Advisory Board
PREAMBLE TO THE PITT NEWS ADVISORY BOARD CONSTITUTION
The Board of Trustees of the University of Pittsburgh, in recognition of the constitutional right of students to freedom of speech, has charged the Vice Provost and Dean of Students to recognize campus publications, to provide resources for their establishment and continued operation, and to design supervisory mechanisms that do not conflict with the right to freedom of speech.
To accomplish this goal, the Vice Provost and Dean of Students has recognized The Pitt News as an official student publication, assigned facilities in the William Pitt Union, provided professional staff support through the Office of Student Life, and authorized this Pitt News Advisory Board to advise and support The Pitt News.
The Pitt News is responsible for the business and editorial content of the student newspaper. This authority is delegated to the editor in chief and business manager of The Pitt News…
…The Pitt News Advisory Board shall serve as publisher of The Pitt News, bearing fiscal and administrative oversight for the newspaper. The Board shall uphold, interpret and approve changes to The Pitt News constitution. The Board shall advise students, support the freedom of the student press and further the educational mission of The Pitt News.
WHAT IS THE PITT NEWS?
The Pitt News is the official student newspaper of the University of Pittsburgh. It is supported by revenue from advertising sold by the students on the business staff.
Editorially, the Pitt News is independent: no university employee or organization previews or dictates content. The student editor in chief and the business manager have sole responsibility and authority for content of the newspaper.
WHAT IS THE PITT NEWS ADVISORY BOARD?
The Board is the publisher of The Pitt News. The Board has a range of administrative and fiscal responsibilities, including setting the budget, selecting the business manager and editor in chief, putting on educational and special events, and serving on occasion as liaison between The Pitt News and the wider community. The board also works with the newspaper’s professional staff.
The Pitt News Advisory Board is made up of a sampling of the people the Pitt News serves. This includes students, members of the university and Oakland communities, professional journalists, and communications and business professionals.
WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE BOARD AND THE PITT NEWS?
In some areas, the Board has direct responsibility for the newspaper, as in setting the budget and selecting the editor in chief and the business manager.
In some other areas, the board acts as an adviser or resource for the newspaper’s staff.
It is important to note that the Board does not preview or control content of the Pitt News. The courts have protected the First Amendment rights of student publications at state-funded universities. The Pitt News and Pitt News Advisory Board constitutions acknowledge those rights.
MEMBERSHIP
Members of the University community or the Pitt News Advisory Board may nominate candidates to serve on the Board when an opening is announced (You may nominate yourself). If you are interested in becoming a member of the Pitt News Advisory Board, please contact the secretary/treasurer at [email protected]. The secretary/treasurer will forward the name of a nominee to the Executive Committee along with a description of the nominee’s qualifications and an explanation of why he or she will be an asset to the Board. The Executive Committee will then decide whether to invite the nominee to submit a resume and letter requesting a board seat. The Executive Committee will then choose from among the nominees and submit its choices to the Vice Provost and Dean of Students for final approval. Nominees will join the Board upon approval by the Vice Provost and Dean of Students.
Board members shall be chosen to fill any or all of the following categories that represent a cross section of the community:
- One or two members of the University of Pittsburgh faculty, administration or staff employee who are not otherwise affiliated with The Pitt News.
- Between one and three persons with professional experience in general business or in newspaper advertising.
Between one and three persons with professional experience in editing or writing for a daily or weekly newspaper. - A member of the Oakland community.
- Up to two at-large members, chosen for reasons that the Executive Board deems useful to the Board and to the students who produce The Pitt News. These members may fit into any of the above categories.
- A university student who is not affiliated with The Pitt News.
Student seats are given to individuals, not organizations. No University organization is guaranteed representation on the Board. The board has pledged to seek out the widest possible array of voices and viewpoints.
Terms for non-student members of the board are for three years, and each member may be reappointed to a second three-year term. Terms will be staggered, with approximately one-third of the non-student members of the board being appointed or reappointed each year.
MEET THE BOARD
Jennifer Bertetto
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Jennifer Bertetto is the chair of the PNA Board of Directors and the president and CEO of Trib Total Media and 535media in Pittsburgh, Pa. Jenn has been the President and CEO of Trib Total Media since 2015 and has been employed by the company since 1998. Under her leadership, the Trib has been named the “Best Overall Newspaper” by the Keystone Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists for four of the last five years. The Trib is also a three-time Emmy winner and the recipient of a national Edward R. Murrow award for best feature. Jenn is active with the News Media Alliance and testified on Capitol Hill to support the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act in 2022. In 2022, she was named “Publisher of the Year” by Editor and Publisher.She is a 1997 graduate of the University of Pittsburgh and holds certificates in strategic management and leadership and management from The Wharton School. In addition to her board roles with PNA and NewsMedia Alliance, she is also the vice president of the National Aviary in Pittsburgh, a member of the Board of Trustees for Westminster College and a board member of WAN-IFRA. In her spare time, Jenn enjoys spending time with her husband of 24 years, Keith, and their five cats. She is an exercise enthusiast and has worked out seven days a week for over 13 years without missing one day. |
Megan Harris |
Megan Harris is an editor and producer, currently serving as host and founding creative with . Previously, she led all editorial coverage for WESA’s flagship daily news show, ; co-produced the and podcasts; and covered education, city planning, sports, crime and breaking news for outlets in Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Tennessee. Her award-winning reporting has also appeared with NPR, the New York Post, USA Today and others. She has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Memphis and is a master’s candidate at Chatham University.
