Celebrating Alumni: Black History Month 2022
Celebrate Black History Month by learning about Pitt alumni who have made positive sustainability advances around the world.
Pitt annually celebrates Black History Month by offering enriching conversations, presentations and showcases that elevate the histories, contributions, and perspectives of the Black Pitt community.
Make sure to check the University calendar for the full list of events happening as part of the celebration.
As part of Black History Month, we are celebrating some of the alumni who have been able to make sustainable changes across the globe since their time at Pitt. Check out the featured alumni below to see the positive impact they are having!
SaLisa L. Berrien
SaLisa L. Berrien (ENGR’19) is the Founder and CEO of COI Energy. Her company which she founded in 2016 uses digital tools to detect and eliminate energy waste in buildings. SaLisa is also the Founder and Board Chair of STRIVE Inc. A nonprofit founded in Allentown, PA in 1995 which focuses on STEM leadership development training for students.
Virginia Hill
Virginia Hill (EdD ’14) is the founding principal of Environmental Charter High School in Pittsburgh. She has served many roles in her 31 years of education including teacher, school administrator, science supervisor, as well as a curriculum and professional development executive director.
Hill specializes in a positive school climate and culture building, school improvement efforts, student achievement, equity, and diversity mindsets in the school setting.
Alyssa Lyon
Alyssa Lyon (BA’12) is the Director of the Black Enrivonmental Collective at UrbanKind. Originally from The Bronx, New York Alyssa is passionate about ensuring people-especially Black people- have the power to drive change and rewrite the narrative.
Wangari Maathai
Wangari Maathai (MSc 64′) was a Kenyan activist and environmentalist, as well as the first African woman to win a Nobel Peace Prize. Her decades of work led the reforestation efforts in Kenya and created a paradigm shift in the way Kenyans see environmentalism and women’s rights.
Rebecca S. Pringle
Rebecca S. Pringle (BA ’76) is the President of the National Education Association (NEA), which serves three million educators, making it the nation’s largest labor organization. Pringle is a fierce racial and social justice warrior, defender of educator rights, an advocate for all students and communities of color, and a respected voice in education.
Read Pringle’s full bio from 2021 Distinguished Alumni Award Winners.
Harold Rickenbacker
Harold Rickenbacker(Eng.D’19) currently serves as an Environmental Engineer for the Environmental Protection Agency. He began helping people deal with air pollution while studying for his doctorate at Pitt. Since then he has helped local officials to develop technologies that better monitor air quality, particularly in underserved neighborhoods. Before his current position, Harold was the clean Air and Innovation Manager with the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), where he further pushed for improved air quality in the US and abroad.