For the sixth year in a row, Pitt’s Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business MBA program is ranked among the top 20 in U.S. public universities by Poets & Quants.

Katz was number 39 in the U.S. and number 17 among U.S. publics in the Poets & Quants 2019-20 MBA rankings. Pitt saw the largest rise among the top 40 schools, up five spots from last year’s ranking.

Katz is one of only 42 business schools across the country that placed in all major MBA rankings this year, an honor shared by just 5% of all Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business-accredited schools and less than 0.3% of schools worldwide that grant business degrees.

To learn more about Pitt’s highly ranked MBA programs, visit the Katz programs page. 

Sexual Assault Facilitation and Education (SAFE) peer educators were recently recognized during halftime at a Pitt women’s volleyball game for their work around preventing sexual misconduct and promoting healthy relationships on the Pittsburgh campus.

SAFE peer educators facilitate interactive workshops with student organizations and Greek Life, as well as in residence halls. The workshops range from topics about relationship violence, sexual violence, consent, interpersonal communication and bystander intervention. During fall 2019, SAFE peer educators facilitated 30 workshops and educated 60% of the University’s Greek community on bystander intervention.  

The program is sponsored by the Title IX Office and Sexual Harassment and Assault Response and Education Office and codirected by Michele Welker, clinician with the Counseling Center, and Carrie Benson (EDUC ’12G), Title IX specialist.

SAFE is currently accepting applications for undergraduate and graduate educators. Students can also submit request for workshops. For more information, email SAFEStudentLeaders@pitt.edu or visit the SAFE website.

Chris Driscoll, director of IT for Pitt Business, was named 2019 Preservationist of the Year by the Young Preservationists Association of Pittsburgh. 

The organization advocates for the preservation of historic sites and structures in the Greater Pittsburgh region. The annual award recognizes significant contribution in the area of historic preservation. 

Driscoll is part owner and founder of the restaurant Revival on Lincoln, which is housed in a historic mansion in Bellevue. The previously dilapidated building required extensive restoration to be recognized as an historic landmark by Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation and placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Driscoll was presented the award in a Nov. 1 ceremony at Alphabet City in Pittsburgh.

The Institute of Infection, Inflammation and Immunity in Children—i4Kids for short—is a new strategic research effort focused on improving pediatric health by combating infectious and inflammatory diseases through accelerating new multi-disciplinary collaborations across the health sciences, natural and physical sciences, and computer science. 

The institute is being led by John Williams, Henry L. Hillman Endowed Chair in Pediatric Immunology, professor of pediatrics at Pitt and the institute’s director

Infection is the leading cause of death in children under 5-years-old worldwide, and infectious and inflammatory diseases are the leading causes of child hospitalization in the US. i4Kids aims to become the epicenter of research, discovery, prevention and treatment of these diseases in children as the foundation of improving the health of future generations. 

The institute will host a launch symposium on Feb. 11, 2020, from 2 to 6 p.m. in the Rangos Research Auditorium at Children’s Hospital. The institute is working with the Children’s Hospital Foundation to invite leaders of foundations and philanthropists across the nation.

For more information on i4Kids, visit their website. 

Pitt Business professor Barry Mitnick’s course Market Manipulations: Crises, Bubbles, Robber Barons and Corporate Saints has been recognized with a 2019 Ideas Worth Teaching Award—one of only 10 courses worldwide to be selected.

The award honors “faculty who are redefining business education—providing learning experiences that equip managers of tomorrow with the context, skills and decision-making capabilities needed to lead in an increasingly complex business environment—and world.”

It’s not the first time the prestigious international organization has recognized Mitnick’s work; in 2014, he was a finalist in the Faculty Pioneer Awards.

Focused on U.S. business history from 1835-1935, Mitnick’s course aims to help students understand the major kinds of market manipulations, their historical contexts and consequences and what insights they can provide for modern business behavior.

Read more about Mitnick’s award-winning course in Pittwire.

The School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences announced in November that David Beck, assistant professor, is the chair of the newly designated Department of Physician Assistant Studies. Beck played an integral role in the development of the program since its inception a decade ago. As interim program director, he was instrumental in the program receiving its department status and managing its relocation from the University of Pittsburgh Applied Research Center in Harmar Township to Oakland's Murdoch Building on Forbes Avenue earlier this fall. 

Beck is an American Academy of Physician Assistants Distinguished Fellow; a member of Pi Alpha, the National Honor Society for Physician Assistants; and was named the 2017 Physician Assistant Educator of the Year by the Pennsylvania Society of Physician Assistants.

The Healthy Lifestyle Institute (HLI) hosted its second annual summit on Friday, Dec. 6 on the Pittsburgh campus. The summit consisted of presentations and updates from researchers across campus on their work to transform lifestyle research into health and wellbeing for people in all stages of life.

Housed within the School of Education, HLI was founded in 2017 with a mission “to develop, translate and implement health and wellness programs” for the Pitt community and around the Pittsburgh region.

At the summit, HLI’s founding director John Jakicic (EDUC ’95G), introduced HLI’s Schools on the Move initiative, which will provide grants to support innovative physical activity programming at 43 K-12 schools in the Pittsburgh area.

“We’re asking teachers to get creative. We’re not just providing schools with basketballs and nets,” said Jakicic, who also serves as chair of the Department of Health, Physical Activity, and Exercise in the School of Education. “We’re really interested in seeing how these projects unfold.”

Three University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing faculty members were recognized in November at the 30th annual gala and celebration of the Nightingale Awards of Pennsylvania. Each faculty member who was nominated for her category received the award. 

Brenda Cassidy (NURS ’86G, ’97G, ’11G), assistant professor, won the Doctorate of Nursing Practice award; Jennifer Lingler (NURS ’98G, ’04G; A&S ’03G), professor, won the Nursing Research award; and Patricia Tuite (NURS ’85, ’92G), assistant professor, won the Nursing Education-Academia award.

The Nightingale Awards are a statewide program designed to recognize excellence in nursing. Over the past 30 years, more than 100 nursing professionals who best exemplify compassionate care, clinical expertise, education and leadership have been celebrated at the awards ceremony.

Inmaculada Hernandez, assistant professor of pharmacy and therapeutics in Pitt’s School of Pharmacy, was recently presented the 2019 Seema S. Sonnad Emerging Leader in Managed Care Research Award by the American Journal of Managed Care.

This award recognizes an individual whose early achievements in managed care demonstrate the potential for making an exceptional long-term contribution as a leader in the field. 

With over 40 published peer-reviewed manuscripts, Hernandez has contributed to 25 as a first author and eight as a senior author. These articles have been published in various medical journals and their findings have been featured on NPR, Forbes, ABC, CNBC, BBC, Fox News and Bloomberg. Hernandez was also recently included on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list as a young leader in health care research.