Pittsburgh’s African and American Studies Programs Are Now “Under the Radar”
Pittsburgh’s African and American Studies programs are now officially “under the radar” — but many of the students who enroll in the programs are still unaware of this history.
In the last two years, the Pittsburgh City Council has introduced two bills to increase the number of African and American Studies classes and programs in the city’s public universities. One of these bills, sponsored by Councilmen Bill Peduto and Greg Thompson, passed the council with only a single dissenting vote; the other, sponsored by Councilman Mike Vaccaro and Councilwoman Carol Marinaro, garnered three different votes. As of this writing, it is not clear whether the council will take up either of these bills again. The issue, however, is not whether the council will pass them, but the effect that these changes have had in the classrooms of the city’s public universities.
The Pittsburgh City Council adopted the first of these bills last October, establishing a five-person committee that will examine whether an increase in the number of African and American Studies programs is needed to meet the goals of the City’s Race and Inclusion Strategic Plan, and to ensure that it is done within the existing budget of the city’s various departments.
The legislation, first introduced by Councilman Peduto and adopted the next day by Councilman Thompson, would create the African and American Studies Advisory Commission (“Committee”) to conduct a series of studies of the programs, the curriculum, and student demographics to help the committee to “determine the need for an increase in the number of African and American Studies classes and programs. ” Specifically, the Advisory Commission would report on an array of topics, including what level of need there is to keep both classes and programs at the same level as their predecessors; whether the programs can be made to do without increased classes; whether the new classes require specific increases in class sizes compared to previous classes, such as a requirement for twice the number of students; and whether the classes and programs can be made to do without increases in the tuition costs at each class.
At the end of the Advisory Commission’s first report, which was submitted in December 2012, it would ask for an increase in the number of African and American Studies programs to “adequately meet the increase in class and program sizes in the program.
Some personal experiences of a service leader.
Article Title: Some personal experiences of a service leader | Programming. Full Article Text: My name is Anil and I am a software engineer working for a big ISP. I had to go through several rounds of interviews here and there but I am a very strong candidate for the position of project manager.
I was interviewed once again for this position for a while and my final experience with the company seemed to be pretty good. I was the youngest candidate and I wasn’t the only one who was not that good. The other candidates came under-qualified and it was obvious that the company really wanted a senior person for this position.
The first round of the interview was a long process with no clarity. I was interviewed for about 10 hour and the topic of the interview was based on the project management position. Most of the time the topic was pretty basic and the overall experience of the company was good.
The next round of the interview was the test of the knowledge for the position. I was asked to give a presentation to the team about the challenges faced during the projects and how they were managed. I was really nervous since I would be expected to present a lot of difficult topics.
The presentation was a disaster and the first topic was really difficult. I was asked to share a lot of technical details and I was expected to deliver a very technical document in English. The team was very interested but I couldn’t make a presentation as impressive as I expected. The presentation went from bad to worse and it was clear that the company wanted a senior person for this position.
I was told that we should all come back next time we are asked to apply for the positions which was clear that the situation will be repeated and they want me as the project manager.
The last round of the interview was a simple interview where the team was going to meet me. I was told that I should come back next time I am interviewed and I was told that I should submit a paper on the technical skills. I submitted the paper and I guess the company is satisfied and I am getting my new job.
I started my career with the ISP. I had joined there around one year and I had been working for them since three months. I joined when I was a junior as they were starting a new company – an ISP.
Why I left Pittsburgh
and very hard.
economic decline.
Pittsburgh down.
the chance to check it out.
job in a Pittsburgh location.
Pittsburgh thing.
job in a Pittsburgh location.
A Conversation with Tahirah Walker
A few months ago, I spoke at one of my favorite book fairs, BookRiot, about writing, and about a very important figure in my own career, Tahirah Walker. This interview, published on Friday, December 11, had a few things in common with my previous interview with Tahirah. We also did some of the same things, including taking part in the BookRiot interview, and talking about her book Bad Habits: The Moral Dilemmas of Everyday Life, which had been published a few weeks earlier.
Tahirah was kind enough to read my blog post that had been published about 3-4 weeks prior and say a few words here about the book, and about her own journey as a writer to publication. She was also kind enough to ask me how I got the opportunity to talk today, and why her career has followed a path that was so different than the one she had expected.
I was kind of surprised, by the two things I found interesting about her story.
First, she grew up in the city of Detroit, and had some interesting experiences growing up there, going against her father’s wishes, not being in school a lot, and not doing much of anything for herself, especially in her early years. She started writing as a teenager, and started publishing in her early 20s. Although both of these experiences made her very proud to have reached the point where she was one of the first people to start publishing in poetry and fiction, she clearly knows what it’s like to be a writer, and how much of a challenge it is to get your work out there. She had both the ability and the will, with a lot of support from her family, that she could be a very successful writer — her father encouraged her to try and pursue this path, and support her, and as such she was able to overcome a lot of hurdles and hurdles that probably would have been insurmountable to someone a lot younger.
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Spread the lovePittsburgh’s African and American Studies programs are now officially “under the radar” — but many of the students who enroll in the programs are still unaware of this history. In the last two years, the Pittsburgh City Council has introduced two bills to increase the number of African and American Studies classes and…