The president of Pittsburgh Technical College sees herself as a change agent, someone who isn’t afraid to crack a few eggs to make an omelet — in other words, shake up a struggling institution despite resistance from faculty, staff, and students.
“She is a strong personality, and some may even say headstrong,” said a document prepared by a law firm to defend Alicia B. Harvey-Smith, president of Pittsburgh Tech since 2019, from allegations of misconduct. “In a time of crisis,” the lawyer wrote, “the college did not want and could not afford a milquetoast leader.”
Many current and former employees and even students at the college see things differently. They blame the president for creating a culture of mistrust by ostracizing critics, rewarding supporters financially, and promoting her own interests over those of the institution.
Nearly all the top administrators who were there when Harvey-Smith arrived have been fired or left the college. Several of those officials had complained to the college’s human-resources department and the board about the president.
Last summer, 82 percent of faculty and staff took part in a no-confidence vote against Harvey-Smith, voting 120 to zero in favor. In the fall, an outside investigation found that she’d committed potential misconduct, including allegations of mishandling college money and contracts. All but two of the board’s seven members resigned. The new board has not disciplined or fired Harvey-Smith, frustrating some of Pittsburgh Tech’s longest-tenured administrators.
“Dr. Harvey-Smith gives off a false sense of interest and couldn’t even be bothered to know the names of some of her direct reports,” said William Showers, the college’s former chief information officer, who left the college in January after nearly 23 years.
The college isn’t just dealing with concerns about its leadership. Between 2019 and 2023, the college’s average quarterly enrollment tumbled by more than a third, from 1,424 to 927, according to its own figures, and revenue plunged more than 40 percent. Nearly a quarter of full-time faculty positions were eliminated between 2020 and 2023, from 70 to 54, prompting concerns from both instructors and students about the quality of the education.
The turbulence at Pittsburgh Tech is just one of numerous examples of the challenges facing the nation’s small colleges — and raises questions about what kind of leader is needed to steer such institutions into sustainability.
In written responses to questions, Harvey-Smith defended the college’s academic offerings. “We have strong, in-demand programs,” she wrote, “and, as needed, we hire new faculty to ensure we deliver the highest quality of education. For example, we recently added a new graphic-design instructor.”
Bryce Bladen, who is studying graphic design at the college, said the two instructors in his major are overworked, trying to teach too many courses. Students are using class time to help the new instructor “understand how to teach a college course,” he said.
Bladen has just two quarters left, but he and others are uncertain about the institution’s future and skeptical of the president, especially the lack of transparency about the college’s condition.
“Whether it’s her unwillingness or [her] being told not to talk,” Bladen said, “people are definitely very upset with her leadership.”
‘I Am the President’
Tension had been building between Harvey-Smith and the college’s top administrators since she began there in 2019, according to several current and former employees. The situation began to boil over in the summer of 2023.
In July, a group of whistleblowers submitted a list of complaints and allegations of misconduct to the college’s lawyer and Board of Trustees. They alleged that more than $30,000 of the college’s money was spent to help produce Harvey-Smith’s latest book, titled Higher Education on the Brink, which offers eight brief case studies on ways colleges can use strategic enrollment management.
The president also unilaterally awarded a full scholarship to a student at a high school where she had been invited to speak, and gave a contract for copier services to a business whose owner had pledged to donate to the college, according to the whistleblowers.
The board hired an outside law firm, Dickie, McCamey & Chilcote, to investigate the allegations. In its report, delivered to the board in mid-September, the investigators concluded the president made decisions “without consulting necessary PTC stakeholders,” “without consideration of necessary costs and processes,” and “failed to comprehend the true effect of her decisions on PTC.”
The money to support the book was paid to a Pittsburgh-based marketing and public-relations firm for “editing and finalizing” the project, after a freelance writer, hired to research and draft portions of the material, had quit. The scope of work needed to complete the book was “substantial,” according to an employee at the PR firm, who told investigators that “parts of the manuscript she received essentially needed to be rewritten.”
Harvey-Smith told investigators that the book was meant to promote the college — one chapter is a case study of enrollment practices at Pittsburgh Tech — by showcasing her expertise.
In the case of the copier firm, Harvey-Smith made the decision to switch from the college’s current vendor to a new company — whose owner had previously pledged $100,000 to the college — and was the only college official to approve the contract. Pittsburgh Tech’s general counsel, who has since resigned, and chief financial officer refused to sign off, according to the investigators’ report.
Harvey-Smith also sought to insert language in all current and future contracts to require scholarship donations from vendors, despite advice against this practice from the general counsel and an outside law firm, the report said.
The full scholarship that Harvey-Smith gave to the local high-school student would cost a minimum of $34,000 annually, the report said, and could total some 10 percent of the college’s total budget for institutional aid.
“We would expect that such a generous gift would be the result of careful planning and handled with the utmost care,” the report said. “But it seems there was no consideration or planning behind the decision at all.”
All three incidents could be considered potential misconduct, the lawyers wrote. What’s more, the report said, Harvey-Smith had a leadership style that “blurred the line between herself and the college.”
“I am the president,” the report quoted Harvey-Smith from an interview with the lawyers. “When you are, you can make these decisions.”
‘Full and Unwavering Support’
The damning report nearly spelled the end of Harvey-Smith’s tenure as president. But not quite.
In September, the board deliberated over the findings and sent the report to Harvey-Smith for her response. Of the six who attended a meeting on September 22, four were in favor of removing Harvey-Smith as president, according to minutes obtained by The Chronicle.
