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TRANSCRIPT
THE INDIAN ROOM
Nationality Rooms Newsletter N a t i o n a l i t y R o o m s a n d I n t e r c u l t u r a l E x c h a n g e P r o g r a m s a t t h e U n i v e r s i t y o f P i t t s b u r g h
Spr ing 2010
Vo lume 88
Dedicated January 9, 2000
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THE INDIAN ROOM
The Indian Room celebrates India’s educational heritage and architecture during the 4th through the 9th centuries -- a period known as India’s Golden Age – when literature, art, architecture and education reached new peaks of creativity. The room is based on a 4th to 11th-century monastery courtyard/classroom at India’s ancient Nalanda University in what is now Bihar State. The room features replicas of stone columns, brick floors, walls, pilasters and sculptures still visible at the archaeological site.
Stone and Brick Work
The Buddhist monastic university at Nalanda, which occupied 32 acres of flat land, could accommodate as many as 3,000 students in multi-tiered brick living quarters. The room’s six columns of glass-fiber-reinforced concrete faithfully echo the granite columns at Nalanda. The brick in the room, specially fabricated to project the soft rose hue and texture of the origi-nal, was hand cut and laid in place by a team of Italian ma-sons. The pilasters, columns, niches and floor recall ancient architectural elements found at Nalanda.
Chalkboard Doors and Windows
The cherry wood chalkboard doors (above) and flanking cabinets bear carved seals of Nalanda Univer-sity which feature recumbent deer above a Sanskrit inscription. Cast steel grilles in front of the windows, hand wrought into forms which reflect decorative elements of the columns, filter the light and soften the view of the 20th-century outside world.
Wall Art
India’s multicultural society is captured in the window-wall panel of the nation’s major language scripts. “Let noble thoughts come to us from all sides” is a passage from the Rig Veda in Sanskrit. Here it is trans-literated into the scripts which represent the 16 official Indian languages, with a translation in English. Some languages share the same script.
Facing the entrance, the bronze replica of a 9th-century copper plate mandates to five villages the responsibil-ity for the upkeep and maintenance of the monks, as well as supplies for the copying of manuscripts in the monastery. This meant that the student monks were exempt from begging for daily food and could devote the entire day to their studies.
Three watercolor panels on the perimeter brick wall (right) are the work of renowned Indian artist M.S. Chandrasekhar. On the left, the artist depicts male and female international students who came from many Asian nations to study at Nalanda. The center panel depicts 7th-century Chinese traveler Hsuan Tsang saying farewell to Nalanda’s noted monk-scholar Silab-hadra. Hsuan Tsang carries the sutras, which he studied during the two years at Nalanda. The right panel focuses on international visitors who came to Nalanda from far-away lands.
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EDITOR: E. Maxine Bruhns
ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Eileen Kiley
REPORTER: Susan Langer
PUBLICITY: Cristina Lagnese
Nationality Rooms and Intercultural Exchange Programs
1209 Cathedral of Learning
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
Phone: 412.624.6150
FAX: 412.624.4214
email: [email protected]
website: www.pitt.edu/~natrooms/
MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR
E. Maxine Bruhns, Director
The Nationality Rooms Summer Study Abroad Scholarships, Chancellor Bow‐man’s Faculty Grants for research abroad and the Ruth Crawford Mitchell Awards for Czech or Slovak Scholars to conduct research at the University dur‐ing the fall term keep us very busy. Eileen Kiley, NRIEP’s Scholarship Adminis‐trator, announces the Summer Study Abroad Scholarships in November, briefs potential applicants in November, December and January. Readers select the finalists and I make some 80 phone calls to secure panel members for the selec‐tion process in February. We spend the entire month of February in the Braun Room administering the selection for some 39 awards.
The rewards come when we witness the excellence of the applicants, many of whom conduct research directly benefitting the host population, such as malaria research in Uganda, in‐terning with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency involving Lebanon’s Palestinian refugees, re‐searching the effect of specific drugs on Chinese patients in the PRC or creating water‐delivery systems for Nicaraguan villages.
Of course, coordinating the progress of the Turkish, Swiss, Philippine and Korean Rooms consumes a part of every working day. In addition, I am narrating off‐the‐record stories about the Nationality Rooms which I have learned from Ruth Crawford Mitchell or experienced myself. Jim Crawford, of the Univer‐sity’s Center for Instructional Development and Distance Education (CIDDE) will record the stories and video the Room artifacts to which they refer.
By popular request I have agreed to teach an Osher class in June and July ‐ “The Nationality Rooms – Classrooms that Teach.” The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute is under the umbrella of the College of General Studies, which is proud to be one of 121 Osher centers throughout the United States.
Have a super summer!
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MESSAGE FROM THE COUNCIL Dale Richards, Chairman The 2010 Nationality Rooms Scholarship awardees have been selected. This year 39 undergraduate and graduate awards were presented totaling $144,500. The Council would like to send our best wishes for successful studies and ventures abroad this summer. We look forward to hearing the stu‐dents’ reports and tales of their trips in the fall. Every year I have been mightily impressed and will no doubt have that same experience with this group of scholars. The Pittsburgh Folk Festival was held in May at the Monroe‐ville Convention Center. Many countries and cultures were represented. It is events like the Folk Festival that help to keep the pride and hope of ethnic groups to survive and help future generations carry on. Our wonderful Nationality Rooms Program, as we all know, is second to none in this area. The Russian mystic Dostoyevsky, in words forever genuine, said, “Beauty will save the world.” The English poet Keats said it, too: “Beauty is truth. Truth beauty.” The Nationality Rooms speak a universal hope to the students of Pittsburgh and to the global community. These quotes come from “The Nationality Rooms” book as written by Andrey Avinoff, distin‐guished artist and scholar: “My hope is that these rooms and the new rooms being developed be a continuing symbol to the world that peace is possible. To all of the committees in the Nationality Rooms Program, the Nationality Council, on my behalf, wishes you pob lwc (good luck) and iechyd da (good health).
CHINESE ROOM COMMITTEE Karen Yee, Chairman We had a very busy spring with many events in May, which is Asian Month in the United States. We had planned the first Asian Day at PNC Park for April 16, but it was cancelled due to damage to the performance area caused by a severe storm. It will be rescheduled. Committee members participated in the 53rd Pittsburgh Folk Festival, May 14‐16, at the Monroeville Convention Center, as well as the 2nd Annual Asian Day at Kennywood Park on May 16. The University of Pittsburgh’s School of Social Work hosted the National Conference on Race in America on June 1‐3, fea‐turing a reception in the Commons Room of the Cathedral of Learning. Chinese dancers performed as well as Ukrainian and African groups.
During the summer break, we’re already plan‐ning for fall and winter events. We’ll welcome back our scholarship recipients at the fall dinner. The free Dragon Boat Festival is scheduled for Saturday, September 18, at Riverfront Park. Hope to see you there!
CZECHOSLOVAK ROOM COMMITTEE Joseph Bielecki, Chairman The Czechoslovak Room Committee granted a scholarship this year. Aaron Pelot, an under‐graduate, will travel to Bratislava, Slovakia, to attend an advanced Slovak language program. The committee’s May meeting featured a one‐hour documentary film about The Czechoslovak Legionnaires called, “The Accidental Army.” Those present enjoyed the film so much that they asked for it to be screened again at the group’s October meeting so more people can enjoy it. The Committee elected officers at the May meet‐ing who will serve two‐year terms. They are: Chairman – Joseph Bielecki; Vice‐Chair – Dr. Alena Neumann; Treasurer – Justine S. West; Secretary – Loretta Stana. Professor Martin Votruba was the keynote speaker at the 10th annual Western Pennsylvania Slovak Cultural Association’s meeting in the Czechoslovak Room on Sunday, May 23. Dr. Votruba, director of the Slovak Studies Program at the University of Pittsburgh, spoke on the leg‐end of Juraj Janosik, the Slovak Robin Hood, a story that is part of the Slovak culture. While court documents confirm the existence of Ja‐nosik, who led a group of robbers and hid in the thick forests, many folktales credit him with feats that were impossible for him to have car‐ried out. He was executed for his crimes in March 1713. However, people believed in Ja‐nosik’s nobility of character. It is surmised that official records suppressed much of the truth about Janosik’s actual deeds. His name, for al‐most two and a half centuries, has been the sym‐bol of hope and courage to his people. Refresh‐ments in 1228 Cathedral of Learning followed the meeting.
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GREEK ROOM COMMITTEE Dr. Dimitris Kraniou, Chairman The Greek Nationality Room at the University of Pitts‐burgh participated in the Holiday Open House with a booth selling traditional Greek pastries. The Grecian Od‐yssey Dancers performed during the afternoon.In March, a Greek Independence Day celebration was hosted by the Greek Room Committee to honor the fallen heroes in Greece’s struggle for independence. The event included dance performances as well as a play in which local area Greek School students acted.
