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Recent Award Winners

Distinguished Public Service Award

Leonora Anyango
Teaching Professor, Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences

Thuy D. Bui
Professor, School of Medicine

Christine R. Dahlin
Professor, University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown

Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili
Professor and Founding Director, Center for Governance and Markets, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs

Distinguished Teaching Award

Taryn Bayles
Professor and Vice Chair for Undergraduate Education, Swanson School of Engineering

Ljiljana Duraskovic
Teaching Professor and Assistant Dean, Dietrich School

Andrew Lotz​​​​​​
Teaching Professor, Academic Advisor, Director of Undergraduate Studies and Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Studies, Dietrich School

Marie Norman
Director, Innovative Design for Education and Assessment Lab, and Professor, School of Medicine

John Whitefoot​​​​​
​​Associate Professor, Swanson School

Distinguished Research Award

Senior Scholars

Alexander Deiters
Professor, Dietrich School

Anne B. Newman
UPMC Chair in Geroscience, Director, Center for Aging and Population Health, Distinguished Professor, School of Public Health, and Clinical Director, Aging Institute

Jennifer Whiting
Distinguished Professor, Dietrich School

Junior Scholars

Peggy Liu
Ben. L Fryrear Chair in Marketing and Associate Professor, Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business and College of Business Administration

Mehret Birru Talabi
Assistant Professor, School of Medicine, Assistant Dean and Co-Director, Pitt/CMU Medical Science Training Program (MD-PhD), Co-Director, Optimizing Reproductive Outcomes Among People with Chronic Diseases (ORCHID), and Director, UPMC Women's and Reproductive Health Rheumatology Clinic

Christopher Wilmer
Wellington C. Carl Faculty Fellow, Swanson School

Chancellor’s Award for Staff 

Community Engagement: Tasha Peacock
Assistant Director of Student Programs and Community Outreach, Institute of Politics

Commitment to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion: Ron Idoko
Associate Director, Center on Race and Social Problems
Founding Director, Racial Equity Consciousness Institute
Research Assistant Professor, School of Social Work

Excellent Mentor: Jill Harvey
Director of First Year Advising, Swanson School of Engineering 

Exceptional Early Career Achievement: Katie Belardi
Research Administrator, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences

Innovation in Advancing Administrative and Operational Efficiency: Aurora Sharrard
Executive Director, Office of Sustainability 

Outstanding Career Achievement: Lisa Cherok
Director of Admissions, College of Business Administration

Research Support: Katelyn Collinger
Clinical Trial and Recruitment Facilitator, Clinical and Translational Science Institute 

Student Impact: Andrea Zito
Assistant Dean for Student Engagement, School of Education

University Engagement: Stephanie Hoogendoorn
Director of Academic Affairs, Office of the Provost

UPSIDE Award

Office of Faculty Diversity and Development and Office of Health Sciences Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Chancellor’s Gap Funds

Optimization of Small Molecule Allosteric Modulators for Bone and Mineral Ion Diseases
Jean-Pierre Vilardaga, faculty | Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology
Peter Wipf, faculty | Department of Chemistry

Small Molecule Inhibitor/Degrader of BCL11a for the Treatment of Sickle Cell Disease
Toren Finkel, faculty | Aging Institute
Bill Chen, faculty | Aging Institute
Yuan Liu, faculty | Aging Institute

Engineered Fatty Acids for Treating Chronic Liver Disease
Francisco Schopfer, faculty | Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology
Fei Chang, faculty | Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology

Development of a Novel Lead for the Chemical Modulation of Kv7 Potassium Channels
Peter Wipf, faculty | Department of Chemistry   

Pitt Seed Projects

Big PITT-ch

Sexual Misconduct and Prevention and Survivor Support
Carrie Benson | Office for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

CUPID: Fostering an Inclusive Community in the Schools of the Health Sciences
Susan Graff | Department of Physician Assistant Studies

2023-24 Cohort

STEM Through Games
Dmitriy Babichenko | School of Computing and Information

CommUniversity Initiative
Keith Caldwell | Office of Engagement and Community Affairs

TC²: True Co-equal x Transformative Collaborations
Melissa Lenos | Dietrich School

Planting SEEDs-Growing Teachers: Creating a Pipeline
Melissa Jo Marks | Behavioral Sciences Division, Pitt-Greensburg

Project SOAR: Fostering Leadership, Resiliency, and Network for Students at Pitt-Johnstown
Manisha Nigam | Natural Sciences Division, Pitt-Johnstown