- Staff
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Senior Director of Graduate Advising and Engagement for the Humanities:
Dr. Melissa Lenos
melissalenos@pitt.edu & online scheduler
Melissa Lenos is Senior Director of Graduate Advising and Engagement for the Humanities. Her B.A. in English and M.A. in English, Critical and Cultural Studies are from the University of Pittsburgh and her Ph.D. in Mass Media and Communication is from Temple University. Melissa's primary research areas are narratology and media pedagogy; her work has appeared in Cinema Journal, In Media Res, and Antenna. She is co-author (with Michael Ryan) of An Introduction to Film Analysis: Technique and Meaning in Narrative Film and (with Kevin L. Ferguson) of the forthcoming Generation X: The Popular Culture that Defined the MTV Generation.
Melissa was previously in Kansas City, where she directed a Department of Education Title V grant for a small minority-serving college (and where she was also an Associate Professor of English and served as Director of Liberal Arts & Sciences). Her background includes experiential and project-based learning support. She is available for one-on-one appointments and to visit departments to speak about project opportunities.
Advising, Coaching, & Mentoring
Project Coordinator for Humanities Engage:
Marcus Landas
Marcus Landas is the Project Coordinator for Humanities Engage, where he provides project management, communication, and administrative support. He has over 12 years of experience in project management in the Americas, Oceania, Asia and EMEA. Marcus’ project delivery background spans the fields of Information Technology Service Management, Telecommunications and Healthcare.
He was most recently in Washington D.C., where he managed projects for George Washington University’s School of Medicine and Health Sciences. These projects focused on process optimization within the university’s healthcare system and required extensive collaboration with university resources and their partners.
Feel free to reach out to Marcus if you have any questions regarding Humanities Engage or about future project opportunities.
- Steering Committee
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The Steering Committtee oversees the grant. It is composed of the PI, the chairs of the Departments of English, History, History of Art and Architecture, and Music, and the Senior Director of Graduate Advising and Engagement, and assisted by the Project Coordinator.
Jonathan Woon - Associate Dean for Graduate Studies
Diego Holstein - Professor and Chair, Department of History
Gayle Rogers - Professor and Chair, Department of English
Adriana Helbig - Associate Professor and Acting Chair, Department of Music
Kirk Savage - Professor and immediate past Chair, Department of History of Art and Architecture
Melissa Lenos - Senior Director of Graduate Advising and Engagement (SDGAE) for the Humanities
- Advisory Board
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Advisory Board (2021/22)
Caitlin Bruce, Associate Professor of Communication, Humanities Council Delegate
Deborah Danuser, Ph.D. Student, Communication
Lina Dostilio, Associate Vice Chancellor for Community Engagement
David Marshall, Co-Director, Humanities Center
Nicole Mitchell Gannt, William S. Dietrich II Chair of Jazz Studies, Director of Jazz Studies, Department of Music
Ruth Mostern, Associate Professor of History and Director, World History Center
Jerry Paytas, Ph.D., Co-Founder and Vice President, Research & Analytics, Fourth Economy
David Pettersen, Associate Professor of French and of Film and Media Studies, Director of French Graduate Studies
Nelesi Rodriguez, Ph.D. Student, English
Cynthia Sweet, Associate Vice Chancellor for Economic Partnerships
Kornelia Tancheva, Hillman University Librarian and Director of the University Library System, University of Pittsburgh
Alex Taylor, Assistant Professor and Academic Curator, Modern Art and Visual Culture, Department of History of Art and Architecture
- Career Diversity Champions
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Each Humanities Ph.D. program annually nominates a faculty-student pair to serve as Career Diversity Champions who will be fellow change leaders as we re-imagine the humanities doctorate. Career Diversity Champions will model a culture of student-centered graduate training that prepares Humanists for high-impact careers across all employment sectors. The Champions help lead discussion at the unit level, orient faculty and students toward grant-funded and other resources around professional development and career preparation, and liaise with their counterparts, the grant leadership team, and the Office of Graduate Studies. Champions will be eligible to apply for grant-funded financial support to enhance alum engagement with current doctoral student populations. Rotating student members of the Advisory Board for Humanities Engage will be recruited from amongst the Career Diversity Champions.
