Accolades

Christel N. Temple, a professor with Pitt’s Department of Africana Studies in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, has received the 2021 College Language Association's (CLA) Book Award for “Black Cultural Mythology.”

Founded in 1937 by a group of Black scholars and educators, CLA is an organization of college teachers of English and world languages that serves the academic, scholarly and professional interests of its members and the collegiate communities they represent. Part of the CLA’s mission is to encourage scholarly research in and the teaching of Black literatures and cultures as necessary aspects of higher education. The association will also publish a journal.

Temple’s “Black Cultural Mythology” surveys more than 200 years of figures, moments, ideas and canonical works by such visionaries as Maria Stewart, Richard Wright, Colson Whitehead and Edwidge Danticat to map an expansive yet broadly overlooked intellectual tradition of Black cultural mythology and to provide a new conceptual framework for analyzing this tradition.

Among other comments, judges said the book is “a very necessary and long overdue call for the development of a Black (Africana) Cultural Mythology. It is extraordinarily well researched, having been some 10 years in development, and builds on the idea of black culture as ‘a sacred inheritance.’”

Temple, former chair of Pitt’s Africana studies department, is also an affiliate of the Graduate Program for Cultural Studies, the Critical European Culture Studies doctoral program and the African Studies Program. Her major fields of interest are Africana Cultural Memory Studies, Comparative Africana Literature, Black Nationalism, Pan-Africanism and Afroeuropean Studies. 

The University of Tehran held a Zoom webinar in honor of Pitt's Nicholas Rescher, on April 11, 2021. 

Rescher, now 92 years old, is a German-American philosopher, polymath and author, teaching at the University of Pittsburgh. He is chair of the Center for Philosophy of Science and was formerly chairman of the philosophy department in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences.

In the webinar, Nadia Maftouni, a prominent Iranian academic, author, artist and Yale senior research scholar hosted Rescher and talked with him about his achievements. 

Maftouni said: “Rescher’s 'A Journey through Philosophy in 101 Anecdotes' is an actually successful framework to reach a broader audience in the field. At first glance it seems easy to write. But at least in philosophy, it’s easy to write in a complicated style and it’s hard to write in a simple, clear and readable fashion.”

Jonathan Rubin, professor and chair of the Department of Mathematics in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, was recently elected a fellows of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. Rubin, one of 28 new fellows, was recognized for his contributions to mathematical neuroscience, mathematical biology and dynamical systems theory.

Rubin majored in mathematics as an undergraduate at The College of William and Mary and received his PhD in applied mathematics from Brown University in 1996. He was a Zassenhaus Assistant Professor and then a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Mathematics at The Ohio State University before joining the Pitt mathematics faculty in 2000. 

In addition to his mathematics position, he is a Center for Neuroscience at University of Pittsburgh Graduate Training faculty member, a member of the Center for the Basis of Neural Cognition, an affiliate of the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine and a visiting professor in computational biology. Fourteen students have completed their PhDs at Pitt under Rubin’s supervision or co-supervision. He has also mentored eight postdoctoral fellows.

As part of its ongoing efforts to increase the diversity of the oncology workforce, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) is launching a new internship program for medical students from populations underrepresented in medicine (UIM), and announced that Pitt was selected to serve as a host in the inaugural Oncology Summer Internship (OSI) program.

The National Academy of Medicine has recognized the need to diversify the physician workforce as a way to improve health disparities. While the U.S. population is more than 13% Black and 19% Hispanic or Latino, only 5% of practicing physicians are Black and 5.8% are Hispanic/Latino. An even greater disparity exists in oncology; only 3% of practicing oncologists are Black and only 4.7% are Hispanic or Latino.

The OSI is an immersive, four-week summer internship for rising second year UIM medical students. More than 30 students that attend the host medical schools will participate in the 2021 internship, which will feature a hybrid curriculum developed by mentoring and education experts serving on ASCO’s OSI Advisory Group.

Each day, students will participate in ASCO-hosted virtual education seminars led by national leaders in oncology and will accompany and learn from oncology faculty at their medical school or in their local area. Students will also be matched with a virtual mentor who will meet with them weekly to provide guidance, answer questions and support their career growth. Networking and social events will be offered several times per week so that students can network with oncology mentors and interact with fellow OSI students to build connections within their own medical schools and across the country. 

Other selected medical schools include: The Ohio State University, University of Arizona Health Sciences College of Medicine—Tucson, University of California San Francisco and University of Rochester.

Three years after achieving its first ever Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education’s Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (AASHE STARS) rating of silver, Pitt is proud to again be recognized for its sustainability accomplishments over the last three years with an AASHE STARS gold rating, valid through 2024.

AASHE’s STARS is a transparent framework for colleges and universities to measure and benchmark their sustainability performance across all aspects of higher education. Pitt’s gold rating is based on strong achievements from 2018 to 2021 in five areas: academics, engagement, operations, planning and administration, and innovation and leadership.

Among Pitt’s many sustainability initiatives, three points of distinction celebrate the lowest total energy use per square foot in fiscal year 2020, the new anti-Black racism course for all first year students and Pitt's Cool Food Pledge to cut food-related greenhouse gas emissions 25% by 2030.

“While the 2018 Pitt Sustainability Plan provides the strategic framework and goals for creating a culture of sustainability at Pitt and in Pittsburgh,” said Aurora Sharrard, director of sustainability, “our AASHE STARS gold designation is a demonstration to the Pitt community, University partners and our higher education peers that we are making serious progress balancing equity, environment and economics so that current and future generations can thrive.”

