Program:
1:00 PM: INTRODUCTION & WELCOME REMARKS
Nancy Condee, REEES & Randall Halle, ESC

1:15 PM: PROVOCATION
As geopolitical actor Europe aspires to empire/ has fallen into insignificance.
Nancy Condee, REEES and Slavic
Mohammed Bamyeh, Sociology
Allyson Delnore, UCIS and History

2:30 PM BREAK

3:15 PM: PROVOCATION
The strength of Euroscepticism, of illiberal parties and governments, is growing across
the entire EU and is justified/unreasonable.
Sean Guillory, REEES and History
Donna Harsch, History (Carnegie Mellon University)
Randall Halle, ESC and German

4:45 PM: BREAK

5:00 PM: KEYNOTE CONVERSATION
America, Soviet Russia, Europe: Three Attempts at Shaping the 20th Century
Moderated by: Nancy Condee, REEES and Slavic
Gregor Thum, History

What is a Provocation: Three formal presenters will have 7-10 minutes to present a pointed response, a set of theses, a brief case study responding to a statement designed to provoke
(30 mins). After the formal presentations, we will turn to an open discussion. All in attendance will be invited to pose questions, offer responses, and present their own provocations (60 mins).

If you have questions, concerns, requests for clarification or interest in presenting provocations, please contact Randall Halle, rhalle@pitt.edu.

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 conversation hours, on Mondays & Thursday at 5-6 pm during Spring 2024, for French speaking individuals of varying levels to practice the French language.

Ukrainian Cultural Class invites you to join its arts class which will include:
- Painting with coffee
- Learning Ukrainian words
- Drink and enjoy coffee
- Virtual meeting with International Institute of Education, Culture and Diaspora Relations of Lviv Polytechnic National University (MIOKom) (Ukraine)

PLEASE REGISTER TO SAVE YOUR SPACE!

Join us for Portuguese mini-lessons! No prior language experience is necessary. Empanadas are provided!

Moderator:
Erica Edwards, Unversity of Pittsburgh

Panelists:
Ralitsa Kovacheva, Sofia University
Julia Partheymuller, University of Vienna
Elena Bruni, LUISS Gudio Carli, Italy, Fulbright Distinguished Lecturer

Not to be confused with misinformation, meaning inaccurate information, disinformation is false material meant to intentionally mislead or misinform individuals. Brought to the fore in 2016 with Brexit and the election of Donald Trump, disinformation threatens to erode trust in democratic systems, weaken individual freedoms, and increasingly undermine governments around the world. While the U.S. has yet to make meaningful progress in addressing disinformation, Europe has moved forward with new legislation and initiatives. Join us for this session of Conversation on Europe in which we ask what steps Europe is taking to shore up EU values and counter disinformation.

About our guest speakers:

Ralitsa Kovacheva, Sofia University
Dr Ralitsa Kovacheva is an Associate Professor in International Journalism at the Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication, Sofia University“St. Kliment Ohridski.” Her research interests include international politics, media coverage of the EU, and EU-related issues focusing on disinformation and propaganda. In 2020, she created a special course, “Fake News and Disinformation”, for the Faculty`s Master programmes. Ralitsa Kovacheva has many years of journalistic experience. Since May 2021, she has been
the editor-in-chief of the only platform in Bulgaria dedicated solely to factchecking- Factcheck.bg. She has published three books and a number of scientific articles.s:

Julia Partheymuller, University of Vienna
Dr. Julia Partheymüller is Senior Scientist at the Department of Government at the University of Vienna and a member of the Vienna Center for Electoral Research (VieCER). Previously, she held a position as DAAD lecturer at the University of Essex and worked as a researcher at the Mannheim Centre for European Social Research (MZES). She holds a doctoral degree in the Social Sciences from the University of Mannheim and has studied Political Science at the Free University Berlin and the University of Hamburg. She is part of the project team of the Austrian National Election Study (AUTNES) and has contributed to various other projects involving large-scale survey data collection, including the Austrian Corona Panel Project (ACPP), Reconciling Europe with its Citizens through Democracy and Rule of Law (RECONNECT), and the German Longitudinal Election Study (GLES). Her research focuses on the nature and origins of public opinion and political behavior in European democracies. Additionally, she has undertaken interdisciplinary work, particularly in the context of the COVID-19 crisis. She has published in peer-reviewed journals such as the British Journal of Political Science, West European Politics, Electoral Studies, the Journal of Common Market Studies, Nature Medicine and Frontiers in Public Health.

Elena Bruni, LUISS Gudio Carli, Italy, Fulbright Distinguished Lecturer, University of Pittsburgh

Elena Bruni is an Assistant Professor at LUISS Guido Carli University in Rome, Italy, and a former Marie Curie Skłodowska researcher at the Institute for Organization Studies at WU Vienna. She obtained her PhD in Management and Business from the University of Venice. Her research focuses on the linguistic and rhetorical processes that stimulate institutional change. In particular, she examines the mechanisms in which metaphors and other figures of speech are used to ascribe legitimacy and how different modes of communication (e.g., visual and written) may trigger or stifle collective action. Her work has been published recently in the Academy of Management Review and The Oxford Handbook of Metaphor in Organization Studies (2024), including two chapters written by her and her colleague Claudio Biscaro. She was awarded an additional European Commission Grant (2022-2025) to continue researching science denial and institutional trust. She is currently a Fulbright Distinguished Lecturer at University of Pittsburgh teaching “The Rhetoric of Science Denial.”

