HAA's Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) Committee was constituted in 2016 as the Diversity Committee. As outlined by our department's bylaws, this standing committee is open to all voting members of the department, including graduate students as well as faculty. The committee's aims are to achieve equity by fostering an inclusive environment that is open and accessible to students and colleagues of all backgrounds, and that celebrates and advocates for diversity. Our mandate is to uphold the values of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility as the cornerstone of the department's mission and vision. This extends to considering who we are, how we treat one another, and to how and what we research and teach.
AY24 Co-facilitators: Jennifer Josten, Christopher Nygren, Deirdre Smith, Zixiao Huang (GSO Representative)
Some examples of our department enacting our DEIA commitments include:
Active participation in the Dietrich School's Hot Metal Bridge Postbaccalaureate Program
Our Land Acknowledgement Working Group's activities include hosting Jessie Ryker-Crawford (White Earth Chippewa), Professor of Museum Studies and Director of the MFA in Cultural Administration at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, for a series of events in collaboration with Carnegie Museum of Natural History
Centering DEIA values in HAA and ARC courses including Black Built America, Pittsburgh Neighborhoods, Museums: Society and Inclusion?, and Constellations of Art History: Reparation.
Supporting the Design Justice Initiative led by our Architectural Studies students
Reading in Community discussions on topics including The Possessive Investment in Whiteness
Articulating Our Commitments to Act in August 2020
Faculty and graduate student participation in a semester-long departmental Anti-Racist Pedagogy Workshop in Fall 2020
We gratefully acknowledge the work of our colleagues in the University of Pittsburgh’s Departments of French and Italian, Music, and Studio Arts, who have developed some of the ideas and language we have adapted here. We are glad to be working in solidarity with them.