By MARTY LEVINE

Editor’s note: “Lasting Lessons” presents stories from faculty and staff about an educational moment that made the most impact on their lives — as a student or an instructor, inside a classroom or out, here at Pitt or elsewhere, formal or impromptu, between friends or even at a bad moment — something that challenged or changed them.

Nancy W. Glynn is associate professor of epidemiology in the School of Public Health, director of its master’s degree programs and co-director of the Center for Aging and Population Health.

“I’ve always known that showing up mattered,” says Nancy W. Glynn. “Showing up, you have the opportunity to have these interactions with your colleagues, talk about someone, talk about life.”

“Showing up” at Pitt means coming “to my job every day, because I don’t want to let my students down, and I expect my students to show up every day too. ... There are things you can’t learn by not showing up.”

Near her desk, Glynn keeps notes she has received from students to remind her of the value of this long-time motto, one commemorating “all the time I came to you for advice,” another thanking her “for showing me around the campus and all the guidance you have given me,” a third concluding, “I could not have completed this journey without your encouragement.”

“I think that’s who I am,” Glynn says. “I show up.” This “curse of volunteerism,” as she jokingly calls it, comes from her parents, who were similarly involved in their community.

Showing up has its practical benefits. During a research project — a study of exercise — “for days I showed up and walked around the track with the participants and thanked them for their participation. I think it was a key to compliance. I think the staff felt supported” as well, she says.

Attending a professional meeting in another city because a colleague was winning an award, “I felt excited” for her, Glynn says — but “in turn I saw a lot of alumni I hadn’t seen in a long time,” and reconnected with former students as well.

Glynn has recruited many, many students to her school through her years here. “They always ask me, ‘What will make me a successful student here?’” And there’s only one thing she needs to tell them. “I feel our program is a community. I’m a combination of a concierge and a mama bear. I just try to open doors for people.

“I think the hardest thing for students when they are struggling is to show up” in person to meet with her, she adds. “When they leave here they are always happy that they showed up,” whether their motivation was “thinking through a research question, or having personal problems, or at a crossroads with what they want to do in their career. ... I’ve seen it all in my office. But it is something that is hard to face” — face to face. “In these times, it is easy to hide behind your Zoom. When possible, I require all my meetings to be in person. I just think there is something about the in-person conversation that can’t be replicated on Zoom.”

This was toughest to do during the COVID-19 pandemic, of course. She recalls holding office hours and meeting students at the Schenley Oval. “People were looking for connection at that time. I recruited them to come here, and then they were isolated.”

Glynn has been at Pitt since her PhD program began in 1989. She joined the faculty in 1996 and enjoyed the help of one particular mentor for the next eight years. By 2020, during COVID, this mentor was living across the country and was now more isolated than most, Glynn found, with only her spouse for company. She began emailing this former mentor every day.

“I learned a lot from her,” says Glynn. “She taught me to think really critically. I know and value this relationship – and I know they are alone.”

“To this day, every single day, I send her an e-mail before I go to sleep. Even if it is just four sentences.

“My door is always open,” she says by way of goodbye. “You can’t show up and shut your door.”

Marty Levine is a staff writer for the University Times. Reach him at martyl@pitt.edu or 412-758-4859.

Have a story idea or news to share? Share it with the University Times.

Follow the University Times on Facebook.