PITTSBURGH (PTTP) – Ron Idoko is a Pittsburgh Alumnus who just couldn’t get enough of the University. After graduating in 2005 and receiving his graduate degree in 2007, Idoko found himself right back at the University working for alumni affairs in 2012, and hasn’t left since. Now, he spends his time committed to making Pitt a better and safer place for everyone, which he claims is the most rewarding job possible.
Idoko’s time with the alumni office gave him a lot of chances to tour around the country, meeting alumni who graduated in the 40s to alumni who graduated just a year prior, and everywhere in between. In that time, he developed a real drive to bring people together, especially into safe environments for people of all backgrounds. This work led Idoko to the Center of Diversity and Inclusion at the University, and would eventually place him in both of his current roles as both the Director of Social Innovation for the Fredrick Honors College and the Associate Director for the Center on Race and Social Problems. Now, he cultivates those same safe environments here at Pitt through his Racial Equity Consciousness Institute, the focal point of all of his work. He uses the Institute to help the University community understand, as he puts it, “the complexity and pervasiveness of racism.” Idoko believes the center is and should continue to be a safe space for all as it exists to both educate and attempt to eliminate the systemic racism that plagues communities all across America. Idoko claims that most of society has been trained to not fully understand what systemic racism truly is, and is determined to fix that, because only once society is educated can they truly be able to fix the underlying issues present.
Idoko, awarded just last weekend with the 2023 ACC UNITE award, intends to keep pushing forward. He wishes to normalize the vocalization of issues of race and racial disparity, because he believes that is the only true way to spark a movement of change. Idoko is striving hard to amplify his work as much as he can to provide both the University and the Institute with as many resources as he can, all in the hopes of finally developing the cure to the social virus that is racism that plagues America to this day.