THIS SITE IS CURRENTLY BEING UPDATED FOR SUMMER 2002
Welcome to the 2000 session of the Summer Language Institute. Please do not hesitate to approach your instructors, the directors, or the coordinator should any problems arise, whether immediately or at any time during the summer.
Faculty and Staff
Students who have not yet paid their tuition bill in full must take care of this without delay. If you have received any form of financial aid that has not yet been credited to your account, Chris Metil can explain to you what action, if any, you must take.
The final date you may resign from the Institute and still receive a full tuition refund is June 20 (by 5pm). The final date to resign with a 50% refund is June 28. July 5 is the last day to change your grade option, and July 21 is the last day to withdraw with a "W".
You will need a Pitt ID card to use any of the University's facilities. To obtain one, take a copy of your registration form and one form of photo ID to the ID office in room 107 McCormick Hall.
All Institute participants may purchase PittFunds credit on their Pitt IDs. This program allows students to make purchases at various on- and off-campus eateries, stores, vending machines and laundry facilities using their IDs as a debit card. For a full listing of participating merchants, go to http://www.pitt.edu/~idcenter.
The PittFunds office accepts cash, check or credit card. You will be able to add to your balance at any time during the summer by going to the PittFunds office in the ID Center in McCormick Hall. Balances remaining at the end of the summer, however, will not be refunded, so don't overestimate the amount you think you will need.
In order to help students get to know each other, to facilitate language immersion, and to allow the directors to make announcements regarding additions and changes to the Institute schedule, all Institute students and teachers are required to eat lunch together on Mondays and Wednesdays at the tables near the Second Plate Cafe (on the second floor of Forbes Quadrangle). On Tuesdays and Thursdays, individual classes will eat lunch together at locations chosen by each class separately. Fridays will be "free" days on which students may choose to eat lunch wherever (and with whomever) they wish. As you are released from morning classes at 11:45, and are not due at Monday and Wednesday lunches until 12:15, you will have time to pick up lunch at any number of take-out eateries on Forbes avenue.
All students will need to purchase at least some of their materials in the University's Book Center on Fifth Avenue. There is no Pennsylvania sales tax on required textbooks, so take your pink registration form or Pitt ID with you when you go to the Book Center. Instructors will inform you of any other supplementary materials that may be needed.
Several classes require students to view video materials outside of class. There are VCRs available for student use in the Media Resource Center in Hillman Library, room G-20. Just bring your Pitt ID and whatever videos you need to view. The MRC is open Monday through Thursday 10am-8:30pm, Friday 8:30am-5pm, and Saturday/Sunday 12 Noon-5pm. Hillman library has one of the largest collections of Russian feature, animation and documentary films in the country. For a complete listing, see http://www.pitt.edu/~slavic/video/slavvid.html
A language lab is available where you can work on your tapes or access additional instruction materials. The lab is located in room G-17 of the Cathedral of Learning (ground floor). Your class may require work with audio tapes stored in the laboratory. You may work in the lab or obtain your own copies of the tapes for work at home. In order to have a copy made, just take your own blank cassette (90-minute, high-quality cassettes only) to the language lab and fill out a duplication request.
The language lab is open from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm Monday-Friday. It is closed on Saturday and Sunday. The lab provides excellent audio feedback and can be a helpful tool for perfecting pronunciation skills. In addition to the tapes that go along with the textbooks, there are other miscellaneous tapes stored there, all of which are listed in the tape catalogue in the lab and may be of interest to you or required by your instructor.
Summer students may purchase basic coverage for services provided by the Student Health Center. The fee for the summer is $32. Students who do not choose to pay this fee may still use the Health Center, but will be charged for individual services. Those electing to pay the fee must do so by Wednesday, June 30. It may be paid at the Cashier's Office in Thackeray Hall, or at the Student Health Center on the 5th floor of the Medical Arts Building (3708 Fifth Avenue). Contact Student Health Services at 383-1800 for more information. Please note that this coverage does not eliminate the need for health/hospitalization insurance.
As registered University of Pittsburgh students, you have full access to the computer facilities of the university. This includes e-mail and Internet access. Anyone wishing to use the facilities must obtain a Network Authorization Account from a computer consultant in one of the campus labs by handing them a completed Computing and Information Service Universal Student Computing Agreement (found in your orientation folder). Labs are located at various points throughout campus; the most convenient locations for Institute students are probably the labs in the basement of the Cathedral of Learning and on the first floor of Hillman Library. There are also numerous Macs and PCs available for use on the third and fourth floors of Hillman. See our links page for more information on Pitt's computer labs. Later in the summer, we will be offering an extracurricular class on Slavic-related WWW resources.
The Summer Language Institutes are not only about rigourous academics! We have created an extensive Cultural Program for our students, which fulfills a number of functions. First of all, the activities help students to offset the stress of intensive language study. Secondly, they provide a glimpse into the cultures of the target languages. And finally, the various activities let us all get to know each other, creating a sense of Institute-wide community.
Each year we run film and lecture series, web seminars, cooking classes, and singing and dancing lessons. We have All-Institute picnics and "ethnic" happy hours (i.e., sponsored by the various language classes). If there is interest, we also run field trips to a local Russian Orthodox Church, an art gallery specializing in Russian and East European art, and tours of the University's Nationalities rooms.
Please refer to the "General Plan" for a complete list of extracurricular and social activities. The plan will be updated periodically during the summer.
Check out our links page for more information about University and Pittsburgh happenings. Also try stopping by the Pittsburgh Visitor's Bureau office in the small log cabin on Forbes Avenue, just outside the Cathedral of Learning and alongside the Stephen Foster Memorial Theater.