I spent this past weekend in Fayette County with Pitt’s ACRI cohort. Spending time in Fayette after talking about it for so long was really amazing – especially in beautiful fall weather. My urban studies team got to conduct three interviews. We spoke with Lindsay Kettering, head of Touchstone Center of the Arts, which is…
Tag: ACRI
ACRI: Co-Creating Knowledge in Appalachia
Did you know that Pittsburgh is considered to be the Paris of Appalachia? I guess that makes the Cathedral of Learning our Eiffel Tower. Maybe that’s why Pittsburghers put French fries on salads! Welcome! I am Chance Thomas, a junior majoring in Social Work, pursuing a minor in Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies, and possibly…
Entering the Nonprofit World (FCCT)
Hello everyone! My name is Owen, and I’m currently a Junior at the Swanson School of Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh. I’m majoring in Industrial Engineering with a Pre-Dental focus, and I’m also pursuing a Leadership certificate. On campus, I serve as a Resident Assistant in Tower A, lead as the president of the…
ACRI Project: Introduction
Hi, everyone! My name is Maddie McCann-Colvard, and I am a Junior at the College of Business Administration at the University of Pittsburgh. I am majoring in Finance, minoring in both Economics and Studio Arts, and pursuing a certificate in Leadership and Ethics. On campus, I am actively involved in several organizations: I serve as…
ACRI Cohort: Starting Out with Fayette County
Hello! My name is Lizzie Dickerson, and I’m a junior at Pitt. My majors are Politics & Philosophy and Urban Studies. Outside of the classroom, I write and edit for Policy and Political Review, Pitt’s undergraduate policy magazine. I’m passionate about local government, urban design, and building strong communities! One of my favorite parts of…
ACRI – The Semester in Review
The ACRI team had a busy semester; we were able to accomplish some important work for a special place in Fayette County. Breaking into groups based on our different academic programs, there were four focus areas that produced their own results. The business cohort researched the needs of local entrepreneurs using surveys and interviews, then…
Final Thoughts on Fayette County, Community-Engaged Research, and the ACRI
As the Fall 2023 semester has just come to an end, it is time that I share my thoughts about the Realizing Regional Resilience Pitt ACRI project. To start, I could have never foreseen how connected I would feel to purpose and community from this class. I decided to take this honors add-on course to…
ACRI – Delivering Our Work
On November 17, I traveled to Connellsville with the rest of the ACRI team to deliver our research results to a group of community stakeholders. We were thrilled to have a great turnout and enjoy the lunch they prepared for us at the Canteen. The presentation itself was excellent; all of our preparation in the…
Final Blog Post
The final deliverable we created surround educational resources. We found from our interviews that although high school students had access to a lot of various educational assets at the high schools in Fayette County, they lacked a comprehensive idea of the various majors and career options available to them. There is a common theme of…
Summarizing My Experience with ACRI
My sustainability capstone group focused on three main deliverables throughout our semester working on our Appalachian Collegiate Research Initiative project. The first of these focused on educating high school students on career options for them post-graduation that are available in Fayette County, both for those who continue on to college and those who pursue a…