The FDC is a standing committee of the Pitt Public Health Council. It is composed of one elected faculty member from each department, director of the Center for Health Equity, and one student representative of the Pitt Public Health student body.
Charge of the Committee
- Identify and implement a broad range of activities directed to increasing faculty diversity.
- Work with the FAPTC to assure appropriate processes are in place for enhancing diversity in faculty recruitment, promotion, and award of tenure.
- Liaison with the Center for Health Equity in matters relating to faculty diversity.
- Meet on a monthly schedule, or more often as necessary, to accomplish its charge. Interim meetings may be called at any time by the chairperson or at request of three or more members or at request of Pitt Public Health Council.
- Form ad hoc subcommittees as may be necessary to accomplish its charge effectively.
- Make regular oral reports to the Pitt Public Health Council and provide a report summarizing its activities at least once each year at the School-wide faculty meeting.
- Before a department initiates a new search or appointment, an FDC member will meet with the chair of the faculty search committee on an as needed basis to discuss recruitment strategies.
- The FDC department representative will meet with his/her department chair annually to discuss recruitment strategies based on the School of Public Health goals regarding faculty diversity.
Chairs, Elections and Terms of Office
The chair of the FDC must be chosen from the selected faculty representatives currently serving on the committee at their first meeting of the academic year. This meeting will be chaired by the outgoing chair. The election will be by secret ballot, with the results tallied immediately by the committee support staff person. The president of the FSEC will inform the Pitt Public Health Council of the results.
The elected faculty members of the FDC serve three-year staggered terms. Elections to replace members, whose terms have expired, are held annually (see Section 9). Faculty elected to the FDC may serve two successive terms and, thereafter, only following an interval of three years after the completion of the second term. The student member is elected annually by the Pitt Public Health student body. The associate dean for diversity and the director of the Center for Health Equity will serve on the FDC as long as he/she holds this position.
Committee
| Wenndy Hernández, Chair | HUGEN | Assistant Professor |
| Marcie Johnson Spratt, Administrator | Dean's Office | Administrator |
| James Egan | BCHS | Assistant Professor |
| Guan Yu | BIOST | Associate Professor |
| Haider Dar | EOH | Research Assistant Professor |
| Jean Nachega | EPID | Associate Professor |
| Evan Cole | HPM | Research Associate Professor |
| Toan Ha | IDM | Assistant Professor |
| Nancy Linderman, Staff Representative | IDM | Personnel Administrator |
| Samikchya Rai | HPM | MHA Student |
| Sarah Avina | HPM | PhD Student |
| Smita Venkatesan | BSPH | BSPH Student |
| Berthony Deslouches, Ex-Officio | EOH | Interim Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion |
Meetings
The Faculty Diversity Committee generally meets monthly and meetings are open to guests from the Pitt Public Health community.