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2023 University of Pittsburgh Assessment and Teaching Conference

The 11th annual Assessment and Teaching Conference was held on Friday, Jan. 27. Information and details on our keynote speaker, agenda items, and more is available below.

2023 University of Pittsburgh Assessment and Teaching Conference keynote speaker Chavella T. Pittman
Keynote Speaker Chavella T. Pittman

Keynote Bio:

Chavella T. Pittman is the owner of Effective & Efficient Faculty, a faculty development company that works extensively with faculty and campuses across the country to help them develop strategies for inclusive learning environments and the retention of diverse students and faculty.

Dr. Pittman received her PhD in Sociology and a MA in Higher Education from the University of Michigan. She is currently Professor of Sociology at Dominican University. Her research interests and expertise include higher education, interpersonal interactions and marginalized statuses, research methods & statistics. She has a love/hate relationship with running, is a beer aficionado, recently cured her black thumb via growing cherry tomatoes, loves to learn, and believes black joy is resistance.

Some of her teaching publications include:

  • “Evaluating the Teaching Effectiveness of Black Women Faculty,”
    (The Journal of Negro Education, accepted November 2019,
    forthcoming Winter 2021)
  • “Incivility in the Classroom: Effective Strategies for Faculty at
    the Margins” (in Difficult Subjects: Insights and Strategies for
    Teaching Race, Sexuality and Gender 2018)
  • “Race and Gender Oppression in the Classroom: The Experiences
    of Women Faculty of Color with White Male Students” (Teaching
    Sociology 2010)

Keynote Address:

Supporting the Well-Being Diverse Faculty and Students: Understanding their Classroom Experiences

Supporting the retention and success of diverse faculty and students begins with supporting their well-being which requires knowing more about their campus experiences. At the end, participants will know 1) the highlights of research on the challenging classroom experiences of BIPOC and diverse faculty and students, 2) the related faculty, student and institutional costs (including on well-being), and 3) possible next step to address them.

Schedule of Events

8:30-9 a.m.
Breakfast

9-10 a.m.
Opening remarks/Keynote Address
Keynote Speaker: Chavella Pittman, Dominican University

10-10:30 a.m.
Anchor Session – Student emotional well-being at Pitt

10:45-11:45 a.m.
Breakout Session I

11:45 a.m.-1 p.m.
Lunch

1:15-2:15 p.m.
Breakout Session II

2:15-3:45 p.m.
Poster Session

8:30 – 9 a.m.

Breakfast

Ballroom A
9 – 10 a.m. Introduction of Keynote Speaker
Amanda Godley
, Vice Provost for Graduate StudiesKeynote Address:
Supporting the Well-Being of Diverse Faculty and Students: Understanding their Classroom ExperiencesDr. Chavella T. Pittman
Professor of Sociology – Dominican University
Ballroom A
10 – 10:30 a.m.

Pitt Resources for Students and Faculty

Kevin Binning
Associate Professor, Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences
Research Scientist, Learning Research and Development Center

Stevvaie Brown
Civil Rights and Advocacy Manager
Office for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

Jay Darr
Associate Dean for Student Wellness
Student Affairs

Omid Fotuhi
Research Associate
Learning Research and Development Center

Lorie Johnson-Osho
Director of Faculty Diversity and Development

Amanda Godley: Moderator
Vice Provost for Graduate Studies

Ballroom A

Break-out Session 1

10:45 – 11:45 a.m.

Understanding Our Students’ Well-Being in the Classroom – Undergraduate Student Panel

Ashawnti Buckner
Frederick Honors College

Rachel Lembeck-Edens
Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences

Sophia Shapiro
Frederick Honors College

April E. Belback: Moderator
Director of Student Success

Gold Room

Understanding Our Students’ Well-being in the Classroom – Graduate Student Panel

Cigdem Benam
Katz Graduate School of Business

Nikhil Gaur
Katz Graduate School of Business

Pratik Khare
Katz Graduate School of Business

Rudy Pineda
School of Education

Aparna Ramani
School of Public Health

Amanda Godley: Moderator
Vice Provost for Graduate Studies

Conference Room A

Supporting Inclusive Faculty Well-Being Panel

Gina Garcia
Associate Professor
School of Education

Victoria Grieve
Assistant Professor
School of Pharmacy

Ron Idoko
Associate Director – Center on Race and Social Problems, Founding Director – Racial Equity Consciousness Institute
Research Assistant Professor
School of Social Work

Sera Mathew: Moderator
Director for Equitable and Inclusive Teaching
University Center for Teaching and Learning

Ballroom B
11:45 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Lunch

Ballroom A

Break-out Session 2

1:15 – 2:15 p.m.

