Chatham News

The AMA International Collegiate Conference is one of the best investments you can make as an aspiring marketer. The Collegiate Conference is particularly helpful as you set out into a world where the career landscape is shifting dramatically, and new tools for marketing are changing the way marketers do business.

Speakers that presented ranged from YouTube/Google, McDonald’s, Pearson, Harrah’s, Carnaval Cruise Lines, Enterprise, Macy’s, Northwestern Mutual, and many more. Topics ranged from social media, to landing a career in marketing, to the changing landscape of marketing.

About Chatham University
Chatham University prepares students from around the world to help develop solutions to some of the world’s biggest challenges. Consistently ranked among the top master’s level institutions in the Northeast by U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review, Chatham University is also ranked in the top five percent of graduate-intensive institutions nationally and experienced the fastest-growing enrollment in the Pittsburgh region over the past decade. Founded in 1869, Chatham University includes the Shadyside Campus, with the historic 39-acre Woodland Road arboretum and Chatham Eastside facility; and the 388-acre Eden Hall Campus north of Pittsburgh. For more information, call 800-837-1290 or visit www.chatham.edu.

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Students Sarah Cornell and Hannah Esser were recognized as winners of the GfK’s first annual Next Generation Marketing Research Competition at the Advertising Research Foundation Re:think 2012 Convention this afternoon

By: Amanda Leff Ritchie, Senior Public Relations Specialist
March 28, 2012

PITTSBURGH (March 28, 2012) … This afternoon, Chatham University undergraduate business students Sarah Cornell and Hannah Esser were recognized as the winners of the first annual Next Generation Market Research Competition, hosted by GfK, one of the world’s largest marketing research organizations. The students presented their research and received the award at the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF) Re:think 2012 Convention in New York City. The competition is designed to challenge student researchers and allow them a chance to test their marketing knowledge by conducting original qualitative and quantitative primary research and prepare a comprehensive research paper on a critical industry issue.

The winning duo, Cornell and Esser, focused their research on the impact of social media with a final paper titled, “Like it – Buy it? Attitude-Behavior Relationships and their Implications for Social Media Marketing.” Their research examines the implications of brand pages on Facebook and whether the amount of “Likes” a brand page has influences the purchasing of a product.

“Hannah and Sarah presented a well-researched, creative project and GfK is pleased to honor them with this award,” says David Krajicek, CEO of GfK Consumer Experiences North America. “Through this competition GfK hopes to generate excitement and interest in the market research industry amongst undergraduate students.  This important initiative is a great way for students to become immersed in the daily life of a marketer, and truly become the next generation of talent for our industry.”

“Facebook is a fascinating global phenomenon that we use daily,” says Cornell. “Winning this award is not only a great feeling, but this project has been a wonderful learning experience. We’re appreciative of GfK and The ARF for giving us the opportunity to address a critical issue weighing on marketers’ minds today,” says Esser.

As the winners of GfK’s Next Generation Award, Cornell and Esser received a $1,000 cash prize and an all-expense paid trip to New York City to present their winning paper at the annual ARF Great Minds Award Ceremony held today, March 28.

“It is a thrill to see such bright talented students as Sarah and Hannah work so hard toward a goal and then achieve such spectacular results,” says Debbie DeLong, assistant professor of marketing at Chatham. “The competition has expanded their understanding and expertise within the marketing discipline, and winning the grand prize will be a terrific highlight on their resumes. I appreciate so much the opportunity to advise their project work and professional growth along the way.”

About the Business Program at Chatham University
The business program at Chatham University understands the challenges facing women in the workforce. The curriculum is designed to educate women to be critical thinkers and creative problem solvers in a fast-changing global and technological environment. Required internships offer a valuable opportunity for hands-on learning and a personal evaluation of career options. Chatham businesswomen develop current knowledge and confidence to enter, succeed, and lead in a field of their choice. Management, accounting, business economics, and marketing are fields of study that can enhance a student’s education in other areas. Students with broader interests can combine these majors with a discipline outside the program in an interdisciplinary major.

About Chatham University
Chatham University prepares students from around the world to help develop solutions to some of the world’s biggest challenges. Consistently ranked among the top master’s level institutions in the Northeast by U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review, Chatham University is also ranked in the top five percent of graduate-intensive institutions nationally and experienced the fastest-growing enrollment in the Pittsburgh region over the past decade. Founded in 1869, Chatham University includes the Shadyside Campus, with the historic 39-acre Woodland Road arboretum and Chatham Eastside facility; and the 388-acre Eden Hall Campus north of Pittsburgh. For more information, call 800-837-1290 or visit www.chatham.edu.

