Events

Panel Discussion: Shaping Global Citizens: Experiential Learning for Career and Community Impact
- Molly McSweeney
- 2:30 pm to 4:00 pm
- Global Hub
Join us for a panel discussion to hear how experiential learning can help prepare you for a rapidly evolving workforce and equip you with critical skillsets to be an engaged global citizen ready to make a positive impact in the local community. Hear from professionals with a wealth of experience in career development, service learning, and global engagement, as well as from Pitt students themselves who have navigated these transformative experiences and are excited to share their stories with you, too. A networking opportunity will follow the panel discussion. Light refreshments will be served.
This event is part of the UCIS International Career Toolkit Series, and Pitt undergraduate students can earn Global Distinction credit for attending.
Panelists:
- Brandon Blache-Cohen, Executive Director of AllPeopleBeHappy (formerly Amizade)
- Katie Boyes, Undergraduate student, B.A. in Environmental Studies, Minor in Secondary Education, certificates in Global Studies & African Studies
- Rianne Elsadig, Masters student, MID in International Development, Social Policy concentration, certificates in Global Studies & African Studies
- Marie Newkirk, Assistant Director for Experiential Learning, Pitt Career Center
- Rachel Vandevort, Program Manager, Pitt Global Experiences Office
Moderator:
- Molly McSweeney, Assistant Director for Student and Community Engagement, Global Hub, University Center for International Studies
Co-Sponsors:
- University Center for International Studies
- Pitt Global Hub
- Pitt Global Experiences
- Pitt Career Center
- AllPeopleBeHappy
- David C. Frederick Honors College
- Office of PittServes
- Office of Engagement and Community Affairs

Student Club Activity: German Club at Pitt
- Claire Meachen
- 5:30 pm to 6:30 pm
- Global Hub

Information Session: Dietrich to Berlin Information Session
- 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm
- 810 William Pitt Union

Reading Group: Global Appalachia Reading Group: Session 1
- 1:30 pm to 3:00 pm
- 4217 Posvar Hall or via Zoom
The Global Appalachia Reading Group examines the complex intersections of regional identity, global influence, and environmental justice as they pertain to Appalachia and its connections to the wider world. The Fall 2026 theme is "Place."
Session 1 Book, September 17, 2025: Appalachia in Regional Context: Place Matters, edited by Dwight B. Billings and Ann E. Kingsolver
Session 2 Book, October 22, 2025: Affrilachia by Frank X. Walker
Session 3 Book, November 19, 2025: Making Our Future: Visionary Folklore and Everyday Culture in Appalachia by Emily Hilliard
Copies of the books will be available for those planning to attend the event. Please stop by the Global Studies Center (4100 Posvar Hall) to pick up your copy. If you need the books shipped, that can be arranged.
Note: We are able to fund and distribute books to registrants as funding allows. Registration will remain open after this amount is reached. Registrants will be notified if we are unable to provide them with the reading material.

Film: Liebe, D-Mark_und Tod (Love, Deutschmarks and Death)
- 6:00 pm
- 4130 Posvar Hall
As part of the "German Pop and Pittsburgh N'at: Cool Culture, Crass Cultivation and Cosmopolitan Connections"
Documentary, 96 min, Germany 2022
Directed by Cem Kaya
LOVE, DEUTSCHMARKS AND DEATH tells the story of the independent and largely unknown music of immigrants from Turkey and their children and grandchildren in Germany in a very lively way, full of rhythm. In the form of a documentary essay, director Cem Kaya takes his viewers into a dazzling universe of musical diversity. In a cinematic experience of the highest sound quality, he brings the energy and spirit of those years to life.
Language Table: Turkish Language Table Social Meeting
- Eda Kurtsoy
- 8:00 pm to 9:00 pm
- Global Hub

Cultural Event: Celebrate Africa Festival
- Center for African Studies
- (All day)
- Posvar Patio
The Celebrate Africa Festival brings students, faculty, and staff together with the vibrant African diaspora community in Pittsburgh. There is food, song & dance, artisans, children's activities, and more! It is a wonderful opportunity to engage with the diversity of Africa and the Pittsburgh community, as well as network with local African organizations and businesses.

