Biography
Lina Dostilio, ,Vice Chancellor for External Relations at the University of Pittsburgh, serves as deputy to the Senior Vice Chancellor and plays a key role in advancing an integrated, strategic, and high-performing External Relations enterprise. She leads cross-functional coordination of public impact efforts, aligning community engagement, economic development, and storytelling initiatives to strategically advance the University's public mission. This includes building on her previous work as vice chancellor for engagement and community affairs, where she set and advanced the University’s community engagement agenda and spearheaded the implementation of the Community Engagement Centers (CECs) in the Homewood, Hill District, and Greater Hazelwood neighborhoods of Pittsburgh. In her new role, she also partners closely with Advancement leadership to support fundraising efforts and aligns philanthropic strategy with the division’s broader mission, including initiatives like the CECs and regional partnerships.
Dostilio is also an associate professor of practice within the Department of Educational Foundations, Organizations, and Policy in the School of Education. Her research explores the community engagement professional in higher education and hyperlocal, place-based engagement. Her leadership of Campus Compact’s project on the Community Engagement Professional established a professional identity for practitioners in the field. She serves on the council of experts for the National Science Foundation-funded Center for Advancing Research Impact and the executive committee of the Commission on Economic and Community Engagement at the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. An inducted member of the Academy of Community Engagement Scholarship, Dostilio also serves on several local boards. She holds doctoral and master's degrees from Duquesne University and earned a Bachelor of Arts in sociology at Penn State.