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By: Amanda Leff Ritchie, Senior Public Relations Specialist
March 27, 2012

PITTSBURGH (March 27, 2012) …Chatham University has been admitted to the 2012 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for engaging its students, faculty, and staff in meaningful service that achieves measurable results in the community. The honor roll is overseen by the Corporation for National and Community Service; the U.S. Department of Education and Housing and Urban Development; Campus Compact, a national coalition of more than 1,100 college and university presidents who are committed to fulfilling the civic purposes of higher education; and the American Council on Education. This is Chatham’s second consecutive year being named to the honor roll. For a full list of honored institutions, visit www.nationalservice.gov/pdf/2012_hr_awardees.pdf.

“Being named to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll twice in a row is such an honor and truly exemplifies Chatham’s outstanding service to the community,” says Zauyah Waite, vice president for Student Affairs and dean of students.

Honorees are selected based on a series of selection factors, including the scope and innovation of service projects, the extent to which service-learning is embedded in the curriculum, the school’s commitment to long-term campus-community partnerships, and measurable community outcomes as a result of the service.

Chatham University’s community service is diverse and extensive. Recent examples follow below.

• Students in the Master of Fine Arts Creative Writing Program participate in a project titled “Words Without Walls,” where they teach creative writing to inmates at the Allegheny County Jail. It fosters and supports creative expression and personal growth by exposing men and women at the jail to literature, award-winning visiting authors, and the opportunity to publish their work. Because of its innovative approach to learning and teaching, Words Without Walls has received support from the A. W. Mellon Education and Charitable Trust Fund of The Pittsburgh Foundation and the Advancing Black Arts in Pittsburgh Fund, a partnership of The Heinz Endowments and The Pittsburgh Foundation.
• Dr. Robert Cooley, much beloved Chatham University professor of photography, passed away in February 2011 after a battle with cancer. To honor him, the Relay for Life was planned by a committee of Chatham University students, advised by a staff member, and a representative of the American Cancer Society. The 12-hour over-night event was held on November 4, 2011, at the Athletic and Fitness Center on campus. More than 20 teams participated, raising a total of $12,000 and increasing awareness of cancer prevention. The student-driven Relay for Life event is expected to become an annual tradition at Chatham.

• Chatham University continued monthly Selfless Saturdays, which allows students, faculty, and staff to give back to the community one Saturday each month. This semester, the Chatham community assisted at the Carnegie Arts Festival, in addition to the Habitat For Humanity Restore in Swissvale.

About Chatham University
Chatham University prepares students from around the world to help develop solutions to some of the world’s biggest challenges. Consistently ranked among the top master’s level institutions in the Northeast by U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review, Chatham University is also ranked in the top five percent of graduate-intensive institutions nationally and experienced the fastest-growing enrollment in the Pittsburgh region over the past decade. Founded in 1869, Chatham University includes the Shadyside Campus, with the historic 39-acre Woodland Road arboretum and Chatham Eastside facility; and the 388-acre Eden Hall Campus north of Pittsburgh. For more information call 800-837-1290 or visit www.chatham.edu.

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The April 13 lecture is part of the CWE’s Women Business Leaders Breakfast Series

By: Amanda Leff Ritchie, Senior Public Relations Specialist
March 23 2012

PITTSBURGH (March 23, 2012) … The Center for Women’s Entrepreneurship (CWE) at Chatham University will host filmmaker JulieHera DeStefano, the woman behind the upcoming documentary film “Journey to Normal: Women of War Come Home.”  The film documents the experiences of female veterans as they rejoin their families and communities after deployment to the combat zone. DeStephano’s presentation, “The Business of Documenting History: One Woman Filmmaker, 100,000 Women in the Military,” will be held from 7:30 to 9 a.m. April 13 in the James Laughlin Music Center on the University’s Shadyside Campus. During the event, which is part of the CWE’s Women Business Leaders Breakfast Series, DeStefano will explain how she found success from the spark of one idea. The $25 admission fee includes a continental breakfast and networking session, which precede the presentation. A question and answer session will follow DeStefano’s presentation. For more information and to register, visit http://www.chatham.edu/cwe or call 412-365-1253.