HUNGARIAN ROOM COMMITTEE Barbara A. House, Chairman The Hungarian Room was featured in the May 2010 edi‐tion of “William Penn Life”, the official publication of the William Penn Association. Designs from the ceiling graced the front cover. The room’s stained glass windows were featured, as well as the entry door, the display cabinet, and a close‐up of the tulip motif used throughout the room. Writer John E. Lovasz closed the article with a men‐tion of the recipients of the Hungarian Room Scholarship for study in Hungary: “What Walko (former winner) and other committee scholarship recipients experience study‐ing in Hungary is similar to what all visitors to the Hun‐garian Room experience: a deeper understanding and ap‐preciation of the long, rich history and culture of the Mag‐yar people and the realization that a better future is possi‐ble when we honor and cherish the traditions of our past.”
ITALIAN ROOM COMMITTEE Arcangela Lattari Balest, M.D., Chairman The Italian Room Committee decided to change the name of their scholarship to the “Jennie Ranii Scholar‐ship” to honor Jennie who died this past winter. Jennie Ranii, a member of the Italian Room Committee for many, many years, also assisted the late Frances Nesta with committee activities.
POLISH ROOM COMMITTEE Donald Mushalko, Ph.D., Chairman Members of the University of Pittsburgh’s Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures and the Russian and East European Studies Center placed flowers in the Polish Room to commemorate those victims in the April 10 plane crash that killed Poland’s President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others. The note included with the flowers reads “In solidarity with the Polish nation dur‐ing this week of national mourning over the tragic loss of 96 lives in the crash of the presidential airplane in Smolensk, Russia, April 10, 2010.”
WELSH ROOM COMMITTEE Dale Richards and John Owen, III, Co‐Chairmen The committee joined with the St. David’s Society to mark St. David’s Day on Saturday, February 27, with its annual Daffodil Luncheon. The Club at Nevillewood provided a beautiful setting and included a menu of Tenderloin of Beef or Scrod English style, with field green salad with oranges and wal‐nuts, baked stuffed potato, a vegetable medley, warm bread pudding with whiskey sauce, rolls, and beverages.
The Welsh St. David’s Soci‐ety of Pittsburgh continues to look for opportunities to promote Welsh culture. We have been active in many ways. Some of the newer Board members have been in‐volved, especially Rob Willis and Drew Richards. Through Rob’s efforts, the St. David’s Society is now a permanent member of the Pittsburgh Folk Festival. Drew Richards volunteered to organize the Annual Gy‐manfa Ganu (Welsh Song Fest) to be held at the Fox Chapel Presbyterian Church on October 17.
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We have been collaborating with the Welsh Society of Philadelphia and the National Library of Wales to col‐lect and then digitize our history in an effort entitled the Wales‐Pennsylvania Project. Fundraising will be on‐going to support the work. We are especially inter‐ested in gathering information related to the Welsh in Pittsburgh and, in particular, the St. David’s Society which began around 1882. Discussions with the Pittsburgh Pirates center around creating a new club at PNC Park called the Cambria Club. It would have a Welsh theme, with the Red Dragon displayed. The name for the room, Cambria, is another name for Wales. It would be a place to hold meetings and promote Welsh culture. Welsh language lessons will be available in the fall se‐mester. Thanks to all those who have attended.
SCANDINAVIAN SOCIETY OF WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA Rich Neilson, President The March meeting featured Finnish post‐doctoral fel‐lows Minna Lind and Janne Lindqvist from Carnegie Mellon University. They presented their views on eve‐ryday life and advanced scientific development in Finland. Minna Lind, from the Department of Material Science and Engineering, spoke about steel making and the steel inclusion modification on the field that she is studying. Janne Lindqvist focused on privacy and com‐puters from her vantage point as a member of the Hu‐man‐Computer Institute. All enjoyed authentic Scandi‐navian foods after the program.
A concert by Finn Hall, named Finlandia Foundation Performer of the Year 2010, benefited the Finnish Room Construction Fund. Members gathered at Frick‐Fine Arts Auditorium on Tuesday, March 23, enjoyed traditional music played by Ralph Tuttila (mandolin), Cheryl Paschke (violin), Dennis Halme (accordion) and Al Reko (accordion and singing). The musicians are dedicated to preserving the feel and sounds of dances at the Finn Halls found in most Finnish‐American com‐munities from the late 1800’s into the 1950’s. But they also included other ethnic tunes and old time dance music.
In April, our 2010 scholarship recipient Sam Pittman spoke on the topic “Poetry, Place, and the Person: an Icelandic Endeavor.” Sam will travel to Iceland this summer to work with poets on his writing and to im‐prove his Icelandic language skills. A potluck dinner followed the meeting.
IN MEMORIAM
Cecilia Sarocky
Czechoslovak Room Committee
WOMEN’S INTERNATIONAL CLUB Cynthia Maleski, President The Women’s International Club met on Sunday, May 23, at the University Club in Oakland for the annual Presi‐dent’s Luncheon. In addition to cash donations, proceeds from the sales of the Nationality Rooms Recipe Book and Karen Yee’s jasmine tea benefited the Women’s Interna‐tional Club Scholarship Fund. We enjoyed pre‐luncheon violin and piano selections by Mayuko Matsunaga and Chiseko Hayakawa. The keynote speaker, the Honorable Joy Flowers Conti, Federal Judge, Western District, Penn‐sylvania, discussed citizenship and the preservation of ethnic identity in her speech titled “Immigration: The Life Blood of Our Country.” Director E. Maxine Bruhns made remarks. Members expressed a desire for us to continue our newly established semiannual newsletter and the Spring Tea.
We will soon be scheduling the Fall Scholarship Luncheon and the annual Holiday Luncheon. There are plans to par‐ticipate in the Nationality Rooms Holiday Open House in December.
Norwegian Constitution Day was celebrated on Sunday, May 16 at the Aspinwall Fireman’s Park with a traditional parade, speeches and games for young and old. The pic‐nickers enjoyed homemade “pølse med lompe eller brød” (hot dogs wrapped in soft potato flatbread or rolls), assorted beverages, and ice cream for dessert. The buffet table was filled out by covered dishes provided by the members.
The Society has announced its website: www.pittsburghscandinavians.org. Anyone can go to the site to learn of the organization’s activities.
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SWISS ROOM COMMITTEE
Heinz Kunz, Chairman Frederick H. Carlson,
Vice-Chairman
The new Swiss Honorary Consul, first corporate donor Dominique Schinabeck and committee member Philip Bottonari have been busy identifying and approaching donors who may be willing to help us reach our fund-raising goals by the end of this calendar year. We are stressing to our donor community that now is the time to make their mark on this important project symbolic of Swiss fraternity and heritage; a project that will be maintained by the University of Pittsburgh in perpetu-ity. We hope to announce the success of these endeav-ors at the August 1 celebration (Swiss National Day) at the Richland Barn, Bakerstown, PA. We continue to look ahead to a May-November 2011 construction window transforming the University of Pittsburgh’s room 321 into the beautiful and historic Swiss Room. At our Swiss Night event in March at the Teutonia Maennerchor club, our historic expert Eve-lyn Ruffing explained in a series of questions and an-swers why this room is so unique with its late medie-val architecture.
Architect-of-record Stephen Altherr has completed 95% design documents which are being let for bids at this time for the contracting work. The committee has been through a series of meetings at Pitt Facilities Management offices to complete the design plan for the room, always keeping our budget in focus.
On Wednesday, May 26, the Swiss Room Committee hosted our special guests: Christoph & Regula Bubb, the Swiss General Consul/NYC and his wife, at the University’s Braun Room on the 12th Floor of the Ca-thedral of Learning. It was exactly two years ago that the Ambassador had visited the Nationality Rooms and funded the last chair in the auction that the Swiss were sponsoring that year. He gave of his personal funds to buy the Fribourg chair. We briefly updated the Ambassador with the progress of the past two years, including locating Richard Sink as woodcrafter endorsed by project design architect Justin Rüessli, our subsequent visit and communications with Rich-ard and his amazing facility, fundraising progress, and finally, the presentation of the 16-page final construc-tion documents was led by architect-of-record Stephen Altherr.
Donor Ed Graff is researching Red Clay Tile in Belle-vue as a possible source of a re-created kachelofen if we do not locate a donated or inexpensive antique.
Ambassador Bubb further elaborated on his desire to help committee members Philip Bottonari and Dominique Schinabeck with our major gift re-quests and is willing to attend private meetings in the NYC area that may be coming up in the next two months. Maxine Bruhns then took the Bubbs and SNRC attendees on a brief room tour of the 3rd floor highlights-the ones right around the fu-ture Swiss Nationality Room (321).
TURKISH ROOM COMMITTEE Malik Tunador, Chairman The committee established the Pittsburgh Turkish Nationality Room, Inc., a non-profit corporation, which will raise funds for the Turkish Nationality Room.