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Ashley Johnson |
Ashley Johnson is the sales director for the New Pittsburgh Courier newspaper. Previously, she served as the advertising coordinator. Prior to taking a position in the advertising department, she spent approximately 10 years in the editorial department as an editorial assistant and then as an associate editor. During her time with the Courier, the publication has earned several state and local awards, including the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association Foundation’s Newspaper of the Year honor for weeklies, as well as winning national attention for its series on Black homicides. She earned a bachelor’s degree in print journalism from Point Park University. In addition to her work with the Courier, Johnson serves on boards for The Pittsburgh Black Media Federation, Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, Travelers Aid and Urban Academy of Greater Pittsburgh Charter School. She lives in the greater Pittsburgh area.
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Rich Lord |
Rich Lord is the managing editor at PublicSource, an online, nonprofit newsroom covering Pittsburgh. He reported for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from 2005 through early 2020, leading projects on child poverty and the opioid epidemic, and was part of a team that won the Pulitzer Prize for breaking news reporting, for coverage of the Tree of Life massacre. Rich has also worked for the Pittsburgh City Paper and the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. He wrote a 2004 book about the subprime mortgage industry, called “American Nightmare: Predatory Lending and the Foreclosure of the American Dream.” Rich graduated from George Washington University, and he and his family can often be found on Western Pennsylvania bike trails.
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Dana Nowlin-Russell |
Dana Nowlin-Russell is a teaching assistant professor in the University of Pittsburgh’s Department of English. She also tutors in the Writing Center and serves as the director of the department’s Public and Professional Writing Program and director of Grant Writing Support for the Writing Institute. Nowlin-Russell has a diverse professional experience that includes working in education, mental health, and publishing, and she has collaborated with administrators, students and writers across various settings. She has a BA in sociology, a PPW certificate from the University of Pittsburgh, and an MFA in creative writing from Chatham University. She lives in Baldwin with her husband and two fur kids.
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Katelyn Polantz |
Katelyn Polantz has spent more than a decade covering the legal industry, federal courts and the Justice Department as a reporter in Washington, DC. She is the on-air senior Justice reporter for CNN. She reports on politically sensitive investigations and the separation of powers, and in recent years has been part of investigative reporting units focused on the Mueller investigation, the impeachments of then-President Donald Trump, the aftermath of the January 6 Capitol riot, and, most recently, the federal special counsel investigations following the Trump presidency. In 2020, she won an Emmy Award for CNN’s exclusive coverage of the arrest of Roger Stone. Coupling source reporting with public records access efforts, Katelyn’s work has led to the release of thousands of government documents. She previously was a reporter at the National Law Journal, PBS NewsHour and the Roanoke (Va.) Times. But she got her start in journalism as a copy editor, news reporter and editor-in-chief (2008-2009) at The Pitt News. She hails from Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
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Gayle Rogers |
Gayle Rogers is the Andrew W. Mellon professor and chair of the Department of English. He is a member of the executive committee of the Association of Departments of English, associate editor of Critical Quarterly, and a member of the advisory board of Modernism/modernity. He has organized several conferences, given dozens of invited lectures, and is the author/co-author of four books, most recently Speculation: A Cultural History from Aristotle to AI. With Sean Latham, he co-edited the series New Modernisms (Bloomsbury Academic). He studies the history of culture, risk, behavior, and the intersections of culture and economic forces. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University and his Ph.D. from Northwestern University.
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Vidya Surti |
Vidya Surti is a senior at the University of Pittsburgh studying anthropology with minors in English and chemistry and a certificate in global health. She holds the following nonprofit board positions in Pittsburgh: Radiant Hall (an arts nonprofit) and Queens Gambit (a youth chess nonprofit). During the previous summer, Vidya was a Browne Fellow and Humanities Research Fellow at the University of Pittsburgh. Vidya also interacts with the government and was recently appointed by Mayor Ed Gainey to serve on the City-County Task Force on Disabilities. Furthermore, she is a Young Leadership Council member for the American Lung Association Pittsburgh Chapter and a Student Advisory Council Member for Flourish Labs, a mental health startup. She also has a budding interest in healthcare through engaging in the Jewish Healthcare Foundation fellowships: the Salk Health Activist and Patient Safety Fellowships. Vidya has amplified musculoskeletal pain syndrome and received a diagnosis at 17. As a disability advocate, she wishes to seek further study in a JD/MPH or a JD/Ph.D. program in healthcare quality and safety to further bolster her interests in health policy, leadership and community-impacted research design.
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Estelle Tran |
Estelle Tran is a prices lead at CRU based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Estelle joined CRU as a steel and ferroalloy prices analyst in October 2017. She is the editor of the Steel Monitor and analyzes the monthly service centre inventories report for Steel Market Update. Prior to joining CRU, Estelle worked at S&P Global Platts, reporting on flat-rolled steel, long steel, primary aluminum and trade issues. She earned a B.A. in English writing and history from the University of Pittsburgh and worked for The Pitt News as a reporter, assistant news editor and copy editor.
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Katherine Quinlan Wistner |
Katherine Quinlan Wistner is a junior majoring in marketing and business information systems with a certificate in digital media. She has worked at The Pitt News as an assistant marketing manager since the spring of her freshman year and has just taken on the role of marketing manager this semester. Outside of TPN, she is the vice president of Marketing and Member Relations for Women in Business and a member of Delta Delta Delta. She also worked in New York City this summer as a sales and marketing intern for Kim Seybert, Inc. and will be studying abroad next semester in London. |
Andrea Boykowycz |
Andrea Boykowycz is currently interim director at Oakland Planning and Development Corporation. She lives in Central Oakland – on the same street where she grew up – with her husband and two children and several cats, one of whom has some notoriety courtesy of The Pitt News. She is deeply committed to building holistic community in Oakland in which everyone can thrive, and is always eager to connect students with neighbors and neighborhood resources. Andrea earned her bachelor’s degree in political science from Columbia University and a master’s degree in European history at the Central European University in Budapest.
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