Briefly Noted

A Call to End Child Abuse in Three Generations Is Subject of March 22 Rubash Lecture

Victor Vieth, a national expert on child abuse prevention, will deliver a free public lecture titled “Unto a Third Generation: A Call to End Child Abuse in Three Generations” from noon to 2 p.m. March 22 in the Teplitz Memorial Courtroom, Barco Law Building.

The talk is part of the Rubash Distinguished Lecture Series in Law and Social Work.

Vieth is director of the National Child Protection Training Center (NCPTC), a state-of-the-art training complex at Winona State University (WSU) in Minnesota. The NCPTC houses five moot courtrooms, four forensic interview rooms, and a “mock house” in which to conduct simulated child abuse investigations. Vieth has trained thousands of child-protection professionals from across 50 states and around the world. He and his staff provide intensive instruction for professionals and students in the field on how to better recognize and respond to children who are being abused.

Vieth, who gained national recognition when he was a prosecutor for his work in addressing child abuse in rural Minnesota communities, has been named to the President’s Honor Roll of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children.

Vieth graduated magna cum laude from WSU and earned his JD degree from Hamline University School of Law in St. Paul, Minn. While studying there, he received the American Jurisprudence Award for achievement in the study of Constitutional law and served as editor-in-chief of the Law Review. He authored a paper titled “Unto the Third Generation,” which outlines the steps necessary to eliminate child abuse in America in three generations.

The Rubash Distinguished Lecture Series was established through gifts from Norman J. Rubash, a 1957 graduate of Pitt’s School of Law, and his wife, Alice Chapman Rubash, a 1956 graduate of Pitt’s School of Social Work. Each year a distinguished individual in these fields is invited to Pitt to present a public lecture.

The lecture is approved for two hours of continuing legal education credit. For more information, call 412-624-5176.

—Sharon S. Blake

Pitt’s World History Center to Present March 22 Lecture on Evolving Concept of Civilization

The University of Pittsburgh World History Center will present a seminar featuring Sucheta Mazumdar, associate professor in the Department of History at Duke University in Durham, from 2 to 3:30 p.m. March 22 in Room 3703 Posvar Hall.

In her lecture, titled “The Civilizational Model of World History and the Challenge of the Global,” Mazumdar will explore the invention of the concept of civilization and its evolution and development since the late 18th century in Europe and America.

Mazumdar is trained in Chinese and Indian history and Asian American studies. Her publications include From Orientalism to Postcolonialism: Asia-Europe and the Lineages of Difference (Routledge, 2009); Sugar and Society in China: Peasants, Technology and the World Market (Harvard University Press, 1998, translated into Chinese, 2009); and Antinomies of Modernity, Essays on Race, Orient, and Nation (Duke University Press, 2003). She was one of the editors of Making Waves: Writings By and About Asian American Women (Beacon Press, 1989). She is currently at work on the monograph From the Slave Trade to the Opium Rush: “China Trade” in the Making of the Americas.

She is founding editor of the South Asia Bulletin, serving from 1981 to 1993, and of Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, serving from 1993 to 2002.

Mazumdar received her BA, MA, and PhD degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles. For more information, visit www.worldhistory.pitt.edu.

—Patricia Lomando White

Pitt Annual Latin American, Caribbean Festival Set for March 26

The Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS) at the University of Pittsburgh will host the 31st Annual Latin American and Caribbean Festival on Saturday, March 26, in the William Pitt Union (WPU) from noon to midnight. The festival is one of Pittsburgh’s signature cultural events, attracting thousands of individuals from the multicultural community to enjoy local and international musicians, handmade arts and crafts, authentic Latin American cuisine, traditional dance performances, and children’s activities.

This unique gathering showcases the many organizations, businesses, and cultural groups that make up Pittsburgh’s diverse and growing Latin American community. While activities are ongoing throughout the day, highlights include the Colombian band Bésame and the Brazilian dance/martial art group Axé Capoeira Pittsburgh. Visitors can shop at booths offering a variety of goods or serving specialty dishes from Latin American and Caribbean nations.

The festival is sponsored by Pitt’s CLAS, the Latin American Cultural Union, and Med Health Services, and  Pittsburgh Cardiovascular Institute. For more information, visit the festival’s Web site (www.ucis.pitt.edu/clas/events/festival.html) or contact Luz Amanda Hank at lavst12@pitt.edu or 412-648-7394. CLAS is part of Pitt’s University Center for International Studies.

—Amanda Leff Ritchie