Wesley Posvar

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Wesley Wentz Posvar (1925–2001) was the fifteenth Chancellor (1967-1991) of the University of Pittsburgh.

His administration is best known for elimination of the university's debt from its 1960s financial crisis and growing the school's prestige and endowment. Under Posvar, Pitt's operating budget grew sevenfold to $630 million and its endowment tripled to $257 million. He also established the Honors College, the School of Health-Related Professions, the University Center for International Studies, the Center for Philosophy of Science, and the University Center for Social and Urban Research.

In 2000 Pitt's Forbes Quadrangle building, on the site of the former Forbes Field, was renamed Wesley W. Posvar Hall in his honor.

He also was the founding chairman of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Posvar was born September 14, 1925 in Topeka, Kansas. He attended West Point, and after graduation in 1946 he joined the U.S. Air Force. He was the first Air Force officer to win a Rhodes Scholarship, earning both a bachelor's and master's at Oxford University. At Harvard University he earned a master's in public administration and a Ph.D. in political science. Posvar achieved the Air Force rank of brigadier general.

Posvar married Mildred Miller and they had three children.

He died of a heart attack on July 27, 2001. He was buried full with military honors at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

[edit] Posvar scandal at the University of Pittsburgh

Posvar's administration closed with some controversy. Before attending his first Pitt Board of Trustees meeting in summer 1991, then Chancellor-Elect J. Dennis O'Connor telephoned an administrator here to check on logistics for the visit. "By the way", O'Connor asked, "where do I park my white horse?" In his self-deprecating way, O'Connor was acknowledging the sky-high hopes that many people at Pitt had for him in the closing, scandal-ridden months of Wesley Posvar's administration. O'Connor pledged a new era of openness and accountability. 1

The above quote, taken from the University Times, refers to the financial scandal involving the retirement package taken by the retiring Wes Posvar and approved by his board. The controversy stemmed from a perceived lack of transparency by the faculty that resulted in a vote of no confidence, and the fact that the retirement package was taken during a period of financial crisis for the University.

The retirement package included a $938,000 lump-sum payment, an annual "salary" of $201,000 for life, and annuities from two pension plans. In September 1991, Posvar agreed to a trimmed-down annual salary for life of $146,600. He also agreed to pay back a low-interest mortgage loan he was not required to reimburse and to donate the cash value from a life insurance policy Pitt had purchased for him. 2

Preceded by David Kurtzman	University of Pittsburgh Chancellor 1967 – 1991	Succeeded by J. Dennis O'Connor

[edit] References

Alberts, Robert C. (1987). Pitt: The Story of the University of Pittsburgh 1787-1987. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press. ISBN 0-8229-1150-7.
University Times, Volume 27 Number 16
Obituary from the University Times