7 Pitt faculty won Black Excellence in the Academy awards

Each year, Pitt’s Office of the Provost hosts the Larry E. Davis Black Excellence in the Academy Award Dinner to honor Black faculty members’ outstanding achievements, contributions, and leadership. Named after the late trailblazer Larry E. Davis, who served as dean of Pitt’s School of Social Work from 2001-2018 and founding director of the Center on Race and Social Problems, the initiative is part of the office’s commitment to bolstering faculty diversity and development.

Seven faculty members will be recognized at the Heinz History Center on Nov. 7.

Below is the list of winners.

Larry Glasco

Glasco is an associate professor in the Department of History and the recipient of the Larry E. Davis Academic Icon Award. His interests include race and ethnicity and urban history. His research focus has included the history of Black Pittsburgh, August Wilson’s Hill District, Teenie Harris’ visual imagery and more.

Dara D. Méndez

Méndez is the recipient of the Larry E. Davis Academic Excellence Award. The associate director of the Center for Health Equity and epidemiology associate professor focuses on equity, anti-racism, anti-oppression praxis, critical race theory and more to understand and address racial and socioeconomic inequity.

Ron Idoko

Idoko will receive the Larry E. Davis Emerging Scholar Award for his work as the founding director of the Racial Equity Consciousness Institute, associate director of the Center on Race and Social Problems and research assistant professor in the School of Social Work.

D. Kojo Hamilton

Hamilton is the Larry E. Davis Excellence in Leadership Award recipient. Recognized as a leader in scoliosis, adult spinal deformity and trauma, he has received national renown for neurological surgery education and mentoring.  Hamilton is a professor of neurological surgery at the School of Medicine, director of the UPMC Neurosurgical Spine Services and Residency Training Program and co-director of the Spine Fellowship Program.

Martina Anto-Ocrah

This Larry E. Davis Excellence in Mentorship Award recipient runs the Anto-Ocrah Lab, which focuses on reproductive epidemiology, social media and digital health and global health research. Its mission is to combat sex and gender disparities and champion women’s health. Anto-Ocrah is also an assistant professor in the Department of Medicine.

Leonora Anyango

Anyango will receive the Larry E. Davis Excellence in Community Engaged Scholarship Award. The Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences teaching professor teaches composition and professional courses in the Department of English. She recently received the Derek Bok Public Service Prize from Harvard University for her work with refugees in Pittsburgh, blind youth in Kenya and college student mentoring.

Tony Gaskew

U.S. Air Force veteran and recipient of the Larry E. Davis Excellence in Community Engaged Scholarship Award, Gaskew is a criminal justice professor and associate dean of academic affairs at Pitt-Bradford. He is also a faculty affiliate in Africana Studies and specializes in counterinsurgency and Black male studies. He is the NCAA Faculty Athletics Representative and founding director of the nationally recognized UPB Prison Education Program.