Events

Behind the pop art icon Andy Warhol stood Julia Warhola (born Závacka), a resilient immigrant whose creativity found voice in art and songs. Far from being merely “the artist’s mother,” she embodied the hopes, memories, and identities of thousands of Slavic women who built new lives in challenging industrial conditions of Pittsburgh in the beginning of twentieth century.
The talk focuses on Julia Warhola’s artistic contributions, particularly in music. Her rare recordings of folk songs embody feelings of displacement and adaptation, linking personal experience with the broader Rusyn tradition. These songs continue to inspire contemporary artists in her rodny kraj – Carpathian Rus’, bridging cultural past and present. As Andy himself once said, his mother was “so-o-o interesting.” Recordings invites us to hear Julia Warhola in her own right: as an immigrant woman, a creative artist, and a cultural bridge across the Atlantic.
Ms. Jana Tomková is the Ruth Crawford Mitchell Fellow at the University of Pittsburgh in fall 2025. From Slovakia, Ms. Tomková is a doctoral student of Cultural Anthropology at the Faculty of Humanities, Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic. Her research focuses on the cultural life of Carpatho-Rusyns in the Czech Republic, particularly involving music, and how it contributes to the shaping of ethnic identity. She is undertaking a comparative study of the activities of Carpatho-Rusyns in the USA, Canada, and the Czech Republic during her fellowship.
Sponsored by the Nationality Rooms and Intercultural Exchange Programs. Co-Sponsored by the Music Department and by the Czechoslovak Room Committee

Both the United States and Germany have a long history of residential care for children, but in the last fifty years have taken different directions on policy and practice.
This lunch and learn will include global information, but will focus on how the workforce in both countries are prepared for children who require out-of-home care.
About the Speakers:
Mary Rauktis, School of Social Work, University of Pittsburgh
Singrid James, Dept. of Social Work and Social Welfare
University of Kassel
SIGRID JAMES, PhD, MSW is professor in the Department of Social Work and Social Welfare at the University of Kassel in Germany. She received her social work education in the United States (PhD University of Southern California, 2003; MSW UCLA, 1990) and was tenured at Loma Linda University, Department of Social Work and Social Ecology, in California, USA (2004-2016). She has completed a Fellowship in Dissemination and Implementation Research at Washington University (2010-12) and received multiple research grants in the US and in Europe. She also was the Editor-in-Chief for the peer­reviewed journal Residential Treatment/or Children and Youth (2015-2018) and was among the top 100 contributors to social work journal scholarship (Hodge & Turner, 2022). Dr. James has been writing and researching in the area of residential care for over two decades and is part of the International Workgroup on Therapeutic Residential Care. Presently, her projects are focused on cross-national comparisons of residential care.

The Global Appalachia Reading Group examines the complex intersections of regional identity, global influence, and environmental justice as they pertain to Appalachia and its connections to the wider world. The Fall 2026 theme is "Place."
Session 1 Book, September 17, 2025: Appalachia in Regional Context: Place Matters, edited by Dwight B. Billings and Ann E. Kingsolver
Session 2 Book, October 22, 2025: Affrilachia by Frank X. Walker
Session 3 Book, November 19, 2025: Making Our Future: Visionary Folklore and Everyday Culture in Appalachia  by Emily Hilliard
Copies of the books will be available for those planning to attend the event. Please stop by the Global Studies Center (4100 Posvar Hall) to pick up your copy. If you need the books shipped, that can be arranged.
Note: We are able to fund and distribute books to registrants as funding allows. Registration will remain open after this amount is reached. Registrants will be notified if we are unable to provide them with the reading material.

Thatiellen holds a Bachelor’s degree in English Language from UFT (Federal university of Tocantins) and is currently pursuing a Master’s in Applied Linguistics at UnB (University of Brasília). She has extensive experience teaching second languages, including Portuguese as an additional language for Indigenous communities and non-Brazilian learners. Thatiellen has also worked with minority communities in Brazil, teaching English to young Black, Brown, and Indigenous students. She is currently serving as a Portuguese FLTA through the Fulbright Program at the University of Pittsburgh.
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Ruth Jimenez Nina is a Quechua linguist, researcher and a quechua activist from Bolivia. She holds a Master's in Indoamerican Linguistics from CIESAS México and studied Applied Linguistics to Language Teaching at San Simon University, where she has also taught since 2023. She has been a member of the Indigenous Research Center Taki Unquy in Cochabamba since 2019. Her work centers on sociolinguistics, language acquisition and teaching and anthropological linguistics. She has published academic and opinion papers in Bolivia and México.
In 2020 she was the recipient of the French Institute of Andean Studies' Young Researcher Support Grant to study Bolivian quechua evidentiality. She also contributed as a linguist to the Simi Project (the first Bolivian Quechua App launched in 2024).
She is currently a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant for the Quechua Program at the University of Pittsburgh.

Join us in Posvar Hall for a one-of-a-kind block party, hosted by the centers on the fourth floor! Connect and learn about student clubs, organizations and discover new spaces to hang out between classes to support your academic journey, all with live music and free food! This interactive event offers the perfect opportunity to explore how our Centers can elevate your college experience and boost your success.
Come and go, before, after or between classes during this three-hour block of fun!

This powerful exhibition features 36 striking images that trace the remarkable journeys of eight European photographers who, facing Nazi persecution in the 1930s and ’40s, used their cameras as tools of escape, survival, and reinvention.
Curated by:
Deborah Dash Moore
Jonathan Freedman Distinguished University Professor of History & Judaic Studies, University of Michigan
Louis Kaplan
Professor of History and Theory of Photography and New Media, University of Toronto
Exhibition will be on view from August 20, 2025-Jan 30, 2026

Stand in Solidarity for Human Rights: Write to Political Prisoners in Russia. People should not be imprisoned for their opinions, but more than 1,000 people in Russia are.
The People for Free Russia Coalition is partnering with the Pitt Amnesty International and Amnesty International Group 39 to send letters of support to Russians and Ukrainians repressed for speaking out. All letters are translated and delivered electronically, and participants may even receive responses.
Enjoy tea and dessert while connecting with a community that values human rights and human dignity.

As humans rely more and more on electronic devices to support their everyday activities, there are ever present warnings about the impacts such reliance has on human autonomy ranging from who owns and controls information networks, the inequitable impact of technology consumption on peoples and places, varying accessibility of technology around the globe, and the promises and limitations of technology in improving human health.
In Fall 2025, the focus will be on the impact technology has on the future of schooling and work. This will include a discussion as to how technology can improve the efficiency and safety of the workforce through automation while also creating further divides between those who have educational access and those who do not. The effects of technology on education and the common language of the world, including how it impacts native languages and cultures, will also be discussed

Hear the thoughts of the Ukrainian People from Ukraine and in the Diaspora. Collaboration with local artists.
Information and tickets @ https://kyivdance.org/my-thoughts-production
Ukrainian Marketplace Opens 2pm