Westinghouse Electric Co. Chairman Stephen R. Tritch, elected yesterday to lead the University of Pittsburgh board of trustees, said the recession is probably the biggest challenge facing the university.

The new board chairman said he and the rest of Pitt's leadership "will work hard to do what we can to make sure this university moves through it strongly and comes out the other side even better than we are today."

Even as he uttered those words at a news conference introducing him to reporters, Gov. Ed Rendell was announcing more proposed state budget cuts in Harrisburg that could complicate the university's finances.

Mr. Tritch, a Pitt graduate who already is a member of the trustees board, was named the successor to previous chair Ralph J. Cappy, retired chief justice of Pennsylvania, who died suddenly last month.

The vote electing Mr. Tritch came at the same board meeting during which Pitt Chancellor Mark Nordenberg, his voice tinged with emotion, read a resolution praising Mr. Cappy's contributions, including those as Pitt's chairman since 2003. During the meeting, the trustees voted to create an endowed scholarship in the law school bearing the chief justice's name.

"Many of you have said -- and I agree -- I have huge shoes to fill," Mr. Tritch said after the vote naming him Mr. Cappy's successor.

Seated beside Mr. Nordenberg during the news conference, Mr. Tritch cited Pitt's progress on various fronts in recent years. He said he appreciated the university's importance both from the perspective of a former student and as an employer in a region that has benefited from Pitt's graduates and its research.

Mr. Tritch earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering in 1971. He received an M.B.A. in 1977 from the school.

"I feel a deep sense of responsibility and duty to do what I can to help the university, to give back for what the university has provided to me, both as a student and an employer," he said.