Humanities @ Work in the Community, Health and Tech Industries
Register for free to join our in-person conference at The University Club, sponsored by partners.
Conference is fully in-person but we might be able to broadcast some sessions via Zoom. Contact us for remote attendance details: HinH@pitt.edu
March 29, 2023 (all day) – The University Club, Ballroom A
123 University Place, Pittsburgh, PA 15260
University of Pittsburgh
Contact : HinH@pitt.edu | Dr. Soudi : soudia@pitt.edu
Opening Remarks:
Dr. Ann E. Cudd
Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor
Executive Sponsor
UPMC Health Plan
Silver Sponsors
The University of Pittsburgh's David C. Frederick Honors College
The Forbes Funds
Bronze Sponsor
Edge Fearless Learning
Additional Sponsors
Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies, Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences
The Center for African Studies
Department of English
Department of Family Medicine
Department of Linguistics
Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences
Office of the Senior Vice Chancellor for Research
School of Education
Keynote Speech
Ruth Watkins, Ph.D., President of Strada Impact, Strada Education Network
What can higher education institutions - and states - do to create more equitable pathways to opportunity through postsecondary education? Strada's research team has explored student experiences and alumni outcomes beyond the completion of a degree. We find that although post-completion outcomes diverge for individuals from different backgrounds, specific career-related activities, such as early career learning opportunities, social and professional capital-building, developing specific skills and paid internships, are related to better outcomes through completion of a degree and beyond. We will discuss what universities can do to ensure that students who have faced the greatest barriers gain experiences that create more equitable pathways to opportunity. In addition to better outcomes for individuals and families, well-designed institutional actions can help meet the talent needs of employers.
Plenary Session
Fred Brown, President & CEO of The Forbes Funds
2030 and Beyond: Cultivating Transformative Leadership to Move from Systems Change to Regenerative Ecosystem Co-Creation
TOPICAL FOCUS
This conference project will cover a broad range of related content which will allow us to engage diverse communities:
- Cross-Disciplinary Models, Internships (curricular examples)
- The Power of Language, Working with Language Data
- Humanities in Tech
- Film, Arts, Narrative and Health
- Linguistic Justice and Equity
- Using Literature in Health Education
- Religion, Spirituality, Language and Health
- Health Literacy
- Cultural and Linguistic Competency, Cultural Humility
- Community-Based Research
- Social Determinants of Health (SDOH)
- Student Success, Rationale for an Integrative Approach to Higher Education and Key Skills (diversity, critical thinking, teamwork, collaboration, problem solving, decision making, empathy, resilience)
- Person-Centered Care
PROJECT OVERVIEW, RATIONALE, AND GOALS
The humanities disciplines contribute greatly to technology and medicine in their quest to improve the human condition and create an engaged, healthy, inclusive, accessible, and safe society, but they are too often overlooked as a potential resource for workforce growth or enrichment. The humanities perspective improves our understanding of the world that we live in, increases our chances to solve problems, make new discoveries, and build trust with communities we serve. The humanities are central to the deep examination required to foster the inclusion and equity that ultimately translate to wellness within our communities. Over the past few years, we have witnessed people and communities becoming increasingly divided along cultural, racial, and political lines. Furthermore, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many have been physically and socially distanced in an effort to prevent the virus from spreading. Therefore, this cross-disciplinary conference serves as a celebration of collaboration, teamwork, and inspiration to foster connections, engagement, resilience, empowerment, and a passion for learning.
During the past few years, our communities experienced diverse challenges. The World Health Organization’s (WHO) Commission on Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) noted that the social and physical circumstances in which people find themselves significantly affect the way we live, as well as a wide range of health and quality-of-life outcomes. For us to successfully engage our students, our patients, and the communities we serve, we need to go beyond the clinic or the classroom to learn about the social and socioeconomic factors affecting their lives in the first place. Covid has made it clear that the need for humanities in health has never been more evident. The humanities help us to hear, connect with, and develop empathy for the experiences of others, and to center the voices of those most vulnerable to exclusion.
Student success is a major focus in this cross-disciplinary conference. We will highlight experiential learning opportunities for students and concrete ways in which we can integrate the humanities with technology, medicine, engineering, and other related fields. This is particularly important now as the humanities, despite their values highlighted above, continue to face an uphill battle in the employment sector. Going by the Einstein’s metaphor that all disciplines of human knowledge are “branches from the same tree”, we want to engage our students in cross-disciplinary training opportunities to prepare them for versatile careers (The National Academies of Science, 2018; Harper, 2018). This is especially important now considering changing trends in employment. Teaching them skills like creativity, critical thinking and collaboration will serve them in almost any career they pursue. Our intent is to broaden the educational experiences and opportunities for students across campus, facilitating an appreciation for the application of humanities perspectives, skills, and analytical approaches, while also crucially increasing opportunities for them in the marketplace.
This cross-disciplinary conference builds on previous efforts of the 2019 Humanities at Work project; namely the linguistic internship and Humanities in Health Initiative Series at Pitt (2016-2021), as well as other work done by the Board on Higher Education and Workforce (BHEW) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine who conducted a study focused on better understanding the impact of an integrated educational approach on students (The National Academies of Science, 2018). The University of Pittsburgh is also known for its emphasis on the value of humanities and cross-disciplinary work through several other programs. Furthermore, the goals of this meeting align with the Strategic Plan for the University of Pittsburgh, especially with regards to the creation of an institutional environment and culture that celebrate interdisciplinary collaborations and team accomplishment, and foster relationships, events, policies, and work that strive for integrative successes.
This project aligns with our efforts to build an engagement platform/hub for connecting humanities to the community, health, and tech industries. It will help cultivate an interdisciplinary Community of Practice (CofP), which will work to provide support and structure for collaborative studies focusing on centralizing humanities and cross-disciplinary training to improve the human condition. The conference will also facilitate greater access and more diverse participation and will allow several opportunities for networking in addition to the scheduled talks, to allow for the organic generation of new partnerships.
We envision the infrastructure enabled by this conference will ultimately (1) provide a forum for sharing work from various partnerships, (2) provide networking resources, (3) nurture and share ideas and information across the entire campus, (4) offer expanded educational experiences for students, (5) expand innovations and ideas regarding improving health and wellness for all. Ultimately, we intend to design sustainable institutional support needed to encourage, support, and reward interdisciplinary scholarship at the University of Pittsburgh that are accessible, usable, and useful. Community of Practice methodology established in the context of shared practices of academic teaching will deepen and extend possibilities for interdisciplinarity within these practices and will lead to a wider change.
ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
- Abdesalam Soudi, PhD (Project Director)
- Judy Chang, MD, MPH
- Rob Mucklo, MA
- Gayle Rogers, PhD
- Gaetan Sgro, MD
- Clark Chilson, PhD
- Shelome Gooden, PhD
- Tracey Conti, MD
- Sara E Baumann, PhD, MPH
- Fred Brown, MSW
- April E. Belback, D.Ed.
- Rasha Al-Hashimi, M.Ed.
- Bernard J. Costello, MD, DMD
- Ellen Beckjord, PhD, MPH
- David V.P. Sanchez, PhD
- Valerie Kinloch, PhD
OTHER PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS AND INDUSTRIES
- 3M
- Duolingo
- CommonLit
- Collaboratory Against Hate
- Decodis
- Shift Paradigm
- Pitt School of Medicine
- Zoom
- Amazon Web Services (AWS)
- Simplesense
REGIONAL GRANT WRITING WORKSHOP AND OFFICE HOURS
View flyer (PDF) - Dr. Hannah Schell - Program Officer, National Endowments for the Humanities