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Diversity at the iSchool

Diversity is important to the iSchool community, the University of Pittsburgh and the Information Sciences discipline as a whole. We believe that our discipline and institution are immeasurably strengthened by the inclusion of perspectives and creativity from all different types of people.  This diversity is needed to address the complex and multifaceted issues confronting society in its management and use of information. 

We warmly welcome students and faculty from an amazing array of countries, ethnicities, academic backgrounds, and regions in the United States.

In 2009 and 2010, we hosted students who hailed from the following countries:

From Fall 2009 through Spring 2011, new students to the iSchool have come from the following US states:

The iSchool here at the University of Pittsburgh has attracted students and faculty from incredibly-diverse ethnic and academic backgrounds. This mirrors the global and diverse nature of the information professions. Students find a welcoming multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary environment that will support them throughout their academic career here at the iSchool.

Academic Backgrounds of Faculty

One of the distinguishing characteristics of the iSchool is the fact that our faculty members come from an amazing array of academic backgrounds – indeed, this is a hallmark of the iSchools in general.  If you enroll in a program of study at our School, chances are you’ll take classes with a faculty member who earned their PhD in one of these fields:

Artificial Intelligence
Computer Networking
Computer Science
Curriculum Design
Earth Science
Education
Electrical Engineering
Engineering and Public Policy
History/Philosophy
Information Science
Information Systems
Law
Library Science
Physics
Psychology/Mathematics

Academic Background of Students

Students who come to the iSchool here at Pitt have (in the case of graduate students) previously earned degrees in a wide variety of disciplines including:

Accounting
Anthropology
Art
Biological Sciences
Business Administration
Communications Engineering
Computer & Information Systems
Computer Engineering
Computer Science
Electrical Engineering
English
History
Information Science
Liberal Arts
Library & Information Science
Philosophy
Management Information Systems
Sociology
Software Engineering
Telecommunications

Our initiatives to increase the diversity of our School:

• The iSchool 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 secure funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to support 25 students from the Virgin Island Territories (a majority of whom were African American) as they earned their MLIS degree.
• The iSchool has a successful track record in attracting and retaining Spectrum Scholars, a nationally-competitive diversity program administered by the American Library Association (ALA). More than 24 scholars have enrolled in the MLIS Degree Program since the Scholarships were first offered in 2000.
• The School collaborated with the ALA Spectrum Initiative on a project to fund the studies of 12 doctoral students from underrepresented groups – this project was funded by the IMLS as well.  Two doctoral students enrolled in the LIS PhD Program as part of the Spectrum Doctoral Fellowship Program.
• The National Science Foundation has funded a Cybersecurity scholarship program for the Security Assured Information Systems (SAIS) track at the iSchool. 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 faculty targeted having 30% of the scholarship recipients coming from an underrepresented group.
• In 2009-2010, the Alcoa Corporation awarded 13 scholarships to undergraduate IS students as part of its Alcoa Ambassador Scholarship Program. This program is designed to increase the number of students from underrepresented groups in the information technology field.