Upcoming Events

- Tracy Wazenegger and Shanti Gamper-Rabindran
- 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
- Zoom
This professional development opportunity for K-12 educators will focus on the book "America's Energy Gamble: People, Economy, and Planet" by Shanti Gamper-Rabindran, associate professor in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh. The workshop will be led by Tracy Wazenegger, Science and Global Issues educator and is designed for educators across ages and disciplines to incorporate global themes of sustainability, climate change, and the energy crisis into their classroom.
Books are available on a first come first serve basis. Act 48 credits will also be available.
The book details how any administration intent on pursuing a pro-fossil policy, when Congress fails to act as a check, can change governance rules to permanently entrench oil and gas extraction and reliance in the United States and to cripple regulatory agencies. The Trump administration’s actions which violated traditional bipartisan values of economic prudence, environmental stewardship and respect for democratic norms, damaged Americans’ health, economy and governing institutions.

- 5:00 pm
- Zoom
Global Issues Through Literature (GILS)
Fall and Spring 2021-22: Imagining Other Worlds: Globalizing Science Fiction and Fantasy
This reading group for K-12 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 virtually on Thursday evenings from 5-8 PM (EST). Books and three Act 48 credit hours are provided.
Register for the reading groups here - https://www.ucis.pitt.edu/global/gils
Contact Maja Konitzer with questions at majab@pitt.edu
Co-sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh Center for African Studies, Africa Access, and the Title VI Outreach Council of the African Studies Association

- 10:30 am to 4:00 pm
- Zoom
The Alliance for Learning in World History is thrilled to announce its call for applications for "New Approaches to Frontier History" a professional development workshop for world history teachers at all levels. The virtual event will be held on Saturday, June 11 from 10:30 am - 4:00 pm. All accepted participants will receive a $200 stipend. The event provides teacher's with the opportunity to workshop their own syllabus or assignment that engages with indigenous history. Accepted participants will be invited to attend a curriculum workshop cosponsored by Pitt's Asian Studies Center. Applications are due April 15, 2022.
The event will feature three keynote addresses from experts in the field of frontier history:
Dr. Veronica Castillo-Munoz, UC Santa Barbara, “Teaching about the Border: Border Crossings and the Making of the US-Mexico Borderlands”
The U.S.-Mexico border is over two thousand miles long and ranks among the longest borders in the world. Understanding the formation of communities that facilitate border crossings and cultural interactions between these two nations is now more important than ever. This workshop will focus on the best practices to teaching about the border as well as the broader history and experiences of border people.
Dr. James Hill, University of Pittsburgh, “Whose Frontier Is It? Decolonizing Narratives in World History”
This talk seeks to reframe frontier histories from the perspectives of Indigenous peoples. As a first step, capturing the historical views of the colonized towards colonizer is an admirable goal. However, decolonizing efforts should not stop there. A fully decolonized history should demonstrate how Indigenous peoples have adapted to and coped with colonialism, countering narratives of their disappearance and erasure. Indigenous peoples have moved beyond mere survival by refashioning themselves to endure and thrive in a postcolonial landscape.
Dr. Matt Matsuda, Rutgers University, “Water’s Edge: Histories and Frontiers in Pacific and Oceanian Worlds”
Histories of the Pacific world have, over the last decades, been shaped by examinations of frontiers and places of encounter, both insular and connected. Scholars have pursued “unending frontiers,” “oceans unbounded,” “waves across the South,” and a “sea of islands” to illuminate new ways of telling histories and underscore long silenced voices and pasts. We will begin by mapping millennia of the translocal, examine traditions of navigation and diaspora, look to commerce and conquest, seek out lives and legacies of acculturation and persistence, understand imperial power and migrations, and the promises and perils of labor, migration, and a changing oceanic environment. We’ll pay respects to a canoe, a sea creature, a saint, a warrior, and a woman who cared for children, all living in and making their presence known across the centuries.
Email ALWH@pitt.edu with any questions

- 10:00 am to 3:00 pm
- Zoom
Deadline to Apply April 22
Have you wished for the opportunity to work with colleagues at your school to globalize a unit, lesson, or module? Are you looking for an opportunity to have your students examine political, economic, social, cultural, ecological questions from multiple lenses? As part of the Summer Institute for Global Educators 2022 at the University Center for International Studies, we are excited to offer you the virtual space and resources to do such work! Science and French teachers might team up to offer a lesson on global warming in the francophone world; or Art, English, and Social Studies teachers might develop a unit on responses to the global refugee crisis in art and literature. We are looking forward to hearing your ideas! Synchronous and asynchronous daily sessions will be offered with time built in for participating educators to collaborate and develop activities, lesson plans and/or modules from the Institute’s offerings.
Apply as a team of 2-4 teachers from different subject areas at the same school. This opportunity is open to elementary, middle, and high school educators and administrators. Individual educator stipends and curriculum material grants will be provided to participating teams. Additional questions can be directed to Maja Konitzer at majab@pitt.edu.
Submit proposals here!