four-year college in 1979 and its move into NCAA Division III athletics in the 1990s.

McMahon was a member of the early teaching faculty in the 1960s who came to Bradford to teach geography, then went on to become the director of the city’s Office of Economic and Community Development.

Stuckart began teaching at Pitt-Bradford in 1977, and has also coached soccer, led student expeditions abroad, served as associate dean, traveled with the baseball team for spring break and served as advisor to the fraternity Phi Kappa Epsilon.

The discussion is sponsored by the Pitt-Bradford Staff Association and will be moderated by Kimberly Marcott Weinberg, assistant director of communications and marketing. Audience members will be invited to ask questions and participate.

For disability-related needs, contact the Office of Disability Resources and Services at (814)362-7609 or clh71@pitt.edu.