Distinguished Professor Awards

Dr. Heather Starr Fiedler

School of Communication & AVP and Managing Director of Center for Civic & Community Engagement

Heather Starr Fiedler, PhD, is the Assistant Vice President and Managing Director of the Center for Civic & Community Engagement (CCE) at Point Park University in downtown Pittsburgh, where she leads the institution’s strategy as an urban anchor institution focused on civic engagement, community partnerships, and applied learning. She also serves as a tenured Associate Professor in the School of Communication, where she has taught since 2000.

Dr. Fiedler is the founding director of Point Park’s PhD in Community Engagement, one of the first programs of its kind in the United States. Her work centers on integrating community-engaged scholarship, student learning, and institutional impact, with a particular emphasis on building equitable partnerships and creating real-world learning environments that position students as collaborators in addressing community-identified challenges.

Under her leadership, the CCE has launched a comprehensive strategic framework organized around civic engagement, urban impact, community partner support, and health and wellness. Signature initiatives include the development of a Downtown Campus District model, a Youth Engagement Pipeline, a Community Research and Storytelling Hub, and a Collegiate Basic Needs Ecosystem. Through these efforts, Dr. Fiedler has positioned Point Park as a convener and collaborator across Pittsburgh’s nonprofit, government, and corporate sectors.

Dr. Fiedler is also the founder and director of Wood Street Communications, a professional, student-powered media and communications enterprise that partners with regional nonprofits and community organizations. The initiative provides high-quality storytelling, marketing, and media production services while offering students hands-on, paid experiential learning opportunities. To date, the program has supported hundreds of organizations across the Pittsburgh region.

Her teaching spans multimedia, social media, visual communication design, and emerging technologies, with a pedagogical approach grounded in mentorship, experiential learning, and industry alignment. She has played a key role in developing and continuously updating academic programs in New Media and Multimedia to reflect evolving technological trends.

In addition to her university leadership, Dr. Fiedler is the co-founder and board chair of Play it Forward Pittsburgh, a nonprofit initiative that addresses holiday inequities by collecting and redistributing gently used toys to families in need. What began as a grassroots effort has grown into a large-scale, community-driven operation that mobilizes hundreds of volunteers, dozens corporate partners, and regional collection sites to serve thousands of children annually. The initiative exemplifies her commitment to scalable, community-based solutions, combining logistics, storytelling, and civic engagement to create meaningful impact.

Dr. Fiedler is also the founder of PittsburghMom.com, one of the region’s earliest and most influential community-focused blogs, which she later operated in partnership with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Through this platform, she built a large and engaged audience by producing content centered on parenting, community life, and local resources, while also creating opportunities for storytelling, community connection, and civic dialogue. Her work with PittsburghMom.com reflects an early and sustained commitment to digital media innovation, audience engagement, and the use of storytelling as a tool for community building—principles that continue to inform her leadership in community engagement and applied media initiatives.

Prior to her academic career, Dr. Fiedler held roles in industry and higher education, including Director of Training at Gateway Computers, faculty positions at Robert Morris University and West Virginia Northern Community College, and leadership roles in student media and academic program development.

Dr. Fiedler is an active leader in both professional and community organizations. She has served on the board of the Allegheny Family network, the Media Association of Pittsburgh and in leadership roles with the Broadcast Education Association. 

Her work has been recognized with honors including Pittsburgh Magazine’s “40 Under 40”, Pennsylvania’s “Mother of the Year” for 2021, and the Women and Girls Foundation’s “Top Women in Pittsburgh Media.” She is a frequent presenter on topics including community engagement, social media strategy, nonprofit partnerships, and experiential learning.

Dr. Fiedler holds dual bachelor’s degrees in Broadcast Journalism and Business Management from Buffalo State College, a master’s degree in Organizational Communication from the University at Albany, and a PhD in Educational Technology from Nova Southeastern University.  She is also a graduate of Leadership Development Initiative (XX) and Leadership Pittsburgh (XXXIX).

Ed Meena

School of Arts and Sciences

Professor Edward “Ed” Meena, a proud 1970 graduate of Point Park College with a B.A. in History, has devoted more than three decades of his career to shaping students and advancing the University’s mission. After earning his M.Ed. in Secondary Education Social Studies from
the University of Pittsburgh in 1986, he returned to Point Park as an adjunct professor of history in 1987. By 1991, he joined the faculty full-time as an Associate Professor, later earning an M.A. in History from Duquesne University in 2009 and achieving the rank of full Professor in 2010.

Beyond the classroom, Professor Meena left his mark on Point Park athletics, coaching women’s volleyball for four seasons and women’s basketball for nine seasons. His leadership extended to shared governance, where he served six years as President of the Faculty Assembly, as well as on numerous academic and search committees. Known for his tireless advocacy, he has written countless recommendation letters to support students in their pursuit of lifelong learning. Throughout his career, Professor Meena has embodied the values of Point Park— dedication to education, service, and community—while inspiring generations of students to carry forward a passion for history and discovery.

Helen Fallon

School of Communication

Helen Fallon, professor emeritus and former director of Point Park University's Honors Program, taught and served as an administrator at Point Park from 1986-2020. She chaired the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication from 1999 to 2008 and served as acting dean of the School of Communication from 2008 to 2009. She directed the Honors Program until 2020.

Under Fallon's leadership, the School of Communication began annual student trips to Washington, D.C., and a different foreign country each year to focus on national and international media as well as broaden travel experiences for students. Past trips have included Germany, Paris, Italy, London, Toronto, Dublin and Prague. From 2008 to 2021, Fallon and her family, daughter Amy and son Stephen, established a travel fund at Point Park in memory of their late husband and father, John E. Fallon Jr. The fund helped School of Communication and Honors Program students in need travel nationally and abroad to complement their Point Park education.

Fallon has been an active journalist for the entirety of her teaching career, working as a part-time copy editor for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and currently writing for the Pittsburgh Union Progress while on strike with her NewsGuild colleagues against the newspaper. Earlier in her career, Fallon worked as a reporter, copy editor and editor for several papers in the Pittsburgh area for six years and did public relations work for a university and a community hospital for five years.

She is active in journalism professional organizations, serving currently on the Press Club of Western Pennsylvania board and the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association Foundation board, a statewide organization. Fallon is a longtime member and former board member and officer of the Women’s Press Club of Pittsburgh.

Outside of journalism, Fallon currently serves on the Jefferson Regional Foundation’s board, which is dedicated to investing in the health and vitality of the communities served by Jefferson Hospital in the South Hills and lower Mon Valley of Pittsburgh.