The December Holiday Open House was a huge success for the committee, realizing a profit of $800 from the sale of Turkish goodies and souve-nirs.
On Tuesday, June 8, Facilities Management rep-resentatives met with local woodworking firms to invite bids for the ceiling, walls and floor of the Turkish Room. After the meeting, held in the Croghan-Schenley Room, the group proceeded to 339 Cathedral of Learning to examine the room space.
KOREAN HERITAGE ROOM David Kim, Chairman In the committee’s recent election, David Kim emerged as the chairman. Dr. Kwan Lee intro-duced him to the group assembled to discuss the $200,000 matching grant from the Korea Foun-dation. Mr. Kim has several fundraising ideas that will be explored over the next few months.
PHILIPPINE ROOM Warren Bulseco, Chairman; Jun Calejesan, Project Manager The committee presented a PowerPoint summary of the Philippine Nationality Room project to date to Maxine Bruhns on Tuesday, June 8. Included were architectural renderings of the proposed room plan, a time line, and details of the chair design. Several questions were posed by Bruhns concerning design details.
NEW ROOM ACTIVITY
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IS AN UZBEKISTANI ROOM IN OUR FUTURE? Recently, Director Bruhns received two phone calls from peo-ple with keen interest in creating an Uzbekistani Room in the Cathedral of Learning. Bruhns explained there were no rooms available. If, however, one of the current group fails to carry through, there could be a chance. She posed the essential questions: Is there a substantial Uzbek community in Pitts-burgh? Are they capable of raising at least a quarter of a mil-lion dollars to create the room? Can they continue in our Summer Study Abroad Scholarship Program after completing the room? The affirmative answers were followed by this query: “Is there some place we could place a plaque representing Uzbekistan?” Instead, Bruhns encouraged the Uzbeks to form a cultural group which could become affiliated with the NRIEP.
Location of Uzbekistan
A MODEL STUDENT BUILDS A MODEL CATHE-DRAL OF LEARNING
Ryan Houghtaling, a 10-year-old fifth grader in Cleveland, chose the Cathe-dral of Learning as his class project. His mother, Penny, contacted Direc-tor Bruhns for material. Ryan and his grandfather built a 52” Styrofoam replica of the Cathedral of Learning and Ryan wrote an essay from the point of view of Erie, the male falcon, who lived on the 42nd story.
Ryan’s story appeared in the Pitt Chronicle and Director Bruhns in-
vited Ryan and his family to visit the Cathedral of Learn-ing and view the falcons’ nest. “I liked the Chinese Nationality Room because of the lions and the dragon on the ceiling. I liked the Com-mons Room because it looked like Hogwarts (School of Witchcraft and Wizardry) from Harry Potter and was cool. And I liked all the wooden carvings and stone emblems above all the doors.” Bruhns also invited him to Lulu’s Noodles for lunch. Ryan watched care-fully as Bruhns demonstrated how to use chopsticks. Soon Ryan was expertly using his chopsticks to finish his lunch. His younger brother pre-
ferred to spear his chicken with a sin-gle chopstick!
From “The Falcon’s Eyes”: Across the room I see a big wooden door hang-ing open, so I fly in. Inside a scary dragon is looking down on me, like I look delicious. Then I see some cracks and realize it is just a decoration. There are amazing Chinese symbols all over the walls. Next I fly down the hall and see a Greek room with many columns. I remember that on the inside of the Cathe-dral there are many Nationality Rooms that were constructed. I see tons of stu-dents walking through an iron gate so I know it must be the exit. I follow them outside and I see Dorothy (the other fal-con) just landing on the balcony of the 40th floor. I darted up to see her, and she asks where I’ve been. “It’s a long story about an amazing place. I’ll tell you all about it, and show you tomor-row.”
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Above, the Indian Room plans were blessed by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama on November 12, 1998.
Right, the Presentation of the Deed of Gift to Chan-cellor J. Dennis O’Connor (left) by Chairman Chan-drika Rajagopal (center) and Architect Deepak Wadhwani (left) in July 1993.
Left, a stonemason displays his skills lay-ing the vast amount of brickwork in the Indian Room in the fall of 1999.
Left, stonework from Nalanda, the prototype of the Indian Room.
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The Armenian Room Committee sponsored a day-long symposium on “The Essence of Armenia and Armenians”. Experts on Armenian history, art, lan-guage and crafts presented papers and participated in a panel discussion. The event attracted wide in-terest.
1990 The dedication of the Ukrainian Room occurred on June 17, 1990
The Czechoslovak Room Committee marked the 140th birthday of Tomas G. Masaryk with a program in the Stephen Foster Memorial Social Room, fea-turing Mr. Milos Ziak, a Slovak poet and member of the Civic Forum in Bratislava. Mr. Ziak spoke on the topic “Current Slovak Literature.”
2000 Former African Heritage Room Committee Chairman Larry Glasco discussed the accomplishments of those members honored at the Sankofa Luncheon held in the Student Union on June 3. Honorees in-cluded Beatrice Adams, Lillian Allen, Kingsley Carey, Peggy Pierce Freeman, Lillie Lesesne, Thelma Lovette, Edith Mitchell and James Wofford III.
Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott spoke before a distinguished audience in Frick Fine Arts Auditorium on the occasion of the retirement of Dennison Rusinow, a Balkan expert and Research Professor in the University Center for Interna-tional Studies. Secretary Talbott mentioned how moved he was when he first saw the Yugoslav Room portraits of men who were historic heroes of the people who had created the room.
LOOKING BACK IN
THE NEWS-LETTER…
1960 The March 1960 issue of Intercom, a monthly journal on citizens‛ education and activities in world affairs, published by the World Affairs Center in New York, carried an article on the work of the Nationality Com-mittees. The Russian Room Committee cooperated with Univer-sity Russian language teachers to sponsor a Russian afternoon on May 15, 1960. The program, the first of its kind, included a full length Russian movie. The so-cial hour featured student sketches in Russian, Rus-sian music and dance. The Balalaika Players from Ali-quippa High School performed.
1970 A Wiener Abend was held in the Student Union Ball-room, featuring excerpts from Lehar‛s Die Lustige Witwer performed by an orchestra, chorus and solo singers. A buffet dinner was served. Sr. Mary Anna Childs, author of many books including The Sounds of Ireland and Joy and Gladness, was the featured speaker at the John F. Kennedy Scholarship Benefit dinner held in the Student Union on April 30.
1980 Marjorie Alexis coordinated a book promotion for the Women‛s International Club‛s recipe book. Members Kathryn Markotan and Mattie Lutz demonstrated recipes from the book at the Italian Food Fair spon-sored by Gimbel‛s Department Store before an enthu-siastic shopping audience.
Dr. Larry Glasco, who conceived the concept for the African Heritage Room, visiting the room dur-ing its construction.
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EASY CURRY 1-2 medium size onions, chopped 1 medium green pepper, chopped Butter or margarine for frying Chicken or beef (ground or in chunks) (¼-1/3 of a pound per person) Salt and pepper to taste 1 teaspoon red pepper 2 Tablespoons curry powder 1 Tablespoon turmeric Dash garlic salt 1 can of tomatoes 2 medium size potatoes, sliced or cubed 1 cup of water (add more if more liquid is desired) Sauté onions and green pepper in butter. Add meat and seasoning and brown a little. Add potatoes, water and tomatoes. Simmer 1 ½ to 2 hours until desired consis-tence is reached. Serve with rice. Mrs. Georgianna Brethaur Patel Page 100
This is a popular candy in Kerala, the Southwest state of the peninsular part of India. Kerala is the land of coconut trees, cashew nuts and lotus flowers. PAAL BURFI (Milk and Nut Candy) ½ cup almonds ½ cup cashews ½ cup shredded coconut 2 cups milk or light cream 2 cups sugar 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter 4 drops of vanilla extract Soak almonds and cashews for an hour. Grind the nuts and coconut in a blender and mix with milk and sugar. Cook over medium low heat, stirring occasionally. When mixture thickens well, add butter and vanilla essence. Continue stirring and cooking further. When mixture thickens enough that you can see the bottom of the pan clearly (mixture does not stick to the bottom of the pan), pour it in a greased 13”x9” pan. Cool 15-20 minutes. Cut into squares with a knife. Yield: 40 pieces. Banu Pandali Indian American Bicentennial Committee Page 227
ABOUT THE INDIAN ROOM… The subcontinent of India is a peninsula of around 3.3 million square kilometers. It is separated from mainland Asia in the north by the Himalayan mountain range. It is sur-rounded by the Bay of Bengal in the east, the Arabian Sea to the west and the Indian Ocean in the south. India is separated into four major vegetation regions: the Himala-yan, the tropical wet evergreen and semi-evergreen forests, the tropical decidu-ous forests, and the thorn forests and shrubs. “Bharat”, as the land is called by her people, is a country which has a diverse mixture of ethnic groups; it is made up of 25 states and seven
Seventeen languages and more than 1,600 dialects are recognized by the In-dian consti-tution. The Indian lan-guages are Assamese, Bengali, Gu-jarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu. The northern Indic languages have evolved from the Indo-European group, whereas the south Indian languages are Dravidian, influenced by San-skrit and Hindi. Many of the Indian lan-guages have their own script and are spoken in their respective states and linguistic re-gions, along with English, which is an offi-cial language. In the words of the historian of India, A. L. Basham, “The ancient civilization of India differs from those of Egypt, Mesopotamia and Greece in that its traditions have been preserved without a break, down to the pre-sent day.” (from the Indian Room Dedication Book)
Recipes taken from the Nationality Rooms Recipe Book, published by the Women’s International Club to fund summer study abroad scholarships.