Information Session: Open Advising Hours: AIFS and IES
- 10:00 am to 3:00 pm
- 810 William Pitt Union

Lecture: CLAS Speaker Series
- Dr. Vito Ruggiero
- 1:00 pm
- 4130 Posvar Hall and Zoom
Vito Ruggiero is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie postdoctoral fellow at Ca' Foscari University in Venice. He is currently working on a European Commission-funded project entitled: "Drug Trafficking and Politics: Structuring and Adaptation of Organized Crime in Bolivia's Last Authoritarian Decade (1971–1982). He is the author of the book The Anti-Communist Dream: Italian Neo-Fascists in Latin America (Roma Tre University Press, 2023).

Conference: Continental Connections: Africa and the African Diaspora Research Conference
- 2:58 pm to 9:59 am
- Various locations in Posvar
The University of Pittsburgh’s Continental Connection: Africa and the African Diaspora Research Conference and Celebration will be a dynamic gathering that brings together faculty and students from across the University—including the Department of Africana Studies, Center for African Studies, Center for Ethnic Studies, Center on Race and Social Problems, Center for Health Equity, Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, and the School of Social Work.
Experience the power of connection as faculty and students share their research through captivating presentations and hands-on interactive poster sessions on September 18.
This conference creates a vibrant space where scholarship transcends geographical boundaries, sparking meaningful collaborations and amplifying the vital voices and contributions of African and diaspora communities worldwide.
Planned events will continue on September 19-20 with the Celebrate Africa & African Diaspora Festival hosted by the Center for African Studies.

Cultural Event: Women In Byzantium
- Giovanna Liveri
- 7:00 pm
The Greek Nationality Room is launching the new program period with a lecture series that will feature and explore women archetypes in Greek Tragedy, from ancient to modern times:
pahellenicfoundation.org/Tragedy
The first two lectures/presentations, scheduled for September 20 and 27, both at 7 PM explore enduring female archetypes in ancient Greek tragedy (September 20) and Byzantine culture (September 27). These presentations will offer insights into how archetypal patterns of female behavior have evolved and continue to evolve and influence modern identity, thought, and action.
The explorations will:
- interpret archetypal female behavior through literary and historic women.
- highlight the timeless power of archetypes that continue to shape contemporary consciousness.
- create a clear link between past and present, fostering reflection on personal and societal levels.
On the day following each presentation (September 21 and 28, respectively), participants will have an opportunity to ask questions and engage in live discussion with the presenter.
ABOUT THE PRESENTER, GIOVANNA LIVERI:
Giovanna Liveri is a philologist and educator with extensive experience in teaching Ancient and Modern Greek language and literature, both as a native and a foreign language. Founder of the website “Language and Culture Dialogues” and the educational platform “e-Dialogos”. She organizes interactive cultural workshops and seminars for Greek and international audiences and designs speaking and cultural courses through literature and culture for Greeks in the diaspora. She specializes in innovative, experiential teaching methods, combining traditional philological knowledge with modern educational approaches. She has taught in private schools, educational centers, and IB programs, with a focus on Greek language and literature studies.
Although the presentations will be open to everyone, to participate in the live discussion and Q&A period, we kindly ask those interested to register. Details are inside the program website:
pahellenicfoundation.org/Tragedy
We look forward to these presentations as well as other events in motion for this fall season.

