Ep. 27: Audrey Murrell, University of Pittsburgh Honors College

Transcription:

So we're making it almost halfway through our Summer of 50 Pittsburgh Tech Storiess with Comcast. This, of course, is Jonathan Kersting with the Pittsburgh Technology Council, and tech vibe radio, and I'm just so happy to be telling all of these stories. This is definitely the highlight of my summer cuz I'm meeting new people like I am today with Audrey Murrell, who is the acting dean at the University of Pittsburgh Honors College. I think it's just so cool thinking and connecting with folks who I've known for years and years and years. At the end of the day, we all have some really cool stories to tell. And for us to tell them with Comcast, I think it's just so much fun. So Audrey, welcome to the show today. Thanks for taking the time to be part of it. I can't wait to learn more about you and the Honors College and all the great work that you're doing.

Well, thank you so much for the invitation.

Absolutely. So first and foremost. So I was checking out your LinkedIn profile and I'm like, you got some serious credentials. I your background is really cool. And you have quite the history with the University of Pittsburgh, which I am in alone, and it happens to be my favorite School Of course, too. So great. What did you study? When you were a kid? What were you said?

I studied English.

And it served me well. Yeah. You got a very, very strong English department. So absolutely. 25 years later, here I am.  It's been 25 years since I've graduated from. It feels like maybe five years ago. It's like, no, Jonathan, you're gonna be 50 one day.

It's coming, right?

Man, it's coming. Absolutely. So tell us about your background, your history and what got you into Pitt and how you've grown through it over the years?

No, it's great. I'm actually a psychologist by training. I went to Howard University in Washington, DC as an undergraduate and fell in love with social psychology, which is really looking at people and, and groups and organizations and the like, and then went to graduate school at the University of Delaware. And when I finished graduate school, I started looking for a job and I grew up in Chicago, and so I'm really a city oriented sort of person. That was one of the things that was really high, and it had to be really important. But I had to be in a city that had a major NFL team because there you go.

That was on my list. It was on my punch last, right?

No, I had a couple of options and, and I picked Pitt and start up in the psychology department and then to us and I transferred over to the School of Business. And so I was doing a lot of work on organizational mergers and looking at gender and organization. So it was it was such a fantastic fit to, to have been a faculty member and contend to be a professor in the School of Business. And, and then I got my first tap on academic leadership to direct the David Burke Center for Ethics and leadership. So I did that for a little over a decade, which is

Yeah, I know it's still very close to my heart. I still work is doing some research with the center that it's just been working with the students who are affiliated with our certificate and leadership and ethics program that is still going on there. And then Mike Got tap to be the Associate Dean of a top ranked undergraduate business program at Pitt, and lead to business for six years until Provost khud reached out to me and asked me to step in as acting Dean in the Honors College. And so I finished the one year mark. And so and so we're just really excited and excited about continuing the momentum that we built last year. So that's exciting.

How cool is that to be an organization like Pitt and to be moving along the way you have? I think that's fantastic.

It's been great. I like the different roles because even though they're all in academic leadership, they're very different in terms of the scope and the responsibility and, and the stakeholders and the partners that we have to interact with. And I'm loving the role in the Honors College because it sits across the entire university undergraduate experience. And so we get to interact with undergraduate students from all different majors and interests and background. And so that's been really amazing. experience to the first year. And I had been involved with the Honors College as a faculty member. Being a mentor to students on different research projects. The the Honors College is one of a handful of honors colleges that gives a Bachelor's of philosophy degree, which is a research intensive degree for undergraduate students. Okay, they actually do an undergraduate thesis. And so it's like an undergraduate dissertation that they do. And it's just some of the most amazing work that students do in that program, which has existed as long as the Honors College has been in effect. And so I've been a committee member and a mentor, a research mentor to some of those and so it's really nice to sit in the in the in the themes chair throughout this year in the upcoming year.

Definitely be on top of all that and see it going on. I feel like it's never gonna be the same day twice because you're having different views coming through it. And yeah, I just think it's so cool.

And I picked this background on purpose because the Honors College sits upon the 36 35th and 37 Have a floor of the cathedral. So, yeah, I know. So it's kind of like it's like, it's like I'm sitting, I'm sitting adjacent to my office as we're having this conversation. It was sort of very inspirational.