In the weeks following that meeting, five of the board’s seven members resigned. The two who remained had supported Harvey-Smith at the meeting. Former board members contacted by The Chronicle did not respond to requests for comment.
In October, Harvey-Smith’s lawyer submitted a response to the report on the president’s behalf. The response didn’t dispute most of the facts, but it countered that she was entitled as president to wield such authority.
The book was a legitimate way to promote the college, Harvey-Smith’s lawyer wrote, and she had pledged to donate any proceeds from its sale to the institution. The response asserted that the president didn’t act inappropriately when spearheading the copier-services contract, and that scholarships are a common way for colleges to attract attention from potential students.
“Harvey-Smith’s actions may not always have been perfect,” wrote the lawyer responding on her behalf, “but they were always well-intentioned, consistent with what she perceived as her marching orders, and compliant with all laws, regulations, policies, and directives.”
The whistleblowers, on the other hand, sought to “stage a palace coup” by trumping up charges against the president, Harvey-Smith’s lawyer wrote, and may have failed to adapt to a strong leader.
“When you challenge employees and push, pull, and otherwise prod employees to fulfill that vision of change,” he added, “some of those employees grow resentful.”
After reviewing the president’s rebuttals, the two remaining board members issued a news release announcing that the investigation was now closed, and that they were continuing their support for Harvey-Smith. On October 16, the board added five new members and issued a news release that it was time for the college to move forward.
Harvey-Smith “remains a brave and committed leader in the face of these attacks that serve only to harm the college,” said the board’s statement. “She has our full and unwavering support.”
The college declined to make any current board members available for an interview, providing only written statements from the co-chairs in support of Harvey-Smith.
While the board and Harvey-Smith have sought to shift attention from the complaints, the fallout for the whistleblowers and others on campus continued, according to several current and former employees who spoke with The Chronicle.
One of the whistleblowers was Nancy Feather, the college’s former executive director of institutional effectiveness and research and its registrar. Feather said she wrote an email in September to two board members and the human-resources department, complaining that the president was harassing her with onerous work requests. She said she thought the complaint was confidential.
On October 31, Feather said the head of campus security met with her and told her the president had been given the email containing the complaint.
Feather assured campus security that the email was not a threat against the president, she said. But two hours later she was summoned to a meeting with a local police officer who told her the police department was required to follow up because a 911 call had been made.
Steven Psomas, a detective at the local police department, confirmed to The Chronicle that Harvey-Smith had called 911, and that an officer had gone to the campus and met with both Feather and Harvey-Smith. Psomas said the department considered Harvey-Smith’s concerns “unfounded.”
“We only get involved in criminal activity,” he said, “and no crime had occurred.”
Feather was shaken. The next day, she said, she stayed home from work. The following day, someone from human resources called to tell her that her position had been eliminated. She had worked at the college for 24 years.
In a written statement, Harvey-Smith declined to discuss the specifics but said the college was following its internal safety protocols.
Uncertainty Ahead
With the departure of Feather and most of the college’s other senior administrators, Harvey-Smith said she has elevated the college’s “academic chairs,” who now report directly to her as her cabinet.
Michael Russell, academic chair of both the School of Design and the School of Information Systems and Technology, is among the president’s supporters, according to a written statement provided by a public-relations firm. Russell said he is confident that Harvey-Smith “possesses the passion, confidence, and steady hand to continue engaging with the community and moving our college forward.”
“In all my years at PTC,” Russell wrote, “I have never been this hopeful as to the future of our college and as trusting of the leadership as I am today.”
Harvey-Smith told The Chronicle she has started communicating more frequently with the campus community by holding monthly meetings that are open to all faculty and staff. She has also set a regular weekly meeting for students.
Harvey-Smith added that the college has plenty of positive news to report, such as being included in the Military Times’s rankings of colleges that are “Best for Vets” in 2023.
Colleges join those rankings by completing a survey of their offerings and support services. Pittsburgh Tech was ranked at number 300 out of 325 on the list; 28th out of 30 in the Mid-Atlantic region; and 34th out of 35 for colleges that offer career and technical education.
The college is now under increased scrutiny from its accreditor. The Middle States Commission on Higher Education has asked the college to provide information on whether it is complying with standards on ethics and integrity; planning, resources, and institutional improvement; and governance, leadership, and administration. The institution remains accredited and is not under any sanctions from the commission.
The college defaulted on $41 million in debts last year — money it had borrowed when it converted from a for-profit entity to nonprofit — and had to negotiate a forbearance agreement with creditors, according to audited financial statements. To continue operating, the college is looking for an entity to form a merger, according to the independent auditors.
Auditors also estimated that the college would fail the U.S. Department of Education’s financial responsibility test, making it possible that the department would require a letter of credit or constrain the flow of federal financial aid to the college.
Even if Harvey-Smith is able to repair the college’s flagging finances and falling enrollment, it may be too late to convince many faculty and students the college is on the right track.
Ashley Davis, an assistant professor of nursing at Pittsburgh Tech, said she hasn’t read the investigative report and didn’t take part in the no-confidence vote. But Davis said she sees the consequences of the president’s leadership style.
It seems that people are leaving or being fired daily, Davis said, and the people who are left behind are exhausted by trying to do the work that remains. Davis, too, considered resigning in January, she said. For now, her students convinced her to stay.
