Provost's Advisory Committee on Women's Concerns

Mission

The Provost's Advisory Committee on Women's Concerns (PACWC) was created by former Provost Rhoten Smith in March 1983 to investigate the situation of women at Pitt; identify areas in which the University could improve responsiveness to women's concerns; suggest alternative solutions for perceived problems; and represent women in all areas of the University, including teaching, research, administration, and support services.

PACWC seeks to ensure a productive educational and work environment for faculty, staff, and students, particularly in areas related to women's concerns. It focuses on general issues of campus climate and programs as they affect women throughout the University. PACWC seeks to assist the Provost and the University community through its mandate.

The committee is broadly representative across campuses and includes faculty members, staff, administrators, and students. PACWC participates in interviews of candidates for senior academic administrator positions and co-sponsors, with the Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies program, an annual lecture and reception welcoming new women faculty to the University of Pittsburgh.

Read the PACWC Bylaws.

Committee Information

PACWC Committee Membership

PACWC Committee Membership List 2024-2025

Co-chairs

  • Angie Jack, Executive Director, Office of Institutional Engagement & Wellbeing
  • Amanda Brodish, Associate Vice Provost for Data Analytics, Office of the Provost

Faculty

  • Stefania Albanesi, Professor, Department of Economics, Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences
  • Sylvia Choi, Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine
  • Nancy Gauvin, Assistant Professor of Communication Science and Disorders, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences
  • Corrine Kliment, Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine
  • Michelle Manni, Research Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, School of Medicine
  • Lipika Mazumdar, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg
  • Amery Treble, Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine
  • Natasha Tokowicz, Professor, Department of Psychology, Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences

Staff

  • April Belback, Associate Vice Provost of Student Success and Advising, Office of the Provost
  • Carrie Benson, Office of Institutional Engagement & Wellbeing
  • Shanel Divito,  Director of Strategic Initiatives, Office of Human Resources
  • Sera Mathew, Director for Equitable and Inclusive Teaching, University Center for Teaching and Learning
  • Nicole Oshurak, Director, Inventor Engagement and Outreach, Innovation Institute
  • Rebecca Roadman, Chief of Staff, Business and Operations

Students

  • Skylar Clawson, Graduate and Professional Student Government
  • Moyosore Adegboye, Graduate and Professional Student Government

The committee is supported by Lorie Johnson-Osho, Director of Faculty Advancement and Leadership Development, Office of the Provost.  

Meeting Dates

2024-2025 PACWC Meetings

  • October 14, 2024, noon-1 p.m.
  • December 3, 2024, noon-1 p.m.
  • February 24, 2025, noon-1 p.m.
  • April 22, 2025, noon-1 p.m.
Meeting Minutes

Approved minutes of the Provost's Advisory Committee on Women's Concerns are available for the years 1996 through the current year.

For access to specific archived PACWC meeting minutes, please email women@pitt.edu.

Events and Resources

Events History

PACWC hosts a number of events in support of its mission, including the annual event to welcome new women faculty and another celebrating newly promoted women faculty.

Let’s Talk about Reproductive Justice as a Provost's Advisory Committee on Women's Concerns (PACWC) Initiative

Funded by the Year of Dialogue and Discourse

April 17, 2024 | 8:30 a.m.-1 p.m. | 2500 Posvar Hall

Reproductive justice as a framework extends beyond reproductive rights by focusing on the systematic considerations that shape an individual’s ability to make choices about their reproductive lives. This initiative is grounded in the definition of Reproductive Justice by SisterSong, as the human right to maintain personal bodily autonomy, have children, not have children, and parent the children we have in safe and sustainable communities.

The Let’s Talk about Reproductive Justice as a Provost's Advisory Committee on Women's Concerns (PACWC) Initiative focuses on offering space and opportunities for Pitt’s University community and beyond to consider the discourse and dialogue of reproductive justice.

Using community dialogues, roundtable discussions, and listening sessions this effort has three objectives:

  1. Build a shared understanding of reproductive justice as a movement that supports sexual autonomy and gender freedom for all.
  2. Engage with strategies to build dialogue on reproductive justice.
  3. Engage with PACWC’s mission, mandate, and responsiveness in the context of a reproductive justice framework.

This initiative has three sessions.

Session #1
Community Dialogue: Building a Shared Understanding of Reproductive Justice

  • Build a shared understanding of reproductive justice as a movement that supports sexual autonomy and gender freedom for all.
  • Discuss the historical context of reproductive justice.
  • Why is it important to discuss the complexities of reproductive justice currently? Why is there an urgency to expand the reproductive justice discourse at Pitt?

Session #2
Dialogue and Discourse of Reproductive Justice

Using a roundtable discussion format to encourage collaboration, inclusivity, and the exchange of ideas, this discussion seeks to grapple with the following concerns in reproductive justice:

  • Why is it hard to talk and shift the discourse on reproductive justice?
  • How do we consider a framework beyond a single-axis white feminist reproductive rights framework?
  • What are the binaries/dichotomies that shape dialogue and discourse around reproductive justice?

Session #3
PACWC Focused Listening Session

Engage with PACWC’s mission, mandate, and responsiveness in the context of a reproductive justice framework. This session offers present and past PACWC members an opportunity to collectively engage in dialogue about the present and future roles and contributions of PACWC. This shared space is created to listen, share, and connect regarding different perspectives about the role that PACWC plays in expanding reproductive justice focused efforts in the Pitt community.

This session seeks to consider:

  • Identifying intentional steps to show our collective commitment to gender justice.
A Celebration of Newly Promoted Women Faculty

Tuesday, March 26, 2024
3-5 p.m.
2500 Wesley W. Posvar Hall

Featuring a lecture by:
Lise Vesterlund
Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Economics
“The No Club: How Dead-end Work Derails Women’s Careers and Ways to Fix That”

PACWC 40th Anniversary Celebration

To celebrate the 40th anniversary, the Provost is hosting an event, aligned with the Year of Emotional Well-Being, focused on the well-being of our women faculty, staff, and students at Pitt. Learn more about the day's program below.

Bridging the Past and Celebrating Our Future 

The Provost’s Advisory Committee on Women’s Concerns 40th Anniversary Event

The Provost’s Advisory Committee on Women’s Concerns (PACWC) seeks to ensure a productive educational and work environment for faculty, staff, and students, particularly in areas related to women's concerns. It focuses on general issues of campus climate and programs as they affect women throughout the University. 

To celebrate the 40th anniversary, the Provost hosted an event, aligned with the Year of Emotional Well-Being, focused on the well-being of our women faculty, staff, and students at Pitt.  

This event was held from 1–6 p.m. in the University Club on Wednesday, March 1, 2023.

*Plenary Session – Women and Leadership: An Intergenerational Discussion  

  • Ann E. Cudd, Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor
  • Dr. Martha Ann Terry, Associate Professor Emerita, School of Public Health  
  • Danielle Floyd, President, Student Government Board 

Table Topic Discussions, Mentorship, and Networking with University Women Leaders 

*PNC Presents Women’s Financial Wellness  

Women’s Wellness Breakout Circles  

Reception Event Celebrating Newly Promoted Women Faculty 
Welcome and Remarks – Ann E. Cudd, Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor

Annual Event to Welcome New Women Faculty

PACWC and the Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies Program co-sponsor the Annual Lecture and Reception Welcoming New Women Faculty.

Featured speakers have included:

