1. About
  2. About
  3. Governance

Governance

We are governed by FRIT Bylaws (pdf).

The department has established mentoring and tenure guidelines for assistant professors.

Planning & Budget Committee AY22

Todd Reeser (Chair, ex officio); Lina Insana, James Coleman, Caitlin Dahl (grad rep)

AY21: Todd Reeser (Chair, ex officio); Lina Insana, Giuseppina Mecchia, Nawel Cotez (grad rep)

Pedagogy Committee AY22

Brett Wells (chair)

Inclusive Practices Committee AY22

The Inclusive Practices Committee was established in fall 2016 as the FRIT Diversity Committee by then co-chairs Todd Reeser and Lorraine Denman. Our standing committee (as required by our department's bylaws) consists of faculty, staff, and graduate students in the Department of French and Italian. Since its foundation, the committee has worked on various initiatives with the aim to promote equitable practices in our department and our curricula.  

Some examples of our activities and initiatives include:  

  • Revision of all syllabi to include comprehensive diversity, accessibility, equity, and inclusion statements [See here]  
  • Events with invited guest speakers such as Prof. Kris Knisley (U of Arizona) and Prof. Vera Gheno (Università degli Studi di Firenze) to talk about gender-inclusive language and language pedagogy; a screening of the film Mariannes Noires on Afro-French identity; a three-part series on Black Italian identity and the Black Lives Matter movement in Italy featuring filmmaker Fred Kuwornu, radio producer and podcaster Ngofeen Mputubwele, and rapper Amir Issaa  
  • Departmental discussions on various current issues, such as how to support students during the COVID-19 pandemic  
  • Workshops on pedagogy, teaching inclusively, and professional development for graduate student instructors  
  • Faculty participation on departmental hiring committees  

The members of the AY 2020-2021 committee are:  

  • Prof. Lorraine Denman (faculty co-chair)  
  • Melissa Zinanti (graduate student co-chair) 
  • Chiara Montera
  • Cinzia Delfini
  • Donald Joseph
  • Caitlin Dahl

For more information, please contact Lorraine Denman (denman@pitt.edu).