And that's so cool. I could say I walked the steps to the top many, many times in the winter for exercise. And are you kidding? From all the way down on the ground floor? Oh, yes. Iron Man, Iron Man.

We love to do it. I haven't done it in years, though. It's one of those deals. It's been forever but it's one of those things where it's it's a good thing to do. And I said, it's near and dear to my heart. I think the cathedral learning is one of the best things in Pittsburgh. very iconic, man, you got it all. I love it. That's so cool. Execution details on the Honors College. I think it's so cool. Because you said it's been around for a long time. I think it's one of those things. It just amplifies someone's education when they're going to pick it just puts it into like double overdrive and builds connections for students. Probably like Like, like, like nothing else.

It really does. And I think you know, we talked about wanting to attract students and engage students. really have no strong academic preparation, which is really true for the entire profile at the University of Pittsburgh. But at the same time, we really try to balance intellectual curiosity and working for the public good. And I think a couple of things are unique about the Honors College. One is that we really do provide enhancement to the academic experience that moves from inside to outside the classroom. So we really do have expectations that all of our students are going to be highly engaged both inside the classroom, many of them are double or triple majors, they might take multiple certificates. They are highly engaged and doing study abroad. And then at the same time, they do a lot of research or community based or other hands on projects outside of the classroom. And so it really is a very enhanced experience. And it's very customized in terms of really pushing students to think broadly about what their discipline means with the professional and personal aspirations that they have. And one of the other hallmarks that Think of the Honors College and it's in our signature statement that we crossed boundaries means we have a unique opportunity for students who might be in engineering or in the humanities or in business or nursing, or doing Health Sciences, to work across those different disciplines to be able to collaborate, to be able to share knowledge and perspective and expertise and to wrestle with the differences across different disciplines we sometimes like to get in our own professional silos Yeah, we had to get it right exactly.

But you know, the world was doesn't necessarily and problems that face the world don't live in in nice little neat little buckets and silos. messy. Yeah, absolutely. And so we like to get in that mess we like to because the problems and the solutions are also in the mess. And so we really do, push the envelope in that cross boundaries notion of what it takes to be able to not only communicate and collaborate, and this is not just disciplinary, it might be campus to me It might be across culture, across perspectives, and across different stakeholder needs to really be able to cross those boundaries because that's where you're able to push for discovery and innovation and awareness and action.

That's just so important. I think especially in this day and age, it's even more important than ever, because we're just seeing the need for everyone to be more understanding people just to understand that there's more than just our own worlds is in front of us. So that gives the students kind of like, out of their comfort zone is a fantastic thing to be able to happen as far as that is, and my dogs back there probably agree, because it happens well, too.

I'm sending him a little prize basket of bones for giving me some confirmation.

Absolutely, since, you know, it's challenging to I, you know, we kind of say that crossing boundaries is really easy, but you struggle, right. I mean, think about the difference between, you know, being and we know this from organizations that even talking across different departments is complicated. So imagine having our students, you know, understanding things from an academic perspective and a community perspective and a policy perspective and trying to figure out how to reconcile all of that, to be able to make an impact. So sometimes we take it for granted is not as easy. And it's frustrating, but but it's also really rewarding when you push through and to get some insight and to see some movement.

Yeah, every day, you're waking up kind of inspired that because you know that you're going there, like people's boundaries are being pushed there, their comfort levels are being pushed into discovering new things. They're making these new connections and you're facilitating that you're making sure you're running this program that's making that happen. I'm just gonna use has been such a huge difference in people's lives. I've seen what kind of feedback you're getting back from, from the students in this program.

Well, I gotta tell you, you know, I'm, I'm forever amazed at what our students are doing. And I keep thinking I'm glad I was not I'm not an undergraduate right now, so I'm not sure I could keep up with them.

It's just amazing the energy and the ideas that they have. And I think that part of what I like about it from the Dean's perspective is that they really do challenge us to help to be able to provide the source and the opportunity for them to be able to do it. They come in with a passion, and an idea about something. And so what we are able to do is to is to partner and, and we really talk about co creation in the Honors College. So whatever we do, whoever we're interacting with, whether it's the staff and I and the students, whether it's the students, the staff and the faculty, community, stakeholders, alumni stakeholders, whoever it is that we're not depositing or doing something to or for someone, we are co creating. We're working together and in a very collaborative, and a very egalitarian, if you will, not sort of us as sitting atop the power and saying we have all the solutions, but we have some knowledge that comes from research and from The academic tradition and the history within that tradition, you have lived experience, you have hands on experience, you have different perspectives, we can cut across all of those boundaries to be able to do something, but not only makes impact, but that it's authentic. Right. And that's one of the things that we always want to make sure that the interaction and the experience and what we do is authentic for all the people who are involved. And and that takes a lot of time. It's easier to just go in and and say you're going to do it my way. But it's easier in the beginning, but it doesn't stick and it's not.