  • Adriana Helbig, Associate Professor, Department of Music and Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies and CGS, Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, delivered a lecture on "Women's Resilience and Resistance during Russia's Ware in Ukraine" during the 2023 event.
  • Laura Lovett, Professor of History and Director of the Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies Program, gave a lecture entitled “Making Black Women’s Political Activism Visible” at the 2022 event.  
  • Melanie Hughes, Professor of Sociology, gave a lecture entitled "The Persistence of Gender Inequalities in Politics:  A Global Perspective" at the 2019 event.
  • Sara Goodkind, Associate Professor of Social Work, gave a lecture entitled "Redefining Resilience and Reframing Resistance: Girls' Empowerment in the #MeToo Era" at the 2018 event.
  • Amanda Godley, Professor of English Education and Language, Literacy & Culture, gave a lecture entitled "Gender, Intersectionality, and Equity in U.S. Schools" at the 2017 event.
  • Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski, Distinguished Professor of French, gave a lecture entitled "Medieval Holy Women as Political Strategists" at the 2016 event.
  • Lisa S. Parker, Professor of Human Genetics and Director of the Master of Arts Program in Bioethics, gave a lecture entitled "Gender, Genes, and Justice" at the 2015 event.
  • Lara E. Putnam, Professor and Chair, Department of History, gave a lecture entitled “Can We Worry about Children without Pathologizing Parents? Evidence from Transnational Black History” at the 2014 event.
  • Kathleen DeWalt (Musante), Professor of Anthropology, gave a lecture entitled “Are We Developed Yet? Gender and Development 20 Years after Beijing" at the 2013 event.
  • Debra Brake, Professor of Law, gave a lecture entitled “Telling Tales of Migrant Workers: Religion, Activism, and Women’s Life Scripts” at the 2012 event.
  • Dr. Jane Cauley, Professor of Epidemiology, Graduate School of Public Health, gave a lecture entitled “Vitamin D, Falls and Bone Health: Just the Facts” at the 2011 event.
  • Dr. Nicole Constable, Professor of Anthropology and Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Research, Arts and Sciences, gave a lecture entitled “Telling Tales of Migrant Workers: Religion, Activism, and Women’s Life Scripts.” at the 2010 event.
  • Dr. Nancy Davidson, Director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and UPMC Cancer Centers, gave a lecture entitled “Breast Cancer in the Molecular Era” at the 2009 event. 
  • Dr. Lucy Fischer, Distinguished Professor of Film Studies and the Director of the Film Studies Program, gave a lecture entitled “Seeing Stars: Bette Davis as Screen Actress in the 1930s” at the 2008 event. 
  • Dr. Lise Vesterlund, Andrew W. Mellon Chair in Economics, gave a lecture titled "How Costly is Diversity? Affirmative Action in Light of Gender Differences in Competitive Attitudes" at the 2007 event. 
  • Ms. Toi Derricotte, Professor of English, presented a reading titled "Beginning Dialogues: Mother & Daughter" at the 2006 event. 
  • Dr. Katherine Wisner, Professor of Psychiatry, Obstetrics and Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, Epidemiology, and Women’s Studies, gave a lecture titled “From Fever Flowed Fame: A Psychiatric Evaluation of Florence Nightingale” at the 2005 event. 
  • Dr. Donna Gabaccia, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of History, gave a lecture titled “Nations of Immigrants” at the 2004 event. 

Support Resources

The University of Pittsburgh offers a wide variety of resources, programs, and initiatives to support students, postdocs, faculty and staff who identify as women in areas such as caregiving, diversity, health and wellness, and mentoring, Relevant policies and guidelines, as well as additional information regarding programs and publications available via outside organizations and institutions, are also included.

Caregiving across the Lifespan

Juggling career and family commitments can sometimes be a challenge. We have wonderful resources available to all employees here at Pitt. The University of Pittsburgh and PACWC are committed to helping our most valuable resources—our people. The resources and links below can help you find a healthy balance between work and the rest of your life.

Office of Human Resources - Child and Family Care

Find more information on Child and Family Care resources, including: 

  • Covid-19 Child Care Resources
  • Care.com Partnership
  • Boys & Girls Club Partnership
  • University Child Development Center
  • Life Solutions - the University's Faculty and Staff Assistance Program
  • Caring for Family at All Stages of Life
  • Parents-To-Be and New Parents
  • Leaves of Absence and Time Off

Additional Pitt Resources

Other Resources​

Diversity

University Resources and Programs 

Additional Resources

Health and Wellness
Leadership

PACWC identifies and works on projects related to strengthening the environment for women at Pitt.

Resources for Faculty

Resources for Students

Resources for Staff

Leadership Initiatives and Resources at Other Institutions

Mentoring

The University of Pittsburgh recognizes the importance of mentoring throughout our organization. Here, PACWC provides our community with content and resources to find mentoring opportunities that will support growth and professional development.

Center for Mentoring, University Center for Teaching and Learning

The Center for Mentoring serves as a central resource to support professional excellence by encouraging growth and development of faculty as mentors, scholars, and teachers.
Center for Mentoring resources include: 

Office of the Provost Resources

Other Mentoring Programs at Pitt

Other Mentoring Resources

Mentoring at Other Institutions

Policies and Guidelines

Family Friendly

Promotion/Tenure/Professional Development

Sexual Misconduct

All University of Pittsburgh policies are available at the Office of Policy Development and Management.

Additional academic policies and guidelines can be found on the Office of the Provost Policies & Guidelines page.

The Faculty Handbook comprises University policies and procedures that directly impact the work of Pitt faculty members. 

Policies and guidelines related to research efforts at Pitt can be found through the Office of the Senior Vice Chancellor for Research.

Reach Out

Contact PACWC

For questions related to PACWC, please contact women@pitt.edu.

Spotlight

Accolades and Recognition

Keep an eye on the outstanding things faculty, students and staff are doing across Pitt campuses at: