Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching, Research, and Public Service Awardees Named

Demonstrating transformative instruction, discovery, and service, 10 members of Pitt’s faculty have been named Chancellor Distinguished Teaching, Research, and Public Service Awardees. They will each receive a $2,000 prize and $3,000 grant.

Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Awards

Sean Garrett-Roe

Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry, Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences

Garrett-Roe developed and has trained colleagues on a teaching model called the Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL) approach. POGIL uses a problem-based learning approach, multisensory input, and incorporated technologies. Garrett-Roe’s other awards include the 2012 Provost’s Advisory Council Innovation in Education Grant and 2015 dB-SERC Course Transformation Award.

Melissa Marks

Associate Professor, Division of Behavioral Sciences, University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg

Marks, director of the Secondary Education Program, is the recipient of the 2009 University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg Alumni Association Outstanding Educator Award, the 2010 University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg President’s Distinguished Medal, a Pitt-Greensburg Distinguished Teaching Award, and a Pennsylvania Association of Colleges and Teacher Educators Teacher Educator of the Year. She also created the education major and minor at Pitt’s Greensburg campus.

John Schumann

Associate Professor, Department of Neurobiology, School of Medicine

Schumann has been recognized by students for his problem-based learning approach and lecture and course materials as a five-time winner of the School of Dental Medicine’s Faculty Appreciation Award and 12-time winner of the School of Medicine’s Excellence in Education Award. He also received the 2002 Sheldon Adler Award for Innovation in Medical Education and 2008 Kenneth E. Schuit Award, Recognizing The Dean’s Master Educators.

Cindy Skrzycki

Senior Lecturer, Department of English, Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences

Skrzycki has created five courses at Pitt, including Statistics in Journalism and Journalism Boot Camp: Write Now. Her journalism students have secured internships at nationally recognized publications and organizations such as TIME, Bloomberg, and CNN. Skrzycki is also the Dietrich School’s 2012 Tina and David Bellet Teaching Excellence Award recipient.

Chancellor’s Distinguished Research Award

Senior Scholars 

Mark T. Gladwin

Distinguished Professor and Chair, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine

Director of the Pittsburgh Heart, Lung, and Blood Vascular Medicine Institute, Gladwin has published more than 350 manuscripts in the fields of vascular and nitric oxide biology, and his work is cited more than 3,800 times per year. He is the author of more than 200 peer-reviewed manuscripts and more than 100 reviews and commentaries, which have changed the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension, metabolic syndrome, and heart failure with preserved ejection fraction.

Thomas W. Kensler

Professor, Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology, School of Medicine

Specializing in chemoprevention, Kensler has received research funding from the National Cancer Institute and the National Institutes of Health and has written more than 400 peer-reviewed articles. Kensler’s many other accolades include the Chinese Friendship Award for Kensler’s cancer-prevention trials.

Ronald D. Stall

Professor, Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences, Graduate School of Public Health

Stall is the director of the Center for LGBT Health Research, which is home to the National Institutes of Health’s only T32 training program that focuses specifically on HIV prevention among gay men. According to the Web of Science, Stall is “one of the most highly cited behavioral science researchers in the world.” Stall is the author of more than 200 peer-reviewed publications on AIDS.

Junior Scholars

Kara Anne Bernstein

Assistant Professor, Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute

For her research into DNA repair and its role in the development and potential prevention of cancer, Bernstein is the recipient of the Stand Up To Cancer Innovation Research Grant and 2016 American Cancer Society Research Scholar Grant. She has written 23 peer-reviewed publications and six review articles.

Haitao Liu

Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences

Liu’s research on graphitic carbon materials and DNA nanotechnology has garnered $2.1 million in federal funding. His other awards include the Blavatnik Award for Young Scientists and Air Force Office of Scientific Research Young Investigator Research Program award. Liu is also a member of the Scientific Reports editorial board.

Chancellor’s Distinguished Public Service Award

Anthony S. Novosel

Undergraduate Advisor and Senior Lecturer, Department of History, Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences

Novosel has worked extensively with groups and individuals in Northern Ireland, participating in workshops and talks that created a new dialogue between the two communities on the complex history of “paramilitary loyalism.” His book, Northern Ireland’s Lost Opportunity: The Frustrated Promise of Political Loyalism (Pluto Press, 2013), played a significant role in this dialogue. Since 1996, he has also mentored students from Northern Ireland through the BEI/SUSA, an initiative whose purpose is to assist in community building in Northern Ireland by widening the horizons of the students in a new cultural setting.