Staff
Dariusz (Derek) Baran
Immigration Specialist
Office of International Services
708 William Pitt Union
412-624-7119*
Fax: 412-624-7105
dab142@pitt.edu
* For appointments, please call the OIS Receptionist at 412-624-7120.
IMMIGRATION SPECIALIST
Derek is an Immigration Specialist in the Office of International Services (OIS) at the University of Pittsburgh. In that position, Derek is responsible for managing all immigration casework for, and providing related immigration services to, a portfolio of University schools and/or departments. The immigration caswork includes a broad spectrum of cases, ranging from cases involving international student issues to applications for employment-based US Lawful Permanent Resident status. Specifically, Derek is responsible for:
- Processing complex immigration casework for international students, international faculty, and international staff, requiring interface with various academic and administrative units throughout the University;
- Functioning as Designated School Official and Alternate Responsible Officer, recognized by the US Department of Homeland Security and US Department of State, and authorized to access the federal government's Student & Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS);
- Functioning as liaison between OIS and other University schools/departments/divisions, community organizations, and US and foreign government agencies;
- Responding to internal and external inquiries regarding immigration matters;
- Representing OIS internally to various academic and administrative units, and externally to various local, state, and federal government agencies, as well as other educational institutions and organizations; and
- Advising and assisting international students and scholars with regard
to complex immigration regulations, as well as personal, social, and/or
academic concerns.
To view a chart listing all school assignments for all Immigration Specialists in OIS, see our OIS Immigration Services School/Department Assignments chart, which has been updated with new assignments.
Biography
Prior to joining the University of Pittsburgh, Derek has worked as ‘Program Leader/ International Student Services and Academic Advisor, at Miami Dade College in Homestead, Fl (30 miles south from Miami). As an academic advisor he was responsible for advising to all students who could choose from 200 different majors; he has dealt with all but mainly with Aviation, Nursing & Allied Health, Business and ESL students. As an international student advisor he was involved in all aspects of advising, admission and credential evaluation for all international students, visitors, refugees, etc. He has implemented J-1 Exchange Program college-wide at Miami Dade and acted as an RO (Responsible Officer), in addition to being PDSO for Homestead campus. He was also teaching courses in business, management, marketing as an adjunct instructor, and tutored students in Math.
At Beloit College, a small liberal arts college 90 miles north of Chicago, IL, he was an Assistant Director at the Office of International Education, responsible for all immigration related issues, including SEVIS compliance, acted as PDSO and RO. In addition, he was an academic advisor to all international students and a study abroad advisor to all students. He was actively involved in student affairs, acted as an advisor to International Club, organized trips, sports tournaments, airport pick-ups and “Family Host” program.
Since 2001 he has been actively involved as a volunteer with Polish Students Organization in New York, (pso-usa.org), where he helps Polish (but not only) students with academic and immigration issues. Every year he presents at the annual “College 4U” at the Polish Consulate in New York, and with PSO was presenting to mainly Polish communities in Boston, MA, Philadelphia, PA, New Britain, NJ and various places in New Jersey.
Derek has earned International MBA (originally granted as M.I. M. – Master of International Management) from Thunderbird School of Global Management in Glendale, AZ, where he specialized in Marketing and European Studies. He has B.A, from William Paterson University, in Wayne, NJ, in business administration with concentration in finance and specialization in international management. He has H.S. Diploma from Poland.
Derek has worked initially in various positions and companies involved in international business and logistics, such as Kuehne & Nagel or EchoStar International, in places such as Boston, New York City, New Jersey, Poland, Austria, and the Netherlands. He has traveled extensively in Europe, especially in Central and Eastern Europe, favorite cities: Cracow, Paris, Passau and Annecy, as well as in the United Stares (almost all states), Canada, Morocco, and China. Love NCAA sports and all Olympic sports, enjoys travel, reading travel essays and travel guidebooks (has a collection of over 100 titles of Lonely Planet series).
Derek was born in Poland, arrived to the United States in June 1985 as a green card holder, with no English. Now he is U.S. and EU citizen. Speaks English, Polish (fluent), Russian, German, learn French and Spanish, interested in learning Arabic.