News of Note From Pitt

• Sociologist Receives National Honor for Book on Grassroots Activism
• Law Professor Honored by Law Enforcement Agency Directors of Western Pennsylvania
• Voices Across Time Program for Teachers to Be Held Again in June 2013

PITTSBURGH—Behind the larger stories about the University of Pittsburgh are other stories of faculty, staff, and student achievement as well as information on Pitt programs reaching new levels of success. The following is a compilation of some of those stories.

Sociologist Receives National Honor for Book on Grassroots Activism 

Pitt Distinguished Professor of Sociology Kathleen Blee has garnered a national award for her book on grassroots activism. Over a three-year period, Blee closely observed the dynamics of 60 activist efforts emerging in Pittsburgh—on both the political right and left. Her findings are detailed inDemocracy in the Making: How Activist Groups Form (Oxford University Press, 2012). A look at how ordinary people can change society, the book pinpoints the potential and the boundaries of democratization in grassroots activism. The Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action has awarded Blee the Virginia Hodgkinson Research Prize for the book. The judges called it "an empirically grounded, theoretically interesting, and innovative analysis of fledgling activist groups." Blee also is the associate dean for graduate studies and research in Pitt's Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences. 

Law Professor Honored by Law Enforcement Agency Directors of Western Pennsylvania

David A. Harris, professor and associate dean for research in Pitt's School of Law, received special recognition from the Law Enforcement Agency Directors of Western Pennsylvania during that organization's 15th annual awards ceremony held Nov. 9 in the University's Barco Law Building. Harris was honored for his work with the Western Pennsylvania Community-Police Relations Group. Members of the Law Enforcement Agency Directors of Western Pennsylvania include the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, among other enforcement agencies.

Voices Across Time Program for Teachers to Be Held Again in June 2013

Voices Across Time, a summer institute designed to help middle school and high school teachers nationwide learn how to teach American history through music, will be held at the University of Pittsburgh from June 24 to July 26, 2013. This is the fifth time Pitt will host the institute led by a faculty of U.S. historians, musicologists, and education specialists. 

Instructors of students in grades 7 through 12 are invited to apply for the program that will teach ways of incorporating American music into history, civics, English literature, or social studies curricula to enhance students' understandings of the people who lived through historical events, as well as the ethnic, political, and socioeconomic diversity of those eras. According to Voices Across Time organizers, studies have shown that incorporating music into a lesson plan helps students pay attention, retain information, and perform better on standardized tests. 

The institute is run through Pitt's Department of Music and its Center for American Music and is made possible through a $200,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Visitwww.library.pitt.edu/voicesacrosstime/Institutes/Institute.htm for application information. 

###

11/29/12/mab/cjhm