When DeStefano conceived of the documentary film “Journey to Normal: Women of War Come Home,” slated to be released spring 2013, she had no idea that her personal journey to make the film would take her on a walk across Pennsylvania, to the combat zone in Afghanistan, and into the daily lives of the women of the U.S. military.

“This project has been nothing less than inspiring,” says DeStefano. “Every day, whether in an interview or reviewing footage, I hear the stories of remarkable women; and every day their voices reaffirm my conviction that this is a film that needs to be made.”

Born and raised in Pittsburgh, DeStefano is an independent producer and filmmaker. A graduate of Carnegie Mellon University (BFA), she has performed in New York Off-Broadway, in Pittsburgh with the Civic Light Opera and Pittsburgh Playhouse, and appears in the movies “The First Wives Club” and the “Preacher’s Wife.” She served as the managing director and producer of an award-winning off-Broadway theater company and as the business manager of a New York-based film and photography studio.

About CWE
The mission of the Center for Women’s Entrepreneurship is to educate, create economic opportunities, and foster entrepreneurial thinking for women entrepreneurs, women in business, and students. CWE provides opportunities for women entrepreneurs in all stages of businesses to start and grow their companies by utilizing Chatham resources, programs, and expertise. CWE programming is also designed to teach regional businesswomen how to think and act entrepreneurially by focusing on innovation and creativity in the workplace. CWE also offers specific programs for both undergraduate and graduate students that help develop the skills needed to become successful businesswomen.

Founded in 2005, CWE has expanded its reach throughout Southwestern PA to help an increasing number of businesswomen learn, network, connect, and achieve their business goals.

Current and initial funding for CWE provided by the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation.  Initial funding for CWE was also provided by the Lois Tack Thompson Fund of The Pittsburgh Foundation. For more information about programs offered by CWE call 412-365-1253 or visit www.chatham.edu/cwe.

About Chatham University
Chatham University prepares students from around the world to help develop solutions to some of the world’s biggest challenges. Consistently ranked among the top master’s level institutions in the Northeast by U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review, Chatham University is also ranked in the top five percent of graduate-intensive institutions nationally and experienced the fastest-growing enrollment in the Pittsburgh region over the past decade. Founded in 1869, Chatham University includes the Shadyside Campus, with the historic 39-acre Woodland Road arboretum and Chatham Eastside facility; and the 388-acre Eden Hall Campus north of Pittsburgh. For more information, call 800-837-1290 or visit www.chatham.edu.

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O’Neill will give lecture titled “One Big Table: How food stories bear witness to daily life and create a bridge between culture and agriculture”

By: Amanda Leff Ritchie, Senior Public Relations Specialist
March 21, 2012

PITTSBURGH (March 21, 2012)… Chatham University’s Master of Arts in Food Studies program will present a free public lecture by renowned food writer Molly O’Neill at 7:30 p.m. on April 2 in Eddy Theater. Her lecture, “One Big Table: How Food Stories Bear Witness to Daily Life and Create a Bridge Between Culture and Agriculture,” will include food stories she collected during more than 10 years of travel across the country in preparation for writing One Big Table: A Portrait of American Cooking. She will discuss American food writing history and its shifting role and expanding opportunities. In addition, O’Neill will explore the use of oral history in food writing and how immigration has affected the landscape of the American table.  A book signing will follow. Please register online at http://www.chatham.edu/onebigtable.

With an interest in celebrating and preserving the United States’ food history, O’Neill spent 10 years traveling around America gathering oral histories and recipes from potlucks, church suppers, fishermen, bakers, farmers, artists, truck drivers, hairdressers, gourmet societies, and even a Nobel Prize winner; she interviewed nearly 10,000 people for the book.

O’Neill is the author of three cookbooks, including the best-selling New York Cookbook, A Well-Seasoned Appetite, and The Pleasure of Your Company. She also hosted the PBS series Great Food and was a reporter for ten years with The New York Times and the food columnist for its Sunday magazine.

She won a Julia Child/International Association of Culinary Professionals Cookbook Award and was awarded three James Beard citations for books, journalism, and television, as well as the society’s Lifetime Achievement Award. She has twice been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and is the editor of the Library of America’s anthology American Food Writing.

