Kathy Humphrey serves the University as the Senior Vice Chancellor for Engagement, Secretary of the Board of Trustees, and as Chancellor Gallagher’s Chief of Staff. She concentrates on internal and external relations, focusing on facilitating business engagement, strategic initiatives and partnerships, and government interaction at all levels. She works closely with Pitt senior management to position the University to have maximum impact in the region, the Commonwealth, and beyond. In addition to working with all of the staff who report to the Chancellor, the Office of Community and Governmental Relations, the Office of University Communications, the Office of Secretary, the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, and the Office of Economic Partnerships report directly to her.

For the past nine years, Humphrey was Pitt’s vice provost and dean of students, helping college students find their purpose and passions. She was responsible for many important areas at the University including the Office of Student Life, Residence Life, University Counseling Center, Student Health Service, Student Conduct, Career Development and Placement Assistance, Disability Resources and Services, Intramurals and Recreation, Office of International Services, Pitt Arts, PittServes, and the Office of Cross-Cultural and Leadership Development Center.

Under her leadership, these units maximized student learning and development. In 2008, she spearheaded the Outside the Classroom Curriculum, an initiative that engages students in a structured series of developmental experiences that complement each student’s academic studies.

Humphrey has received numerous awards and recognitions, including a YWCA Tribute to Women Leadership Award (in Education); selection as a member of the New Pittsburgh Courier 50 Women of Excellence; and the University of Pittsburgh African American Alumni Council (AAAC) inaugural Sankofa Award. She was selected as the Pitt Administrator of the Year on many occasions by the student body, and she was one of 32 women from 13 countries chosen to participate in the International Women’s Forum Leadership Foundation Fellows Program.

Active in the Macedonia Baptist Church, Humphrey serves on the Board of Directors of the Pittsburgh American Red Cross, Three Rivers Adoption Council, and Leadership Pittsburgh, and she was appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Transportation to serve on the Advisory Council for the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. 

Prior to joining the leadership team at Pitt, Humphrey worked at Saint Louis University for 11 years, including six years in which she served as the Vice President for Student Development. She was awarded the William B. Sweet Distinguished Service Award, the Woman of the Year, and had the “Kathy W. Humphrey Award for Diversity” named in her honor by the International Student Federation.

Humphrey earned a BS in education at Central Missouri State University (now the University of Central Missouri), an MA in higher education administration at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and a doctorate in educational leadership at Saint Louis University. She has a faculty appointment in Pitt’s School of Education and is committed to seeing that Pitt provides the best collegiate experience in the world for students, faculty, staff, and the community.

She and her husband Lyle have been married for 30 years, and they have twin college-aged sons, Daniel and David. The 10th of 11 children, she also is aunt to 86 nieces and nephews.