I mean, the student has they got skin in the game that it's not just being told that they're they're participatory in it more and not just kind of following the letter and getting to the point where Oh, okay, there you made it through but now you're actually building it together. Everyone's sitting on the 35th floor. There's what it boils down to, right. Well, it's very similar to what you're doing the tech council you bring, even though I mean people talk about Like it's one particular industry, but that's very diverse in terms of what technology looks like. So imagine bringing all those people together on the council, as you know, as members and as other stakeholders and trying to move the council for is very similar to what the tech council I like that analogy. That's exactly right. That is very cool.

So we happen to have a CEO, because her name is Audrey and Audrey leaders. We're both in trouble.

Yeah, absolutely. That's so funny. So we could have a conversation without mentioning like COVID-19 at this point. So you got this new position like now you're you're playing you're having your mettle tested pie like never before, wondering how you're going to continue doing what you're doing with all this craziness. And now we're going to get students back to school and get them the education that they need and that they're excited to get. How are you guys faring so far? What are you gonna do?

Well, I gotta tell you as a you know, new in the role I started in June of 2019. So I was about Halfway in when I got, you know, COVID interrupted in terms of what we have planned. And I, you know, I think a couple of things, one from just from a leadership perspective, you know, one of the things that I that I learned from over a decade of leading the ethics and Leadership Center, the Burke Center for Ethics and Leadership Center, within the business school at Pitt, is that, you know, leaders really developed a very specific set of tools and sort of our toolkit and Arsenal about how we learn. And I'm a very relational leader, right. And so the interacting with people and with groups and, and sitting down and talking and, and working through problems or discussing different strategies, or even collaborating on research is just what I'm used to do so. So from a leadership perspective, I think all of us are in leadership roles or are being pushed outside our comfort zone to widen the tools and the approaches and how we lead. And so when we all went to, you know, to remote for health and safety reasons, it's like wow, So that that typical tool that as a leader where, you know, I bring people together, or I sit down with the leadership team, and we're talking and hashing out, I can't do that. So if there's an issue, I can't just, you know, stop into the office and sit down and, and brainstorm You know, I've got to, you know, send you a zoom link in order for us to be able to do that. And so I have to tell you is really challenging. I was thinking all the things that I'm used to, to grabbing hold of a leader, I've got to change my, my, my leadership toolkit or my leadership skill set to be able to do this in different sort of ways. I think it's true for, for how doctors have interacted with patients if they didn't necessarily we're doing telemedicine how how faculty interact with students in the classroom. So it's, it's really pushing us in terms of how we do the work we do to still consider it to be effective. But I have to tell you, if there is a time to benefit, which we always benefit, but one of the things that really was was brought home to me because of COVID is how efficient Wouldn't it is for the university to be in a city that has world class, medical and, and health industry and for that to be so integrated into the University of Pittsburgh. And so and so and also to be in a university that is fundamentally research base. So So research and medical and health profession based approaches really do guide everything that what what we're doing. And so it really is a benefit to have that right in Oakland right there and so historically integrated, that you know, that all of the decision making and the task force and the committee's and the advice and the oversight is all being done, based on what we know as best practice and medicine, and health professions and the like. And so that gives me a sense of as I've talked to a lot of my counterparts in different universities, not just around the country, but around the world. The fact that it's evidence based and it's research based, and it's based on what we know to be good public health. medical practice helps a lot. It absolutely helps a lot. So, you know, there's some that I was I was making a couple of months into the pandemic, I start making this personal list of all the things that I took for granted, but really this. So it's like it's like and so that's one of the things we sometimes take for granted is being in a city, where you have those resources and, and multiple of those resources right here within the city. And so that is that is a that is a benefit. And so, I think that we're being as careful and as cautious as we can. But as you know, I talked as I talked to students, and as the staff and I talked and they said, I said okay, we're going to we're going to come up with a plan. I wrote this. I wrote this blog, or for Huffington Post years ago called the art of pivot. And the students always teased me about about using the word pivot. I said, you know, because we work on a lot of projects, but years ago, we were working on a project with a couple of corporate partners during oh eight and oh nine. I don't know if you remember what happened in 2008. Little remembrance, there are some banks. Right?

