With Pitt’s Homecoming coming up this week (including some exciting CUE events such as a writing retreat and block party), I have been reflecting on what “home” means within our work at the Center for Urban Education. For some, home is a physical place, a house, kitchen table, city block, or classroom where we tell our stories and become who we are. For others, home is a person or people who support us and help us grow. Home may also be more of a feeling or feelings, of belonging, of safety, or of being recognized and truly seen.

In many ways, CUE has always been about creating a sense of home: a space where students, faculty, educators, and community members can come and their ideas are nurtured, voices are heard, and connections are strengthened. A place where people can feel a sense of belonging and being seen.  Homecoming, then, is not simply a return to Pitt’s campus or to university traditions but an opportunity to return to shared commitments of advancing equity, opportunity, and justice in urban education.

I hope you will connect or reconnect with CUE. Join us for upcoming events. Become a faculty affiliate or student fellow. Work with us to build bridges between campus and community, challenge educational inequities, and ensure that every learner feels at home in their school, community, and other spaces of living and learning.

Welcome home to the Center for Urban Education.

In CUE-mmunity, 

Lori Delale-O’Connor 
Interim Director, Center for Urban Education 

P.S. Please view events details and register below. Feel free to share with others!

CUE Interim Director Lori Delale-O'Connor was announced as the recipient of the 2025 Bridge Builder Award from YWCA Greater Pittsburgh. The award recognizes an individual whose work remains true to their ethnic heritage and roots as they champion strategic initiatives so that the Greater Pittsburgh of our future centers and engages women of color.

In addition, Lori is the 2025 recipient of the Dr. Larry E. Davis Excellence in Faculty Mentoring Award, a distinguished faculty award from the Office of the Provost at the University of Pittsburgh.

Congratulations, Lori! You're a rockstar!

Our first Food for Thought of the year kicked off in an incredible way with Dr. Michael Gunzenhauser and Pitt Education alum Dr. Michael Quigley in their first public appearance promoting their new book, “Race-Conscious Caring in Educational Leadership: A Narrative Ethics,” co-authored with fellow Pitt Education alum Dr. Osly Flores.

Over complimentary lunch, Dr. Gunzenhauser presented a powerful examination of leadership dynamics in real-world environments. Drawing from their research and many interviews, Drs. Gunzenhauser and Quigley provided several examples of the impact of race-conscious caring, as well as results when critical caring is not considered. We were all engaged as they seamlessly tied together this very complicated issue.

Students were eager to get their books signed after the event! We appreciate their time and hope to see them back at CUE very soon!

Which reminds us...

Tuesday, October 28, 2025
12 - 1:30 p.m.
4303 Posvar Hall (CUE Commons Room)

Drawing from Dr. Scott's forthcoming book Black on the Edge: Writing, Resistance, and HBCU Survival Literacies (University Press of Mississippi), this lecture frames survival as a critical literacy practice that reveals how HBCUs generate resilience, creativity, and new futures through their everyday practices. Dr. Scott also introduces Critical Narrative Annotation (CNA), an original method that redefines annotation as a tool of criticality and transformation. Moving beyond rote marginalia, CNA illuminates silences, reshapes narratives, and expands interpretive possibilities.

Together, survival literacies and CNA invite us to understand HBCUs not as marginal but as central to reimagining education itself, a living testament to the power of creating from the edge.

As customary of Food for Thought, complimentary lunch will be served!

📆 SAVE THE DATES - Up next in the Food for Thought series: 

Wednesday, October 22, 2025
10 a.m. - 3 p.m. ET
4303 Posvar Hall (CUE Commons Room)

Join us at CUE for a supportive day of writing! Make progress on your research, dissertation, journal article, or other writing while we focus on the theme “Writing Home: Finding Your Place on the Page” Whether you need structure, accountability, or simply a change of scenery, this is your opportunity to focus, refine your work, and make meaningful progress.

Join us during the time frame that works best for you! Lunch will be served at 12 p.m.