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COMMITTEE CORNER Susan Langer, Administrative Assistant DECORATING DAY The 2010 Decorating Day is scheduled for Saturday, November 13th. This past year there were no volunteers to host the Decorating Day Luncheon, so the Nationality Rooms Program Office hosted an “Open House” reception. Four members of each committee were invited to socialize with cheese, crackers, fruit, dessert and beverages served and no formal program presented. (Some committees had more than four guests at the reception, however this year the total of four guests will be strictly enforced). Most committees enjoyed this lowkey event and have requested that we continue this format. If you would like to express your opinion or volunteer to host this event, please contact our office 4126246150 no later than July 15th. HOLIDAY OPEN HOUSE Sunday, December 5, 2010 the Nationality Room Committees will fill the Commons Room with holiday music, ethnic performances, delectable ethnic foods, artifacts and oldfashioned holiday spirit! Many of our guests make this an annual holiday tradition, now introducing it to a new generation. This year will be the 19th anniversary for this Open House Format with each year it grows larger and larger. Holiday Open House information will be sent to all committee chairs in August with a response deadline of your committee participation to the Nationality Rooms Program by October 1st. Maxine will invite eight ethnic groups to participate in the performance portion of the program. Each group that is invited will receive a personal invitation either by phone or mail. Please do not assume that, if you performed last year, you will automatically be asked to perform this year. We have many interested groups, therefore we must rotate appearances. Should you have any questions or concerns, please call our office 4126246150. CABARET BALL The 2010 Cabaret Ball scheduled for April 17, 2010 was cancelled due to lack of volunteers. It is apparent that an annual Cabaret Ball is not practical due to other commitments for many. Therefore, we will schedule a Cabaret Ball for every other year, and, hopefully, this will spark greater interest.
Notices to form a Planning Committee for the Cabaret Ball will be sent to all Chairmen in January (please share this information with your committee) once the date has been confirmed. EVENT PLANNING All committee officers will be forwarded the updated “Procedures for Organizing Events”. With an increase in events being planned by many committees, it is necessary to “update” the existing Event Procedures. Our office will forward the “updated” procedures to you – please share with pertinent members of your committee. Please review the procedures before planning your next event. The Nationality Rooms Program will be happy to assist you with all your University needs. Should you want additional copies or if you have any questions, please contact either Cristina or Susan. BYLAWS The Nationality Rooms Program Office is reviewing all committee bylaws and will advise if changes, corrections or additions should be made and need to be ratified. If there are no changes we will forward a copy to the committee chairman for signature and date. Please return it to the NRP Office to be included in your committee file, as soon as possible. MEMBERSHIP LISTS We are still in need of current committee membership lists. Please forward as soon as possible. COUNCIL DUES It is time again for annual Council Dues for Fiscal Year 2010/11. You will receive, by mail, three copies of the $100 transfer request to Nationality Council. Please sign all three copies, returning two to Susan and retaining one for your committee financial files. FINANCIAL and DONOR REQUESTS Your balances with donors listed are always available to your committee chairman and treasurer. Should you require financial information or donor information, you must contact the treasurer of your committee. Our office will not release any information to anyone other than the chairman or treasurer, so please do not make those requests. You must contact your treasurer or chairman with those requests. NATIONALITY ROOMS PROGRAM POLICIES AND PROCEDURES All Committee chairmen and officers should have received the “NRP Policies and Procedures” packet. If you have not received or need additional copies, please contact our office, we would be delighted to forward it to you. Wishing you a great summer see you in the fall!
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QUO VADIS Michael Walter, Tour Coordinator Here are a few highlights of the past quarter. March 19: 23 Russian Library Scientists were hosted at the University by Mary Kay Bi-agini. Ms. Biagini brought the guests for a tour, and the visitors enjoyed the Russian Room, leav-ing behind two small gifts – a painted wooden bowl and an ocarina. March 25: Tickets for Kids invited the Na-tionality Rooms to participate in an outreach presentation at the Pittsburgh Opera’s new headquarters. Besides the Nationality Rooms presentation to potential Tickets for Kids clients, the University was also represented by Kuntu Theater and (indirectly) by Pittsburgh Children’s Theater, with whom we’ve partnered for three years. Since then, more than five Tickets for Kids tours have been scheduled. Spring brought annual visitors, such as multiple Tickets for Kids tours, Weinberg Terrace Retire-ment Community, and the Disabled Israeli Veter-ans. Quo Vadis guide Marissa Goldrich should be commended on her tour for the Israeli Veter-ans – a congratulatory email from the tour or-ganizer was send to me for Marissa’s job well done. Large school tours punctuated business in April and May, with 354 guests visiting from McMurray Elementary School, 150 from Adamson Elementary in West Virginia, and 150 guests from Mt. Pleasant Area High School.
May 6: The World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh held their annual Student Ambassador Conference in the Cathedral of Learning and took a tour afterwards. 349 students from 22 schools showed up to listen to representatives of European cultures, in two breakout sessions. Af-ter lunch, eleven Quo Vadis guides gave the kids a one-hour tour. Director Bruhns greeted them in the English Room for a special-focus tour. The entire day went smoothly with little noise or con-fusion. Previous years’ events were held in Law-rence Hall, but the Council was blocked this year due to a Russian Film Conference. Comments from every section – W.A.C. staff, teachers, stu-dents, Quo Vadis guides – were all positive.
May 12-17: Once again the Nationality Rooms partnered with the Pittsburgh Children’s Festival to offer spe-cially-themed tours of the rooms at a reduced adult rate. The themes were creature symbolism, fairy and folk tales, and im-ages of royalty. Unlike previous years, this year’s event was well advertised and 407 people experienced the tour
TOUR STATISTICS
Adult Youth
January 2010 538 159
February 2010 288 107
March 2010 758 1,024
April 2010 593 980
May 2010 1,022 807
TOTAL
GRAND TOTAL
3,199
6.276
3.077
Eight schools reserved guided tours, and walk-in guests took advantage of the single specialty tour offered daily at 10:30 a.m. Recent graduate Quo Vadis guide Melissa DeCecco was available every day for walk-ins and groups, dressed in the Elizabethan gown she created for the Holiday Open House.
May 18: The University’s Department of Institutional Advancement toured the rooms in an effort to remind their staff of how special the Nationality Rooms are, and how that may aid them in the fundraising efforts. The tour was espe-cially long and well received.
June 4: The Pennsylvania Federation of Republican Women toured twice this day, while meetings and luncheons were held at the Pittsburgh Athletic Association.
2010 GILLESPIE AWARD TRIP The annual Gillespie Award trip to New York City, acknowledging two outstanding Quo Vadis guides, took place from June 1-3, 2010. Ashley Bowen, Quo Vadis president, majoring in Studio Arts and Archeology, and Kimberly Fetsick, a History and Religious Studies major, were the awardees.
The flight from Pittsburgh to New York was cancelled the evening before, leaving Ms. Fetsick and me to take a later flight, via At-lanta. Without belaboring the point, what had been a planned one hour, direct flight became a thirteen hour ordeal. Wednesday was lost.
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On Thursday, we boarded the first ferry to Ellis Island. We toured a wing of the processing building
that detailed the steps by which immigrants were examined and then either released or stood before an inquiry board to determine their fate. Only 1% of those processed were sent back, including anarchists, criminals and company-hired laborers. After this tour, we visited the United Nations, which is undergoing a massive expansion and overhaul. The General Assembly Room was filled with high schoolers who had participated in a model UN program and who were graduating from the program that day. We saw an incredibly large Belgian tapestry, a gift to the UN, that, if unwoven, had enough threads to wrap around Earth six times.
The next stop was The Met, wherein we spent much time at the Egyptian collection, saw several khatchkars near the Byzantine collection, and generally ran from gallery to gallery amazed at the quality and quantity of world mas-terpieces. Later events that evening included tourism in Times Square and dinner at St. Andrew’s, a Scottish restau-rant. There Kimberly had halibut and artichokes, Ashley had gazpacho and salmon, and I relished my trout stuffed with oatmeal and crab meat, served with a maple syrup and Scotch whiskey sauce. If anyone seeks out St. An-drew’s, we all would happily recommend the sticky toffee pudding!
