Internships That Have Made An Impact
Pitt Day of Giving 2024 Impact Stories:
Thanks to support from donors, students studying at Pitt were granted opportunities to pursue internships that helped them in their professional careers.
Community
Structural Racism
Lorraine Blatt, a Graduate Student Researcher with the University’s Psychology Department was recently published in the American Academy of Pediatrics for her study on structural racism. Blatt used Allegheny County as her research grounds to see how structural racism leads to fewer opportunities for children today. The study explored how these systems of racism often lead to higher accounts of poverty, poor healthcare, and fewer resources for education as well as other detrimental outcomes.
Dietrich School Faculty Member's Secret Pittsburgh Class Expands to Include Podcast
Elise Lonich Ryan, a faculty member in the Dietrich School's Department of English, has expanded her popular "Secrets of Pittsburgh" class to include a podcast.
The Secret Pittsburgh class combines reading with exploring the landscape and communities where local events took place and locally famous people grew up, from August Wilson’s Hill District to the Carrie Blast Furnaces, from Rodef Shalom’s Biblical Botanical Garden to the three rivers. In the earlier years of the class, students created their own guidebook. Now the guidebook is taking the shape of a podcast.
Luciana DeJesus, a junior at the Dietrich School, won third place in the Pitt News Writing Contest
Luciana DeJesus, a junior at the Dietrich School, won third place in the Pitt News Writing Contest. DeJesus is a double major focusing on Classics and Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies with a certificate in writing. The Pitt News Writing Contest is open to all students and offers a chance at being published and winning prize money.
Dietrich School Undergraduate Wins Prize in Carnegie Museum's “Envisioning a Just Pittsburgh” Competition
Imaan Saeed had not considered art as a profession until recently. The first-year molecular biology and studio arts major won a prize at the “Envisioning a Just Pittsburgh” competition, the Carnegie Museum’s call for diverse art that “encouraged artists throughout southwestern Pennsylvania to share their visions for a just and equitable Pittsburgh.” Her artwork, titled “Dual Identities,” won first prize in the youth visual arts category.
Dietrich School English Chair Weighs in on Book Bans
“School libraries, they’re really valuable, they are, but they’re also not the central place that students are learning information about the world,” Gayle Rogers, chair of the Dietrich School's Department of English.
Dietrich School Faculty and Dean Leibovich Share Message of Compassion
As colleges across the country remain hotbeds for anger, protests and safety concerns during the Israel-Hamas war, two Dietrich School professors — one Jewish, the other Muslim — want to foster dialogue and compassion on Pitt’s campus.
Dietrich School Faculty Member Helps Marginalized Communities Recover From Disasters
In 2017, when Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, Dietrich School faculty member Fernando Tormos-Aponte’s first impulse was to return to his homeland to help rebuild. Recognizing that his presence would have meant one more person dependent on the archipelago’s already strained resources, Tormos-Aponte instead turned to his training as a social scientist to support his loved ones.
Professor Emerita Toi Derricotte on How Cave Canem Has Nurtured Generations of Black Poets
In 1996, Dietrich School Professor Emerita Toi Derricotte and colleague Cornelius Eady founded Cave Canem, which holds weeklong annual retreats, prizes and fellowships to help foster the growth of Black poets. Since then they have played a role in developing the voices and careers of some of the greatest poets of the 21st century.
Associate Dean Named Co-Chair of Pitt LGBTQIA+ Steering Committee
During an event Oct. 25, Clyde Wilson Pickett, vice chancellor for equity, diversity, and inclusion, announced that Todd Reeser, the Dietrich School's associate dean for faculty affairs and a professor in the Department of French and Italian, has been asked to serve as co-chair of the University's new LGBTQIA+ Steering Committee, which will provide advice and counsel to Pitt Chancellor Joan Gabel and senior administrators.