While Pitt’s campuses were shut down for the past five months, there was still plenty of action on the personnel front. Here are some key administrative hires in case you missed them over the summer.
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Anantha Shekhar started June 1 as Pitt’s new senior vice chancellor for Health Sciences and dean of the School of Medicine. He came to Pitt from Indiana University School of Medicine and immediately got to work as head of the chancellor’s COVID-19 Healthcare Advisory Group. Read an interview with him here.
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David DeJong was named acting senior vice chancellor for Business & Operations in May when Greg Scott took an indefinite leave of absence. In July, Scott left the University. DeJong will continue to serve as acting SVC, in addition to his permanent job as vice chancellor of Human Resources. Mark Burdsall, assistant vice chancellor of consulting services in HR, has stepped up to the role of acting deputy vice chancellor for Human Resources.
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Carissa Schively Slotterback, associate dean of the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota, has been named dean of Pitt’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs. She will begin on Oct. 1 and join the faculty as a full professor.
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Amanda Godley, a professor in the School of Education, replaced Nathan Urban as vice provost for Graduate Studies on July 1. Urban is now provost at Lehigh University.
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John Wallace, David E. Epperson endowed chair in the School of Social Work, started July 1 as vice provost for Faculty Diversity and Development.
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Lu-in Wang, a professor in the School of Law, started July 1 as vice provost for Faculty Affairs. Wallace and Wang will serve in the provost’s office part-time filling the positions held by Laurie Kirsch until the end of June.
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Paul Cohen, founding dean of the School of Computing and Information, transitioned into the role of director of the momacs Institute on July 1, as well as a faculty member of the Department of Computer Science. Bruce Childers is serving as SCI’s interim dean. Childers has been with Pitt’s Department of Computer Science since 2000, and he has held a leadership role within SCI since its opening.
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Lawrence Feick, professor of Business Administration, took over on Aug. 1 as interim associate dean of the College of Business Administration for the next two years.
A search is still underway for a dean of the Graduate School of Public Health to replace Donald Burke, who stepped down last year.
Diversity and Inclusion
In the wake of this summer’s renewed Black Lives Matter movement, several Pitt departments and schools have added diversity and inclusion coordinators.
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Clyde Wilson Pickett was hired as the new vice chancellor for Diversity and Inclusion. Pickett earned his doctor of education degree at Pitt and has headed diversity programs at the Community College of Allegheny County and, most recently, the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System, which has 54 campuses.
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Adriana Modesto-Vieira was named to a newly created position as the School of Dental Medicine’s assistant dean for Diversity, Inclusion and Social Justice. In announcing the appointment, Dean Bernard Costello said, “It is well past the time in our history for us to acknowledge our failures and commit to taking actions to improve our culture and to rectify the social injustices that continue even to this day.”
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T. Elon Dancy, II has been named the new associate dean for Equity and Justice in the School of Education. He will oversee the school-wide strategy for centering equity, justice and antiracism across the entire school. Dancy also is the new executive director of the school’s Center for Urban Education. Leigh Patel, who was named the inaugural associate dean for Equity and Justice in 2018, is now a full-time professor in the school’s Department of Educational Foundations, Organizations and Policy.
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Samantha Utley started Aug. 3 as the inaugural Coordinator of Equity, Inclusion and Justice at the Fanny Edel Falk Laboratory School, a private K-8 school affiliated with the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Education. Her start date is Aug. 3.
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Tomar Pierson-Brown became the School of Law’s inaugural associate dean for Equity and Inclusive Excellence in July. Pierson-Brown will work closely with the director and assistant director the Office of Equity and Inclusive Excellence, the Diversity Committee, and Pitt Law students. She is a clinical assistant professor of Law and director of Pitt Law’s Health Law Clinic.
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Julius Kitutu, associate dean, Student Affairs and Alumni Relations, has been appointed Chief Diversity Officer for the School of Nursing. In this role, Kitutu will oversee all of the school's diversity programs, will develop the school's initiatives to have a population that more represents the community, and will lead efforts to make the school more supportive of students from underrepresented backgrounds.
— Susan Jones
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