Working Groups

We provide an interdisciplinary space for faculty, staff, students, alumni, and community leaders to connect via working groups (WG) organized around areas of shared concern.  

 
Working groups may be founded by anyone and often are structured so that there is shared leadership that is sustainable. Membership is open, inclusive, and welcoming. Check out the current list of the working groups below on this page.
 
 

 

WG priorities and activities are member-driven and often student-led. Interested members should contact Dr. Maureen Porter, Associate Director of IISE on each WG to be added to the distribution list. Those wishing to establish a novel school-wide WG should also consult with Dr. Porter to coordinate new offerings. Your ideas and commitments are welcome and needed. 

 

Working groups act as hosting spaces through which members can:

  • find one another
  • identify common interests and commitments
  • share emerging scholarship
  • plan for team grant applications
  • design new research and activist projects
  • engage in coordinated advocacy
  • promote their own praxis, presentations, and publications
  • form panels to present at professional conferences
  • enjoy shared reading of books or viewing of multi-media productions
  • host one of the IISE brown bag sessions each year
  • innovate new programming or outreach
  • travel and study abroad together
  • be guest speakers about their areas of expertise in courses
  • collaborate on innovative initiatives 
  • learn from and with SOE alumni who are active in related professions
  • co-sponsor distinguished visiting scholars with IISE and other Pitt entities
  • propose courses of action within the SOE to improve equity and justice in recruiting, admissions, funding, retention, and promotion 

 

Still thinking which working group is best for you? Pick one from the current working groups or offer a new one with our support

 

Global Gender Policies Working group

Our international members include those with long careers in advocacy and scholarship as well as students eager to make a difference locally and globally. 

Day and Time: Wed March 17th 2021, 12pm-1pm. Registration open now
Facilitator(s): Dr. Maureen Porter
Meeting format: Zoom virtual
Suggested Readings: TBA

Join and Share Your Interests: Coming Soon

Contact for questions: mporter@pitt.edu

 

Language Policies in Education Working Group

This WG helps to connect those who have, or aim to develop, a professional background in language policies in education, focusing on issues in bilingual education, national and foreign language policies, and cultural aspects of language and cognition. 

Day and Time: Registration soon
Facilitator(s): Dr. Anis Sundusiyah. Read bio
Meeting format: Zoom virtual
Suggested Readings: TBA

Join and Share Your Interests: Coming Soon

Contact for questions: ans161@pitt.edu

 

Indigenous Education Working Group

Our members care about ways to honor and foreground Indigenous ways of knowing and educating. We seek new forms of learning together that are embodied, engaged, mindful, and respectful.

Day and Time: Registration soon
Facilitator(s): Dr. Maureen Porter. Read bio
Meeting format: Zoom virtual
Suggested Readings: Indigenous Education - Language, Culture, and Identity (edited by Jacob, W. James, Cheng, Sheng Yao, Porter, Maureen) and Cultivating Aloha 'Aina Through Critical Indigenous Pedagogies of Place (written by by Maureen K. Porter and Nik Cristobal)

Join and Share Your Interests: Coming Soon

Contact for questions: mporter@pitt.edu

 

International Higher Education Working Group (IHEWG)

Members of IHEWG are University of Pittsburgh alumni, faculty, and students in education and other disciplines, as well as colleagues in various parts of the world who could be interested in the topic of international higher education for their own scholarly work and/or as a career path/option. 

Day and Time: To be announced soon
Co-chair(s): Dr. Jorge Enrique Delgado, Dr. Tchetchet Digbohou
Meeting format: Virtual and/or hybrid when conditions allow
Suggested Readings/Resources:

Join and Share Your Interests: Coming Soon

Contact for questions: jed41@pitt.edu; TGD10@pitt.edu