Tourism the next day included St. Patrick’s Cathedral and the Museum of Modern Art. Lunch was at Andy Warhol’s favorite “sweet shop”, Serendipity 3, famous for the frozen hot chocolate and the $1000 Golden Opulence Sun-dae, dusted with gold dust.
Thankfully, the trip home was uneventful.
INFORMATION CENTER AND MAINTENANCE Matthew Hefferin, Coordinator
Maintenance issues have been at the fore-front of business lately, with the Annual Maintenance Inspection Tour having taken place on Tuesday, March 9. Plans to par-tially replace the English Room floor where there had been water damage were dis-cussed. Ongoing examination of floors and furniture, walls and fabrics also consumed much of the trades’ attention.
Some factors that contribute to damage are the overbooking of classes and over-long class meetings in the Na-tionality Rooms. These situations have been reported to the Registrar’s Office and we hope to further protect the rooms. Unfortunately, the Welsh Room communion table and some of the bench seats had to be repaired. The overbooked class was moved.
Comments from guests have been positive, with some people remarking upon seeing a repeated spot about Director Bruhns on WQED’s “OnQ” program.
Nationality Rooms’ maintenance is not as extensive in the summer as during the school year. Broken chairs, graffiti, and gum are not as fre-quent in the summer. However we still keep close attention on what needs to be repaired. A major repair is the Armenian door. The car-penter had to take the door off and realigned it. The door should be back in about a week.
I noticed many international students visiting the Nationality Rooms. When they rent a tape tour, they need to leave ID and often times they leave the International Student Card. There has been a lot of positive feedback from customers regarding our gifts and reasonable prices
GIFT CENTER Anita Gallagher, Gift Center Coordinator As of May 24th the Gift Center has exceeded the end of year gift sales total for 2009. We will eas-ily experience a sizable increase over last year’s gift sales. This is important as Nationality Room Book sales and Postcard sales have decreased for the last three years. Gift Sales 7/1/09 through 6/2/2010 $47,224 YTD Gift Sales 7/1/08 through 6/30/09 $46,326 In an effort to keep repeat customers, merchandise on display is rotated, changed and new items added. Visitors assume that they can use credit cards and we have lost sales due to our inability to accept credit cards for payment. A major project for this year has been the research into this proc-ess. Our goal is to begin accepting credit cards with the start of the new fiscal year, July 1, 2010. Some of the newer items for sale in the Gift Center are hand woven scarves and shawls from India in a variety of fabrics. Hand knotted jewelry in a wide variety of semi-precious stones from Southeast Asia are also popular. Summer related merchandise from Kenya includes different sized painted pots and children’s items.
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2010 SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMS Eileen Kiley, Scholarship Advisor
R U T H C R A W F O R D M I T C H E L L C Z E C H /S L O V A K S C H O L A R -S H I P
This year there was funding to give both a scholarship and a grant. Jana Lacekova received the $7,000 scholarship to conduct re-search in the area of elementary mathematics education. Dr. Jozef Ristvej is the winner of a $6,000 grant for the study of emergency preparedness. Both scholars will arrive in the fall semester to begin their work.
JOHN G. BOWMAN FACULTY GRANTS
Approximately every three years since 1965, as funds permit, the Nationality Rooms Program is able to offer grants to University of Pittsburgh full-time faculty to assist them in conducting research abroad for classes currently taught or in the planning stages. This year the following were named recipients of a $2,000 Bowman Grant:
Yolanda Covington-Ward African Studies Democratic Republic of Congo
Adriana Helbig Music Czech Republic
Dennis Looney French and Italian Italy
Laura Putnam History Venezuela
Todd Reeser French and Italian France
SUMMER STUDY ABROAD SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM In February and early March, the Nationality Rooms and Intercultural Exchange Programs awarded 39 scholarships for summer study abroad. The 21 graduate students and 18 undergraduate students will dot the globe in: Argentina, Austria, Chile, Colombia, England, France (2), Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland (2), Israel (2), Italy (2), Jordan (2), Korea, Lebanon, Mali, Nicaragua (3), People’s Republic of China (5), Palestine, the Philippines, Scotland, Slovakia, South Africa (2), Spain, Thailand, Uganda and Ukraine. The winners participated in an Orientation on the morning of Saturday, April 10. Lively discussion took place on a myriad of travel topics. After lunch, the group reassembled in Room 332 Cathedral of Learning, where, before a capacity crowd, each student received a certificate from a committee or donor representative. Many of the students have already arrived at their study destinations. One student had to change her physical therapy internship site from Italy to Beaumont Hospital in Ireland. Another student had to change plans and hopes to pursue his studies next summer. The listing below gives each student’s name and destination. The University has announced that, because of the state of the economy and the impact it has had on the stock market, the endowment income will be decreased by 5% in fiscal year 20102011. Because the University projects endowment income that averages a few years, it is anticipated that another reduction of approximately 5% in fiscal year 20112012 will be imposed. I was asked to prepare an impact statement on what the reduction would have on the program. The response explained that decreasing the interest income would prevent us from offering as many scholarships, depending on the committee. For example, rooms with endowments started in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s won’t be as affected as endowments started later. If there are any changes in this proposed reduction, I will let the Council members know.
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GRADUATE AWARDS Stanley Prostrednik Award To participate in an internship with the U.S. Steelworkers Union in Pittsburgh and in Colombia, researching is-sues vital to the membership in several cities in Colombia MATTHEW F. PATERRA Stanley Prostrednik Grant To research inclusion of school teachers in mass drug administration for soil-transmitted helminthi-asis in Manila, Philippines DIVYA SINHA Stanley Prostrednik Grant To participate in an internship and research the availability and effectiveness of therapy services for survivors of trafficking in Bangkok, Thailand EMILY E. THURSTON Fred C. Bruhns Memorial Award To participate in an internship with the U.N. Relief and Works Agency and conduct research in Pales-tinian refugee camps in Beirut, Lebanon LAUREN ELIZABETH PUCCI Judge Genevieve Blatt Memorial Award To work with the Thai health system to research infectious diseases and examine the Global Fund funding process in Bangkok, Thailand KATHRYN M. COLLINS Ruth Crawford Mitchell Memorial Award To work with Mityana Hospital to produce geographic-based mapping of malaria mosquitoes to en-able better strategies of prevention and treatment in Mityana, Uganda JASON MINGYI HUANG Dr. Ryonosuke and Teruko Shiono Award To compare the effectiveness of three surgeries currently used to repair disc herniation injuries among migrant workers at Tongji Medical University in Wuhan, People’s Republic of China YILIN ZHANG James W. Knox Memorial Award To participate in an internship with APAF and investigate women’s health care and human rights in Bamako, Mali JULIE B. SAVANE George T. and MaryAnn McGunagle Memorial Award To research technologies, managerial and sustainability strategies in the areas of electricity and clear water in Bluefields, Waslala and El Porvenir, Nicaragua and Quetzaltenango, Guatemala ROBERT T. GRADOVILLE Austrian Room Committee Scholarship (in honor of Heidi and the late Joseph Novak) To research the industrialization of Austria at the end of the 19th century and its impact on the development of coffee houses in Vienna, Austria HEIDI A. COOK Hungarian Room Committee Scholarship (in honor of Dr. Samuel Gomory & Joseph Arvay) To research the Foreign Relations Society, a cultural diplomacy organization in the 1920’s, in Pecs and Budapest, Hungary ANDREW E. BEHRENDT
African Heritage Room Committee Scholarship (in honor of Walter C. Worthington) To study constitutional and business law at the University of the Western Cape and do volunteer work with chil-dren in Cape Town, South Africa MARIE E. BROWN
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James Affleck/Scottish Room Committee Scholarship To research the political and economic impact of the Scotch Whiskey trade in Edinburgh and Glasgow, Scotland
