Carissa Slotterback

Dr. Carissa Slotterback is dean and professor in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh. Since arriving at the University of Pittsburgh in October 2020, she has led major efforts in the school around diversity, equity, and inclusion; development and alumni engagement; research capacity building; and enhancing student experience. She is a widely published scholar in the areas of stakeholder and public engagement and decision-making related to environmental and land use policy and planning. She has a particular interest in how stakeholders perceive impacts and use information in making decisions, focusing on impact assessment and collaborative decision-making approaches. She has received funding for her research from organizations such as the US Department of Agriculture, National Science Foundation, and Minnesota Department of Transportation.

Prior to joining the University of Pittsburgh in late 2020, she served as a faculty member and program director in urban and regional planning, as well as associate dean, in the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs. She led a number of initiatives focused on interdisciplinary and engaged research and education, including in her prior roles as director of research engagement in the Office of the Vice President for Research and as co-founder and director the Resilient Communities Project, a university-wide community-university engagement program at the University of Minnesota. She has held multiple leadership positions, including vice president with the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning, and currently co-leads the association’s partnership with the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy on curriculum innovation. She is also co-leading a task force with the American Society for Public Administration on engaged scholarship. She was inducted as a fellow of the American Institute of Certified Planners in 2018.