Allen named Women of Influence by Pittsburgh Business Times

Alaine Allen, associate dean for diversity, equity and inclusion, and distinguished service professor in Engineering and Public Policy, has been named one of the Pittsburgh Business Times' 2023 Women of Influence.

The first in her family to graduate from college, Alaine Allen’s career is targeted at creating educational opportunities for all, especially in the areas of science and technology.

In her position as associate dean for diversity, equity and inclusion at Carnegie Mellon University’s College of Engineering, her focus is on student, staff and faculty inclusion, and finding ways for colleagues to work together to mentor and teach all populations.

At CMU, the initiatives Allen has been involved in are numerous.

As team leader of a group of engineering educators from CMU, Johns Hopkins University and New York University, she helped secure a $3 million National Science Foundation Project ELEVATE grant to promote equitable advancement and support early career faculty in the Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) populations for those in underrepresented groups.

“Part of our grant is looking at institutional changes, looking at what are the systems that faculty have to go through to get tenure, and are they as transparent as they should be,” Allen said.

Allen also represents CMU on a leadership team to develop the ASCEND national mentorship network for math and physical science post-doctoral fellows. The collaboration received a $1 million grant over three years from the NSF in September 2022.

And at CMU, she serves as the campus representative for The National GEM Consortium – a program that provides a fellowship community for underrepresented groups at the master’s and doctoral levels in engineering and science. She leads efforts to provide professional development and social opportunities for CMU’s 140 GEM fellows to connect with each other and staff mentors.