Thursday, October 23, 2025
3 - 6 p.m. ET
4th Floor of Posvar Hall

Join us in Posvar Hall for a one-of-a-kind block party, hosted by the Center’s on the 4th floor! Connect and learn about student clubs, organizations and discover new spaces to hang out between classes to support your academic journey, all with live music and free food! This interactive event offers the perfect opportunity to explore how our Centers can elevate your college experience and boost your success. 
 
Come and go, before, after or between classes during this three-hour block of fun! 
 
Cosponsored by Africana Studies, the Center for Urban Education, the Office of Child Development, and the University Center for International Studies, including the Center for African Studies, the Center for Latin American Studies, and the Center for Ethnic Research Studies: CERS.

October 30 | November 13 & 20 | December 4
10 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. during the fall semester
4310 Posvar Hall (CUE)

Join us for a drop-in block designed to recharge, connect, and grow! Bring your lunch, meet friends, study, collaborate, or just take a break between classes. Open to all students! Come build community and make the CUE Commons your space for personal, academic, and professional growth. 

No RSVP necessary. See you there! 

Podcasts/Radio

State of the World Podcast (NPR)

1A (NPR) 

Books

I Didn’t Come Here to Lie: My Life and Education 

by Karen Lewis & Elizabeth Todd-Breland 

The Responsibility of Intellectuals in the Age of Fascism and Genocide 

by Vivian Gornick, Robin D. G. Kelley, and Elaine Scarry

Based in the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Education, the Western Pennsylvania Writing Project, WPWP, is a powerful source of professional learning and impactful youth programs in the greater Pittsburgh region. The WPWP supports and encourages writing and literacy through the annual Summer Institute, professional development workshops, collaborations, and network engagements. The WPWP connects through programming opportunities as well as individual connections that promote meaningful and impactful opportunities tailored to the unique needs and culture of your school, community, or district.  

Find out how you can energize your literacy by getting involved today! 

Upcoming Symposium

"Commemorating the 10th Anniversary of the Penn Plaza & 70th Anniversary of Lower Hill Demolitions" 

Thursday, November 13, 2025
4:30 - 6:30 p.m. ET
University of Pittsburgh, William Pitt Union

Friday, November 14, 2025
9 a.m. - 4 p.m. ET
University of Pittsburgh, William Pitt Union

Keynote speaker Prof. Edward Goetz, director of the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs U. of Minnesota, author of: New Deal Ruins: Race, Economic Justice and Public Housing Policy; Clearing the Way: Deconcentrating the Poor in Urban America

The symposium will commemorate the 10th anniversary of the eviction of residents from the Penn Plaza Apartments in East Liberty and the 70th anniversary of the demolition of the Lower Hill and displacement of 8000 residents. Panels will present analyses and provide space for dialogues on the impacts of displacement on Pittsburgh residents and on policies that can prevent similar displacements going forward.

The symposium will include space for exchanges among scholars, community activists, and policy makers about strategies for reducing housing insecurity and displacement in our region.

Co-sponsors: Pittsburgh Human Rights City Alliance, Hill District Consensus Group, University of Pittsburgh University Center for Social and Urban Research (UCSUR); Urban Studies Program, Department of Sociology, School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA); NAACP Pittsburgh Branch

"The Politics of Possibility" 

Multiple dates through Spring 2026

Join this virtual community in a webinar series of interest from Edmund W. Gordon Institute for Advanced Study.

The Politics of Possibility, a 4-part webinar series bringing together researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to address threats to K–12 and higher education and their impact on American democracy and the social good. 

Through evidence-based conversations with national leaders in educational policy and practice, they will examine the consequences of federal assaults on research and education while fostering dialogue across sectors. The goals of this webinar are to educate the public, build collective strategies for educational justice, and equip our communities with tools to reclaim and transform education for equity. 

CUE is excited to be collaborating with our fourth-floor neighbors! Next time you find yourself in Posvar Hall, visit the Center and check out the various Departments and Centers and find out how you can become involved! 

Africana Studies 
Office of Child Development 
University Center for International Studies 
Center for African Studies 
Center for Latin American Studies 
Center for Ethnic Research Studies