A presentation at the annual conference of the Pennsylvania Council on International Education (PACIE)

Session Chair: Fay Beauchamp, Director, Center for International Understanding, Community College of Philadelphia
Christina Michelmore, Professor of History, Chatham University, "The Arab Spring: A Historical Overview, and the Role of United States, and Middle East Countries in Transition."

Budrus is an award-winning feature documentary film about a Palestinian community organizer, Ayed Morrar, who unites local Fatah and Hamas members along with Israeli supporters in an unarmed movement to save his village of Budrus from destruction by Israel’s Separation Barrier. Success eludes them until his 15-year-old daughter, Iltezam, launches a women’s contingent that quickly moves to the front lines. Struggling side by side, father and daughter unleash an inspiring, yet little-known, movement in the Occupied Palestinian Territories that is still gaining ground today.

Times: 5:00 - 6:30 p.m. (Fri), 8:30 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. (Sat), 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. (Sun)

This Pitt—CMU weekend joint course provides a brief, thematic overview of some of the emerging factors shaping Brazil today. As global citizens, students need to have a working knowledge of other countries that are important in shaping the corporate, social and political world. As a rising state in the world economy, Brazil’s status in world affairs is shifting in a transformative way.

This is the 11th seminar presented by the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia (NCTA), the Global Studies Center (UCIS), and the World History Center at the University of Pittsburgh. The general public is welcome.

Mike Leigh’s spare Secrets and Lies provides a lovely and lively contrast to high dramatic representations of adoption and loss. The film asks: What happens after a successful adopted woman, who is black, contacts her birthmother, who is white (played by Brenda Blethyn)?
Nominated for 5 Oscars, Secrets and Lies won 29 other awards, including the Palme d’Or.

Olivia de Havilland stars in an Academy-Award winning performance as Jody, a mother managing the complexities of a life with and without her son Griggsy, whom she shares with his adoptive mother and her friend Corinne. A sublime women’s film of the studio era, To Each His Own reveals a sophisticated sense of a birth parent’s loss while demonstrating the sensibilities of its era and genre.

Documentarist Jean Strauss follows two older men in search of their first families. Shown on PBS stations in 2010, Adopted: For the Life of Me is especially timely given pending Pennsylvania state legislation addressing closed birth records.

This compelling documentary follows the journey of an eight- year-old girl taken from a foster home in China to live with her new parents on Long Island, from first moments together through their first year and a half as a family. The film won the Silverdocs Medal for Best American Feature of 2010. Director Stephanie Wang-Breal will present and discuss.

Join us for a Celebration of Indian Culture, with activities celebrating the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi and his teachings, featuring performances, inter-faith presentations, and more!

There will also be a lecture by Dr. Uma Majmudar, Gandhian researcher and published author:
Gandhi's Legacy of 'Satyagraha' in the Modern World
What is "satyagraha"? Is it passive resistance? Is it civil disobedience?
Why and how did Gandhi coin this term 'satyagraha and what did it mean to him?