The first of the EUCE/ESC's Pizza and Politics discussions of the year, GSPIA's EU and the World Organization's executive members talk about their experience interviewing policy-makers, EU civil servants, and visiting major institutions in Brussels and Luxembourg as participants in the EU in Brussels Program, co-sponsored by Pitt's EUCE/ESC and GSPIA. Also learn about getting involved in the EU and the World Organization and about other upcoming EU Studies opportunities at Pitt! PIZZA WILL BE SERVED.

The event will feature Global Glitch, Balkan Beats, Cumbia, Gypsy Brass, Bhangra, Afrobeats, Azonto, Kuduro, Soca, Dancehall, Bulgarian Chalga, Kuchek, and more... The live brass band BLACK BEAR COMBO will play a set and a special set by LUNGS FACE FEET!

Join the Center as we enjoy pizza and politics during the lunch hour for a discussion offered by Center Library Research Advisor, Evgeny Postnikov. His talk will focus on the bilateral preferential trade agreements (PTAs) of the European Union (EU) and the United States, which are increasingly being used as vehicles for exporting social regulation, such as labor and environmental standards. Despite the similarity in terms of the inclusion of such provisions, design varies greatly between U.S. and EU agreements.

This colloquium will highlight the research of John Lyon (Chair, Department of German), published in his second monograph "Out of Place. German Realism, Displacement and Modernity" (Bloomsbury, 2013) in conjunction with the scholarship of Eric Downing (Professor of German; Frank Borden and Barbara Lasater Hanes Distinguished Term Professor of English and Comparative Literature; Adjunct Professor of Classics, University of North Carolina). William Scott (Professor of English, University of Pittsburgh) will offer a response.

A pre-cursor to the dramatic story-telling of Carlo Collodi's "The Adventure of Pinocchio", Professor Sherberg’s offers a deeper narrative to what is often singularly considered to be a children's tale.

Although Carlo Collodi’s ‘Le avventure di Pinocchio’ is generally considered a children’s tale, like many similarly classified works of fiction, it is actually much more: it is, among other things, a narrative about the memory of a nation that had only very recently attained political unity and independence. According to the Italian philosopher Benedetto Croce it is “a tale for adults, centred on the tragic figure of Geppetto, a story where the whole of humanity is inscribed in a piece of wood”, a story that tackles “the relationship between freedom and obedience, between father and son”.

Toker led excavations of the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, Italy from 1970-1974 and again in 1980, which led to discoveries about the tombs of the great Italian artists Giotto and Filippo Brunelleschi, as well as facts about Saint Ambrose, the Bishop of Milan. In light of his more recent discoveries, his lecture will focus on a horseshoe-shaped pool uncovered during the 1912 excavations under the Baptistery of St.

Enlargement posed a serious challenge for the European Commission, which set as a goal bringing on board thousands of new staff. How successful was the Commission in meeting this challenge? And how successful were the newcomers in integrating in to the organization? Now, after several years, can we see that the staff from Central and East European countries have had an impact on the organization? Answering these questions sheds new light on the evolution of the Commission’s organizational culture which Ban, author of the new book analyzing these questions, will discuss.

The second of the EUCE's 2013-2014 interactive Conversations on Europe Virtual Roundtable Series. Turkey’s likely future and its relation to Europe can be seen in several dimensions. Probably best known and easiest to track is its long-running pursuit of membership in the European Union. But Turkey’s geographic and historic position has also drawn it into—and pushed it away from--the rapidly changing dynamics of the Middle East. It is one of NATO’s oldest members but has signed onto virtually all of Russia’s energy initiatives in the region.