Ashley Currier is a sociologist who studies lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) organizing in Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, Malawi, Namibia, and South Africa. Join us in welcoming her to the University of Pittsburgh to talk about her experiences in African Studies!

Zoom registration here: http://tinyurl.com/4a5njc4s

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!

Stop by the Global Hub from 4:00-5:00pm to discuss study abroad, study away and other global experiences with our peer advisors from the Global Experiences Office. Hear about their experiences abroad and pick their brains with all of you abroad questions!

Join German Club at Pitt’s weekly meetings, on Tuesdays at 6-7 pm during Spring 2024, to converse in German and learn German culture!

Two of Oyamada Hiroko's best-known works are her proletariat debut novella "The Factory" (Kojo, 2013) and her Akutagawa-prize winning novella "The Hole" (Ana, 2014). Scholars are only beginning to shift their focus to Oyamada, and as of yet, little scholarly work has been dedicated to analyzing the animals that are characteristic of her writing. In my thesis (Hayley Gerlach), I examine the liminal space between human and nonhuman worlds in Oyamada's speculative fiction and what these spaces say about societal and environmental responsibility.

Join us for an important lecture and complimentary lunch with Dr. Miranda Schreurs.

Open the newspaper on any day and you will be confronted by tragedy. Wars are raging in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Waves of migrants are fleeing insecurity in the search for better lives. Floods, hurricanes, droughts, and extreme temperatures linked to climate change are wreaking havoc around the planet. Growing numbers of people are struggling to make ends meet. These developments are giving new significance to the concept of security and posing great challenges for political, economic, and societal decision-makers. This talk will discuss the threats these crises pose for Europe and the United States with a particular focus on climate change as a security threat but also climate change mitigation as a security amplifying mechanism. Both in Europe and the United States efforts to address climate change and reduce dependencies on fossil fuels are beginning to show effects. Climate mitigation efforts have been sped up in reaction to the Russian war in Ukraine with visible effects. To what extent and how quickly further progress on addressing climate change can be achieved will depend on many factors, including our ability to overcome growing domestic political polarization and reduce global geopolitical tensions.

Prof. Miranda Schreurs (PhD University of Michigan) is Chair of Climate and Environmental Policy at the Bavarian School of Public Policy, Technical University of Munich. She investigates environmental movements, green politics, and climate policymaking both comparatively and internationally. She has lived and researched in Europe, the United States and Asia. She also specializes on the politics surrounding the disposal of highly radioactive waste. In 2011, Prof. Schreurs was appointed by Chancellor Angela Merkel as a member of the Ethics Committee for a Secure Energy Supply. In 2016, she was appointed by the German Bundestag as a member of a committee established to bring citizens’ voices and ensure greater transparency in the search for a disposal site for highly radioactive waste. She was a member of the German Council on the Environment (2008-2016) and served both as Vice Chair and Chair of the European Advisory Council on Environment and Sustainable Development. She was a Fulbright Fellow to Japan and Germany and spent three years studying at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She also worked as a professor of comparative politics at the University of Maryland. From 2007 to 2016 she was Director of the Environmental Policy Research Center and Professor of Comparative Policy at the Free University of Berlin.

Join weekly Tavolina (a separate gathering from Tavola Italiana) to practice Italian. This is an Italian conversation table aimed for beginner and intermediate speakers.

Join weekly Swahili Class 2 students for weekly conversation hours this Spring semester, to practice Swahili outside of the classroom.

Come practice your conversational Hungarian with students of all levels!

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

Join Spring 2024 Kya Baat Hai weekly conversation hours, on Wednesdays from 7-8 pm, for students to practice speaking in Hindi and Urdu and connect over shared cultural experiences!

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

In the fourth installment of the Global Issues Through Literature Series (GILS), educators will convene to discuss Hunter School by author Sakinu Ahronglong.
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.

Join the French Club for conversation hours, on Mondays & Thursday at 5-6 pm during Spring 2024, for French speaking individuals of varying levels to practice the French language.

Be sure to join us for this special pop-up class with visiting scholar, Esteban Corella Ovares. Please email Luis bravo (bravo@pitt.edu) to register.

The impact of Russia’s war against Ukraine can be felt far outside the actual battlefield. Modern war disproportionately affects gender and sexual minorities, something we are seeing in Ukraine even as Putin's anti-LGBTQ+ agenda seeks to relentlessly drive support for the war at home. How can a queer-studies focus advance conversations about decolonization in East European and Eurasian Studies? To address this question, Queer Focus will have six virtual panels featuring speakers from various disciplines and institutions. Panelists and participants will explore how gendered regimes were constitutive of Russo-centric relationships of power, defining the region and how we study it, as we collectively grapple with what it means to re-examine our current research, teaching, and institutional practices.

Join Addverse Poesia, an international and multilingual poetry group that discusses, reads and translates poems in at least 4 languages, for their weekly meetings!