Renée and Richard Goldman Dean of the School of Education Valerie Kinloch and Executive Associate Dean of the Graduate School of Public Health Eleanor Feingold were both named fellows in the American Council on Education’s (ACE) 2021-22 class.

The ACE Fellows Program is the longest-running, cohort-based higher education leadership development program in the United States. Many of its alumni are now university presidents and provosts.

Acceptance into the ACE Fellows Program is extremely competitive at the national level. The 2021-22 cohort has 52 college and university leaders.

The ACE Fellowship Program is distinctive for its mentorship model. The fellowship combines retreats, interactive learning opportunities, visits to campuses and other higher education-related organizations and a placement experience at another higher education institution. It is designed to condense years of on-the-job experience and skills development into a single year.

During the placement experience, ACE fellows will select a university president to serve as their mentor. The fellows will observe and work with the president and other senior officers at their host institution, attend decision-making meetings, and focus on issues of interest.

Six finalists for the U.S. Department of State’s 2021 Critical Language Scholarship are students at the University of Pittsburgh—five undergraduate and one graduate.

The finalists are:

• Nathan Aaron, Chinese and emergency medicine
• Maya Best, international and area studies, anthropology, English nonfiction writing 
• Helen Bovi, Mandarin and philosophy
• Abby Lombardi, media and professional communications; international and area studies
• Lynnea Lombardi, master of education
• Maria Lucy, Japanese and education
   

According to the Department of State, “The Critical Language Scholarship Program is an intensive overseas language and cultural immersion program for American students enrolled at U.S. colleges and universities. Students spend eight to ten weeks abroad studying one of 15 critical languages. The program includes intensive language instruction and structured cultural enrichment experiences designed to promote rapid language gains.”

Finalists for the 2021 CLS Program were selected from a diverse pool of over 4,600 applicants, representing all fifty states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands. They represented 628 different higher education institutions across the country, including 151 minority-serving institutions, 14 historically Black colleges and universities and 57 community colleges.

Twenty-five members of the University community have been selected as Pitt Sustainability Champions in recognition of their leadership and commitment to sustainability in 2021. 

They are:

• Undergraduate students, all from the Class of 2021: Hannah Chen, Department of Health Information Management; Anna Coleman, Global Studies; Julianna Cooper, Department of Geology and Environmental Science, Department of Political Science in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences; Maya Knee, Department of French and Italian, Department of Political Science; and Zachary Delaney, Sydney DuBose, Anfernee La Cruz, Liz Logan, Gabrielle Sampson and Louis Tierno, all of the Department of Geology and Environmental Science.
• Graduate students: Eric Raabe, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, CONNECT; Jessica Vaden, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Swanson School of Engineering; and Kelsey Wolfe, Department of Administrative and Policy Studies, Office of PittServes.
• Faculty: Tony Kerzmann, associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Swanson School of Engineering.
• Staff: Kimberly Barlow, Office of University Communications and Marketing; Caitlin Courtney, Timothy Howland and William Parker, all of Pitt Eats; Joshua Jones, Department of Chemistry; Will Mitchell, Facilities Management; Kristin Olexa, Purchasing Services; Monica Rattigan, University Store on Fifth; Meagan Sotirokos, Maggie & Stella’s; and Ciara Stehley and Dez Stuart of the Office of PittServes.
   

Winners were selected by a review team, based on nominations by members of the Pitt community. The 25 awardees will be acknowledged during the April 23 Spring Sustainability Symposium and will receive a sustainability care package and an award made of reclaimed wood in recognition of their achievement.

Five area teenagers came up winners in The Lunchroom Social Innovation Competition, a new eight-week program for young people developed by Pitt entrepreneurship librarian LaMonica Wiggins (pictured) and the nonprofit School 2 Career, a program of the Oakland Planning and Development Corporation.

Wiggins created the innovation pitch competition to teach students the basic business skills needed to launch a social or tech-based venture. A Hill District Community Engagement Center STEAM Studio Team Project seed grant provided the funding.

Lunchroom participants met weekly with Pittsburgh-based entrepreneurs and practitioners to learn about business planning, customer discovery, pitching, product creation and the nuances of starting a social enterprise. Guest speakers included Pitt alum Samir Lakhani of Eco-Soap Bank, John Cordier of Epistemix and mentors from Pitt’s Small Business Development Center and Open Lab. In March, seven students pitched their start-up plans to a panel of judges and five of them were awarded cash prizes for the following:

Grand prize: Pittsburgh Westinghouse senior Ry’Nique Durham for her idea of an app for teens who have juvenile diabetes to find support groups, recipes, and area restaurants and stores that stock sugar-free treats.

First runner-up: Provident Charter School seventh-grader Jazmiere Bates for her business that sells custom apparel for house pets to raise money for local pet food drives.

Second runner-up: Pittsburgh Taylor Allderdice senior Tomi Taiwo for her idea of custom-made kits of sustainable products, such as LED bulbs and plant-based trash bags, delivered to Black women ages 25 to 50.

Third runner-up: Pittsburgh Science and Technology Academy sophomore Rae’Nell Durham for her idea for a nonprofit that connects teens of color suffering from anxiety and depression with therapists of color.

Honorable mention: Pittsburgh Milliones freshman Trinidy Manison for her face masks fitted with a silicone filter that holds the cloth away from the face to assist those with respiratory problems.