Outreach Resources

 
UCIS Outreach Websites
The University Center for International Studies (UCIS) Outreach website provides access to educational resources from collaborative events held by Pitt's international studies centers, including REEES. This information may be particularly useful to educators seeking to internationalize their curricula.
 
Bridging Cultures Website
The “Bridging Cultures” site was developed through a National Endowment for the Humanities-sponsored partnership project between REEES and the Community College of Beaver County (CCBC). The site features modules on East European cultures developed by CCBC faculty members to internationalize their courses, plus videos of lectures and discussions with East European communities conducted for the project. This material is particularly well suited to community college educators pursuing curriculum internationalization.
 
REEES has developed a series of high school/introductory college level curriculum guides to Central, East European & Eurasian countries that have joined or may join the European Union.
 
Russian Grammar and Literature Collection
Taylor Allderdice High School in Pittsburgh has donated to REEES a collection of Russian grammar and literature books (including many in the original Russian) that were previously used in the school's Russian language program. These books are available for free lending to educators and Russian language learners.
 
Understanding 20th Century Russian History Through Literature
This resource section is based on a workshop for high school teachers led by REEES Assistant Director Gina Peirce at Gateway Senior High School in Monroeville, PA. The workshop was part of a countywide professional development day organized by the Allegheny Intermediate Unit for K-12 teachers throughout Allegheny County, PA. 

Participants were introduced to several works of Russian literature that can be used in the high school classroom to illustrate the effects exerted on the lives of ordinary Russians by major historical events of the 20th century, from the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution to the Stalinist terror and the extensive “gulag” (prison camp) system. Excerpts of works by Boris Pasternak, Mikhail Zoshchenko, and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn were discussed. View the Power Point presentation used at this workshop, including complete bibliographical information.

1989-2014: The 25th Anniversary of the Fall of Communism in Central and Eastern Europe
The year 2014 marked the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of Communist governments in Hungary, Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria and Romania. The following links may be of interest to high school and college-level instructors wishing to familiarize their students with these watershed events and their continuing significance in today’s world.

Short essays by REEES Assistant Director Gina Peirce on the former Czechoslovakia: