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Awards and Accolades

Two Dietrich School Students win University top honors

ODK Senior of the Year

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.

Dietrich alumnus Elwin Cotman won a Whiting Award for his urban fantasy writing

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.

3 Dietrich people won a Provost’s Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Student Success

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:

Africana Studies' Professor’s book celebrates rise of Formula One racer, social justice icon Lewis Hamilton

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.

Announcing the 2025 Ampco-Pittsburgh Prize for Excellence in Advising winners!

The Dietrich School would like to congratulate our 2025 Ampco-Pittsburgh Prize for Excellence in Advising winners!
 
The Ampco-Pittsburgh Prize for Excellence in Advising is an annual award that recognizes outstanding faculty and staff academic advising for undergraduate students. The awardees receive a one-time cash prize of $4,000. This year’s winners are: