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The following first ran in Pittwire, October 29, 2019:

The University of Pittsburgh was again named among the world’s top 50 universities in the 2020 U.S. News & World Report’s Best Global Universities rankings. Pitt landed at No. 47, tied with University of Minnesota.

In the latest ranking, the magazine evaluated a list of the world’s top 1,500 universities — which includes institutions from the U.S. and more than 80 other countries. The universities were rated based on 13 different indicators measuring their academic research performance and their global and regional reputations.

Several Pitt programs ranked in the top 50 by subject, including Surgery at No. 3, Clinical Medicine at No. 18 and Psychiatry/Psychology at No. 19.

Other programs in the top 50 are:

• No. 23: Neuroscience and Behavior
• No. 23: Oncology
• No. 34: Pharmacology and Toxicology (tied with University of Pennsylvania)
• No. 36: Arts and Humanities
• No. 39: Immunology
• No. 42: Cardiac and Cardiovascular Systems
• No. 49: Microbiology (tied with University of Toronto)

Pitt students come from 108 countries and all 50 states, in addition to the U.S. Territories of Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Internationally, most students come from China, India and Korea. The Pitt Study Abroad program sends more than 1,800 students per year across its five campuses to over 350 programs in more than 75 countries on six continents. The university has also ranked among the top producers of Fulbright U.S. Students.

Pitt continues to be recognized as a top university in many areas. Read more about Pitt's achievements.

In a globally oriented office, individual efforts make lasting impacts. The work of two University Center for International Studies (UCIS) staff members is receiving special recognition this year.

Study Abroad Office Assistant Director Brice Everett Lynn and Program Manager Nazir Noori are being honored with 2019 Chancellor’s Staff Awards.

Collectively, Lynn and Noori represent over 15 years of service to Pitt Study Abroad. Each had a unique path to his current responsibilities.

Prior to serving the University of Pittsburgh, Noori worked at the U.S. Consulate in Herat, Afghanistan. The position’s prestige put Noori and his family at risk, so it was recommended by a colleague that they move to Pittsburgh.

The award selection committee, in fact, noted the “tremendous sacrifice…made as an Afghan citizen working for the United States government.”

Noori began working at Pitt in a temporary position. In less than five years, he was hired as a full-time employee and has since received three promotions. During the time, Noori balanced a full-time job with a growing family, received an undergraduate degree, and worked toward a graduate
degree in Public Policy and Management.

Noori has managed a portfolio of 15 study abroad programs for approximately 300 students as a program manager. He has also worked with UCIS to develop a Contract Lifecycle Management solution to help the management of international partnership agreements in order to expand curricular offerings, research collaborations, and intercultural opportunities.

Noori receives the Award in Early Career Achievement, which recognizes staff with three-to-five years of experience who have exceeded the expectations of their assignment. Indeed, the Chancellor highlighted Noori’s “commitment, strength, and courage serve as an inspiration for [his] colleagues and for our
students.”  

Brice Lynn says he wouldn’t have imagined as a Pitt undergraduate student that he would be working at his alma mater a decade later.

After a semester in Granada, Spain in 2009, Lynn joined the Study Abroad Office as a student intern. At the time, the study abroad process was entirely on paper. Accordingly, Lynn generated a nearly paperless study abroad application process (called TerraDotta) that reduces application barriers for students and enhances administrative efficiency.

Other innovations spearheaded by Lynn include a new version of the Pitt Study Abroad website, which features a smarter search tool for students to find classes and scholarships, and redesigned Pitt Study Abroad print materials, which has made it easier for students to discover programs that meet their goals.

Lynn receives the Award in Innovation in Advancing Administrative Operational Efficiency, which recognizes staff members who have made exceptional contributions to efficiency in the workplace. Undoubtedly, “[Lynn’s] work has played an important role in helping the University to further position itself as a leader in offering students to expand their horizons through studying abroad.”

Both Lynn and Noori will be commemorated with Chancellor’s Award plaques in William Pitt Union and will be honored at an event on campus later this year.

Karen Lue manages the University of Pittsburgh’s new academic resource center and interactive student space, the Pitt Global Hub. Located on the first floor of Wesley W. Posvar Hall, the hub offers a place for students to learn about international and global opportunities on campus and around the world. Lue brings to the role a background in international education, operations management, event logistics, and exhibit curation.

A 2015 alumna of the University of Pittsburgh, Lue holds a B.A. in History of Art and Architecture and Economics. She is a recipient of a 2015-2016 Fulbright English Teaching assistantship in Taiwan, where she taught and was involved in local exhibition projects and writing workshops for university students. From 2017-2018 she studied Mandarin at National Taiwan Normal University after being awarded a Huayu Enrichment Scholarship.

Her recent experience includes fellowships at the Andy Warhol Museum and Contemporary Craft; a project management position at Indiewalls, a tech-based art consultancy in New York City; and operations and programming management roles at a design-centered coworking space.

