Diversity @ The iSchool
Diversity is important to the iSchool community, to the University of Pittsburgh, and to the Information Professions as a whole. We actively seek ways to encourage students from underrepresented populations to enroll in our School, to join the University of Pittsburgh community, and to consider the Information Professions as a viable career option.
The iSchool has attracted more than 800 students and faculty from all over the world, mirroring the global nature of the professions. Here, new students will find a welcoming multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary environment.
Our initiatives to increase the diversity of our School:
- SIS has played a leading role in creating national partnerships
to further its goals of increasing the diversity of the
student pool. For example, the School partnered with
the University of the Virgin Islands to receive funding
of $900,000 from the Institute of Museum and Library Services
(IMLS) to educate twenty-five students from the Virgin
Island Territories. A majority of those students
are African Americans.
- SIS has a successful track
record in attracting and retaining Spectrum Scholars, a
nationally competitive diversity program administered by
the American Library Association (ALA). Twenty-four
spectrum scholars have enrolled in the Library and Information
Science Program since the Scholarships were first offered
in 2000.
- The School also collaborated with the American Library Association Spectrum Initiative on a proposal to fund the studies of 12 doctoral students from under-represented groups and was awarded a $999,771 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Two doctoral candidates have enrolled at SIS as part of the Spectrum Doctoral Fellowship Program, and the other ten Fellows supported under this grant are enrolled in other programs collaborating on this project.
- The National Science Foundation has funded a $1
million Cybersecurity scholarship program for the Security
Assured Information Systems (SAIS) track at SIS. The
scholarships support graduate students in Information Science
or Telecommunications and Networking taking the SAIS-track
option. The scholarship program emphasizes the recruitment
of underrepresented groups to ensure a more diverse and
wide-ranging pool of qualified IA professionals. The
SIS faculty targeted having 30% of the scholarship recipients
coming from an underrepresented group.
- In 2006-2007,
the Alcoa Corporation awarded scholarships totaling $13,700
to one BSIS, one MSIS student, and one MST student of color
as part of its Alcoa Ambassador Scholarship Program. This
program is designed to increase the number of students
from under-represented groups in the information technology
field.
- SIS and the Free Library of Philadelphia formed a partnership supported by the IMLS to support 25 students (over a two-year period) as they earn their MLIS degrees via the FastTrack MLIS online education program. The intent of this program is to increase the number of minority librarians, specifically youth librarians working the Free Library
If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at dsc@sis.pitt.edu.