Born in Columbus, Ohio, O’Neill graduated from Denison University and attended La Varenne, a prestigious cooking school in Paris. Mostly True (2007), her memoir of growing up in a Major League Baseball family; critics have called the book “a magical tale of growing up in the middle of the American dream.” Her work has also appeared in publications such publications as The New Yorker, Reader’s Digest, and Life. O’Neill offers virtual food writing courses at Cook ‘n Scribble.

About Chatham’s Master of Arts in Food Studies
The Master of Arts in Food Studies is one of the few graduate food studies programs in the United States and the only one to offer both sustainable agriculture and culinary arts and cuisine within a liberal arts environment. The Master of Arts in Food Studies at Chatham University takes a holistic approach to food systems, from agriculture and food production to cuisines and consumption, providing intellectual and practical experience from field to table. As part of Chatham’s new School of Sustainability and the Environment, the program emphasizes the global and the local in economic, social, and environmental aspects of sustainable food and agriculture.

 About Chatham University
Chatham University prepares students from around the world to help develop solutions to some of the world’s biggest challenges. Consistently ranked among the top master’s level institutions in the Northeast by U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review, Chatham University is also ranked in the top five percent of graduate-intensive institutions nationally and experienced the fastest-growing enrollment in the Pittsburgh region over the past decade. Founded in 1869, Chatham University includes the Shadyside Campus, with the historic 39-acre Woodland Road arboretum and Chatham Eastside facility; and the 388-acre Eden Hall Campus north of Pittsburgh. For more information, call 800-837-1290 or visit www.chatham.edu.

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The installation by Andres Tapia-Urzua and Jon Amakawa will be on view March 16-30, with closing reception at 5:30 p.m. March 30

By: Amanda Leff Ritchie, Senior Public Relations Specialist
March 13, 2012

PITTSBURGH (March 13, 2012)… The Chatham University Art Gallery will have the interactive 3-D modeling film installation “The Painted Lady” on display March 16 through March 30. The art gallery is located in Woodland Hall on Chatham’s Shadyside Campus; it is free and open to the public Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and by appointment.

Created by Andres Tapia-Urzua and Jon Amakawa the experience involves a 3-dimensional representation of a 1900s Victorian house, with different short films being displayed in each of its thirty windows. Every window space is an adventure leading to a secret scene inside. The spectator can choose and play any window in order to trigger a video sequence. After a sequence is played, the spectator is free to continue exploring other scenes embedded in the rooms of the Painted Lady – becoming an active participant in this interactive cinema experience.

Tapia-Urzua is an artist practicing in digital communication, video, music, performance, and installation. His work fuses aesthetic, theoretical, and political issues. He is the chair of the Art Institute of Pittsburgh’s digital filmmaking & video production program, as well as the visual effects & motion graphics program. He is also the founder of Plan Z Media a video, sound, and multimedia production company specializing in the arts. He is both a Mid-Atlantic Media Arts and Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Fellow. He has received the Cine Latino Award in San Francisco, California, and the Experimental Award at the FICS in Santiago de Chile. Twice nominated for a Rockefeller Fellowship; his work has been published and exhibited in such venues across the globe.

Amakawa is a 3D artist who specializes in creating interactive museum exhibits and educational media. His work integrates sculpture, drawing, architecture, and animation in a virtual environment. He is currently developing a virtual reality-based exhibit on the Underground Railroad for the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh. The exhibit has received support from the U.S. Department of Education.

As an undergraduate, Amakawa studied history and fine arts at Vassar College. He later completed a graduate degree in interactive design at Carnegie Mellon University. Amakawa has a particular interest in exploring the artistic possibilities for video game media, especially in presenting historical subject matter. In addition to creating virtual reality art pieces, he teaches Game Art and Design at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh.

For more information, contact Prajna Parasher, director of Chatham’s Film and Digital Technology program, at 412-365-1182 or parasher@chatham.edu, or Corey Escoto, assistant professor of sculpture at Chatham, at 314-920-8461 or CESCOTO@chatham.edu. Artist Andres Tapia-Urzua can be reached directly at 412-952-2460.
About Chatham University
Chatham University prepares students from around the world to help develop solutions to some of the world’s biggest challenges. Consistently ranked among the top master’s level institutions in the Northeast by U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review, Chatham University is also ranked in the top five percent of graduate-intensive institutions nationally and experienced the fastest-growing enrollment in the Pittsburgh region over the past decade. Founded in 1869, Chatham University includes the Shadyside Campus, with the historic 39-acre Woodland Road arboretum and Chatham Eastside facility; and the 388-acre Eden Hall Campus north of Pittsburgh. For more information, call 800-837-1290 or visit www.chatham.edu.

