Pitt Human Rights Initiative

The purpose of the University Human Rights Working Group is to strengthen working relationships between the University of Pittsburgh and community leaders working to address a variety of human rights concerns in our region. We work to amplify human rights on the city's and universities' agendas and promote public consciousness and discourse around human rights. We also support collaborative work to apply knowledge to the work of building a human rights city process and help build an organized constituency for human rights in Pittsburgh by bringing diverse groups together and mobilizing university resources.

Our Work

Center for Civil Rights and Racial Justice -American Apartheid City Series

In this article in the University Times, “American Apartheid: From diagnosis to treatment and prevention” Jackie Smith & Noble Maseru introduce the series and discuss connections to social science and public health research

Transforming systemic racism: Historical truth telling & reparations working group

Summary: Conversations on the state of reparations organizing in Pittsburgh with local leaders Randall Taylor, Khalid Raheem, and Rev. Dale Snyder (Bethel AME Church), Nov. 16, 2022.

Global Human Rights Expert/Advocate Visits Pittsburgh, Meets City Leaders and Residents-In early April, together with the City’s Commission on Human Relations, and Pitt’s Global Studies Center (among other co-sponsors) we welcomed global housing expert, former UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Right to Adequate Housing, Leilani Farha to meet with Pittsburgh public officials, housing advocates, students and other residents. We compiled this report on the visit, highlighting insights and recommendations from our discussions with Ms. Farha, who now leads global housing rights organization, The Shift.

Past Working Group Activities and Reports

University Human Rights Working Group Members

Community Leaders
Marcia Bandes, Pittsburgh for CEDAW Coalition (Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women)
Jason Beery, Senior Research & Policy Analyst, Urbankind
Helen Gerhardt, Steering Committee member Pittsburgh Human Rights City Alliance and Pittsburghers for Public Transit
Michael Goodhart, Director, Global Studies Center, Pitt & Advisory Board member, Pittsburgh Human Rights City Alliance
Jam Hammond, Executive Director, City of Pittsburgh Commission on Human Relations
Carol Hardeman, Community Organizer, Hill District Consensus Group
anu jain, Executive Director, Gender Equity Commission, City of Pittsburgh & Founder, Inclusant Consulting
Jamilah Lahijuddin, Youth Organizing Program, Hill District Consensus Group
Dawn Plummer, Pittsburgh Food Policy Council
Jessie Ramey, Chair, City of Pittsburgh Gender Equity Commission & Director, Women's Studies Institute-Chatham University
Carl Redwood Jr., Hill District Consensus Group, Vice-Chair, Board of Directors
Monica Ruiz, Community Organizer, Casa San Jose
Mike Stout, President, Izaak Walton League-Allegheny County Chapter & Former Grievance Chair, USW Local 1397, Homestead Works
Randall Taylor, Penn Plaza Support and Action Coalition
Laura Wiens, Director, Pittsburghers for Public Transit
Teireik Williams, CMU CreateLab and South Oakland Neighborhood Group (SONG)

University Members
Lisa Alfredson Graduate School of Public and International Affairs
Amy Bowman-McElhone, Department of Art History, Carlow University
Peter Odell Campbell, Department of English Program in Composition, Literacy, Pedagogy, & Rhetoric
Heath Cabot, Department of Anthropology
Melinda Ciccocioppo, Psychology Department, University of Pittsburgh
Lauren Collister, Director, University Library Systems Office of Scholarly Communication and Publishing
T. Elon Dancy, Director, Center for Urban Education (CUE)
Sabina Dietrick, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs
Waverly Duck, Director, Urban Studies Program & Department of Sociology
Daren A. Ellerbee, M.S., Director, Community Engagement Center - Homewood
Rosta Farzan, Associate Professor, School of Computing and Information
Shanti Gamper, Associate Professor, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA)
Erika Gold Kestenberg, School of Education Center for Urban Education
Marcela Gonzalez Rivas, Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA)
Sarah Goodkind, School of Social Work
Jordan Hayes, Department of English
Holly Hickling, University Honors College Academic Community Engagement Advisor
Cory Holding, Department of English
Shenay Jeffrey, Outreach Coordinator, Office of PittServes, & Advisory Board member, New Voices for Reproductive Justice
Jessica Kaminsky CMU - Center for Shared Prosperity, Senior Community Engagement Specialist
Michelle King, Learning Instigator, Teacher-Powered Pittsburgh
Candice Kieffer, RDH MS, Dental Medicine Dental Hygiene Program (Pitt)
Kari Kokka, Department of Instruction and Learning
Mark Kramer, Senior Lecturer, English Dept
Dan Kubis, Humanities Center “Public Humanities
Sera Linardi, Associate Professor of Economics at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA)
Jules Lobel, School of Law
Leslie Marshall, Associate Director of the Center for Sustainable Business, Katz Graduate School of Business
Noble Maseru, Director, Center for Health Equity & Associate Dean for Diversity and Inclusion
Dara D. Mendez, PhD, MPH, Department of Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health
Scott Morgenstern, Department of Political Science
Jordan Mroziak, CMU Center for Shared Prosperity, Senior Community Engagement Specialist
Michael Murphy, Department of Sociology
Illah Nourbakhsh, K&L Gates Professor of Ethics and Computational Technologies at Carnegie Mellon University and director of the Community Robotics, Education and Technology Empowerment (CREATE) Lab
Paul Nelson, Associate Dean, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs
Marily Nixon, School of Law
Mary Ohmer, Community Organization and Social Action Program, School of Social Work & Center for Race and Social Problems
Leigh Patel, Associate Dean of Equity and Justice in University of Pittsburgh School of Education
Salvatore Pioer, Urban Studies
Anne Rashied, Department of English and Director of Women's and Gender Studies, Carlow University
Roger Rouse (Retired), Global Studies Center
Jeffrey Shook, School of Social Work
Sam Shepherd, Arts & Sciences Graduate Fellow, History Department
Jackie Smith, Department of Sociology
Fernando Tormos-Aponte, Department of Sociology
Trevor Young-Hyman, Assistant Professor of Business Administration and Sociology in the Katz School of Business
Molly Warsh, Associate Director, World History Center
Eve Wider, Director, Millstein Library and Coordinator, Regional ULS Libraries
Rashad Williams, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs