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Commencement Speaker

Angela M. Reynolds, Ph.D

Angela M RerynoldsAs CEO of YWCA Greater Pittsburgh, Angela M. Reynolds, Ph.D., is committed to eliminating racism, empowering women, standing up for social justice, helping families and strengthening local neighborhoods.

YWCA Greater Pittsburgh provides direct services, empowerment programming, and advocacy to support marginalized individuals and families, especially women and girls of color, while working to challenge structural barrier to equity.

Previously Dr. Reynolds served as senior director of United for Families and 2-1-1 for the United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania. She was instrumental in shaping the United for Women initiative to help women get back on their feet. The initiative served more than 10,000 women during her seven-year tenure.

Dr. Reynolds began her career testing for housing discrimination through the Fair Housing Partnership, before embarking on an assistant professorship at the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs. There she taught statistics and public policy, researching racial disparities in housing and criminal justice.

Dr. Reynolds is a recipient of the Urban League of Great Pittsburgh Ronald H. Brown Civic Leadership Award (2023) and an ATHENA award (2021). She was recognized as a New Pittsburgh Courier Woman of Excellence (2022), a Pittsburgh Business Times Woman of Influence (2021) and a member of the Pittsburgh Smart 50 Class of 2020.

Dr. Reynolds also is a member of the following organizations, among many others: PA Long Term Care Council, the board of directors for Sustainable Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation, Adagio Health Advisory Board and Highmark Western Region Advisory Board. A married mother of four and caretaker for her mother, she is an associate pastor for her church.

A native of New Haven, Connecticut, she has called Pittsburgh home for many years. Dr. Reynolds hold a Ph.D. in Public Policy Analysis from Heinz College at Carnegie Mellon University, an M.S. in Statistics also from Carnegie Mellon and a B.A. in Mathematics (sociology minor) from Bryn Mawr College.