By SUSAN JONES
The Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences has a new dean, several new associate deans and an updated set of priorities for faculty, staff and students.
Dean Adam Leibovich, who stepped into the role in July, and his senior leadership team held a retreat in late August to define the school’s priorities and to articulate what drives the Dietrich School and the College of General Studies and what sets them apart.
In addition to setting priorities, the retreat was a team building exercise for people who were very new to their jobs. Of the four associate deans, three are new since Leibovich took over and the other — John Woon, associate dean for graduate studies — has only been in the role about 20 months. On the staff side, several of the senior leaders are not new, but have moved into different positions.
Natasha Tokowicz — who is filling the newly created position of associate dean for equity, faculty development and community engagement — said she came out of the retreat, “feeling really optimistic that we’re going to work really well together. And given that it was early on in our time, it was really nice to feel like that was the case, and that we had shared values around inclusion and equity and things like that.”
Noting that the associate dean jobs are very time demanding and have great responsibilities, Adriana Helbig, associate dean for undergraduate studies and the College of Graduate Studies, said, it was great “to just confirm that your ideologies are aligning with those of the team and a leader … that has put together a team that not only supports him in his very refreshing narratives, but also just complement our own strengths.”
Diversity and inclusion
The two-day retreat, which was held over two weeks, was designed to develop “guiding principles for the team and how we would like to run the dean’s office, as well as goals for the year,” Leibovich said.
“It was just a really great way to enter this leadership team,” said Hannah Johnson, associate dean for research and faculty recruitment. “Because there was so much coherence among the different suggestions that people were coming out with and a lot of our priorities were really complementary to one another.”
One of the priorities — which can all be found on the About page of the Dietrich School website — that took center stage was a focus on diversity and inclusion.
Leibovich had already created the associate dean position in this area before the retreat, along with a director of equity and community engagement position on the staff side. Previously, there had been a special assistant to the dean on diversity issues, “However, she didn’t really have the bandwidth and authority to push things to try to make changes,” Leibovich said. “She did what she could, of course, but we thought elevating that to an associate dean level would allow us to do more and actually make systemwide changes.”
The school is focused on having “diversity of opinions, diversity of ideas, diversities of background, because that is the best way that you can create new knowledge to learn about the world around you,” Leibovich said. “The University as a whole is very, very broad, but from the Dietrich School and College of General Studies point of view, we are the liberal arts core of the University and liberal arts by its very nature is a diverse, very broad area of study and the diversity of ideas enhances that.”
The focus on diversity is driven by a synergy between the administration and the students, said Helbig, an associate professor of music. “It shows that the administration is actually listening to the students who are asking and actually demanding representation in the classrooms going all the way up.”
“I’ve been teaching for a couple of decades and students are, to me, now more interested in questions of race, gender, sexuality, equity, social justice, climate justice than ever before,” said Woon, a political science professor. “Part of it also is giving them a space and right to think in intellectual terms about those topics.
Transparency
Another of the priorities developed at the retreat is about communication. This includes transparency about decision making.
“One of the priorities that Adam has so passionately stated is a commitment to transparency and visibility, and to just let people in on that process about … how decisions are made,” said Carol Mullen, director of communications and undergraduate recruitment. “I think that’s really the only way to build trust, is to let people know what that process is, and, as much as possible, share that information when it’s relevant.”
Jessica Hatherill, executive director for administration, said they heard during the dean search process that faculty and staff wanted to hear more from the dean and for the dean to be more visible. “We’re trying to take what we all heard throughout that process and respond and let the faculty and staff and students throughout the school know what’s going on.”
In addition to putting the priorities on the Dietrich website, the team has already met with chairs and directors, and Leibovich held a full faculty meeting in October to outline the priorities. He also is doing a listening tour through all the departments throughout the fall. Hatherill also is planning a full staff meeting.
Meeting with the University Times also is part of the strategy to get the word out about these priorities not just to the Dietrich School, but also to the wider University.
Leibovich has met with all the other deans, except Dental’s Marnie Oakley, who had just been named the day before he met with the UTimes. All of the deans currently serving have less than five years in the job, and three are interims.
“I think that they look to us often because if there’s an issue that happens in their school, it’s almost always already happened in our school,” he said. “And so they reach out to us all the time for advice and guidance, and we’re happy to help with that, of course. We are the elephant in the room, and so what happens here often gets pushed out to the other schools, but we try to be very thoughtful about how we are running things. So if it makes sense for us … it’s most likely going to be a useful thing for the other schools as well.”
Concrete results
One of the things that came out of the retreat, Mullen said, “was a real motivation toward setting goals and concretizing. Values and priorities are wonderful things and they’re incredible guiding principles, but if you don’t attach them to goal-focused outcomes, then they’re just platitudes.”
One of the first changes the school has made has been in how it onboards new faculty, chairs and directors (See story from XXX University Times).
The school also is increasing its collaborations with the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and the Office of Engagement & Community Affairs. Leibovich said they have always had a connection to these offices, “but with Natasha in this role we actually have a person who’s main component of their job description is to work with those other offices.”
Tokowicz said one of the tasks that has been assigned to her and Todd Reeser, associate dean for faculty affairs, is “is doing a better job of retaining our faculty in general, but also especially our faculty from historically excluded groups. … This is something that the provost’s office also cares a lot about and has worked a lot on as well.”
“There are important ways in which these goals feed into one another as well,” Johnson said. “As Adam has put it, recruitment is the first step in retention.” Improving new faculty onboarding means thinking about are these faculty still going to be at Pitt several years from now and trying to set them up for a good start and a positive feeling about the institution and the community.
THE SIX PRIORITIES
Respect: We strive to provide an environment in which all Dietrich School and CGS students, faculty, and staff are treated with kindness, empathy, and respect. As leaders, we strive to ensure this is felt and experienced across the Dietrich School and CGS.
Inclusion: Everyone belongs. It is essential that we recruit and retain students, faculty, and staff from a variety of backgrounds. Diversity of experience and diversity in perspectives are foundational to our continued excellence in academics and research.
Innovation: Nothing is off the table at the Dietrich School and CGS. We welcome and encourage faculty, staff, and students to try new things and we provide the time and support for them to do so as much as possible. Our programs and research must be future-oriented, and constant innovation is critical.
Communication: We are approachable and responsive. We make ourselves visible and accessible, reflecting our willingness to communicate with students, faculty, staff, and one another about anything—even the “hard stuff.”
Integrity: We act in the best interest of students, faculty, and staff, and strive to ensure everyone at the Dietrich School and CGS does the same. Whenever possible, we are transparent about how and why decisions are made.
Collaboration: We cultivate a culture of healthy collaboration, in which people support one another and work together to accomplish shared goals. This spirit of collaboration is also felt in the partnerships we pursue within and outside of the University.
Susan Jones is editor of the University Times. Reach her at suejones@pitt.edu or 724-244-4042.
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