Festival: SCREENSHOT: Asia Film Festival - The Things You Kill
- 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm
- David Lawrence Hall 121
American-educated, comparative literature professor Ali feels that he has shed his familial baggage, and with it, his father’s patriarchal, draconian sensibilities. Ali’s long-simmering resentment, however, resurfaces as he becomes aware that his mother’s untimely death may not have been natural.
When a mysterious drifter Riza turns up at his rural cabin looking for work, Ali thinks that Riza may be able to solve several problems. As the revenge scheme spins out of control, Ali’s generational trauma threatens to overturn everything he’s worked for. Part David Lynch, part Turkish realism, The Things You Kill explores how the power of the patriarchy is built on an unreal scaffolding, one that crumbles as soon as any pressure is exerted.
Winner, Sundance 2025 World Cinema Award

Festival: SCREENSHOT: Asia Film Festival - Blue Sun Palace
- 1:30 pm to 3:30 pm
- Alumni Hall 343
In Blue Sun Palace’s Chinese-speaking Queens, Cheung is a migrant laborer and Didi works at a massage parlor with other Chinese immigrants. Among them is Amy (Ke-Xi Wu), a gifted cook who dreams of opening her own restaurant. When Didi is tragically killed, Cheung and Amy form an unexpected bond as they navigate their grief and search for connection. Blue Sun Palace offers a quiet, realistic portrayal of immigrant life in New York, where English is rarely spoken and interactions with non-immigrant Americans are largely commodified. While there are daily indignities foisted upon the immigrants, Blue Sun Palace is no misery showcase. Intimacy and warmth co-exist with economic anxieties and deep grief that are articulated with uncommon intelligence and understanding of how adults endure any given day. Director Constance Tsang gives us confident direction in her debut feature, bringing a fresh exploration to how American newcomers might find comfort and solace in one another in an otherwise alienating land.

Student Club Activity: German Club at Pitt
- Claire Meachen
- 5:30 pm to 6:30 pm
- Global Hub

Festival: SCREENSHOT: Asia Film Festival - Cactus Pears
- 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm
- David Lawrence Hall 121
The 2025 Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner, a love story set in a traditional Maharashtrian village, follows Anand, a city dweller who, during a 10-day mourning period for his father, rekindles a tender bond with his childhood friend. At the beginning of Cactus Pears, protagonist Anand has to leave his urban world to mourn his beloved father in his ancestral home, where he is inundated with memories and his relations question his marital status. Anand finds himself drawn to his childhood friend Balya, as their personal and emotional struggles bring them closer during Anand’s 10-day mourning period. Cactus Pears is a refreshingly intimate film that explores queer life in rural India in a new way. Far from imagining the region as inherently hostile to queerness, the film explores the deep complexities around family obligation, loss, and desire. By casting local actors and filming in his ancestral village, Cactus Pears becomes a semi-autobiographical portrait of love and hope found. even in the most unusual of places.
Winner, Sundance Grand Jury Prize 2025

Information Session: Open Advising Hours: SFS (School for Field Studies)
- 12:00 pm to 3:00 pm
- 810 William Pitt Union

Lecture Series / Brown Bag: The Bridge over the Strait of Messina: “Security,” Integration, and the High Stakes of Seismicity in Schengen-Era Sicily
- Lina Insana, Department of French and Italian
- 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm
- 4217 Posvar Hall
European Studies Center Brown Bag Lunch and Learn Series
In 2022, the Meloni government renewed plans to connect Sicily and the Italian mainland— plans that had lain dormant for more than a decade—and build the largest single-span suspension bridge in the world. What does this most recent chapter of the bridge’s story tell us about Sicily’s place in the Italian nation, in Europe, and in frameworks of integration
and security? And how do the politics of this moment resonate with earlier plans to bind this notoriously “seismic” island to more “stable” ground?
Bio:
Dr. Lina Insana
Associate Prof of Italian
Director of Italian Graduate Studies
Italian Program Coordinator
Lina Insana’s research and teaching focuses on modern and contemporary Italian cultural production. Most of her work on Italian writer and Holocaust survivor Primo Levi is concerned with textual mediation, translation, and adaptation; newer research—on Sicilian cultural belonging and manifestations of italianità in the American interwar period (1919-1939)—seeks to interrogate formations of transnational identity at the margins of conventionally accepted definitions of Italianness.
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