DANIEL C. BISBEE Frances and Sully Nesta Award To research the Veneto/Italian regional language to that used in Chipilo, Mexico, which was settled by Segusino immigrants, in Segusino, Italy ANGELICA F. BENAVIDES Ivan SantaCruz Memorial Award To research the publication of Latin American scientific journals, especially in a University-based model, in Santiago, Chile JORGE ENRIQUE DELGADO Scandinavian Society of Western Pennsylvania Scholarship To study Icelandic literature and culture as well as prepare a manuscript of poetry in Reykjavik, Ice-land SAMUEL E. PITTMAN Israel Heritage Classroom Committee Scholarship To research Orthodox Jewish American women who have permanently resettled in Israel, especially women from the Pittsburgh area, in Jerusalem, Israel REBECCA F. SLAVIN Israel Heritage Classroom Committee Grant To participate in an internship with the Palestine-Israel Journal, a not-for-profit organization in Jeru-salem, Israel LAURA K. SMITH Chinese Room Committee Scholarship To participate in a clinical trial of a diabetes drug and record differences between Caucasian and Asian populations at Tongji Medical University in Wuhan, People’s Republic of China AMY YUN HE John H. Tsui Memorial Award To research multiple myeloma in a laboratory at Tongji Medical University in Wuhan, People’s Republic of China NICHOLAS M. GREGG Dorothy Bradley Brown Physical Therapy Award To participate in a clinical rotation at Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, Ireland ELIZABETH A. ASHOFF
UNDERGRADUATE AWARDS Rachel McMasters Miller Hunt Award To participate in an excavation of a Roman city through Eco Museo Cap de Cavalleria in Gutadella, Menorca, Spain NINA M. SCHREINER German Room Committee Scholarship To study German language and history at the University of Augsburg in Augsburg, Germany
JOSEPHINE GUSTAVSEN Helen Pool Rush Award To participate in the Center for Latin American Studies’ field trip and research indigenous and local medical practices in Leon, Nicaragua ANNA BONDAR Helen Pool Rush Grant To study Political Islam and International Relations in the Contemporary World at the University of Westmin-ster in London, England BLAIR D. DOUGLASS
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Savina S. Skewis Award To study intensive Spanish language and examine the Ar-gentine diet in Buenos Aires, Argentina ELIZABETH LEIGH DELAVAN Savina S. Skewis Grant To study standard and colloquial Arabic and research the water and environmental policies of the Middle East in Amman, Jordan SARAH A. SANDRIAN David L. Lawrence Memorial Award To study Introduction to Philosophy, Global Leadership, and Management and Leadership Communication at Ko-rea University in Seoul, Korea JONG HAM
David L. Lawrence Memorial Grant To study the standard and Egyptian Arabic language at the Birzeit University in Ramallah, Palestine JONAS X. CABALLERO John F. Kennedy Memorial/Irish Room Committee Scholarship To study the history and literature of Ireland through the IES Abroad Program in Dublin, Ireland BREANNE M. ROCHE Czechoslovak Room Committee Scholarship To study intensive Slovak through the Pitt-in-Slovakia Program in Bratislava, Slovakia AARON M. PELOT Italian Room Committee Scholarship (in memory of Jennie Ranii) To study Italian language and culture through the Pitt-in-Italy Program in Syracuse, Sicily CALEN A. CYGAN
Women’s International Club Award (in memory of Jennie Ranii and Stephanie Matula) To participate in the Center for Latin American Studies’ field trip and research how fluency in Spanish affects pa-tient care in Leon, Nicaragua STACY C. JONES Women’s International Club Grant (in memory of Jennie Ranii and Stephanie Matula) To participate in an internship with Relief International and study the Arabic language in Amman, Jordan NICOLE E. COREA Women’s International Club Grant (in memory of Jennie Ranii and Stephanie Matula) To participate in a health care internship and study French literature through Boston University in Paris, France RAAKA G. KUMBHAKAR
African Heritage Classroom Committee Scholarship (in memory of Nancy H. Lee) To participate in a directed study in speech reha-bilitation at Western Cape Rehabilitation Center in Cape Town, South Africa SIMERJIT K. MATHARU William and Bernice McKeever Memorial Award To participate in the Pitt-in-China Program, studying Chinese language and the political econ-omy at Wuhan University, Wuhan, People’s Republic of China JEFFREY L. CARASITI John H. Tsui Memorial Award To participate in the Pitt-in-China Program, studying Chinese language and economic devel-opment at Wuhan University, Wuhan, People’s Republic of China MICHAEL J. DEDAD
HONORS CONVOCATION This annual academic event convened on February 26, 2010. The Nationality Rooms Summer Study Abroad Scholarship Program recipients’ names are listed each year, along with hundreds of other outstanding stu-dents. UNIVERSITY SCHOLARS (for attaining the top two percent in cumulative undergraduate academic standing by school) ALEXA SABEDRA (2009 Rachel McMasters Miller Hunt Award) NINA E. WEAVER (2009 Savina S. Skewis Award) AMBER NELSON (2009 David L. Lawrence Memorial Award) JONAS X. CABALLERO (2010 David L. Law-rence Memorial Grant) PHI BETA KAPPA (for superior scholastic achievement in undergraduate programs in the arts and sciences) CORY RODGERS (2009 Helen Pool Rush Award) GOLDEN KEY NATIONAL HONOR SOCI-ETY (for top 15% of the junior and senior classes) MICHELLE LARZELERE (2009 Women’s International Club Award) NINA E. WEAVER (2009 Savina S. Skewis Award)
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ARTS AND SCIENCES UNDERGRADUATE STUDIES SCHOLARSHIP (for outstanding aca-demic achievement) SARAH M. HENRICH (2009 William and Ber-nice McKeever Award) ROBERT JOHN AND HELEN MARIE COSTER SCHOLARSHIP (for outstanding academic achievement) ANNA M. BARRY (2009 Helen Pool Rush Grant) TUNG LI AND HUI HIS YUAN PRIZE (for out-standing academic by a student of Chinese descent receiving summa cum laude honors) AMY YUN HE (2010 John H. Tsui Memorial Award) WILMA BINDER ZEDER MEMORIAL SCHOL-ARSHIP LAUREN E. BRUNE (2009 German Room Committee Scholarship) ALEXA SWAILES (2009 Women’s International Club Grant) ACADEMY OF AMERICAN POETS PRIZE.EDWIN O. OCHESTER GRADUATE POETRY AWARD SAMUEL PITTMAN (2010 Scandi-navian Society of Western Pennsyl-vania Scholarship) CHINESE STUDIES TUITION RE-MISSION AWARD JOSEPH CICHOCZ (2005 Chinese Room Com-mittee Scholarship) SHERRI LULLO (2008 John H. Tsui Memorial Award) LESLIE WALLACE (2007 John H. Tsui Memo-rial Award) ELIZABETH U. BARANGER EXCELLENCE IN TEACHING AWARD (for outstanding teaching by a graduate student) CARLY WOODS (2008 Frank & Vilma Slater/Scottish Room Committee Scholarship) LILLIAN B. LAWLER PREDOCTORAL FELLOW-SHIP (for outstanding careers in teaching and re-search by dissertation-level students) BORYANA DOBREVA (2009 Austrian Room Committee Grant) FOREIGN LANGUAGE AND AREA STUDIES FELLOWSHIP (for outstanding graduate students in their study of other languages and regions) ANDREW BEHRENDT (2010 Hungarian Room Committee Scholarship)
KATHLEEN MORIARTY (2009 Austrian Room Com-mittee Scholarship)
NORMAN P. HUMMON MEMORIAL RESEARCH AWARD (for an outstanding research project in sociol-ogy) KAI HEIDEMANN (2005 Stanley Prostrednik Grant) MARSTINE FAMILY FOUNDATION GRANT (to support graduate student research and travel) BRIANNE COHEN (2008 Austrian Room Committee Scholarship) MITSUBISHI FOUNDATION GRADUATE FELLOW-SHIP (for the study of Japan by graduate students in the social sciences or humanities) BENJAMIN PACHTER (2008 Japanese Room Com-mittee Scholarship) ANDREW MELLON PREDOCTOR FELLOWSHIPS (for superior performance in the academic disciplines of arts and sciences at the graduate level)
AARON ABBARNO (2008 Stanley Prostrednik Award) CARLY WOODS (2008 Frank & Vilma Slater/Scottish Room Commit-tee Scholarship) K. LEROY IRVIS DIVERSITY DOC-TORAL FELLOWSHIP JORGE DELGADO (2010 Ivan Santa-Cruz Memorial Award)
NOSAKHERE GRIFFINEL (2009 African Heritage Room Committee Graduate Scholarship) AMERICORPS AWARD (for recognition of prior service) JULIE SAVANE (2010 James W. Knox Award) MATTHEW B. RIDGWAY CENTER AWARD (for schol-arship and service in advancing the center’s goal of international security) RAMZI ASMAR (2009 Fred C. Bruhns Memorial Grant)
BRACKENRIDGE UNDERGRADUATE SUMMER RE-SEARCH FELLOWSHIP (for two or three months of summer support to engage in unfettered undergraduate research leading to a completed work of independent scholarship) JOSH CANNON (2008 William & Bernice McKeever Memorial)
ASIAN PACIFIC SCHOLARSHIP (to create global citizens and leaders by assisting students in achieving their personal and professional goals of obtaining cul-tural and academic experiences within the Asia Pacific Region) CORY RODGERS (2009 Helen Pool Rush Award)
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THE LEONARD TOW HUMANISM IN MEDI-CINE STUDENT AWARD PRESENTED BY THE ARNOLD P. GOLD FOUNDATION (to the student who best embodies empathetic, sensitive and respectful behavior in medical care; served as a role model, and exhibited a high degree of sensitivity in working with patients) ANDRES TURNER (2006 Ivan Santa-Cruz Memorial Award) CENTER FOR GLOBAL HEALTH, HEALTH SCI-ENCES, STUDENT GLOBAL TRAVEL GRANT ANNE NAGY (2004 African Heritage Room Commit-tee Scholarship) DEAN’S SERVICE AWARD APRIL CARMAN (2008 Indian Room Committee Scholarship) STUDENT LEADERSHIP CERTIFICATE APRIL CARMAN (2008 Indian Room Committee Scholarship) DARMENDRA RAMCHARRAN (2007 James W. Knox Merit Award) HEALTH RESOURCES AND SERVICES AD-MINISTRATION SCHOLARSHIP, PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE TRAINEESHIP RAYNARD WASHINGTON (2006 African Heritage Room Committee Grant) PENNSYLVANIA OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY ASSOCIATION REBA M. SEBELIST SCHOLAR-SHIP (for an occupational therapy student with aca-demic merit) STEPHANIE YOUNG (2008 James W. Knox Memo-rial Award) SCHOLARSHIP UPDATE Asian Studies Certificates were awarded to: ANNE NAGY (2004 African Heritage Room Committee Scholarship) ELIADA NWOSU (2008 African Heritage Room Committee Scholarship) JEFFREY AUSTIN PRICE (2009 Stanley Prostrednik Award) KATHY JOHNSTONKEANE (2003 Frances and Sully Nesta Award) defended her dissertation on March 19. Her thesis is entitled “Caravaggio’s Drama: Art, Theater, and Literature during Italy’s Spanish Age”.