The new position of global hub manager combines Lue’s professional skills and personal interest in cross-cultural education. The Pitt Global Hub features interactive experiences for students to discover global coursework and experiential opportunities, space for language conversation groups to meet, areas for student groups and area studies centers to host cultural demonstrations, rooms for drop-in general advising sessions with global program advisors and student mentors, and space for prospective students to view videos that feature locations where Pitt has a presence around the world.

The Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS) welcomes Manuel Roman-Lacayo as CLAS associate director. He brings to the role more than 25 years of service in academia, government, and the private sector. Roman-Lacayo returns to Pittsburgh after most recently being based in Washington, D.C., where he served as a project manager and environmental and social consultant for infrastructure, renewable energy, transport, and oil and gas projects located in Latin America and the Caribbean.

A University of Pittsburgh alumnus, Roman-Lacayo earned a CLAS certificate and PhD in anthropology as a Heinz Fellow in Latin American Archaeology at Pitt. He was awarded a Fulbright Research Fellowship upon graduating from Harvard University in 1996, and was later appointed director of the National Museum of Nicaragua. After leaving Pittsburgh in 2006, Roman-Lacayo served as country program manager and as the monitoring and evaluation manager for USAID Public Private Partnerships in Nicaragua and Guatemala, while also working at the Universidad Americana in Managua, where he founded and coordinated the master’s program in Latin American Studies.

As associate director of CLAS, Roman-Lacayo manages the CLAS team, works with affiliated faculty and staff, and spearheads development to raise funds for CLAS programming and research in coordination with CLAS Interim Director James Craft.

We are pleased to welcome Delo Blough as the new director of the Office of International Studies.

Blough is an expert in immigration services for international populations at U.S. colleges and universities. She comes to Pitt with more than 25 years of experience, including serving as an attorney in the public and private sector with a specialty in immigration law.

Blough oversees Pitt’s Office of International Services and its comprehensive immigration services for students, faculty researchers, and staff members who study, conduct research, and work at the University. The Pitt community includes more than 6,000 international students, scholars, and employees from more than 110 countries.

Today, Newcastle University (UK) awards Chancellor Gallagher an honorary Doctor of Science degree, marking the first time in recent record that a University of Pittsburgh Chancellor receives an honorary degree from a distinguished international institution. 

The honor recognizes Chancellor Gallagher’s “significant contribution to higher education policy and leadership…and his work for the Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity and directing the National Institute of Standards and Technology.” The Chancellor joins a distinguished family of honorary graduates who have been recognized by Newcastle for their contributions in the fields of physics and computer science, among them Stephen Hawking, Vicki Hanson, and Anthony Hey. 

A live stream of the ceremony is available on July 17 between 10:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. EST.

Ariel C. Armony, vice provost for global affairs, will be a keynote speaker at the North East Local Industrial Strategy Summit in Newcastle, England this month. The conference is being presented by the North East Local Enterprise Partnership, a public-private partnership developing economic growth in the North East region of England. The group is one of 38 key partnerships working throughout the country.

Armony is presenting lessons from the Pittsburgh region’s economic transformation and current challenges being addressed by public-private partnerships that include the University of Pittsburgh.

The Center for International Studies and the Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies have been happy to host STARTALK, an intensive four-week-long Russian summer school for high school students. The program began June 17 and concludes tomorrow, July 12. Thanks to the students for all their hard work! Learn more about the program at https://www.ucis.pitt.edu/crees/outreach/startalk.

Asian Studies Center Assistant Director of Academic Affairs Emily Rook-Koepsel was recently profiled by the Association for Asian Studies. Read her interview at the Association for Asian Studies.

Statement from Ariel Armony, Vice Provost for Global Affairs:

It is with sorrow that I share with our UCIS family news of the death of Professor Emeritus Joseph Adjaye, a beloved former director of the African Studies Program and faculty member in the Department of Africana Studies. 

Dr. Adjaye was instrumental in creating the African Studies Program and served with distinction as its inaugural director from 2001 until his retirement in 2010.

His wide-ranging areas of research included African spirituality, the Akan language, popular culture, and the Pan-Africanism movement throughout the Caribbean and around the world. His edited and authored books included Language, Rhythm, and Sound: Black Popular Cultures into the 21st Century (1997); Diplomacy and Diplomats in 19th Century Asante (1996); and Time in the Black Experience (1984). His essays and reviews were published in numerous journals and publications, including the International Journal of African History Studies, Journal of Ethnic Studies, American History Review, Journal of Black Studies, and African Historical Review.

Dr. Adjaye’s distinguished educational background included a PhD and MA from Northwestern University, an MA from SUNY-Binghamton, and a BA from the University of Ghana.

The viewing for Dr. Adjaye will be held this Friday, July 5, 2019, 2-4 pm and 6-8 pm, at Freyvogel Funeral Home (4900 Centre Avenue, Pittsburgh, 15213). A service is scheduled for Saturday, July 6, 10:30 am, at East Liberty Presbyterian Church (116 South Highland Ave, Pittsburgh, 15206), with repast to follow.

I know you join me in offering our condolences to Dr. Adjaye’s family.