Exactly, exactly. So we were working on these projects, and then that happened in those students said, what are we going to do? People aren't calling us back, we're not finished. And that was the sort of kind of I said, Look, let and I said, we've got to learn how to pivot. They're like, what does that mean? You've got to learn how when when obstacles, you know, happen, or situations that you can't control? How do you adjust? How do you, you know, we talked about agile, you know, workplaces, and how do you do that? And so, so I wrote that piece called the art of pivot. And, and it keeps coming back to haunt me because every now and again, I'll have to go back to Okay, as we move into the rest of 2020, as we've done for the lion's share of it, we've got to understand how to pivot because health and safety concerns come first. So everything you have to do as to pivot based on conditions and so I'll often tell staff and students what do you think is gonna happen? I'm like, I don't know. We have different scenarios. It goes back to when I was heavily involved in disaster recovery. You have these different scenarios and depending on the conditions, you pivot to one or the other. So this is definitely building our agility strong is gonna say, building our agility strength about which, which I have to tell you, it's much more fun to lecture about agility than it is to actually do it. But both are necessary. So think about how much better your lectures are going to be moving forward.

No, I know, I really I'm just like, and as we've all been experiencing, it really does. You know, it is, it is fascinating to sort of talk about collaboration or community based research or leadership agility, and then to be the living case study for it is absolutely, it's actually it's been it's been an it's gonna continue to be interesting, but, but I gotta tell you, you know, the students that I interact with, they're amazingly resilient and, and they're just excited. The incoming class is just excited to be part of a Pitt Community, and they're looking forward to it and we're going to continue to to focus on the academic mission, and then and have health and safety as primary and the staff and I have a bunch of different scenarios that we have. So we are practicing the pivot, and I think they're probably getting sick of me saying that word.

I was like, they're like, what should we do? And don't say pivot, right?

I'm saying it, because we're doing it every day. I know, I know. I you know, I keep teasing. I'm gonna buy everybody coffee mugs, I think.

Maybe they're not sure if I'm serious or not, I don't know. Oh, it is also we teach a lot in the center about values based leadership. And I think, you know, you have that in all my interactions with your leadership. So if you're doing things based on a values based leadership approach, then pivoting becomes less of a strain because those values are perennial, those values really well put. And that I think sometimes in these situations, it really tests Water in terms of leadership. And so if you say these value based leadership, you know, and you're and you're tested about will those stand in times of not only have a public health crisis, but in terms of what we've seen in terms of the social justice and racism pandemic in the country, what, you know, how do those values as a leader, as an organization, as an individual, how do they stand up in times of testing and conflict and, and struggle and so we've been living through that too, because the COVID just wasn't enough.

Oh, my goodness. Like I can tell you a couple of things here. I do, which is for sure. A, we're super pumped to have the University of Pittsburgh here in Pittsburgh doing what it does. We're double pumped to have you leading up your Honors College because we need more folks like you doing what you're doing, because that's what's making Pittsburgh great these days. It really is what you're doing is making a massive difference. You're making Pittsburgh proud that is for sure.

Oh, thank you. Well, you know, the students and the staff are doing the work. I just I say they do the work, I signed the invoices.

From time to time.

Pivot and Power Pivot. Now it really, you know, again, this is this is why we do what we do is, you know, is not just in times of plenty, but also in challenging times, you inherit both.

Exactly right, and it's like you guys are making all the right moves. So glad to hear it, tell them a little bit of the story has been just an absolute pleasure for me. I hope our listeners and our viewers also get the same cool takeaways that I got from it, that's for sure. Either you are the best. Thanks for hanging out.

Thank you for taking the time to chat with me. And again, it's so great to partner with the tech Council on the work that you all are doing there is super important. And if we didn't think it was important before, this period where we've relied so much more on all aspects of technology is even more and so I'm just looking forward to continue to partner with you all. So thanks for taking the time to chat with me.

Absolutely great stuff.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai