Pitt in Brief News, Awards, and Developments From the University of Pittsburgh

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 this week's compilation of some of those stories.

Pitt Communications Professors Awarded Grant From American Journalism Historians Association

Ronald J. Zboray, a professor of communications in the School of Arts and Sciences, and Pitt visiting scholar Mary Saracino Zboray are among the 2009 recipients of the American Journalism Historians Association research grant. The Zborays and two other recipients were awarded $1,250 for their distinguished and creative research agendas in media history. The Zborays plan to use their award to study Southern newspaper readers during the Civil War.

The Zboray's other honors include the Best Journalism and Mass Communication History Book of 2006 award for their book "Everyday Ideas: Socioliterary Experience Among Antebellum New Englanders" (University of Tennessee Press, 2006). Founded in 1981, the American Journalism Historians Association seeks to advance education and research in mass communication history.

For more information, contact Pitt News Representative Trish White at 412-624-9101 (office); 412-215-9932 (cell); laer@pitt.edu.

Pitt English Professor Awarded 2008 Goldberg Prize for Jewish Fiction

Irina Reyn, assistant professor in the Department of English in the School of Arts and Sciences, was chosen as the winner of the 2008 Goldberg Prize for Jewish Fiction by Emerging Writers for her book "What Happened to Anna K." (Touchstone/Simon & Schuster, 2008). Reyn's book, which is set in New York City's early 21st-century Russian-Jewish immigrant community, borrows themes from Leo Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina." The award is presented by the Foundation for Jewish Culture.

"What Happened to Anna K." also has won the Amazon.com Best Book of the Month award and was an IndieBound Indie Next List selection. The Goldberg Prize was established in 1999 through a grant from the Samuel Goldberg and Sons Foundation and spotlights promising new talent. The award includes a prize of $2,500 and a one-week residency at Ledig House International Writers Colony in New York's Hudson Valley.

For more information, contact Pitt News Representative Trish White at 412-624-9101 (office); 412-215-9932 (cell); laer@pitt.edu.

Pitt Professor Elected Vice President of the Goethe Society of North America

Clark Muenzer, associate professor and chair in the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures in the School of Arts and Sciences, was recently elected vice president of the Goethe Society of North America. Muenzer, director of graduate studies in the department, was formerly on the board of directors of the Goethe Society. He will serve as vice president for three years, after which he will assume the role of president for a three-year term.

Muenzer is author of "Figures of Identity: Goethe's Novels and the Enigmatic Self" (The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1984) and edited "Remembering Goethe: Essays for the 250th Anniversary" (Modern Language Studies, 2001). The Goethe Society of North America was founded in 1979 in San Francisco and is a nonprofit organization dedicated to encouraging research on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

For more information, contact Pitt News Representative Trish White at 412-624-9101 (office); 412-215-9932 (cell); laer@pitt.edu.

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