Communication: Deborah Danuser
English: Dr. Elizabeth Pitts; Nelesi Rodriguez
Film and Media Studies: Dr. Mark Lynn Anderson; Geneveive Newman
French: Dr. David Pettersen; Caitlin Dahl
Hispanic Languages and Literatures: Dr. David Tenorio; Alexander Tough
History: Dr. Ruth Mostern; Bryan Paradis
History and Philosophy of Science: Dr. Michael Dietrich; Dejan Makovec
History of Art and Architecture: Dr. Shirin Fozi
Linguistics: Music: Nicolas Aguia
Philosophy: Dr. Japa Pallikkathayil; Yao Fan
Slavic Languages and Literatures: Dr. David J. Birnbaum
Theatre Arts: Dr. Kathy George; Victoria LaFave
- NEH Planning Grant Committees
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The following individuals served as representatives for Humanities Careers, an NEH Planning Grant in 2018-2019. Unless specified otherwise, members are affiliated with the University of Pittsburgh.
Alumni Working Group
Holger Hoock - Chair; PI of "Humanities Careers"
Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Research, Kenneth P Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences
J. Carroll Amundson Professor of British History, Department of HistoryDon Bialostosky
Professor and Chair, Department of English
Jerome Branche
Professor and Chair, Department of Hispanic Languages & Literatures
Barbara McCloskey
Professor and Chair, Department of the History of Art and Architecture
Vladimir Padunov
Associate Professor, Director of Graduate Studies, Department of Slavic Languages & Literatures
Andrea Paolini
PhD Student, Department of English
Lara Putnam
Professor and Chair, Department of HistoryCurriculum Working Group
Deane L. Root - Chair
Professor and Chair, Department of Music
Tyler Bickford
Associate Professor and DGS, Department of English
Lauren Collister
Director of the Office of Scholarly Communications & Publishing, ULS; Alumna, PhD Program in Linguistics
Michel Gobat
Associate Professor and DGS, Department of History
Randall Halle
Klaus W. Jonas Professor of German Film and Cultural Studies, Department of German, Director of Film and Media Studies
Christina M. Hoenig
Associate Professor and Director of the Graduate Program in Classics, Philosophy and Ancient Science, Department of Classics
Alison Langmead
Clinical Associate Professor and Director, Visual Media Workshop, Department of the History of Art and Architecture
Kirk Savage
Professor, Department of History of Art and Architecture
Nicole Scalissi
PhD Candidate, Department of History of Art and Architecture
Bethany Wade
PhD Candidate, Department of History
Partnership and Public Humanities Working Group
Alex J. Taylor - Co-Chair
Assistant Professor and Academic Curator, Department of the History of Art and ArchitectureRuth Mostern - Co-Chair
Associate Professor, Department of History; Director, World History CenterBen Barson
PhD Candidate, Department of MusicJennifer Boum Make
PhD Candidate, Department of French and Italian (PhD Program in French)Patrick Dowd, Executive Director, Allies for Children, Pittsburgh; Alumnus, PhD Program in History
Shelome Gooden
Associate Professor, Department of LinguisticsAaron Henderson
Associate Professor, Department of Studio ArtsLina Insana
Associate Professor of Italian and Chair, Department of French and Italian Languages and LiteraturesDan Kubis
Associate Director, Humanities Center; Alumnus, PhD Program in EnglishBrenton J. Malin
Associate Professor and DGS, Department of CommunicationMichelle Yingling
Career Consultant, Career ServicesDarlene F. Zellers
Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Career Development, Health Sciences; Director, Office of Academic Career Development, Health Sciences; Associate Dean for Postdoctoral Affairs, School of Medicine
Additional Members of Planning Committee:
Jonathan Arac, Andrew W. Mellon Chair, Department of English, and Director, Humanities Center
Nathan Urban, Vice Provost for Graduate Studies and Strategic Initiatives
Consultative Committee
Rebecca Bagley
Vice Chancellor for Economic Partnerships
Marc Bermann
Associate Professor and DGS, Department of Anthropology
Susie Chen
PhD candidate, Department of Psychology
Daniele Coen-Pirani
Associate Professor, Department of Economics
Lina Dostilio
Associate Vice-Chancellor for Community Engagement, Center for Urban Education
Tom Golightly
Senior Executive Director of Development, Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences
Joe Horne
Director, Teaching Commons, University Center for Teaching and Learning
Anna Marsland
Professor, Department of Psychology
Carol Mullen
Director of Communication and Undergraduate Recruitment, Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences
Jessica Pickett
Consultant
Rebecca Roadman
Director of Special Projects and Initiatives, Dean's Office, Dietrich School of Arts & SciencesKornelia Tancheva
University Librarian, Director of University Library Services