Briefly Noted

Pitt Expands Hours of Operation for Shuttle

Effective Monday, March 1, 2010, the University of Pittsburgh’s 10A Upper Campus shuttle will operate for an extra 50 minutes each night. Additional departures from the Cathedral of Learning at 3 a.m. and 3:30 a.m. have been added. The shuttle route will terminate at the Cathedral of Learning bus shelter at 3:50 a.m.

The 30C South Oakland shuttle will operate for an additional half-hour each night. A departure from the William Pitt Union bus shelter at 3:10 a.m. has been added for Monday through Saturday service. The shuttle route will terminate at the William Pitt Union shelter at 3:25 a.m.

The 30C shuttle’s Sunday service also has an additional departure at 2:30 a.m., and will conclude service at 3 a.m.

—John Fedele

March 3 Health Fair For Pitt Staff and Faculty

The University of Pittsburgh LifeSolutions, an employee assistance program, will hold an interactive wellness event for Pitt faculty and staff from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 3, in the William Pitt Union’s Kurtzman Room.

The free event, Healthy Lifestyle Experience3, is to promote the benefits of a mind-body connection for a healthier lifestyle. Information on health-related programs and resources will be available, along with healthy cooking demonstrations, nutrition advice, chair massages, exercise demonstrations, blood-pressure assessments, and other activities.

Additional information is available at 1-800-647-3432 or www.hr.pitt.edu/benefits.

Pitt Plans 30th Annual Latin American and Caribbean Festival

The Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS) at the University of Pittsburgh will host the 30th Annual Latin American and Caribbean Festival from noon to midnight Saturday, March 27, in the William Pitt Union Ballroom.

The festival will feature food, crafts, and information vendors; music and dance performances will take place in the WPU’s Assembly Room. From 10 p.m. to midnight, there will be dancing to the sounds of Latin American music.

Since its inception, the festival has showcased diverse Latin American and Caribbean cultures by combining the resources of CLAS with people of Latin American heritage. The growth of Pittsburgh’s Latin American community has made the festival one of the largest gatherings of Latin Americans in Western Pennsylvania.

Mexican artist Armando Jiménez Aragón will be the festival’s guest artist—demonstrating how he designs and creates animalitos (imaginative animal figures). He is the grandson of Manuel Hernandez, who created the renowned alebrijes (Oaxacan woodcarvings).

For more information, contact Luz Amanda Hank at lavst12@pitt.edu or 412-648-7394.

—Amanda Leff Ritchie

United States’ First Female African American Rabbi to Give Talk

The path to the pulpit has been a long and winding journey for Alysa Stanton, the United States’ first female African American rabbi. Stanton will share her life experiences during a free public lecture titled “Layers of Healing, Layers of Hope” at 7:30 p.m. March 3 in the Ballroom of Pitt’s William Pitt Union.

Born to a Christian family in Cleveland, Ohio, Stanton converted to Judaism at age 24. She completed seven years of rabbinical training at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion before assuming the role of rabbi of Congregation Bayt Shalom, a 60-family synagogue in Greenville, N.C., in June 2009.

Prior to converting to Judaism and preparing for the rabbinate, Stanton worked as a psychotherapist specializing in grief counseling; her counseling experience includes the treatment of individuals affected by the murderous 1999 shooting rampage at Columbine High School. She is an alumnus of Colorado State University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology in 1988 and a master’s degree in education in 1992; she received a professional counselor’s license in 1998.

Stanton’s presentation is sponsored by Pitt’s Office of Cross Cultural and Leadership Development and Departments of Cultural Studies, History, and Religious Studies, as well as by the Edward and Rose Berman Hillel Jewish University Center of Pittsburgh and the United Jewish Federation of Pittsburgh.

For more information on the event, call 412-621-8875 or e-mail carlya@hilleljuc.org.

—Anthony M. Moore