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By: Amanda Leff Ritchie, Senior Public Relations Specialist
March 13, 2012

PITTSBURGH (March 13, 2012)… Chatham University will host poet Tim Seibles for a free public reading and book signing at 7 p.m. on March 23 in the Mellon Board Room, Shadyside Campus. The event is part of Chatham’s “Words Without Walls Black Writers Reading Series” funded by the Advancing Black Arts in Pittsburgh Fund of The Pittsburgh Foundation. The grant supports the visits of five black writers throughout the year, who present their work at the Allegheny County Jail for the inmates studying creative writing there through Chatham’s Words Without Walls program. While in Pittsburgh, writers give public readings of their work. More information about the series is available on Chatham’s news page.

Mr. Seibles is the author of five books of poetry; Buffalo Head Solos (2004) and Hammerlock (1999) are among the most recently published. His work has been featured in The Kenyon Review and Black American Literary Forum. His poetry has also been included in five anthologies: Outsiders, Verse and Universe, In Search of Color Everywhere, A Way Out of No Way, and New American Poets of the ‘90s.

His honors, awards, and grants are numerous, including National Endowment for the Arts, Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center, and Open Voice Award.

Mr. Seibles is a faculty member at Old Dominion University in Virginia, where he teaches in the MFA in creative writing program. Born in Philadelphia, Mr. Seibles received his undergraduate degree from Southern Methodist College. After working as a high school English teacher for ten years, he received his MFA in creative writing from Vermont College.

About Words Without Walls
Words Without Walls is a creative collaboration between Chatham University’s MFA in Creative Writing program and the Allegheny County Jail. It fosters and supports creative expression and personal growth by exposing men and women at the jail to literature, award-winning visiting authors, and the opportunity to publish their work. Words Without Walls grew from a residency program started by artist Sandra Gould Ford. Because of the program’s reach, Chatham University committed to continuing the program’s creative writing classes at Allegheny County Jail in June 2010. Because of its innovative approach to learning and teaching, Words Without Walls has received support from the A. W. Mellon Education and Charitable Trust Fund of The Pittsburgh Foundation and the Advancing Black Arts in Pittsburgh Fund, a partnership of The Heinz Endowments and The Pittsburgh Foundation.

About Chatham’s MFA in Creative Writing program
Chatham’s MFA in Creative Writing allows students to focus on tracks in creative nonfiction, fiction, poetry, screenwriting, and writing for children, while encouraging them to explore two tracks simultaneously. Students take innovative field seminars that include travel to such places as Costa Rica, Ecuador, India, and Germany. In 2007 Poets & Writers named the MFA one of “Nine Distinctive Programs” and The Atlantic Monthly named it one of five innovative/unique programs in the country in its “Best of the Best” graduate program listings. In January 2012, The Writer named it one of the “4 top schools you should consider” and in 2009, named it one of ten programs that offer a specialty focus. Chatham University also offers an undergraduate BFA in Creative Writing, an online Master of Professional Writing, and a low-residency Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing. For more information, visit www.chatham.edu/mfa or contact Sheryl St. Germain at sstgermain@chatham.edu.

About Chatham University
Chatham University prepares students from around the world to help develop solutions to some of the world’s biggest challenges. Consistently ranked among the top master’s level institutions in the Northeast by U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review, Chatham University is also ranked in the top five percent of graduate-intensive institutions nationally and experienced the fastest-growing enrollment in the Pittsburgh region over the past decade. Founded in 1869, Chatham University includes the Shadyside Campus, with the historic 39-acre Woodland Road arboretum and Chatham Eastside facility; and the 388-acre Eden Hall Campus north of Pittsburgh. For more information, call 800-837-1290 or visit www.chatham.edu.

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The traveling exhibition features art on peace and war by Vietnamese children, accompanied Vietnamese children, accompanied by poetry written by American children, veterans, and poets

By: Amanda Leff Ritchie, Senior Public Relations Specialist
March 7, 2012

PITTSBURGH (March 7, 2012)… In conjunction with the Chatham University Global Focus Program’s Year of Southeast Asia – Vietnam, the traveling art exhibition “Speak Peace” will be on display at the Art and Design Building Mezzanine from March 9 through March 30. “Speak Peace” features 34 paintings on peace and war by Vietnamese children. The art is on loan from the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Each painting is accompanied by poetry written by American children, veterans, and established poets.