Proactively Promoting Student Well-Being in Large Lectures

Grant Martsolf
Professor and UPMC Health Systems Chair in Nursing Science
School of Nursing

David Sanchez
Associate Professor
Swanson School of Engineering

Chandralekha Singh
Distinguished Professor, Director, Discipline-based Science Education Research Center
Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences

Belkys Torres: Moderator
Associate Vice Provost for Inclusive Excellence in Education

Gold Room

Supporting Graduate Students During Milestone Assessments

Rip Correnti
Professor
School of Education

Mike Dickey
Professor and Assistant Dean of Graduate Studies
School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences

Neil Hukriede
Professor and Vice-Chair, Director – Integrative Systems Biology
School of Medicine

Jeremy Martinson
Assistant Professor and Program Director (MPH-PEL)
School of Public Health

Balaji Palanisamy
Associate Professor
School of Computing and Information

Erica Owen: Moderator
Associate Professor and Associate Dean
Graduate School of Public and International Affairs

Conference Room A

Facilitating Difficult Dialogues

Kris Kanthak
Associate Professor
Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences

Ballroom B
2:15 – 3:45 p.m.

Poster Session

Ballroom A

Rika Asai
Teaching American Music with Primary Sources
Department of Music
Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, Pittsburgh Campus

Joanne Baird and Ketki Raina
An Emerging Model: Near-peer Facilitation to Support Simulation Education
Department of Occupational Therapy
School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Pittsburgh Campus

Maggie Beeler, Andrew Wein
Peer Teaching with Technology: Enhanced Structures for Student Debates
Department of Classics
Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, Pittsburgh Campus

Reivian Berrios Barillas, Jared Divido
Does time spent learning anatomy online and asynchronously impact student performance?
Department of Physical Therapy
School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Pittsburgh Campus

Harvey Borovetz
Teaching Health Disparities of Bioengineering Cardiopulmonary Technologies
Department of Bioengineering
Swanson School of Engineering, Pittsburgh Campus

Mark Conlon
Emphasizing Civic Education and Literacy in Social Studies Methods Courses
Division of Education
University of Pittsburgh – Johnstown

Jennifer Cousins
The Role of Example-Based Instruction on Concept Learning, Belonging, and Engagement in a Large Introductory Psychology Course
Department of Psychology
Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, Pittsburgh Campus

Tom Davis
The Case for Inclusive Pedagogy: Engagement, Co-Creation, and Accelerators
Business Administration
Katz Graduate School of Business, Pittsburgh Campus

Mark DiMauro
The Hunt for Pedagogical Pirate Treasure
Division of Multimedia and Digital Culture
University of Pittsburgh – Johnstown

Ashley Firm
Physician Assistant Students’ Perceptions of Writing Reflections on Supervised Clinical Practice Experiences (SCPE)
Department of Physician Assistant Studies
School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Pittsburgh Campus

Amy Gresock, Amanda Davis
Strategy Olym14)pics: Combining Business and Phys. Ed. in the Year of Well-Being
Division of Business Management
University of Pittsburgh – Bradford

Hyunju Ha
In-class Short Speeches’ Online & Offline Applications
Department of East Asian Languages & Literatures
Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, Pittsburgh Campus

Deborah Josbeno
Peer-assisted teaching in health professional education: benefits for the teaching peer.
Department of Physical Therapy
School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Pittsburgh Campus

Wendy Krenzel
Journal Reading Exams to Replace Mid-Term and Final Exams in the Chemistry Laboratory
Division of Physical & Computational Sciences
University of Pittsburgh – Bradford

Urszula Lechtenberg
A Learner-Centered Approach to Academic Integrity
University Library System
Pittsburgh Campus

Gang Liu
Student Grade Distribution Shifts in Online Engineering Fundamental Course
Division of Physical & Computational Sciences
University of Pittsburgh – Bradford

Rebecca McHugh
Teaching Psychology Capstones: Lab Format, or Class? Comparing and Contrasting Two Course Formats
Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences
University of Pittsburgh – Bradford

Tara McSwigan, Christina Davis
Teaching Medical Procedures in a Hybrid Curriculum
Department of Physician Assistant Studies
School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Pittsburgh Campus

Gordon Mitchell
Adjacent Curriculum
Department of Communication
Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, Pittsburgh Campus

Marcia Rapchak
A Community of Practice for Inclusive Pedagogy in SCI
Department of Information Culture and Data Stewardship
School of Computing and Information, Pittsburgh Campus

Catherine Rebitch, Prema Iyer, Stephen Zhang
Bridging the gap: Gaming as a strategy to integrate biochemistry principles and clinical concepts in pharmacy education
Department of Pharmacy and Therapeutics
School of Pharmacy, Pittsburgh Campus

Cynthia Salter
Using a health access simulation to teach social determinants of health
Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences
School of Public Health, Pittsburgh Campus

Ryan Teeter
Students have entered the chat. Communicating effectively with Microsoft Teams.
Business Administration
Katz Graduate School of Business, Pittsburgh Campus

Daniel Wilkenfeld, Christine Durmis
Images, Scientific Understanding, and the Importance of Multi-Modal Presentation
Department of Acute and Tertiary Care
School of Nursing, Pittsburgh Campus

Clare Withers, Christina Durmis
More Than Just Cool Stuff: Integrating Primary Sources into Critical Evaluation and Experiential Learning
University Library System
Pittsburgh Campus

Ashley Yarabinec
Developing Culturally Affirming Students: Overview of a Longitudinal Student Rotation Exchange with Howard University
Department of Pharmacy and Therapeutics
School of Pharmacy, Pittsburgh Campus

If you are hosting or moderating a session, please view the Speaker Guide for instructions.

If you are attending the conference, please view the Attendee Guide for instructions.

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