Mark Nordenberg has held many key leadership positions during his career at the University of Pittsburgh, including Dean of the School of Law and Chancellor of the University. During his nearly two decades of service as Chancellor, Pitt achieved dramatically higher levels of quality and impact on virtually every front, and the higher education and healthcare sector played a critical role in the rebirth of the regional economy. He currently serves as Chair of Pitt’s Institute of Politics and Director of its Dick Thornburgh Forum for Law & Public Policy and holds the special faculty rank of Distinguished Service Professor of Law.
Nordenberg has received many honors, including recognition, with CMU President Jared Cohon, as Pittsburgh’s Person- of-the-Year by Pittsburgh magazine and as a History-Maker by the Senator John Heinz History Center. He also received the Lifetime Achievement in Governance Award from the National Association of Corporate Directors, Three Rivers Chapter, reflecting his long board service at the Bank of New York Mellon, the BNY Mellon Foundation for Southwestern Pennsylvania, Manchester Bidwell, Pitt, Thiel College and UPMC and his work as founding co-chair of the Pittsburgh Digital Greenhouse, Life Sciences Greenhouse, and Robotics Foundry.
To honor his many contributions and accomplishments, Pitt trustees and other donors personally endowed both a professorship and an undergraduate scholarship program in his name. Pitt’s newest residence hall also is named for him. Pitt’s University Senate and Staff Association Council dedicated two marble benches to honor Nordenberg and his wife, Dr. Nikki Nordenberg, for their contributions to the University. The Pitt Alumni Association named him a Distinguished Alumni Fellow, and Pitt students named a social space in the William Pitt Student Union in his honor.
Nordenberg served on the special independent committee created by the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh to fairly disburse donations made to its “victims of terror fund” in the aftermath of the shootings at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue. He is the founding co-chair, with Laura Ellsworth, of the Eradicate Hate Global Summit, which already is recognized as the most comprehensive anti-hate conference in the world. Following the 2020 census, he served as Chair of Pennsylvania’s Legislative Reapportionment Commission, having been named to that position by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.