The 41st Annual Polishfest is designed to give the festival guests, families, and students an opportunity to experience the living cultures of the Polish, Lithuanian and Carpatho-Rusyn Peoples that throughout history were joined, separated and independently are connected. A living legacy presented to teach, to experience, to taste, to try and to have fun.

This family-oriented event is FREE to everyone and will include many activities such as Polish name writing; Lithuanian angel papercutting demonstration; pierogi / pirohy cooking demonstrations and samples; and Carpatho-Rusyn spinning and lace making; and a pierogi toss.

Every display, demonstration, and activity will offer an explanation of the cultural history of the tradition.

Entertainment will include Polish folk songs with a violinist; a Lithuanian choir with Bocjai folk songs; Polish Karazula folk songs and folk dancing by the “Lajkoniki” Ensemble; Polka dancing; and contemporary Polish music.

The Foreign Language & Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship program is a prestigious and competitive federal award from the U.S. Department of Education that allows select Pitt undergraduate and graduate students to devote full time attention to their chosen modern foreign language and area studies specialty. There are separate competitions for the Academic Year FLAS Fellowship and the Summer FLAS Fellowship. Advanced doctoral students conducting field or archival research in a supported world language may also be eligible.

Fellowships available to support study of Amharic, Arabic, Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian, Chinese, Czech, Farsi, French*, Irish (Gaelic), German*, Greek (Modern), Haitian Creole, Hebrew (Modern), Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Quechua, Russian, Slovak, Spanish*, Swahili, Swedish, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, and more!

* only available for graduate students studying at the advanced level

Stop by to learn more!

Andrei Muraru was appointed as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Romania to the United States on July 7, 2021. Ambassador Muraru has held positions at the Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes and the Memory of the Romanian Exile (IICCMER); the Chancellery of the Prime Minister of Romania and was also personal advisor to the General Director of the National Archives of Romania (CNSAS). Ambassaro Muraru was a member of the Administrative Board of the Romanian Television. He was Senior Advisor to the President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, at the Presidential Administration, serving as the head of the Department of Relationship with Public Authorities and Civil Society. Ambassador Muraru was awarded the ”Grande Ufficiale Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana” by the President of the Italian Republic, H.E. Sergio Mattarella.

Ambassador Muraru holds a PhD in History from the University “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” in Iași. He was an Erasmus-Socrates student at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, as well as a Doctoral Fellow at New Europe College and at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. He received a postdoctoral fellowship at Yad Vashem - The International Institute for Holocaust Research. Ambassador Muraru is the author of the volume “Vișinescu, the Forgotten Torturer: the Prison, the Crimes, the Trial.”

Una conversación con David Altman (Universidad Católica de Chile) sobre Democracy Report 2023, el último informe de V-Dem, con énfasis en la situación de América Latina y el Caribe.

Beginner Swahili students are invited to join this weekly conversation hour to practice the language outside of the classroom.

Come meet international students, make friends, practice conversational English, and have fun together, during these weekly discussion groups coordinated by the English Language Institute. Feel free to bring your lunch :)

Join German Club at Pitt’s weekly meetings during Fall 2023 to converse in German and learn German culture!

FLTA for the 2023/2024 academic year, Benedict Kachietano, visits K-12 classrooms to engage and teach the Kiswahili language and foster an appreciation for Kenyan and African culture.

Have you ever wondered where those beautiful scenes come from on the big screen in the Global Hub? Wanted to see more Pitt students in them?

At this event, you will hear from the 3 undergraduate students who participated in the inaugural UCIS Digital Narrative Workshop Series last Spring, before they embarked on global adventures over the Summer! During the event, these students will share about their global experiences and their experiences participating in this workshop series, and we will get to see each of the sort clips they curated while abroad, in Mexico, South Korea, and Argentina. Pizza and Global Distinction credit will be provided!

Hear from and pose questions to students from five REEESNe institutions, currently or recently studying (in) Russian in Almaty and Tbilisi.
The conversations will be roughly 30 minutes each.

It is 60 years since the signing of the Yaoundé Convention (1963). This was a moment in the history of decolonization when the Associated African States, 12 mainly young postcolonial Western African countries, signed a trade agreement with the also young European Economic Community. The Yaoundé Convention was part of the EEC’s Eurafrica initiative, an effort to maintain a presence in the former colonies. Yaoundé initiated a series of trade and aid agreements that replaced the colonial relation with a developmental model. An era of trade and infrastructural development followed. However, many critics have suggested that this strategy of aid set off a pattern of uneven and unequal development.

This Conversation on Europe and Africa takes this event as an opportunity to consider development aid in Africa historically and in its contemporary form. Our panelists bring a mix of historical and regional knowledge to the conversation, including Mounir Saidani from CERES in Tunis.

Although Tunisia was not part of the Yaoundé convention, it is at the center of controversial aid discussions: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's recent visit to Tunis as part of a deal of aid for migration "control” left many critics concerned about this new turn in EU-Africa relations.

