Dana Romano Receives Suitable Spirit Award

Dana C. Romano, Ed.D., director of career and industry engagement at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering, received the Suitable Spirit Award July 23 at the 2026 Pathways to Student Success Conference in Philadelphia.

Romano was selected from 11 nominees representing nine institutions. Suitable is an engagement and success platform that helps colleges and universities encourage, track, and assess co-curricular activities, skill acquisition, and competency development outside the classroom. The Spirit Award is one of Suitable’s annual partner awards.

“I’m honored to receive the Spirit Award,” Romano said. “The most rewarding part of this work is helping engineering students prepare for their first resumes, interviews, job searches, and careers. I’m grateful to my ELPE colleagues and Swanson’s leadership for sharing that commitment to our students.”

Romano leads the Career and Industry Engagement office within the Swanson School’s Experiential Learning and Professional Engagement unit. Drawing on her experience in human resources and career management and her doctoral research, she led the development of career-preparation resources for Swanson School undergraduates.

Available online for students to access at any time, the written and video materials address resume writing, interviewing, job-search planning, LinkedIn, and communicating professional experience to employers. Romano and her colleagues revise the resources in response to student feedback. This summer, the office is expanding these materials for master’s and doctoral students. It also is developing digital badges that will help students document experiential learning and create co-curricular portfolios.

“Dana has made career preparation easier for engineering students to find and use,” said Mary Besterfield-Sacre, senior associate dean for academic affairs and a member of Romano’s doctoral committee. “Her work gives students practical support throughout their time at Swanson, from writing a first resume to preparing for a first job interview.”

Romano was among representatives of six Pitt units recognized during the conference.

Now in her 24th year at Pitt and her fourth with the Swanson School, Romano previously spent 20 years supporting MBA and specialized master’s students through career management and corporate engagement at Pitt Business. She worked in corporate human resources before beginning her career in higher education and earned her bachelor’s, master’s, and Ed.D. from Pitt.