"Pittsburgh is Kidsburgh” is the slogan of a recent advertising campaign highlighting the range of child-oriented institutions, programs, and activities available to children in Pittsburgh. Organizations like the Carnegie Museums, the Carnegie Libraries, the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, WQED and the Fred Rogers Company, Hope Academy of Music and the Arts, Pittsburgh Filmmakers, the Remaking Learning Network, the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, Gemini Children’s Theater, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, and many others are continually creating spaces and developing programs aimed at fostering children’s knowledge of and participation in various forms of culture: from literature and poetry, to theater, music, and dance, to fine art, to new forms of digital communication and artistic production. This class surveys the range of cultural institutions serving children in Pittsburgh, with two main goals: (1) to see these institutions as a key part of the way childhood is experienced in Pittsburgh and similar cities across the United States, and to understand the historical background, social contexts, and political and cultural implications these institutions have on the experience of being a child today; and (2) to introduce students to a range of careers paths that make use of the historical knowledge and analytical skills cultivated in Pitt’s children’s literature and childhood studies courses. We will visit a wide range of institutions and host several guest speakers to survey the field of children’s culture in contemporary Pittsburgh. Students will conduct independent research into the history and composition of an institution of their choosing, and students will profile the career of an active professional in this field.

Is Pittsburgh someplace special? The examination of one city in depth reveals a great deal about our urban past and its relationship to the present. This course explores the development of Pittsburgh's life and landscape from its colonial origins to the late-twentieth century. The city and region are viewed as a case study in American urbanization and social history. Questions of historical interpretation and regional identity or uniqueness are also raised. Classes are organized around readings and discussion. Student participation in the classroom is expected and important to the course's success.

This course surveys the history of sport, focusing primarily on the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Its emphasis is on the changing nature and meaning of sport. It tackles several questions, including why and how sport evolved from a community pastime to today's corporate money ball, what sport has meant to people in different societies and epochs, and what roles race, gender, and the media have played in sport. We will look at sport in settings that range from baseball in the Caribbean to football in American Samoa, and rugby in South Africa, as well as focus on the role of sport in Pittsburgh.

Most Americans now live in urban areas -- cities and their suburbs. Around the world, more and more of the population are living in cities. Residents of big cities increasingly have more in common with the residents of cities halfway around the globe than with their rural countrymen just a few miles away. As human civilization becomes primarily an urban civilization we need to understand cities as distinct social entities. In this class we will study the development of the city from small mercantile enclaves to the modern sprawl of activity. We will look at urban polities, social ills, environmental issues, and consider those factors that make a city good, enjoyable, and pleasant. As we do, we will use the city and region of Pittsburgh as our living example.

This course is designed to get some perspective on the development of the Jewish community in America up to the present time. While the history of American Jewry is more than three centuries old, we will focus primarily on some themes from the late 19th century up to the present time. In our discussions we shall look at the American Jewish experience through a Pittsburgh lens. We will also try to put this discussion against the backdrop of some American history, European history, world Jewish history and your family’s own history- Jewish or non-Jewish. While the course is two thirds historical, we will spend nearly a third of the semester looking at contemporary issues and perspectives. To do that we will have several academic forums in which students can present varying viewpoints on current concerns which might include such topics as Israel and the Palestinians , the BDS movement, anti-Semitism today, the impact of the Holocaust, challenges on the college campus, the future of the American Jewish community, etc. Students will also have the opportunity to meet with Jewish leaders active in the Pittsburgh community to gain their perspective and to make contacts. The aim of the course is to make each class provocative, lively and informative by raising issues and questions regarding the past, present and future of the American Jewish community.

This course will show how we shape the physical environment of Pittsburgh and how it shapes us. We will use the interaction of architecture and urbanism to see how Pittsburgh was created and sustained. Like the instructor’s book, Pittsburgh: A New Portrait, the course studies the physical environment of Pittsburgh from its beginnings to the current shift from production to a service-based economy. A fieldtrip will explore the city “hands on."