Katja Wezel's research interests focus on 19th and 20th century Baltic history and transnational, comparative approaches to the study of memory politics and cultural conflicts in Eastern Europe. Professor Wezel studied History and English at the University of Heidelberg (Germany), the University of Wales, Aberystwyth (UK) and the European University in St. Petersburg (Russia). From 2005 to 2008 she was a member of an interdisciplinary graduate research group on Overcoming Dictatorships in Europe at Heidelberg University, Germany.

Presenter: Shruti Rana, Associate Professor of Law, University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law

Discussant: Michael J. Madison, Professor of Law, University of Pittsburgh School of Law

Presenter: Daniel C.K. Chow, Joseph S. Platt-Porter Wright Morris & Arthur Professor of Law, Ohio State University Moritz College of Law

Discussant: Peter Oh, Associate Professor of Law at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.

The History Department Work-in-Progress Seminar presents Madalina Veres, University of Pittsburgh. Lead discussants Elspeth Martini and Katja Wezel.

NOTE: Text will be circulated three weeks before event. All attending are urged to prepare to take full part in discussion.

The Department of History European Colloquium presents Emanuela Grama, Carnegie Mellon University. Presenters: Andrew Behrendt and Adelina Stefan. Emanuela Grama from Carnegie Mellon University will be the main commentator on their papers and presentations.

The conference promotes evidence-based policy-making on environment and energy, drawing on policy experiences and research knowledge from the US and the EU. Specifically, the focus will be on the challenge of securing energy for economic growth while ensuring the protection of human health and the environment. The broader conference agenda examines the choice of the energy portfolio of various countries, and how trade-offs should be struck on the benefits and risks of various energy resources.

Globalization, transnationalism, planetarity designate as much cultural forces as economic and political. However these dynamics do not affect the planet equally; rather regions and areas have distinct profiles. This conference takes as its task the exploration of cultural unification fostered by the EU. The European Union has set as its primary goal the political, economic, and cultural union of Europe. This combination of goals makes the EU unique among the world’s transnational organizations.

Since the 1990s, psychological trainers, coaches, and psychotherapists have fanned out across the Russian psyche politic. In posing a psychological subject as a substitute for the “Soviet Person,” psychologists have also resuscitated the individual personality as site of social concern. This cultural shift is evident in the way that positive psychological concepts like self-esteem, personal growth and emotional management have been integrated into parenting, education policy, mass-media programming, advertising, human resourcing and economic modernization.

This event will take place on Friday, February 14th from 1:00 to 4:00 PM in the William Pitt Union Assembly Room, Ball Room, and Kurtzman Rooms. It is designed to provide students with an opportunity to learn about the variety of language courses, programs, scholarships, and student organizations available to them at Pitt. Last year's language fair was a major success with over 400 students in attendance. We hope to build on this success in 2014.

After the arrival of MTV in the 1990s, Eurovision also influenced trends in Russian popular music. A performance by the Russian band, t.A.T.u., in the song contest in 2003 triggered international controversy and, at the same time, set the model for emerging patterns and trends in the popular music community. Russian popular music and music video aesthetics are still influenced by the performance at Eurovision ten years ago. It is worth examining, therefore, the ways in which the politics of Eurovision still influence Russian popular music and music video aesthetics.