Over the summer, the School of Law, School of Social Work and Swanson School of Engineering each welcomed new deans. In conversations with the University Times, the three discussed their strategic priorities and initial impressions of Pitt.

School of Law

One of Amy J. Wildermuth’s primary priorities for Pitt Law is inclusive excellence. Besides education and training, this includes looking beyond Pitt’s campus “to help us think about what we can do to really be more inclusive and to think differently about equity and diversity than we have in the past.”

Wildermuth comes to Pitt with areas of expertise including civil procedure and U.S. Supreme Court practice. She served as a law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, as well as for two U.S. Court of Appeals judges before her academic career.

Read the full interview with Wildermuth at the University Times.

School of Social Work

When Elizabeth M.Z. (Betsy) Farmer arrived at Pitt from Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Social Work, she was struck by how collegial and productive Pitt is. “It feels like a very coherent University, like all of the parts work together, and it’s doing a lot of really groundbreaking work,” she said.

Farmer was attracted to Pitt’s reputation as a leader in social work. Her research interest in improving treatment and care for youth with mental health problems resulted in a model of treatment foster care currently in use in more than 20 states.

Read the full interview with Farmer at the University Times.

Swanson School of Engineering

James (Jimmy) Martin didn’t make a conscious decision to come to Pitt or pursue a particular role. Instead, he was focused on what can be achieved, and the difference he could make. “Because when you talk about the strengths of the school, a lot of what the school wants to do involves movement at the University,” Martin said. “And that inevitably is enabled and leveraged and accelerated by leadership.”

Martin brings to Pitt’s Swanson School experience as founding director of Clemson University’s Risk Engineering and Systems Analytics Center, as well as director of the Disaster Risk Management Institute.

Read the full interview with Martin at the University Times.