May 29, 2025
Dear Colleagues,
After a national search, I am pleased to announce that Shannon Wanless has been appointed as the Director of the University Center for Social and Urban Research (UCSUR), effective July 1, 2025.
In this role, Shannon will report directly to me with a dotted line relationship with the Vice Chancellor for External Relations. She will continue her appointment as a tenured associate professor in the School of Education.
Shannon joined the University of Pittsburgh as a faculty member in 2011 and currently serves as Executive Director of the Office of Child Development in the School of Education. Since her directorship began in July 2018, Shannon has secured over $20 million in competitive grants and over $4.5 million in contracts for the office. She has also built a strong sense of culture among her staff, including developing a plan for ongoing staff professional development, revising the mission and vision, and honoring staff expertise with salary audits and promotion opportunities.
Shannon’s community-engaged research and leadership accomplishments were planted early in her career as a Head Start teacher. Now, she is part of the Community Engagement Centers’ internal advisory board and led the CECs’ first evaluation process.
Shannon is a long-standing executive member of the AERA’s Social Emotional Learning Special Interest Group, an Aspen Ascend Fellow and was an invited advisor on the Office of Head Start’s National Center on Parent, Family, and Community Engagement. Locally, she is an invited member of the county’s Department of Human Services Children’s Cabinet and served as an invited advisor for the United Way SWPA.
Shannon was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Virginia’s Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning and earned her PhD in human development and family sciences from Oregon State University, her master’s degree in early childhood education from the University of Michigan, and her bachelor’s degree in sociology/anthropology and psychology from Denison University.
I want to thank the search committee—co-chaired by Lina Dostilio, Vice Chancellor for External Relations, and John Wallace, Vice Provost for Faculty Diversity and Development—for its robust work and commitment to identifying the next transformative leader of the UCSUR.
Please join me in congratulating Shannon as she embraces this new role.
Regards,
Joe
Joseph J. McCarthy
Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor
William Kepler Whiteford Professor of Chemical Engineering
University of Pittsburgh