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Mark Gelfand Service Award for Educational Outreach

2012 Gelfand Award Recipient

photoJoseph Mertz

Associate Teaching Professor, Heinz College and Department of Information Systems

Joseph Mertz is an associate teaching professor in the H. John Heinz III College and in the Information Systems Program of the Dietrich College of Humanities & Social Sciences. His teaching focuses on distributed applications, developing technical-professional leadership skills and using technology for development. Since 1998, he has developed and taught a "Technology Consulting in the Community" course that has engaged students as technology consultants helping close to 300 nonprofit organizations, schools and businesses in the Pittsburgh region. Using the same capacity-building IT consulting model, he directs the international program, Technology Consulting in the Global Community, that has sent 66 students to 13 developing communities to help government ministries, schools and NGOs improve their strategic use of technology. Joe has a bachelor's degree from Pennsylvania State University in computer science, a master's degree from the University of Southern California in computer science and a Ph.D. in engineering and public policy from Carnegie Mellon University. Between degrees, he worked as a systems software developer for Bell Laboratories for 5 years.

Established in 2009, The Gelfand Award is given annually to a member of the university community who has combined sustained, effective community service with academic coursework and a deliberate process of student reflection to enhance the learning experience and teach social responsibility to students while improving some aspect of life in the community.

Purpose