Seven retiring from Pitt-Bradford

Seven long-time employees of the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford will be retiring before the end of summer, including some of the longest-serving members of the staff and faculty.

All told, Bill Kline, Dr. David Soriano, Leasa Maley, Dr. Don Ulin, Pat Frantz Cercone, Jody Randolph and Dr. Nancy McCabe have a combined 218 years of service at the university.

“Each retiree has left a unique imprint – whether in the classroom, behind the scenes or out in the community representing our values,” said Richard Esch, president of Pitt-Bradford, at a reception held for retirees last month.

Kline, director of computer, telecommunications and media services is the longest-serving staff member at Pitt-Bradford. He and Soriano, associate professor of chemistry, both began working at Pitt-Bradford in 1984.

Kline began working in CTM even before he earned his Bachelor of Science in computer science at Pitt-Bradford. During his tenure, he has had a significant role in adding modern computing labs, improving cellular coverage and making sure that everything that plugs in on campus is in working order.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, he led CTM’s seven-person staff to create the technology solutions needed for remote working and learning to happen. In 2023, he received the Pitt-Bradford Staff Association’s Staff Recognition Award.

Soriano has taught general and organic chemistry, Synthetic Organic Chemistry, Organic Analysis, Advanced Organic Chemistry, Medicinal Chemistry and one of the most popular science courses on campus for non-science majors, Drugs and Society. 

His research interests have included bio-lubricants, activated carbon and the photo-Fenton reaction. He plans to continue researching with Pitt-Bradford faculty and students. This year, he served as the interim chair of the Division of Physical and Computational Sciences.

He is a self-trained artist and enjoys creating his own novel paint formulations for testing, including oil sticks and oil pastels and gouache, an opaque water-soluble paint.

Maley has served 37 years at Pitt-Bradford. She began as a textbook buyer in The Panther Shop, then moved through a variety of roles, including book center assistant manager, before becoming manager of The Panther Shop in 2003. In 2020, she became the assistant director of auxiliary services.

Maley also taught skiing and snowboarding to students at Holiday Valley Ski Resort in Ellicottville, N.Y., and advised the Pitt-Bradford Ski Club. She often invited international students to her home and celebrated with some of them at their weddings around the world.

In 2024, she received the President’s Award for Staff Excellence.

Ulin, professor of English, came to Pitt-Bradford in 1998. Ulin’s interests and teaching extend far beyond teaching literature. He has taught 25 different courses during his time at Pitt-Bradford, including Japanese culture after a study abroad program to the campus’s sister school, Yokohama College of Commerce. Each December, he has collaborated with the Friends of Hanley Library to present Seasonal Readings on WESB radio or in person.

He has also led the Quaker Alternatives to Violence Program for inmates at the Federal Correctional Institution – McKean. This spring, he gave a maple syrup making demonstration on campus.

In 2021, he published “Writing Home: A Quaker Immigrant on the Ohio Frontier,” an edited and annotated book of letters from a 19th-century Quaker woman living on the Ohio frontier to her family in England, including Mary Howitt, one of the most popular writers of her day.

This fall, he will publish an edited and supplemented version of Howitt’s “Our Cousins in Ohio” with Edinburgh University Press.

Cercone, executive director of communications and marketing, has been at Pitt-Bradford for 25 years.

She began as assistant director of public relations in 2000 and was named director of communications the following year and became a member of the president’s cabinet. In 2009, she became executive director of communications and marketing. 

Last year, she received the Chancellor’s Outstanding Career Achievement Award for spearheading the growth of communications at Pitt-Bradford and performing beyond expectations in her leadership roles.

Randolph and McCabe, professor of writing, both began working at Pitt-Bradford in 2001.

Randolph began her career at Pitt-Bradford as an administrative assistant in the President’s Office before serving as an administrative assistant for academic divisions and becoming the program and database coordinator for the education program in 2019. In that role, she coordinated the university’s College in the High School program, which allows more than a thousand high school students each year to earn college credit while taking classes in their high school. She also administered student teacher placements for education students.

Finally, McCabe will retire with not just 24 years under belt, but also eight books and numerous published essays, poems and short stories. She has taught creative nonfiction, fiction, poetry and journalism. Additionally, she has worked with the community to bring One Book Bradford authors to campus and coordinated the visiting writers portion of the Spectrum Arts Series. Visiting writers during her tenure have included Nnedi Okorafor, Robin Wall Kimmerer and Sena Jeter Naslund.

In 2005, she received the Chairs’ Faculty Teaching Award and in 2018, she was honored with the President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, Scholarship and Service.

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