2026 Distinguished Alumni Awards

Valerie Thomas-Njie (BS ’71) grew up in Homestead, inspired by her parents, grandmother, the community, and church. A common message that resonated was hard work, pride, self-confidence, and excellence in everything you encounter. When she was accepted into the Project A Program at Pitt in 1968, she was exposed to advisors, educators, and administrators in Black Studies, who prepared students for success and encouraged them to reach for the stars and be the change agents our communities needed. 

Njie has always been committed to making a difference in the lives of those less fortunate. Black Studies nurtured her interpersonal skills, and the School of Education equipped her with the requisite skills to launch a career as an elementary school teacher outside Chicago. But she quickly realized that most of the children’s problems stemmed from societal ills that plagued their parents and the impoverished communities that imprisoned them. Since receiving a master’s degree in management from the University of Utah in 1973, she has worked tirelessly to transform lives and create opportunities for people who have been disenfranchised. Her journey included stints as a Preschool Director in Oakland, California; an Education Specialist for the Massachusetts Department of Education; and an Education Specialist for the Department of Social Welfare/Peace Corps in Banjul, The Gambia.

Njie returned to Pittsburgh and worked at Bidwell Training Center as the Executive Director/Senior Vice President, where she spearheaded Bidwell’s transition from a 1960s manpower poverty program to a state-licensed, nationally accredited adult career school. Her leadership resulted in Bidwell being designated a School of Excellence by its accreditor, the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges (ACCSC). In 2013, she won a national election and became the first African American elected to the ACCSC Board of Directors, in the organization’s 50-year history.   

At Pitt, Valerie has served as President of the African American Alumni Council (AAAC), Pittsburgh Affiliate. She became a Pitt Alumni Association (PAA) board member in 2010 and, in 2020, became President of the Pitt Alumni Association. She currently serves on Pitt’s Board of Trustees and the Honors College Board of Visitors.

With more than five decades of leadership, service, and mentorship impacting countless learners, the School of Education is pleased to present the 2026 Distinguished Alumni Award to Valerie Thomas-Njie.  

Sean P. McCarty (MEd ’05, EdD/ADCT ’12) has dedicated his career to the students, families, and educators of the Seneca Valley School District in Butler County, Pennsylvania, where he has served since 1996. A graduate of Seneca Valley himself, he began his career as a special education teacher before advancing through roles as assistant principal, principal of Ryan Gloyer Middle School, where the school earned recognition as a National Blue Ribbon School in 2012, a Top 10 Middle School by the Pittsburgh Business Times and a National Middle School Association Schools to Watch school in 2011. In 2012, McCarty became Assistant Superintendent for Elementary Education and was elevated to Deputy Superintendent for Secondary Instruction in 2025. 

During his tenure as assistant superintendent, McCarty was the driving force behind the creation of the district’s Creativity, Innovation & Research Center, a nationally recognized model program for K–6 innovation and hands-on learning. He also spearheaded the expansion of an elementary foreign language program, now reaching thousands of students. McCarty has advocated for innovative learning environments nationwide and has participated in national STEM education seminars and briefings. He is member of the Pennsylvania Schools to Watch State Evaluation Team, active in the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, the Pennsylvania Association of Elementary and Secondary School Principals, and the Pennsylvania Association for Middle Level Education.  

McCarty holds a bachelor’s degree in elementary and special education from Slippery Rock University and earned his master’s degree and EdD from the University of Pittsburgh in 2005 and 2012, respectively. His dissertation focused on school crisis preparedness among K-12 school leaders. 

Grace M. Drnach-Bonaventura (EdD ’24) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health, where she teaches undergraduate and graduate students and conducts research at the intersection of public health, health equity, and education. She earned her doctorate in Social and Comparative Analysis of Education from the University of Pittsburgh. 

Drnach-Bonaventura has led multiple statewide grant initiatives in Pennsylvania aimed at integrating physical and behavioral health care. Trained in human-centered design, she develops inclusive, community‑informed curricula and teaches across in‑person and online formats with a focus on social determinants of health and practice‑based dialogue. Her scholarship centers on the role of education in promoting health and well‑being, particularly for women and girls. 

In addition, Drnach-Bonaventura has collaborated with health care systems and communities across the state to assess readiness for evidence-based implementation and to reduce stigma around substance use. Her scholarship spans peer-reviewed publications on topics including substance use screening in adult primary care, health equity frameworks, and, notably, a publication titled, “Growing Curiosity: Three Strategies to Foster Engagement in Large Classroom Settings Among Generation Z Public Health Undergraduate Students,” which offers strategies the urgent challenge of fostering engagement in increasing undergraduate classroom sizes. She is also the founder of Drnach International, Inc., a nonprofit supporting educational access for children in developing countries, as well as the Pitt Parenting Community resource group. Dr. Drnach-Bonaventura has been included in the CDC Lewis Scholars Program at Pitt and is actively engaged in converting core public health courses to high-quality online formats, ensuring they remain rigorous, accessible, and aligned with public health education best practices. 

Valerie Howard (MSN ’95, EdD ’07) is a professor and the Dean of the School of Nursing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she leads efforts to address the national nursing shortage, advance diversity in the nursing profession, and prepare the next generation of nurses. A 2007 alumna of the EdD program in Higher Education Administration at Pitt’s School of Education, she also holds a Master of Science in Nursing Education from Pitt and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. 

