Pitt announced 3 leadership appointments

The University of Pittsburgh has appointed three leaders who will continue to strengthen Pitt’s commitment to both student success and long-term financial sustainability.

Effective Aug. 15, the appointments are key to building on areas that support those priorities — from a world-renowned faculty to nationally recognized academic infrastructure to a student affairs division attuned to the non-academic dimensions of student life.

April Belback has been promoted to vice provost for student success, Don Elliott has been promoted to senior vice provost for budget and institutional effectiveness, and Enku Gelaye joins the University as senior vice provost for student experience strategy.

April Belback

Since joining the Office of the Provost in 2019 and with her appointment as associate vice provost for student success and advising in 2023, April Belback has strengthened the academic infrastructure at the heart of Pitt’s student success efforts, including advising, retention and academic support.

Most recently, Belback received the Leadership Award from the Association for Undergraduate Education at Research Universities in recognition of her extraordinary contributions to advancing undergraduate education at research universities. Her work has significantly improved student satisfaction with advising while contributing to retention and graduation rates that continue to reach record levels.

Belback’s promotion recognizes both her outstanding record of achievement and the central role her portfolio plays in Pitt’s student success efforts. It also positions her work to have an even greater impact across all University campuses and — in collaboration with Graduate Studies — on the success of Pitt’s graduate and professional students.

Don Elliott

Since joining Pitt in 2024, Don Ellioitt has made an immediate impact by strengthening the University’s strategic budget planning and advancing data-informed decision-making. In this expanded role, he will lead the modernization of the University’s academic budgeting and operational practices, helping to ensure Pitt is well positioned to meet the fiscal challenges facing higher education with discipline, agility and strength.

Enku Gelaye

As senior vice provost for student experience strategy, Enku Gelaye will ensure Pitt’s academic success and student experience initiatives are fully integrated, mutually reinforcing and assessed as a unified whole.

While a newcomer to Pitt, Gelaye has led this work before. As senior vice president and dean of campus life at Emory University, she created the institution’s first integrated student success and experience framework, aligning strategy, budgets and outcomes across academics, engagement and well-being. Earlier, as vice chancellor for student affairs and campus life at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, she helped lead a similar integration between academic affairs and student support during a period in which the university rose from approximately No. 99 to No. 64 in U.S. News & World Report’s national rankings.

Most recently, Gelaye has worked with senior leaders across the Five College Consortium in Amherst, Massachusetts, to advance AI-driven innovation in teaching, advising and student support. At Pitt, she will develop a shared strategic vision that integrates the University’s student success expertise and its student affairs teams, building the frameworks that allow Pitt to better understand — and support — the whole student.

“Together, these three appointments reflect one continuous commitment: That the strength we have built — academically, experientially and operationally — works as one cohesive whole in service of our students and our University,” said Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor Joe McCarthy in an Aug. 11 announcement.