JOSHUA MacCARTY (2006 Arthur Schwotzer/German Room Committee Scholarship) earned a graduate Russian and East European Studies Certifi-cate in Spring 2010.
KATHLEEN (BRICKLEY) GALLANT (2006 Caryl Kline Scholarship for Mid-Career Women), recently sent a letter to the office: “I want to take this opportunity to thank you for the Nationality Rooms Scholarship Program. The Caryl Kline Scholarship for Mid-Career Women in 2006 and the summer I spent in London changed my life! As a woman with physical disability, travelling inter-nationally and living alone was a milestone for me. The experience of living in London helped me realize what I could accomplish, gave me more self confi-dence, and the realization that I wanted a career with an international focus. Because of this realization and experience, after I graduated from the College of General Studies, I continued into the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA) to study international development and public admini-stration. During my time at GSPIA as a graduate student, I was appointed to the Executive Committee of the In-ternational Federation of Psoriasis Associations (IFPA), based in Stockholm, Sweden. This volunteer position as a global psoriasis advocate includes a sig-nificant amount of international travel and I have made over a dozen trips to Europe and South Amer-ica during the last two years. Had I not had the initial experience of travelling and living in London alone, I sincerely doubt I would have had the courage and strength to take this position and travel by myself. Now it is a normal part of my life! Now that I have graduated from GSPIA, I will con-tinue to serve on the IFPA board and will search for a career with international connections, hopefully in the NGO realm. Looking back, I just wanted to rec-ognize you both and the scholarship committee for the part you played in my life and who I am today. Thank you!”
BORYANA DOBREVA (2009 Austrian Room Com-mittee Grant) was one of two University of Pittsburgh Arts and Sciences graduate stu-dents to receive an American Council of Learned Societies-Mellon Dissertation Comple-
tion Fellowship. Dobreva’s areas of specialization include German and Austrian migrant literature (20th and 21st centuries), the history and politics of intellec-tual migration to German-speaking Europe after 1800, and comparative theory and literature. She is writing her dissertation under the supervision of Pro-fessor Sabine von Dirke. According to the Council, only 5 percent of the 1,148 applications received na-tion-wide were funded, which made the competition extremely rigorous this year.
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ZACHARY MORRIS (2007 David L. Lawrence Memorial Award) earned a Bachelor of Philosophy degree through the University of Pittsburgh’s Honors College and has been selected as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar by the Pittsburgh Rotary Club. Rotary International has assigned Morris to study comparative social policy at the University of Oxford in England. Zachary will enroll at Oxford’s Green Templeton College in the Department of Social Policy and Social Work to complete the Master of Science degree. A summa cum laude Pitt graduate, he majored in urban stud-ies and politics and philosophy in the School of Arts and Sciences. He is currently a Coro Fellow in Public Affairs at the Heinz Family Philanthropies. In the fall of 2007, he worked as an intern for the chief executive in the Office of the Chief Executive of Allegheny County and in summer 2008, was an immigrant and refugee policy intern in Alle-gheny County’s Department of Human Services. JONAS X. CABALLERO (2010 David L. Lawrence Memo-rial Grant) was one of three Pitt Honors College juniors to receive a 2010 Humanity in Action Fellowship. The fellow-ships “are designed to promote and facilitate an ongoing, international dialogue about the challenges that democratic societies encounter as they experience new degrees and forms of diversity.” Caballero is working toward a BA in media and professional communication as well as a Bache-lor of Philosophy degree in international and area studies through Pitt’s Honors College. MARK A. O’NEILL (1996 Irish Room Committee Scholar-ship) was named one of Forty Under 40 award recipients by the Central Press Business Journal in October for his professional leadership in the Harrisburg region. He was serving as executive director of Lancaster Gastroenterology, a colon cancer treatment center, but was recently called to duty with the Navy Reserve. A lieutenant and medical ser-vice corps officer, he has been deployed to the Army’s Landstrul Regional Medical Center in Germany to serve as chief of patient affairs. ELIADA NWOSU (2008 African Heritage Room Commit-tee Scholarship) appeared before a committee to defend her doctoral dissertation entitled: “Network Diversity Value and Local South African Entrepreneurial Development in a Globalizing Economy: A Grounded Theory Analysis. The meeting took place on February 24.
TOBY TAYLOR (2009 George and Mary Ann McGunagle Memorial Award) was featured in the Spring 2010 Pitt Magazine, along with scholarship donor G. PATRICK McGUNAGLE (1969 David L. Lawrence Memorial Award). McGunagle named his scholarship to honor his parents for their support of his education and global curios-ity. Al Novak, Vice Chancellor for Institutional Advance-ment, prepared an article explaining how the Nationality Rooms Summer Study Abroad Scholarship Program sup-ports the University’s goal of “providing a nurturing learning environment that inspires discovery in all of the Univer-sity’s many disciplines.”
JOSH CANNON (2008 William & Bernice McKeever Memorial Award) was one of 13 graduating seniors to receive a National Sci-ence Foundation Graduate Research Fellow-ship. An anthropology and linguistics major, he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in April 2010 and will attend the University of Chicago to study in the Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations program, focusing on the archae-ology of Bronze Age Turkey. As the oldest graduate fellowship program of its kind, it has a long history of selecting recipients who achieve high levels of success in their future academic and professional careers. The pres-tige of the award helps support recipients to become life-long leaders who contribute sig-nificantly to both scientific innovation and teaching. Fellows receive a three-year annual stipend along with a cost-of-education allow-ance for tuition and fees, a one-time$1,000 international travel allowance, and the free-dom to conduct research at any accredited U.S. or foreign institution of graduate education.
JULIE DRASKOCZY (2008 Stanley Prostred-nik Grant) from the School of Arts and Sci-ences’ Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures defended her thesis on May 12. Her work is entitled “A body of Work: Building Self and Society at Stalin’s White-Baltic Sea Canal.” She has been awarded the Stanford University Andrew W. Mellon Post-Doctoral Humanities Fellowship (2010-2012). In a competition of over 600 applicants, Julie was chosen as top for the Slavic Department, then competed with all other Stanford departments for this honor. Draskoczy is the second student in the University’s Slavic Department who has won such an honor.
JENNIFER KEATINGMILLER (2004 Irish Room Committee Scholarship) contacted the Nationality Rooms recently to tell us about a book that emerged from her time in Ireland. The research she conducted then allowed her to do preliminary archival research, conduct interviews with politicians and build contacts for a subsequent research trip to Ireland in 2006. During this stay, she interviewed many, but not all, of the writers whose work is ana-lyzed in her book, entitled “Language, Identity and Liberation in Contemporary Irish Litera-ture.” In the e-mail, Jennifer states, “I am completely indebted to the Nationality Rooms Scholarship program for the foundation of what came to be a labor of love in this project. In addition to my current responsibilities at
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Carnegie Mellon Univer-
sity, I will teach a course
in the fall on Irish and
British Modernist writers.
My time at Pitt was fruit-
ful and substantially en-
hanced by the support of
your program. Best
wishes.”