Howard began her career more than three decades ago as a nurse at UPMC Presbyterian Hospital and went on to build a wide-ranging career in nursing education. At Robert Morris University, she founded the RMU Regional Research and Innovation in Simulation Education (RISE) Center and co-developed the Elsevier Simulation Learning System, now used by more than 400 schools nationwide. She served as Dean of RMU’s School of Nursing and Health Sciences before joining the Duke University School of Nursing as Vice Dean for Academic Affairs, from 2018-2022, guiding academic programs through the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. She went on to assume the role of UNC School of Nursing Dean in 2022. 

She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing (FAAN) and a Fellow of the National League for Nursing Academy of Nursing Education (ANEF). Howard currently serves in leadership roles with the American Association of Colleges and Nursing, the North Carolina Institute of Medicine, and the NC Future of Nursing Action Coalition. 

Jessica Unick (PhD ’09) is a Professor (Research) in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown University’s Warren Alpert Medical School. She received her PhD in exercise physiology from the University of Pittsburgh School of Education. 

Unick’s research focuses on developing and testing programs for weight management and physical activity promotion in adults with the aim of improving long-term health outcomes. She is particularly interested in understanding individual variability in response to behavioral programs, adapting interventions based on early treatment response, and examining the psychological mechanisms through which exercise may influence eating behavior and body weight. Her work has been widely recognized in leading journals in the fields of obesity, behavioral medicine, and health psychology, and she has contributed to multi-site collaborations with institutions across the United States. Her work has been supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and as a Pitt doctoral student, Unick was the recipient of the Outstanding Student Award two years in a row (2007-08) by what was then known as the Department of Health and Physical Activity. 

Tammy A. Andreyko (EdD ’10) is the Superintendent of the Quaker Valley School District in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, a position she has held since 2018. She is an educational leader with experience spanning classroom teaching, building administration, and district leadership. Prior to joining Quaker Valley, she served as an Assistant Superintendent and Principal at North Allegheny School District and as an English and debate teacher in Chesapeake Public Schools in Virginia. 

Andreyko completed her doctorate at the University of Pittsburgh, with a dissertation focused on principal leadership in an era of expanding job responsibilities. Her scholarly and professional contributions are extensive: she has presented at countless national conferences, including the Association for Middle Level Education (AMLE), the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), has been published in multiple professional journals, and represented Western Pennsylvania on the Pennsylvania ASCD and AMLE state boards. Among her many recognitions, she was named Pennsylvania Middle Level Principal of the Year by PAESSP and MetLife in 2009, received PASCD’s state Curriculum Award in 2016 and its Outstanding Supervision and Leadership Award in 2024, and was inducted into Kent State University’s College of Education Hall of Fame in 2017. She also received a 2008 Alumni Doctoral Fellowship from the University of Pittsburgh. 

Gianina Morales (PhD ’25) is an Associate Professor at the College of Engineering (Facultad de Ingeniería) at the Universidad de Valparaíso in Chile. A 2025 graduate of the PhD in Language, Literacy, and Culture program at the University of Pittsburgh School of Education, Morales distinguished herself as a researcher and scholar.  

Since 2010, Morales has worked in engineering education with the goal of improving literacy learning opportunities for children and adults. Her research and dissertation studies focus on the languages, disciplinary literacies, and discourses of engineering to support curricular and instructional transformation in engineering education. Morales was awarded a multi-year Fulbright Scholarship that supported her doctoral studies in the United States. 

Her work has been noted and presented at conferences by the American Society for Engineering Education, the Research in Engineering Education Network, the Literacy Research Association, and the American Educational Research Association, among many others. In addition to her doctoral degree from Pitt, Morales holds a master’s degree in Pedagogical and Curricular Management from Universidad Andrés Bello (Chile), and a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish Language and Literature and a Bachelor of Education from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso (Chile). 

Jamey Mentzer (EdD ’25) is the Associate Director of Student Conduct at the University of Pittsburgh, where he has long served at the intersection of legal education, student affairs, and equity work. He holds a Juris Doctor from the University of Akron School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts in elementary education from Westminster College. In 2025, he completed his Doctor of Education in Higher Education Management at Pitt’s School of Education, where his dissertation research examined the effectiveness of equity and inclusion interventions in legal education and the legal profession. 

Mentzer’s work has focused on fostering inclusive campus environments, mentoring students, and strengthening institutional practices that support student success and belonging. A dedicated advocate for LGBTQ+ students and professionals, Mentzer has served as a staff advisor to OUTLaw at Pitt Law, is a founding member of Pitt Queer Professionals, and is an active member of the Allegheny County Bar Association’s LGBTQ Rights Committee. He previously served as Assistant Director of Equity and Inclusive Excellence at Pitt Law and as a career counselor for law students pursuing non-traditional paths. His work bridges law, education, and student affairs to create more equitable environments for all members of the Pitt community. 

Gerard Dorvè-Lewis (MA ’24) is a doctoral candidate in the PhD in Higher Education program at the University of Pittsburgh School of Education. His research centers on equity, inclusion, and justice in education, with a particular focus on the sense of belonging and experiences of Black and other minoritized students, including in engineering and STEM contexts. He is president of the Council of Graduate Students in Education and a student ambassador for the School of Education. He obtained a Master of Arts in Education Policy from the School of Education in 2024. 

Dorvè-Lewis has co-authored peer-reviewed research on belonging interventions for Black, Latinx, and Indigenous students in engineering courses. His work reflects a commitment to both rigorous scholarship and meaningful impact on the students and communities he studies. He is affiliated with the Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies Program at Pitt and brings a multidisciplinary lens to his research on higher education access and student success. 

Dorvè-Lewis is a 2025 recipient of the Dean’s Distinguished Graduate Student Award. He has presented his research at numerous national conferences, including the Association for the Study of Higher Education, the American Society for Engineering Education, and the American Educational Research Association.