Dietrich School undergraduate Oluchi Okafor continues her research on environmental justice remotely.
Progress is Always in Progress
Things don’t look the way we thought they would right now, and they certainly aren’t the way we want them to be. Each of us is struggling with the uncertainty of what’s to come… and we all want things to change.
But not everything is uncertain. While we don’t know yet what this year will look like on campus, we do know one thing: Pitt will be leading the way to make the change we all want to see right now.
Pitt has always been a leader in innovation, and there’s no better climate to breed innovation than one full of uncertainty and rapid change. That’s why now is the time—more than ever—to be a part of the Pitt community.
We all have ideas about how things could be better. In the Dietrich School, you can put those ideas into action. Of course, Pitt’s medical researchers are leading the way through the development of vaccines and treatments. But the opportunity to make real change for good extends far beyond medicine. In this unprecedented climate, the world need innovators in every field, and our current situation has transformed the world itself into a working laboratory in which to learn, experiment and solve pressing problems.
The solutions we need require thinking and collaboration across industries and borders. The Dietrich School’s interdisciplinary approach uniquely prepares students to address issues holistically and comprehensively. We aren’t just looking at making a better hand sanitizer, we’re examining ways to get the hand sanitizer to the people who need it. Our students to develop a breadth of knowledge that reflects the expansiveness of our expertise and makes them uniquely qualified for the increasingly complicated world in which we live.
This experience has touched us all: from economics to psychology to communication to political science to art and music. Everything is changing. And we need you—the best and brightest from across the country—to bring your ideas, passions and questions to better understand the world we live in and forge a path forward.
Don’t wait for the world to get better. Make it better with us. Innovate. Take action. Make progress.
Research and World-Class Instruction Continue
Annual Studio Arts Student Exhibition Moves Online
A wide array of drawings, paintings, photography, printmaking, sculpture, video and animation is available online in Pitt’s 2020 Studio Arts Student Exhibition and will remain online until the fall. Read more.
Art Programs at Pitt Adjust to Remote Learning
Music theory professor Marcelle Pierson explains how remote learning can open up opportunities for students. Read more.
Lessons Learned: 3-D modeling easily made the transition online
Neuroscience faculty member Erika Fanselow’s Functional Neuroanatomy Honors Practicum had a surprisingly easy switch to an online-only existence. In fact, she says, the forced changes actually resulted in improvements to class projects in the final few weeks. Read more.
Music at Pitt Podcast
New podcasts spotlight award-winning composer Wang Xinyang, who takes inspiration from a broad spectrum of influences from traditional Chinese arts to Western concert music, and Emma Lebo, whose senior capstone project focused on New Discipline music. Read more.
Science Instructors Find Ways to Bring the Lab to Their Students
Dietrich School faculty on the sciences have innovated new and exciting ways to keep hands-on research alive across the distance. Read more.
Seeking Ethics Through Narrative During COVID-19
In her redesigned Literature and Medicine course, lecturer in the Department of English Uma Satyavolu challenges students to study both past and current writings to deal ethically with pandemics such as COVID-19. Read more.
Undergraduate Researcher Takes Deep Dive Into LGBTQ Publications
Instead of conducting interviews with older adults in Pittsburgh’s LGBTQ+ community, as was the original plan for her SURA project, Futcher pivoted due to COVID-19. Using an in-depth methodological approach to reading everything in the publication “often provides essential tidbits of information like financial resources or how the publication came about,” Futcher said. Read more.
Faculty Continue to Support Student Community
Five Mental Health Experts on Coping with Social Distancing
Dietrich School faculty provide support and resources for self care during distance learning. Read more.
Connecting to the Community
Alumna Delivers Meals to Essential Health Care Workers
Dietrich School alumna Sara Cannon (A&S ’06) was one of 10 volunteers responsible for distributing more than 400 meals to Pittsburgh-area hospitals this month. Read more.
Chemistry Department Making Hand Sanitizer for Community Nonprofits
Members of the Department of Chemistry in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences are using their spare time and the department’s extra resources to make hand sanitizer and donate it to local community groups. Read more.
COVID-19 Disrupted Their Spring Term. Then FEMA Called.
Dietrich School students and EMTs were among hundreds of personnel called to assist overwhelmed first responders in metro New York—the U.S. region hardest hit by the pandemic. Read more.
Helping Out: In South Africa, an alumnus seeks solutions to some of COVID-19's challenges
Twenty years ago, Douglas Guy (A&S ’78) arrived in South Africa to launch an environmentally conscious self-help model for locals to build affordable, sustainable housing. Today, he's seeking solutions to the area's COVID-19 challenges. Read more.
Pitt Jazz Studies launching video blog hosted by Nicole Mitchell
The Pitt Jazz Studies Program is launching a new initiative: a video blog called Jazz Talk, hosted by Nicole Mitchell, director of the Jazz Studies program in the Department of Music. Read more.
Program Connects Pitt Community to Shopping, Delivery Help
Ben Rottman, associate professor in the Department of Psychology, wanted to make it easier for people to find the help they needed in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. His solution? The Pitt Shopping Helper program. Read more.