NEIL B. TANNER (1995 Greek Room Com-
mittee Scholarship), who graduated from the
University’s Law School in 1997, is an attorney based in Philadelphia and was named deputy
chief counsel of Cigna International and chief
counsel of Cigna International Expatriate
Benefits, which provide health care benefits to
expatriates around the world. He serves on the
board of directors of the Association Interna-
tionale des Jeunes Avocats and as an adjunct
professor at the Temple University School of
Law.
CALENDAR OF EVENTS All dates and times are subject to change. For current information, call 412.624.6150. (t/b/a = to be announced) MAY 2010 13‑17 Pittsburgh Children’s International Festival 14‑16 Pittsburgh Folk Festival 16 Scandinavian Society’s Sytende Mai (17th of May) Celebration Townsend Park, Murrysville 23 Women’s International Club President’s Luncheon University Club, Oakland 31 Memorial Day holiday – University offices closed 31 Nationality Room Tours
11:00 a.m. – last tour leaves at 2:30 p.m.
JUNE 10 Nationality Council meeting 1201 Cathedral of Learning – 6:00 p.m. 20 Lithuanian Room Committee Meeting
129 Cathedral of Learning 2:00 – 6:00 p.m. 20 Scandinavian Society of W. Pennsylvania Midsummer Celebration & Annual Meeting Townsend Park, Murrysville 4:00 p.m. JULY5 Independence Day Holiday University Offices closed 5 Nationality Rooms tours
11:00 a.m. – last tour leaves at 2:30 p.m. 10 Annual Filipino American Association of Pgh. Picnic—Cultural Awareness Day Vietnam Veterans Pavilion, Schenley Park 11:00 a.m.—6:00 p.m. 15 Annual Slovak Day at Kennywood Park 18 Lithuanian Room Committee Meeting
129 Cathedral of Learning 2:00 – 6:00 p.m. 18 Scandinavian Society of W. Pennsylvania 1228 Cathedral of Learning – 2:00 – 6:00 p.m. AUGUST 8 Scandinavian Society of W. Pennsylvania
Attending Pirates vs. Colorado Rockies game 15 Indian Festival Commons Room ‑ Noon‑4:00 p.m. 15 Lithuanian Room Committee Meeting
129 Cathedral of Learning 2:00 – 6:00 p.m. 15 Scandinavian Society of W. Pennsylvania 1228 Cathedral of Learning – 2:00 – 6:00 p.m. 30 Fall Term begins SEPTEMBER 6 Labor Day Holiday
University Offices closed 6 Nationality Rooms tours
11:00 a.m. – last tour leaves at 2:30 p.m. 7 African Heritage Room Committee meeting 330 Cathedral of Learning 6:00 p.m. 12 Scandinavian Society of Western PA Crayfish Party/Fall Picnic Aspinwall Volunteer Firemen’s Park 19 Lithuanian Room Committee Meeting
129 Cathedral of Learning 2:00 – 6:00 p.m.
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OCTOBER T.B.A. Nationality Council Meeting & Scholarship Debriefing
1201 Cathedral of Learning ‑ 6:00 p.m. 5 African Heritage Room Committee meeting 330 Cathedral of Learning 6:00 p.m. 9 Scandinavian Society of Western PA Nordic Night – Church of the Redeemer, Squirrel Hill 11 Student Fall Recess (no classes) 17 Annual Gymanfa Ganu (Welsh Song Fest)
Fox Chapel Presbyterian Church – time TBA 17 Lithuanian Room Committee Meeting
129 Cathedral of Learning 2:00 – 6:00 p.m. 17 Scandinavian Society of W. Pennsylvania 1228 Cathedral of Learning – 2:00 – 6:00 p.m. T.B.A. Chinese Room Committee Scholarship Dinner Sheraton Station Square time t/b/a T.B.A. Czechoslovak Room Committee Meeting 1228 Cathedral of Learning 2:00 p.m. 22‑25 University of Pittsburgh Homecoming Weekend NOVEMBER 9 African Heritage Room Committee meeting 330 Cathedral of Learning 6:00 p.m. 14 PolishFest
Commons Room – Noon – 5:00 p.m. 13 Annual Decorating Day and Luncheon
1228 Cathedral of Learning ‑ Noon 21 Scandinavian Society of Western PA 1228 Cathedral of Learning 21 Lithuanian Room Committee 129 Cathedral of Learning 25 Thanksgiving Day – University offices closed
No tours Nationality Rooms Tours
11:00 a.m. – last tour leaves at 2:30 p.m. 27 Nationality Rooms Tours
9:00 a.m. – last tour leaves at 2:30 p.m. DECEMBER 5 Holiday Open House
Noon – 4:00 p.m. – Commons Room 7 African Heritage Room Committee meeting 330 Cathedral of Learning 6:00 p.m. 11 Czechoslovak Room Committee Holiday Party – 1228 Cathedral of Learning TBA Scandinavian Society’s Holiday Party 10 Last Day of Classes 17 Fall Term ends 24‑26 Winter Break – Offices Closed; No Tours 27‑31 Nationality Rooms Tours
11:00 a.m. – last tour leaves at 2:30 p.m.
JANUARY 2011 1 New Year’s Day – Offices Closed; No Tours 2 Nationality Rooms Tours
9:00 a.m. – last tour leaves at 2:30 p.m.
3 University offices reopen 5 Spring Term classes begin 15 UNDECORATING DAY
10am – 3pm 16 UNDECORATING DAY
12 Noon – 3pm 17 UNDECORATING DAY
12 Noon – 3pm 18 Martin Luther King
Jr. Holiday – University offices closed 17 Nationality Rooms tours 11:00 a.m. – last tour leaves at 2:30 p.m.
EYES & EARS UPON US December 4, 2009 The PITT News Photograph of a Szopki or Polish crèche made by the Cracow Crèche Workshop December 7, 2009 The PITT News “Pitt imports world holidays: Students guide visitors through the holiday-themed Nationality Rooms” Highlighted the Quo Vadis’ role in the presentation of the Nationality Classrooms during the Holiday Open House January 2010 University of Pittsburgh recruitment bro-chures “Attention, Earthlings! The future is global. Whether you study here or abroad, you’ll be in touch with the world at large.” Opportunities for students to take advantage of the Nationality Rooms scholarships for Summer Study Abroad offered annually. February 1, 2010 Pitt ChronicleNewsmakers- “National Philanthropy Day” Photograph of Maxine Bruhns receiving the 2009 Special Lifetime Achievement Award from the Asso-ciation of Fundraising Professionals (AFP), Western Pennsylvania Chapter.
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February 2010 American University of Beirut newsletter “Our Legacy” Photograph of Fred and Maxine Bruhns with Maxine commemorating Fred C. Bruhn’s memory by providing scholarships to academically qualified Palestinian students studying at the American Univer-sity of Beirut March 22, 2010 Pitt Chronicle Newsmakers Photograph of African Heri-tage Nationality Room commit-tee members Donna Alexan-der, Chair Maureen Cross Bolden, Pitt professor Jerome Branch and KDKA news re-porter Harold Hayes after the viewing of The Forgotten Root in the Frick Fine Arts Building. March 29, 2010 Pitt Chronicle “Lions and Dragons and Hogwarts, Oh Yes! Ryan Houghtaling, 10, has Cathedral of Learning standing tall in Cleveland and beyond”
Article on 10 year old Ryan Houghtaling replicating the Cathedral of Learning in Styrofoam for his 5th grade independent study project. Ryan also wrote a short story about the Cathedral from the view-point of Erie, a peregrine falcon living on the Cathedral’s structure. April 5, 2010 Pitt Chronicle “Three Pitt Honors College Juniors Re-ceive 2010 Humanity in Action Fellow-
ship” Jonas Xavier Caballero, 2010 recipient of the David L. Lawrence Memorial Grant, was selected to re-ceive the 2010 Humanity in Action (HIA) summer fellow-ship. The HIA Fellowships are designed to promote May 17, 2010 Pitt Chronicle
“78 Pitt Students Inducted Into Phi Beta Kappa” 2009 Helen Pool Rush Award Scholarship recipient Cory Rodgers was inducted into the University of Pittsburgh chapter of Phi Beta Kappa into its class of 2010
May 2010 William Penn Life “A Roomful of Traditions” by John E. Lovasz and photos by Nathan Miller Article on the history of the Hungar-ian Nationality Room’s construction, its first chairperson and the beautiful details of the room from its door, walls, ornamental ceiling, furnishing and much more June 2010 Finlandia Foundation Na-tional ARCHITECTURE Mika Grondahl received a grant to complete the furniture design and layout for the Finnish Nationality Room. Mr. Grondahl won the design competition for the Finnish smoke room, savupirtti which is the Finnish Classroom’s concept.
NATIONALITY ROOMS PROGRAM 1209 Cathedral of Learning University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, PA 15260
7/6/2010 Pittsburgh Tribune Review “Newsmaker: Lauren E. Pucci” Profile of Lauren E. Pucci, recipient of the 2010 Fred C. Bruhns Memo-rial Award
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