Past Events

An annual national competition that provides US high school and college students the opportunity to demonstrate their Russian language knowledge while meeting with other students of Russian and conversing with native Russian speakers. You will receive recognition for your demonstrated language proficiency, improve your chances of getting international and study abroad scholarships, and enhance your professional resume. Email Olga Klimova for any questions: vok@pitt.edu The 2022 Olympiada will be conducted virtually and will include a synchronous component through Zoom and an asynchronous component, for which participants will need to submit their work online prior to the official date.

A live interview with Alexey Yurchak (UC Berkeley) Register here: https://pitt.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_1T_4MKTcRQ2-1VZtNHLZYQ

This session of the on-going Teach In on the War on Ukraine will explore Europe and NATO’s role in the war, including the prospects for Ukrainian membership in the EU or NATO. How has EU foreign policy shifted in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine? How is Europe responding to the new wave of refugees fleeing the fighting? And what do we make of the nuclear posturing coming out of Moscow? Speakers: Burcu Savun (Political Science), William Spaniel (Political Science), Gregor Thum (History). Moderated by Jae-Jae Spoon (Political Science)

The conditions on the Ukrainian border and throughout Europe are rapidly changing. Peace and security in Europe are in doubt and the reach of diplomacy seems to be limited. Often overlooked in the US media, Germany plays a key role in the decision-making process on the ground, given her status as an economic engine and primary trading partner with Ukraine and Russia. Germany's new government has to balance its policies between contradicting aims of history, politics, civil foreign policy, and the EU, as an emerging international power. Timm Beichelt from the European University Viadrina will offer insights into the interests, motivations, and decisions of the key players in German foreign policy regarding Russia and Ukraine. Professor Timm Beichelt is Director of the Institute for European Studies at the European University Viadrina. Positioned on the borders of Germany and Poland, Viadrina is a vibrant center for the analysis of European dynamics, and the Institute has deep connections to Poland, Ukraine, and many other European countries. Professor Beichelt has published extensively on European Studies and Europeanization processes. His most recent book is forthcoming in English translation: Homo Emotionalis: On Feelings in Politics (2022). For his book Deutschland in Europa (Springer VS, 2015), he worked as an embedded researcher in the German Foreign Ministry for several months. Register to attend here: https://pitt.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0sdO2trjkoG9ULDMqgSTPUD2pyDPGVc-p1

The Spring Festival of the Egg is a FREE virtual family oriented event welcoming the coming of Spring in many ethnic traditions as featured by members and friends of the Nationality Room Committees at the University of Pittsburgh. Videos include: Egg Decorating, Palm Weaving Demonstrations, Ethnic Cooking Demonstrations, The Festival Of Colors, Ethic Recipes, Butter Lamb Carving, Cooking Baking, Springtime Story Telling, Spring &  Easter Customs, Special Children's Egg Decorating, Kid's Cookie Making, Easter & Springtime Printable Coloring Pages, Jelly Bean Guess, Egg Festival Marketplace and more. Sponsors:
University of Pittsburgh
Polish Nationality Room Committee
Nationality Room Committees
Nationality Rooms Programs & Intercultural Exchange Programs
University Center For Russian, Eastern European and Eurasian Studies
Polish Falcons of America
Carpatho-Rusyn Society Participants:
The Nationality Room Committees: Czechoslovak, Indian, Irish, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Philippine, Polish, Romanian, and Ukrainian & members of the Bulgarian and Carpatho-Rusyns communities.

State socialism, like capitalism, relied for its functioning on certain “background conditions of possibility” (N. Fraser). These include the unpaid and frequently invisible reproductive labor of rural women, who not only raised new cohorts of workers but also fed and clothed their families with little help from the state. They also include “free gifts of nature” (J. B. Foster): the use of nature as a source of cheap inputs and as pollution sink. In this talk, I focus on rural women’s “muck work:” the back-breaking and time-consuming work of producing manure in order to maintain soil fertility under conditions of hyper-intensive agriculture. Jacob Eyferth is a social historian of twentieth-century China interested in the lives of non-elite people. His first book, Eating Rice from Bamboo Roots, is an ethnographic history of a community of papermakers in Sichuan. He is currently working on a second book, tentatively titled Cotton, Gender, and Revolution in Twentieth-Century China.

The Central Intelligence Agency invites University of Pittsburgh Asian Studies Center students to an hour long Information Session on March 15 from 5-6 pm in Posvar Hall 4217. Two CIA officers will provide information about the mission of Agency and how the organization performs that mission around the world. They will discuss student internship and career opportunities and the application process, specifically highlighting the Directorate of Operations and the Directorate of Analysis. They will also focus on the advantages of bringing an academic background/experience in Asian Studies/Regional Affairs/Foreign Languages into the ranks of the Agency. There will be ample opportunity for Q&A and hard copy resumes will be accepted.