International Studies at Pitt: Passport to the World

By Ron Cichowicz

From the day a student enrolls at the University of Pittsburgh, he or she has an automatic passport to the world. The University’s commitment to international education is second to none, and international studies permeate all aspects of the Pitt experience.

“International studies is the hidden gem of the University,” said William Brustein, director of Pitt’s University Center for International Studies (UCIS). “We are a national leader in this area, whose importance is even more evident in the wake of 9/11. Today, Americans need to know more about the world and to become better global citizens.”

Dean Carolyn Ban of Pitt’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA) agreed.

“We believe strongly that the need has never been greater for people who have a substantive grounding in international policy management and can work comfortably in international environments,” she said. “But even if a person never plans to work outside Allegheny County, he or she needs to know about the role of direct foreign investment and foreign trade, about the special needs of new citizens who come to the region from around the world, and about the threats posed by transnational crime.”

Created in 1968, UCIS is a University-wide matrix organization that encompasses centers for area studies and centers on topical specializations in international studies. It does not compete with departments or schools.

UCIS centers and programs do not give degrees; rather they award certificates of attainment to candidates for academic degrees in the University’s departments and schools. UCIS does not appoint its own faculty, either, preferring to link faculty from departments and schools to their tasks in international scholarship.

UCIS’ five component centers are designated by the U.S. government as National Resource Centers. They include all four area studies centers—the Center for East Asian Studies in the Asian Studies Program, the Center for Latin American Studies CLAS), the Center for Russian and East European Studies (REES), and the Center for West European Studies (CWES)—and the International Business Center (IBC).

Within CWES is one of 15 European Union Centers, so designated and partially funded by the European Union in the United States. UCIS also sponsors a program in African studies and, with GSPIA, one in global studies.

“As 9/11 showed, the world outside of our borders is no longer distant,” said REES Director Robert Hayden. “In business, politics, and, increasingly, in social life, international affairs and conditions are vital to the interests of Americans. As a major university, Pitt must use its resources to connect American scholarship, education, and vision to the rest of the world.”

Another joint effort with GSPIA is the Ridgway Center for International Security Studies. Housed in the graduate school, the center provides students with hands-on experience doing research on the most pressing security issues.

Among UCIS programs are:

• The 26 Nationality Rooms, which, housed in the Cathedral of Learning, authentically depict the ethnic art and culture of their respective lands. The Nationality Rooms also make summer overseas study scholarships available to qualified Pitt students;

• The Study Abroad Program, which offers a range of options for students with different majors and varying levels of language ability. Locations for students are virtually limitless; some of the more popular options are Pitt in London, Pitt in Italy, and Pitt in China. Study Abroad also administers several scholarships for Pitt students; and

• IBC, which recently won its fifth consecutive multiyear grant from the U.S. Department of Education and was founded in 1990 as a joint venture of UCIS and the Katz Graduate School of Business. The IBC was one of five original national resource Centers for International Business Education and Research (CIBER) funded by the U.S. Department of Education to bring global thinking to faculty and students at selected institutions of higher education in the U.S.

In addition, UCIS also jointly sponsors the Center for Legal Education with the School of Law and the Institute for International Studies in Education with the School of Education. Its affiliated programs are the European Union Studies Association, the Latin American Studies Association, the Pittsburgh Council for International Visitors, and Semester at Sea, a comparative global studies program that involves approximately 600 students from universities across the U.S. and abroad.

Founded in 1957, GSPIA always has had a strong commitment to international education. Today, it offers two master’s degree programs and several Ph.D. concentrations with an international focus.

“We also strive to link domestic and international policy and encourage all students to take some international courses,” said Ban. “We see as our central mission educating students from around the world and giving American students international experience. Typically between one-quarter and one-third of our students come from abroad, and we encourage our American and international students to do internships around the world.”

Together with UCIS, GSPIA strives to expose Pitt students to the world not just through formal class work and research but by providing opportunities to participate in lectures and forums involving world leaders and experts. Students are even encouraged to socialize in an international context, through such events as the annual International Week celebration held each fall.

“We are increasingly living in a global context,” said CLAS Director Kathleen DeWalt. “We have the obligation to train all of our students in such a way as to enhance their ability to be successful in this context. Because international studies is so well integrated into the university experience at Pitt, even students not actively pursuing a certificate in one of our area studies or global studies programs complete their university education with a much more informed and sophisticated view of the world than in many other institutions.”