Events

As of September 2025, relations between China and Taiwan remain in a state of ‘managed tension’. China has reiterated the ‘One China’ principle, defining Taiwan as an ‘inseparable territory’, and has intensified military and diplomatic pressure on Taiwan independence forces. Since September, the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) has continuously violated Taiwan's Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), employing ‘gray zone’ tactics. The pace of air incursions, exceeding 300 per month as of August, has been sustained into September.
Ph.D. CHO HYEON GYU is a retired colonel and is currently a professor and Dean of international affairs of Shinhan University, the head of the China Center of the Korea Defense Diplomatic Association, and a policy advisor to the Ministry of National Defense. He is a recipient of the Order of Merit for National Security. He served as a visiting professor at Fu Dan University in China. He majored in Chinese at the Korea Military Academy and the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, holds a master's degree in international politics and complete a doctorate at Renmin University of China. He earned a doctorate in international politics from Dankook University(Dissertation topic : “A Study on the China's Military Reform in the Xi Jin Ping Era”).

This webinar will concentrate on UNESCO-recommended methodological strategies of including topics on traditional cultural heritage of Eastern Europe and Eurasia into the curricula, for courses spanning from language, arts, and geography, to mathematics and physics. Educators will come away with resources and strategies for integrating these themes into a variety of classroom settings.
This webinar is the first in a six-part webinar series, The Arts of Eastern Europe and Eurasia, designed to support K-14 educators in bringing the vibrant and diverse artistic traditions of Russia, Eastern Europe, and Eurasia into the classroom. Each 90-minute session will spotlight a different art form—including music, dance, literature, visual arts, cultural artifacts, and theater/film—offering both historical and cultural context as well as practical classroom strategies.

Don’t have a chance to travel during fall break?  Join us to experience hospitality of the cultures of Eastern Europe and its surrounding regions through food, music and educational information! This event will bring together Pitt student organizations & academic units, the Nationality & Heritage Room committees, and other community members to learn about and celebrate the rich East European cultural history of the Pittsburgh region.  The first 100 Pitt students with a Pitt ID can get a free treat from Jak’s Bakery and Steel City Chimneys! 
Co-Sponsors: NRIEP, Slavic Department, Summer Language Institute, Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian, Montenegrin Program; Hungarian Language Program; Modern Greek Language Program; Polish Language Program; Russian Language Program; Slovak Language Program;  BCMS Club; Polish Culture Club; Russian Club; Slovak Club; Ukrainian Club; Pitt GEO; REEES; GOSECA
Nationality and Heritage Room Committees: Czechoslovak, Hungarian, Romanian, and Yugoslav

Explore the world with funding support from the Nationality Rooms and Intercultural Exchange Programs Scholarships. The NRIEP funding support will enable you to achieve your summer global learning experience. The NRIEP Scholarship Program is nearly sixty years old and supports study abroad, internships, independent research and experiential learning for Pitt students around the world.
What you will gain from this information session:
Scholarship Insights: Learn about various scholarships designed specifically for summer global experience programs.
Application Tips: Get expert advice on crafting a compelling scholarship application.
Your global adventure begins here!
Dates:
October 13th 2025, 12:30PM and November 5th, 1:30PM

*** We are at Capacity for this tour. Please consider the other events scheduled on Oct 15 and Oct 16, 2025
Urban Farms Tour included in this tour are as follows:
Hilltop Urban Farm
Farm Girl Eb
Freeman Family Farm (Lunch will be provided)
Millvale Community Farm
Oasis Farm & Fishery

This event is part of a two-day series focusing on sustainability in Europe and Pittsburgh.
About the Keynote Speaker:
Jesko Hirschfeld studied economics at the universities of Bonn, Frankfurt am Main, and the Free University of Berlin. From 1996 to 1998, he worked as a scientific staff member for the German Federal Parliament (Bundestag), and from 1998 to 2002, he worked on his doctorate with a scholarship by the German Research Foundation (DFG) in the Research Training Group “Agriculture and Environment” at the University of Göttingen. Since 2002, he has been a research associate and later subject area manager for water and land management at the Institute for Ecological Economy Research (IÖW) in Berlin in the research field “Environmental Economics and Policy.” From 2017 to 2020, in addition to his work at the IÖW, he was a visiting professor for landscape economics at the Technical University of Berlin. From 2022 to 2024, he taught as a visiting professor of environmental economics at Humboldt University in Berlin. He has worked on numerous inter- and transdisciplinary projects on natural climate protection, nature-based adaptation to climate change, land and water use, and integrated coastal zone management, focusing primarily on economic aspects and ecological-economic assessments. In recent years, he has focused on urban ecosystem services provided by urban green spaces, parks, and gardens.

Join the Turkish Language Table in the Global Hub to learn about Turkish language, culture, and community.
There will be four meetings in the Global Hub during Fall semester, each from 8-9 pm:
- September 17
- October 1 - Board Game Night!
- October 15
- November 12

Want to study abroad this summer? You could be selected for a scholarship of $5,000+! Learn more about the Vira I. Heinz Program for Women in Global Leadership (VIH Program) by stopping by this info session. Qualified students will be female-identifying, have a QPA of 3.0 and be a current sophomore or junior with no prior travel experience beyond Canada. Come by even if you are thinking about it for next year!