Moderator:
Randall Halle, University of Pittsburgh

Panelists:
Mounir Saidani, Editor in Chief of Omran Social Sciences Periodical issued by Arabb Center for Research and Political Studies- Doha
Pernille Røge, University of Pittsburgh
Michael Odijie, Univeristy College London
Abdou Seck, Gaston Berger University, Groupe D’Action et D’Etude Critique Africa (GAEC)

Come meet international students, make friends, practice conversational English, and have fun together, during these weekly discussion groups coordinated by the English Language Institute. Feel free to bring your lunch :)

Join the French Club for a conversation hour for French speaking individuals of varying levels to practice the French language.

Are you looking to gain experience that will help prepare you for a globally-connected job market? Stop by Drop-In Hours to learn more about getting the Global Distinction added to your academic transcript, receiving special recognition at graduation, and standing out to prospective employers!

Fall 2023 Global Distinction Drop-In Hours: Tuesdays at 3:30-4:30 pm, except on November 21.

Come practice your Hungarian and meet other people who are interested in speaking the language. All levels welcome!

Sasha Senderovich will discuss his new book, "How the Soviet Jew Was Made", which offers a close reading of postrevolutionary Yiddish and Russian-language literature and film that recasts the Soviet Jew as a novel cultural figure: an ambivalent character navigating between the Jewish past and Bolshevik modernity. Senderovich urges us to see the Soviet Jew anew, as not only a member of a minority group, but also a particular kind of liminal being.

Hear from and pose questions to students from five REEESNe institutions, currently or recently studying (in) Russian in Bishkek, Daugavpils, and Yerevan.
The conversations will be roughly 30 minutes each.

Come practice your BCMS conversational skills at this weekly, informal language table!

NOTE: BCMS Conversation Table will not meet on November 22 due to the Thanksgiving break.

The purpose of the Student Club Coalition is to give clubs related to Latin America, the Caribbean, and the diasporas, an opportunity to be officially related to and involved with CLAS, providing mutual support for student engagement.

Join the French Club for a conversation hour for French speaking individuals of varying levels to practice the French language.

Award wining journalist Neerja Chowdhury will discuss her recent book: How Prime Ministers Decide India’s prime ministers have taken decisions that changed the course of the country’s history.

This book by Neerja Chowdhury, an award-winning journalist and political commentator, goes beyond the news headlines to provide an eye-opening account of how some of the most important political decisions in independent India were taken.

Based on hundreds of interviews that the author conducted with prime ministers, key figures in the political establishment, bureaucrats, aides, policymakers, and even fixers—the book provides remarkable insights that have been gleaned over forty years of high-level reporting on the national political scene.
How Prime Ministers Decide is an unparalleled book about modern Indian politics which will change the way we view how prime ministers govern the country.

Join advanced Swahili students from Swahili 3 to practice the language outside of the classroom!

Note: Meetings will take place weekly in the Global Hub, during Fall semester, except on September 20 and October 18.

Join weekly Bate-Papo Portuguese conversation practice for all levels, from brand-new beginners to advanced or heritage speakers!

Note: Meetings will take place weekly in the Global Hub except on September 27, October 18, and November 1.

Mangia con noi! Bring your lunch and chat with us! Pitt students only, all levels welcome!

Come meet international students, make friends, practice conversational English, and have fun together, during these weekly discussion groups coordinated by the English Language Institute. Feel free to bring your lunch :)

In the second installment of the Global Issues Through Literature Series (GILS), educators will convene to discuss The Roads of the Roma: A PEN Anthology of Gypsy Writers.

This year's theme is: Marginalized Voices in Global Context: Centering Overlooked Narratives in Literature

This reading group for K-16 educators explores literary texts from a global perspective. Content specialists present the work and its context, and participants brainstorm innovative pedagogical practices for incorporating the text and its themes into the curriculum. Sessions this year will take place in a hybrid format, with virtual and in-person discussions taking place on Thursday evenings from 5-8 PM (EST). A copy of the book and 3 Act 48 credit hours are provided for each session.

Kapka Kassabova's writing eschews a narrow register of academic writing and explores different chronotypes of nourishment, from the "Red Riviera" of the Black Sea coast to the interconnected lakes Ohrid and Prespa and the valley of the river Mesta, abundant with local practices of healing. Join us for a discussion about situated, in-depth histories of well-being, care, and nourishment as we collectively contemplate the potential of the Balkans as a space of nourishment.

This lecture is the keynote address of "The Balkans as A Place of Nourishment" Conference, which is taking place November 16th-18th in Jena, Germany. This conference explores the region's rich history as a space and idea of nourishment, whether of plants and land, non-human and animals and human relationships, or collective solidarity in challenging surroundings that often receive little attention, whether in scholarship or in public. The conference espouses theoretical approaches that highlight attention to compassion, healing, and eco-restorative practices of companionship.

Come practice your conversational Polish at these weekly meetings!

Join Kya Baat Hai weekly conversation hours for students to practice speaking in Hindi and Urdu and connect over shared cultural experiences!