December 17, 2024
Dear Colleagues,
I am delighted to announce that Natasha Tokowicz, Associate Dean for Equity, Faculty Development, and Community Engagement in the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, will serve as a Provost Faculty Fellow, effective January 1, 2025.
In this role, Natasha will work with the Office of the Provost to develop campus respect and civility initiatives and serve as a liaison to the Atlantic Coast Conference Academic Leaders Network (ACC ALN) leadership development program. As a liaison to the ACC ALN, she will attend conferences at ACC universities and help to plan for Pitt’s hosting in Fall 2026.
Natasha is also a Professor of Psychology and Linguistics and Senior Scientist at the Learning Research and Development Center, with an appointment in the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition. She started in her position as Associate Dean for Equity, Faculty Development, and Community Engagement on August 1, 2023.
Natasha has been involved in numerous equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives; she developed and co-directed the Learning Research and Development Undergraduate Research Internship Program, co-chaired the University of Pittsburgh Senate Equity, Inclusion and Anti-Discrimination Advocacy Committee, and was a member of the Advisory Boards of the SPARK Society and Women in Cognitive Science-Canada. She is currently an advisory board member for Women in Cognitive Science and the University of Pittsburgh Women in Medicine and Science Forum.
Her research examines adult second language learning and bilingualism and aims to understand why some people are better at learning languages than others. The National Science Foundation funds this work, which focuses on musical ability and training as important factors in adult second language learning at all levels. Her book, Lexical Processing and Second Language Acquisition, was published by Routledge.
Natasha holds a PhD in cognitive psychology from The Pennsylvania State University and a BA in psychology and Spanish from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She completed post-doctoral fellowships at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh.
Please join me in celebrating Natasha’s new role in the Office of the Provost.
Regards,
Joe
Joseph J. McCarthy
Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor
William Kepler Whiteford Professor of Chemical Engineering
University of Pittsburgh