A $1 Million Gift From PNC
PNC Financial Services Group has given a $1 million gift to Carnegie Museums that it hopes will keep giving for years to come. The gift will provide annual operating support for all four museums as well as fund programs that PNC and Carnegie Museums consider mutually strategic. One such project, an exhibition of Andy Warhol’s prints at the Philharmonic Center for the Arts in Naples, Florida, opened on February 8 and runs through April 3. Florida is a market where PNC hopes to grow its private-banking business, and both PNC and Carnegie Museums are happy to be exporting a great Pittsburgh cultural asset—The Andy Warhol Museum—to the sunshine state, part of an effort to open the world’s eyes to the “new” Pittsburgh.

A Bridge Named Warhol
To cap off a year-long celebration of The Andy Warhol Museum’s 10th anniversary, Pittsburgh County Council unanimously voted to rename the Seventh Street Bridge—which connects downtown with The Warhol Museum—after native son Andy Warhol. The Warhol will celebrate the renaming on Friday, March 18, starting with a formal presentation by county officials followed by a host of fun public activities. Everyone is welcome.

Weather Beacon on the North Shore
Last December 1, the Science Center was the star of multiple live weather segments on ABC’s Good Morning America. TV personality Tony Perkins delivered the forecast live from the Science Center, which he introduced as “one of the coolest places in Pittsburgh and one of the best science centers in the world.” And local ABC-affiliate WTAE-TV Channel 4 used the opportunity to announce Weather Watch, its new partnership with the Science Center, which uses the cone sculpture on the roof of the Rangos Omnimax Theater to help deliver the latest weather news.

Every night as the city grows dark, the cone now serves as a weather prognosticator: Red means warmer temperatures ahead; Blue indicates a colder day; Green means no change expected; and Yellow warns of severe weather. Flashing anytime means rain or snow. WTAE-TV Channel 4 President and General Manager Rick Henry says he hopes the weather indicator will become “a new Pittsburgh icon.”

Christine Jack Olson Named New Chair of The Warhol Board
Christine Jack Olson is the new chair of The Andy Warhol Museum Board, succeeding Lea Simonds who served as board chair since its inception in 1994. Chairman and CEO of S.W. Jack Drilling Company in Indiana, Pa., Olson has been a Warhol board member since 1997 and was recently named a Carnegie Museums Trustee and member of the Executive Committee. She’s received numerous honors for her business success and community involvement and is active in the Republican Party, serving as the Republican National Committeewoman for Pennsylvania and founder and chair of the Anne B. Anstine Excellence in Public Service Series, which promotes women in politics. “I was both amazed and deeply grateful when Christine agreed to chair our board,” says Thomas Sokolowski, director of The Warhol. “And I’m tickled pink to know that sometimes after she’s finished a phone call from me, she gets a call from the White House.”

Carnegie Science Center Awards For Excellence Winners Announced
On February 2, the Science Center announced the winners of its 2005 Awards For Excellence. Winners will be honored at a gala on April 27.

Among this year’s winners are: Chairman’s Award, FedEx Ground; Advanced Manufacturing Award, Paul Arch, NOVA Chemicals; Catalyst Award, Steven G. Zylstra, Pittsburgh Technology Council; Corporate Innovation Award, Marlin H. Mickle, Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh; Entrepreneur Award, Peter M. DeComo, Renal Solutions, Inc.; Start-up Entrepreneur Award, Keith LeJeune, Ph.D., Agentase LLC; Environmental Award, Margaret H. Dunn, Stream Restoration Inc.; Information Technology Award, Richard Pethia, Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon University; Life Sciences Award, Stephen F. Badylak, D.V.M., M.D., Ph.D., McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine; and Educator Awards, James G. Rutkowski, Erie City School District; Bethany Foster-Wilhelm, Pittsburgh School District; Lisa Faddis, Jim Hopton, and Bill Phillips, Jefferson-Morgan School District; and Winston Erevelles, Ph.D., Robert Morris University.

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