News of Note

Pitt to Offer PhD in Film Studies

The University of Pittsburgh Film Studies Program in the School of Arts and Sciences will offer a newly created PhD degree in Film Studies, beginning Fall 2012. The interdisciplinary and interdepartmental degree stresses the history, theory, and aesthetics of international cinema, video, television, and new media.

“The new interdepartmental PhD allows Pitt to take advantage of its highly published and renowned graduate faculty in Film Studies as well as its substantial and stimulating course offerings in order to attract students dedicated to pursuing media studies as their primary doctoral field,” said Lucy Fischer, Distinguished Professor of English and Film Studies at Pitt.

While students in the degree program will earn Film Studies PhDs, granted by Film Studies, each student also will be a full member of one of six associated departments—English, French, German, Hispanic Languages and Literatures, History of Art and Architecture, or Slavic Languages and Literatures—fulfilling the respective department’s requirements, many of which will overlap with those of Film Studies.

The name of the associated department will appear as an Area of Concentration on the student’s transcript, giving the graduating student a PhD in Film Studies as well as expertise in a secondary area.

For more information about the Film Studies PhD, visit www.filmstudies.pitt.edu/graduate/phd.html; for information on the Film Studies Program, visit www.filmstudies.pitt.edu/graduate/phd.html or contact Lucy Fischer at lfischer@pitt.edu.

—Patricia Lomando White

Pitt Center Redesignated a European Union Center of Excellence

The University of Pittsburgh European Union Center of Excellence (EUCE) has again been redesignated a European Union Center of Excellence by the Delegation of the European Union to the United States.

The renewed designation includes a grant totaling 300,000 euros (about $403,000), which will help fund the center and its activities through 2014.

The EUCE promotes the study of the European Union and EU-U.S. relations. Through this grant and University funding, the center supports teaching programs, scholarly research, and outreach activities in Pittsburgh and throughout Western Pennsylvania.

The EUCE is part of a dual center, joined with the European Studies Center (ESC) as part of the University Center for International Studies. The EUCE/ESC is directed by Pitt political science professor Ronald H. Linden.

Established in 1998 in the first national competition, Pitt’s EUCE has successfully received renewal with each subsequent competition. Ten institutions were designated this year, including the University of California at Berkeley and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

The European Commission funds the EUCE initiative as part of a broader effort to promote people-to-people ties across the Atlantic.

For more information about Pitt’s EUCU, visit www.ucis.pitt.edu/euce.

—Audrey M. Marks