EDITOR'S NOTE: This story was inadvertently left out of the Feb. 9 University Times.
By SHANNON O. WELLS
Senate Council President Robin Kear kicked off a virtual-only Faculty Assembly meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 7, by sharing information about the 2024 Senate Plenary and its featured topic, “Bringing Disciplines Together to Solve Big Problems.”
The event, which will be from noon to 2 p.m. March 7 in the William Pitt Union Assembly Room, focuses on how disciplines come together at Pitt and the larger Pittsburgh education community. Speakers include:
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Melissa Bilec — co-director of the Mascaro Center for Innovation
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Shelome Gooden —assistant vice chair for research in the humanities, arts, social sciences and related fields
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Nicola Foote — dean of Honors College and professor in Graduate School of Public and International Affairs
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Lisa Parker — director of the Center for Bioethics & Health Law and leader of the Research, Ethics, and Society Initiative
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Dave Sanchez —associate director for the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation
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Abdesalam Soudi —leader of the Humanities @ Work project and creator of Humanities in Health
“Interdisciplinary research and teaching are key to working on society’s most thorny issues and to educating our students for a changing and complex future,” Kear said. “When we can speak and work across disciplines to find shared goals and understanding, we are working toward the fundamental mission of higher education, to make a positive impact on our students and our communities.”
The plenary will look at how Pitt does interdisciplinary work well and how it can improve, and, Kear said, “examine why we are poised to make greater strides and understand how interdisciplinary work benefits our entire academic ecosystem and communities.”
Immediately following the plenary, the Senate is partnering with the Year of Discourse and Dialogue committee for a tabling workshop called “How to Interdisciplinary,” an interactive forum to discuss approaches to co-create programs and infrastructure to support Pitt’s cross-disciplinary communications.
“The workshop is meant for researchers currently engaged in interdisciplinary work and for those who seek interdisciplinary teams but don’t yet know where to look,” Kear said, adding that the workshop serves as a kickoff event for a future working group focused on “cultivating opportunities to cross disciplinary silos and to communicate across the disciplines.”
Faculty, staff and students are welcome to attend the plenary and the workshop, Kear said, thanking Senate Council Vice President Kris Kanthak and the Year of Discourse and Dialogue committee for leading efforts for the workshop. “I'm very excited to talk about this topic and to think about how we can improve,” she said.
Other news items
Community engaged scholarship: Kear said she was “very excited” to announce guidance coming from the Office of the Provost related to community-engaged scholarship and diversity, equity, inclusion in tenure promotion processes.
“I hope that you were able to share that information with your respective areas and your school shared-governance leadership,” she said. “So now begins the hard work of supporting this guidance in its implementation, both from the administration and from us as faculty and from us in the Senate.” Kear said she will approach the Faculty Affairs committee with ideas on how the Senate can assist with “this important work.”
Testing accommodations: Following up on concerns she recently shared with Senate Council related to pressures on testing accommodations in the Disability and Resource Services Center, Kear said she talked with interim Provost Joe McCarthy about the issue. “There are short- and long-term solutions being discussed, including more resources for the testing center in the short term.”
Discussion will continue in the Senate Educational Policies committee at its next meeting on at 9 a.m. Feb. 23.
Shannon O. Wells is a writer for the University Times. Reach him at shannonw@pitt.edu.
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