A closing reading and reception will be held on Friday, March 30, featuring Speak Peace poets Paula J. Lambert and Robert Miltner, followed by an open mic.

For more information, visit http://www.speakpeace.net or http://www.chatham.edu/global focus.

About Chatham University
Chatham University prepares students from around the world to help develop solutions to some of the world’s biggest challenges. Consistently ranked among the top master’s level institutions in the Northeast by U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review, Chatham University is also ranked in the top five percent of graduate-intensive institutions nationally and experienced the fastest-growing enrollment in the Pittsburgh region over the past decade. Founded in 1869, Chatham University includes the Shadyside Campus, with the historic 39-acre Woodland Road arboretum and Chatham Eastside facility; and the 388-acre Eden Hall Campus north of Pittsburgh. For more information, call 800-837-1290 or visit www.chatham.edu.

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By: Amanda Leff Ritchie, Senior Public Relations Specialist
March 7, 2012

PITTSBURGH (March 7, 2012)… Chatham University’s Words Without Walls program has been selected as the beneficiary for the March 23 PGH Party for a Purpose. “Speak Easy,” the theme of the event, celebrates the prohibition era with music, dancing, and a poetry slam. The party kicks off at 9 p.m. at the Brillobox, 4104 Penn Ave. Suggested donation is $10.

Featured talent will include: DJ Thermos, DJ Soulstrings, SolSis, Tim Seibles, Toi Derricotte, Heather McNaugher, and Sheryl St. Germain, director of Chatham’s MFA in Creative Writing Program. Original artwork by inmates at the Allegheny County Jail will be on display. For more information, visit http://www.pghpartyforapurpose.org.

PGH Party for a Purpose (PPP) hosts fun, creative, and affordable parties for diverse young-minded individuals, while raising funds and generating support for non-profit organizations in Southwestern Pennsylvania.

Three young professionals looking to host a party while also giving back to Pittsburgh’s non-profit community started PPP in December 2006. Since then, they have hosted quarterly parties while donating 100 percent of the proceeds to local non-profits. More than $28,000 has been raised to date, benefitting more than 13 organizations that serve Southwestern Pennsylvania. Recent beneficiaries have included Venture Outdoors, Girls on the Run, and Growth Through Energy & Community Health (GTECH).

About Words Without Walls
Words Without Walls is a creative collaboration between Chatham University’s MFA in Creative Writing program and the Allegheny County Jail. It fosters and supports creative expression and personal growth by exposing men and women at the jail to literature, award-winning visiting authors, and the opportunity to publish their work. Words Without Walls grew from a residency program started by artist Sandra Gould Ford. Because of the program’s reach, Chatham University committed to continuing the program’s creative writing classes at Allegheny County Jail in June 2010. Because of its innovative approach to learning and teaching, Words Without Walls has received support from the A. W. Mellon Education and Charitable Trust Fund of The Pittsburgh Foundation and the Advancing Black Arts in Pittsburgh Fund, a partnership of The Heinz Endowments and The Pittsburgh Foundation.

About Chatham’s MFA in Creative Writing program
Chatham’s MFA in Creative Writing allows students to focus on tracks in creative nonfiction, fiction, poetry, screenwriting, and writing for children, while encouraging them to explore two tracks simultaneously. Students take innovative field seminars that include travel to such places as Costa Rica, Ecuador, India, and Germany. In 2007 Poets & Writers named the MFA one of “Nine Distinctive Programs” and The Atlantic Monthly named it one of five innovative/unique programs in the country in its “Best of the Best” graduate program listings. In January 2012, The Writer named it one of the “4 top schools you should consider” and in 2009, named it one of ten programs that offer a specialty focus. Chatham University also offers an undergraduate BFA in Creative Writing, an online Master of Professional Writing, and a low-residency Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing. For more information, visit http://www.chatham.edu/mfa or contact Sheryl St. Germain at sstgermain@chatham.edu.

About Chatham University
Chatham University prepares students from around the world to help develop solutions to some of the world’s biggest challenges. Consistently ranked among the top master’s level institutions in the Northeast by U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review, Chatham University is also ranked in the top five percent of graduate-intensive institutions nationally and experienced the fastest-growing enrollment in the Pittsburgh region over the past decade. Founded in 1869, Chatham University includes the Shadyside Campus, with the historic 39-acre Woodland Road arboretum and Chatham Eastside facility; and the 388-acre Eden Hall Campus north of Pittsburgh. For more information, call 800-837-1290 or visit www.chatham.edu.

