By SHANNON O. WELLS
Keeping with its goal of equipping early-career faculty from historically underrepresented groups with tools — including knowledge, practical skills and relationships — to help them thrive professionally and personally, the third-annual Race@Work Retreat provided a dynamic opportunity for research-oriented faculty to interact, learn new skills and absorb ideas and insights from key faculty and Pitt administrators.
Launched in 2022, the annual four-day retreat — a program of the Office of Faculty Diversity and Development’s Race & … Initiative — is designed to build high-impact skills in research, teaching and service, noted John Wallace, vice provost of faculty diversity and development.
Based on feedback from the 18 participants, which included 16 new full-time faculty, a part-time faculty member and a graduate student, the May retreat led to some meaningful connection.
“Participants’ responses to the post-retreat evaluation suggest that they found the experience to be beneficial and that the goals of the retreat were met,” Wallace said.
“This retreat was incredible and will be instrumental to my success (as an) early career faculty member at Pitt,” one participant noted.
Another participant remarked, “This is such a great program. I learned so much about the resources at the University, but most importantly learned that there is a community available and willing to uplift one another. I truly hope that the University will continue to let this retreat continue for years to come.”
The Race@Work Summer Retreat’s goals include providing Cluster Hire and other early-career faculty from historically underrepresented racial/ethnic groups with a safe space to share their experiences, connecting them to a community of colleagues and mentors, and providing practical tools to facilitate thriving at Pitt, both professionally and personally.
Early career faculty from historically underrepresented racial/ethnic groups are often the one and only in their school, department or unit, the Race@Work website summary explains. As a result, many of them experience challenges at work that include the “absence of a strong network of peers and mentors, limited exposure and access to the unwritten ‘recipe’ for success in the academy, and a lack of both balance and integration between their professional and personal lives,” it says.
Another highlight of the retreat, Wallace noted, was the opportunity for participants to meet and hear from senior Pitt administrators including Chancellor Joan Gabel; Provost Joe McCarthy; Clyde Wilson Pickett, vice chancellor for equity, diversity, and inclusion; Rob Rutenbar, senior vice chancellor for research; and Anantha Shekhar, senior vice chancellor for health sciences and School of Medicine dean.
Key topics addressed during the program included tenure and promotion; how to fund and conduct research, including community-engaged scholarship; how to design and implement new courses; and ways to engage in service that benefits faculty members’ careers, their disciplines and the University, Wallace said.
Other race- and diversity-related events Wallace said he’s looking forward to include the third-annual Race & ... Conference on Sept. 27, at Alumni Hall. The conference highlights the growing body of race-related research at Pitt, with an emphasis on projects spearheaded by the groups that collaborate with the Race & initiative. These include the Center on Race and Social Problems, Department of Africana Studies and the centers for Ethnic Studies Research, Health Equity, African Studies, Civil Rights and Racial Justice, and Urban Education.
On Nov. 7, the Office of Faculty Diversity and Development will host the third-annual Dr. Larry E. Davis Black Excellence in the Academy Awards Dinner at the Heinz History Center. The event, Wallace said, will honor the “legacy of Dr. Davis and acknowledge the exemplary achievements and leadership of Black faculty at the University of Pittsburgh.”
Shannon O. Wells is a writer for the University Times. Reach him at shannonw@pitt.edu.
Have a story idea or news to share? Share it with the University Times.