Ryan Willis, a senior in Pitt’s Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, has been named a Beinecke scholar. He is one of just 20 students selected nationwide for this year’s award, which supports graduate study in the arts, humanities or social sciences.
Willis — who is majoring in English literature and philosophy with a minor in French — is also pursuing a Bachelor of Philosophy degree in the David C. Frederick Honors College.
The 2025/2026 Getty Scholars have been announced and include one Dietrich School faculty member. Huey Copeland, the Andrew W. Mellon Chair and Professor in the Department of History of Art and Architecture, has been named a Guest Scholar. He will be in residence from January until June with his work “Thinking the Unthought: From Continental Philosophy to Black Radical Study.”
This year’s Fellows of the Royal Society have officially been announced. Over 90 researchers all over the world have been elected to the Fellowship at the UK’s national academy of sciences including the Dietrich School’s own Graham Hatfull.
Since the 1920s, Pitt’s chapter of the national leadership honor society Omicron Delta Kappa has recognized one recently graduated or graduating senior who exemplifies leadership of exceptional quality and versatility. Additionally, the winner’s name is engraved on a stone in the ODK Leadership Walk between the Cathedral of Learning and Heinz Memorial Chapel.
This year’s recipient is Gabriella Lombardi of Oxford, Pennsylvania. She is graduating with a degree in microbiology from the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences.
Three University of Pittsburgh students, including two Dietrich School students, have earned 2025 Boren Awards for International Study, which will fund their study of critical languages abroad in support of their academic and career goals.
Peng Liu, a Richard King Mellon Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the Dietrich School has had some exciting news this month.
One of Liu’s students, Turki Alturaifi, was selected for the CAS Future Leaders Top 100 Program.
Sam Podnar, a junior at the University of Pittsburgh, has been awarded a 2025 Harry S. Truman Scholarship. The prestigious national award recognizes the next generation of public service leaders and provides up to $30,000 for graduate studies in a related field.
As early as age 4, Elwin Cotman realized he wanted to be a writer.
Drawn to fantastical stories he saw in video games and read at the library, the Pittsburgh native first typed his own stories on his father’s typewriter and later, his mom’s word processor. From age 8 until high school, he spent summers at Pitt with the Young Writers Institute where, he said, he gained the tools and inspiration to be a writer.
The University of Pittsburgh has recognized four faculty and staff with the 2025 Provost’s Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Student Success.
Each year, Pitt’s Office of the Provost recognizes staff, faculty and administrators who have positively impacted the student experience by engaging in collaborative and holistic academic advising and student success practices.
The awards are given in four categories:
In most cases, a book tracing the life of a world champion Formula One racer would primarily attract readers drawn to fast-moving machines and the daring drivers who pilot them.
Lewis Hamilton is not like most cases.
As Pitt’s Michael Sawyer — whose latest book, “Sir Lewis,” profiles the multifaceted life-in-progress of the British racer and Black activist — explained, Hamilton has much more on his mind than the finish line.