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U.S. Representative Schwartz will give free public lecture on the importance of women in public leadership on March 13

By: Amanda Leff Ritchie,
Senior Public Relations Specialist
March 2, 2012

PITTSBURGH (March 2, 2012)… The Pennsylvania Center for Women and Politics and Chatham University will present the 2012 Hollander Award for Women’s Leadership to Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz, according to an announcement by Esther L. Barazzone, Ph.D., Chatham president. The Hollander Award biannually recognizes a woman leader who has made significant contributions to her community and who serves as an exemplary role model for other women. Congresswoman Schwartz will give a free public lecture on the importance of women in public leadership at 5:30 p.m. on March 13 in the Campbell Memorial Chapel, on Chatham’s Shadyside Campus. Prior registration is recommended. Online registration is available on Chatham’s event page.

Limited parking is available in the Library Parking Lot (enter via Murray Hill Avenue); carpooling is encouraged. Visit www.chatham.edu/campusmap for directions and parking locations.

Representative Schwartz will be available for a small number of media questions or interviews prior to the lecture at 5 PM. For specific interview requests, please contact Amanda Ritchie at aritchie@chatham.edu or 412-365-1125.

About Representative Schwartz
U.S. Representative Schwartz is serving her fourth term representing Pennsylvania’s 13th Congressional District. Labeled a “rising star” by POLITICO, Schwartz plays a central role in debates on health care, the federal budget, and tax policy. As the sole female member of Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation, the Philadelphia Daily News praises her as a “local trailblazer” for women in politics.

Schwartz has repeatedly broken new ground in the state’s political structure, when she became the third woman to serve in the Pennsylvania State Senate in 1991 and the sixth Pennsylvania woman to serve in the U.S. Congress.

A member of the House Budget Committee since 2005, Schwartz is an outspoken critic of deficit spending. In the 112th Congress, she was named to the House Foreign Affairs Committee. She is also vice chair of the New Democrat Coalition, a group of moderate members of the U.S. House of Representatives who are dedicated to the prosperity and security of American families and businesses.

This year, the American Medical Association honored Schwartz with the Dr. Nathan Davis Award for Outstanding Government Service. In 2011, she received the Champion of Innovation Award from the Healthcare Leadership Council and the 2011 Distinguished Community Health Defender Award from the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC). In 2010, she received the American College of Physicians’ Public Service Award for her efforts in the health care reform law. That same year, she received the Patient Advocate Foundation’s Health Care Hero Award, for her work to eliminate pre-existing condition exclusions, and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

About the Hollander Award
The Hollander Award for Women in Leadership biannually recognizes a woman leader who has made significant contributions to her community and who serves as an exemplary role model for other women. Part of the award includes a funded visit to the Chatham campus, allowing the recipient the opportunity to meet with students and help them appreciate and explore the potential contributions they can make to society. Past recipients include Joan Blades, co-founder of MoveOn.org; Lt. Governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend; Former Congresswoman Marjorie Margolies Mezvinsky; The Honorable Cynthia A. Baldwin; and The Honorable Monica McWilliams, member of the Northern Ireland Parliament and co-founder of the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition political party.

The Hollander Women’s Leadership Fund was established by Barbara Stone Hollander ’60 and Thomas Hollander, Esq. to support initiatives that encourage the preparation of Chatham women as public leaders by bringing outstanding women leaders to the campus and funding an annual student award for an experiential opportunity in leadership development. Previous student activities include attendance at the Beijing Women’s Conference and internships with the Gore Presidential Campaign and in the Irish Parliament. 

About Chatham University
Chatham University prepares students from around the world to help develop solutions to some of the world’s biggest challenges. Consistently ranked among the top master’s level institutions in the Northeast by U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review, Chatham University is also ranked in the top five percent of graduate-intensive institutions nationally and experienced the fastest-growing enrollment in the Pittsburgh region over the past decade. Founded in 1869, Chatham University includes the Shadyside Campus, with the historic 39-acre Woodland Road arboretum and Chatham Eastside facility; and the 388-acre Eden Hall Campus north of Pittsburgh. For more information, call 800-837-1290 or visit www.chatham.edu.

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