Pitt's Alberta Sbragia Named Inaugural Holder
Of the Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg Chair

Director of the University's European Union Center of Excellence
Regarded Internationally as Leading Expert on
European Politics and Economics

PITTSBURGH--University of Pittsburgh Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg has named Alberta Sbragia, professor of political science, director of Pitt's Center for European Studies, director of its European Union Center of Excellence, and one of the world's leading experts on European politics and economics, as the first recipient of the endowed chair bearing his name.

The establishment of the Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg University Chair was announced by the Board of Trustees in June 2005 on the occasion of his 10th year as University chancellor. The chair is supported by an endowment of more than $2.5 million contributed by the trustees, board members of the Pitt Alumni Association, and a small group of other Pitt alumni leaders and friends. It was created, Board Chair Ralph J. Cappy said at the time, as a means of showing esteem and appreciation for the transforming leadership of the University's 17th chancellor.

"At this time last year," Nordenberg said, "I was stunned when Chief Justice Cappy made the surprise announcement that an endowed chair had been created in my name. Without question, that always will be one of the most memorable moments of my life. Being able to name Alberta Sbragia the first 'Nordenberg Professor' magnifies the impact of that extraordinarily generous act, both in terms of my own feelings and in terms of our continuing quest to make Pitt an even better and stronger university.

"Professor Sbragia is an accomplished scholar, an award-winning teacher, and a respected academic leader," he said. "She also has served simultaneously as the director of two major University of Pittsburgh centers, one designated a national resource center by our federal government and the other designated a Center of Excellence by the European Union. Through that work, she has enriched the lives of faculty and students throughout the University. In a very real sense, she has been an institution builder, and the funds generated by this endowment will support her future efforts in that role."

Sbragia's career accomplishments include being designated as a Jean Monnet Chair ad personam, recognition given by the European Union to elite American academicians whose careers exemplify excellence in teaching and research related to the European Union. She is internationally renowned for her European scholarship. José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission of the EU, in a visit to Pitt last year - his first to an EU Center in the United States outside of Washington, D.C. - paid tribute to her leadership in the teaching of international affairs.

Sbragia joined Pitt in 1974 to teach American and European urban studies after receiving her Ph.D. that same year from the University of Wisconsin. Her doctoral studies included a year in Italy as a Fulbright Fellow. In 1983 she was a visiting associate professor at Harvard University, returning to Pitt in 1984, when she was named director of the Center for West European Studies. During her tenure, that center was competitively designated as a national resource center by the U.S. Department of Education and won re-certification as such three times. In 1998, she was also named director of Pitt's European Union Center, one of the original 10 such centers in the United States to be funded by the European Commission. Last year, that center was elevated to the status of a European Union Center of Excellence.

From 1993 to 1995, Sbragia served as chair of the European Community Studies Association, the foremost national association for experts in the field. Because of her leadership, the association is now headquartered at Pitt.

She is the author of four books: Comparative Regionalism in an Age of Globalization (under contract, CQ Press); Debt Wish: Entrepreneurial Cities, U.S. Federalism, and Economic Development (University of Pittsburgh Press, 1996); Euro-Politics: Politics and Policymaking in the "New" European Community (Edited book, Brookings Institution, 1992), largely credited with initiating a new wave of scholarly work in the United States on the topic of European integration; and The Municipal Money Chase: The Politics of Local Government Finance (Edited book, Westview Press, 1983). In addition, she has authored more than 50 articles and presented nearly 200 papers or speeches around the world.

"I feel extraordinarily humble and very honored to have been chosen as the recipient of the Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg Chair," Sbragia said today. "I'll strive to perform to the same high standards he has set as chancellor.

"I hope to be able to use this chair to deepen the impact of the work I've done thus far in the classroom, programmatically, and in my scholarship," she said. "My fervent desire is to involve our students further in international studies and increase their passion for knowledge of the world."

Nordenberg said Sbragia's international expertise has been instrumental in establishing Pitt as a leader in the field.

"Special strengths in international education and research are among the defining qualities of the University of Pittsburgh," he said. "Naming Professor Sbragia the inaugural holder of the Nordenberg chair provides her with a measure of well-deserved recognition for all that she has done to elevate our stature in this important area. Her selection also can be viewed as a reaffirmation of Pitt's commitment to continued excellence in international studies."

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