Dietrich School honors two faculty members with mentoring awards

Khirsten Scott, assistant professor of English, and Jennifer Josten, associate professor of History of Art and Architecture, have been named the inaugural winners of the Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences’ Award for Excellence in Graduate Mentoring.

The awards were created in the fall by Holger Hoock, associate dean for Graduate Studies and Research, to highlight the importance of fostering a culture of excellence in graduate mentoring.

In announcing the awards last fall, the Dietrich School said: “Students who enjoy effective mentoring tend to be more productive as well as more involved in their programs.”

The mentoring awards are in two categories: one for an untenured member of the graduate faculty and one for a tenured member who received their highest degree no more than 12 years ago.

All graduate students and chairs of departments were eligible to nominate eligible faculty. The recipients will receive their awards and a cash prize of $1,500 at a reception on March 20.

Scott, who specializes in black rhetoric and public writing, won the award for untenured faculty. She is a co-founder of DBLAC, a digital network and learning community of black graduate students in composition, literature, and literacy studies. She earned her doctorate in English, Rhetoric and Composition from the University of Louisville, her master’s in English, Composition, Rhetoric, and English Studies from the University of Alabama and her bachelor of arts in English, Language and Literature, from Tougaloo College in Mississippi. She came to Pitt in 2018.

Josten specializes in modern and contemporary art. Her research charts the flow of artists, forms, and ideas among and between Latin America, Europe, and the United States since 1940. She earned her doctorate in History of Art from Yale University, a master’s in Art History and Theory from the University of Essex in England, and a bachelor of arts degree from Wellesley College. She has been at Pitt since 2013, where she has served twice as the director of graduate studies for her department.