This father-daughter team has helped commencement run smoothly for a half century

For Heather Howe Hoffman and Dick Howe, doing service for Pitt is a family affair. This year, the father-daughter duo reached a combined 50 years of volunteering as the chief roving marshal at University-wide commencement ceremonies.

Rovers are the unsung heroes of commencement - floor managers who ensure the ceremony goes smoothly from start to finish; they oversee graduates as they enter and exit, advise on the proper way to wear regalia, and ensure no beachballs, noisemakers or other contraband make their way into the event space. The chief roving marshal, working closely with Pitt's special events team, recruits, trains and supervises about 10 rover volunteers per ceremony.

Since 1975, every Pitt graduate to cross the stage has been helped along the way by rovers, maybe even Hoffman or Howe themselves. Howe, who retired in 2016 as associate dean in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences after a 45-year career, had a front-row - really a ground-floor - view of his three daughters' Pitt graduations; he acted as roving marshal during each of their commencements.

When he first took on the role, it was a complement to his position as assistant chair of the Dietrich School's Department of Chemistry, Howe said.

"After working hard to recruit students and spending four to five years advising them, it was a delight to stand at the bottom of the stage at commencement and shake their hands," he added.

After Howe retired, Hoffman (A&S '06, EDUC '10G), then associate director in Pitt's Office of Admissions and Financial Aid, agreed to step in as chief roving marshal, even continuing after she took a job outside the University. The duo's goal - make it to 50 years total of volunteer service for the family.

Seeing Hoffman take over the family tradition "made this old rover an extremely proud father," said Howe.

There was only one year during Howe's tenure at Pitt that a colleague stepped in as chief roving marshal. So, even though he first served in 1975, it took until 2026 to reach the half century milestone. For Howe and Hoffman, it was worth the wait.

"Getting to do something that my dad loved and meant so much to him made it special," Hoffman added.

Photography by Aimee Obidzinski