Happenings

Exhibitions

Phipps Conservatory, Orchid and Tropical Bonsai Show, featuring colorful orchids and skillfully pruned tropical bonsai trees, through Feb. 28, 1 Schenley Park, Oakland, www.phipps.conservatory.org 

Carnegie Museum of Art, Silver to Steel: The Modern Designs of Peter Muller-Munk, a showcase of Muller-Munk’s 4-decade career as a pioneering Pittsburgh educator, silversmith, and industrial designer, through March 14; The Propeller Group: The Living Need Light, The Dead Need Music, the funerary traditions of South Vietnam through a visual, musical reenactment, through March 21; Jane Haskell’s Modernism: A Pittsburgh Legacy, showcasing the artist and former museum board member’s own artworks and pieces from her private collection, through May 16, Teenie Harris Photographs: Great Performances Offstage, celebrates performances of all kinds as produced or experienced by Pittsburgh’s African American community and captured by Pittsburgh’s beloved photographer, through July 17, 4400 Forbes Ave., Oakland, www.cmoa.org

Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pterosaurs: Flight in the Age of Dinosaurs, featuring the largest exhibit of flying reptiles ever mounted in the United States, through May 22, 4400 Forbes Ave., Oakland, www.carnegiemnh.org 

Lectures/Seminars/Readings

“Conversations on Europe: Whose Legacy? Museums and Debates over National Heritage,” Allyson Delnore, associate director, Pitt European Studies Center, examines the ethical and legal questions that European and North American museums face in debates about art repatriation, conservation, and national vs. universal heritage, noon Feb. 16, 4217 Posvar Hall, University Center for European Studies, www.ucis.pitt.edu

“Institute for International Studies in Education Symposium Lecture,” three visiting scholars from the Institute for International Studies in Education discuss their findings on funding in higher education, the employability of PhD graduates, and the impact of market economy on higher education, noon Feb. 17, 5604 Posvar Hall, Pitt School of Education, www.iise.pitt.edu

“Career Porn: Blogging and the Good Life,” Gabriella Lukacs, faculty fellow, Pitt Department of Anthropology and Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies Program, discusses material taken from her book manuscript, Diva Entrepreneurs: Gender and Labor in the Digital Economy, 4 p.m. Feb. 18, 401 Cathedral of Learning, Pitt Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies Program, www.wstudies.pitt.edu

“China and Latin America: Chinese Migration in Cuba, Mexico, and Peru,” Elliot Young, professor of Latin American and borderlands history at Lewis & Clark College, traces the pivotal century of Chinese migration to Latin America, beginning with the 1840s, 3 p.m. Feb. 19, 4130 Posvar Hall, University Asian Studies Center, Center for Latin American Studies, www.ucis.pitt.edu

“Frankenstein’s Skeleton,” Wendell Piez, general editor of the academic journal Digital Humanities Quarterly, uses Mary Shelley’s masterpiece to discuss how computationally tractable forms of text lead to more peculiar interrogations, 4 p.m. Feb. 19, Humanities Center, 602 Cathedral of Learning, University Honors College, Humanities Center, www.humcenter.pitt.edu

“Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis,” Robert Putnam, professor of public policy, Harvard University, and recipient of the 2012 National Humanities Medal, discusses educational disparities and how the disciplines of the humanities can join to address the consequences, 2 p.m. Feb. 22, University Club Ballroom B, University Honors College, Dick Thornburgh Forum for Law and Public Policy, www.thornburghforum.pitt.edu

“Sounding New Socialities,” panel discussion featuring George Lewis, Edwin H. Case Professor of American Music, Columbia University, brings together social scientists, musicologists, technologists, and artists to explore how sound serves as a key component of individual, social, political, technological, and cultural formation, 6 p.m. Feb. 23, Frick Fine Arts Auditorium, Year of the Humanities in the University, Pitt Department of Music, www.music.pitt.edu

“Are My Pants Lowering Your Test Scores? Blaming Girls for Challenges Facing Boys,” Sara Goodkind, associate professor, Pitt School of Social Work, 4 p.m. Feb. 25, 1228 Cathedral of Learning, Pitt Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies Program, www.wstudies.pitt.edu

“A Power Stronger Than Itself,” George Lewis, Edwin H. Case Professor of American Music, Columbia University, discusses the idea that the practice of musical improvisation is not limited to the artistic domain, but is a ubiquitous practice of everyday life, 6 p.m. Feb. 25, Frick Fine Arts Auditorium, Pitt Department of Music, www.music.pitt.edu

“Queer/Asian Filipinos in Oregon: A Trans*Colonial Approach,” Kale Fajardo, professor, University of Minnesota’s Department of American Studies and Asian American Studies Program, addresses racialized and classed nonconforming genders across geographies and temporalities, 6 p.m. Feb. 29, 602 Cathedral of Learning, Pitt Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies Program, The Humanities Center, www.wstudies.pitt.edu

“Our Present Contemporaneity: Divisive Difference and the Emergent Commons,” Terry Smith, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Contemporary Art History and Theory, Pitt Department of the History of Art and Architecture, examines how inequalities between nations and cultures affects contemporary politics, sociality, economic exchange, and aesthetic creativity, 6 p.m. Feb. 29, Frick Fine Arts Lecture Theatre, Global Studies Center, Year of the Humanities in the University, www.ucis.pitt.edu

“Beyond the University: Why Liberal Education Matters,” Michael S. Roth, Wesleyan University president, will discuss his book of the same name, 7 p.m. March 2, Ballroom B, Pitt’s University Club, College of General Studies, Humanities Center, and Dietrich School, Year of the Humanities in the University, www.humanities.pitt.edu

Opera/Theater/Dance

Rhinoceros, written by acclaimed Romanian-French playwright Eugene Ionesco; directed by Claire Syler, adjunct professor, Pitt Department of Theatre Arts; tells the story of what happens to the citizenry when a rhinoceros suddenly appears in a small town, Feb.18-28, Studio Theatre, Pitt Department of Theatre Arts, Year of the Humanities in the University, www.play.pitt.edu

Heinz Chapel Chamber Choir Festival, features three high school chamber choirs from the region, with each performing several a cappella works, 3:30 p.m. Feb. 21, Heinz Chapel, Pitt Department of Music, www.music.pitt.edu

Spooky Interaction, featuring trombonist George Lewis and his interactive music performance software, Voyager, which creates a new concert experience by connecting performers at Pitt, University of California Irvine, and SF Jazz via the Internet2, 8 p.m. Feb. 26, Bellefield Hall Auditorium, www.music.pitt.edu 

Miscellaneous

Ghosts of Amistad, award-winning film produced by Pitt Distinguished Professor of History Marcus Rediker, will air on WQED World Channel 2, 8 p.m. Feb. 22; 1 a.m., 9 a.m., and 3 p.m. Feb. 23; and 5 a.m. Feb. 27, www.wqed.org

Fourth Annual Seed and Plant Swap, get ready for the gardening season with this annual gathering at Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, 4400 Forbes Ave., Oakland; gardening experts will be available, 11 a.m. Feb. 27, Oakland, www.phipps.conservatory.org 

PhD Dissertations

Courtney Lynn Andersen, Pitt School of Medicine’s Department of Molecular Pharmacology, “Targeting Estrogen Receptor as a Strategy for Personalized Medicine in Ovarian Cancer, ” 9 a.m. Feb. 16, 1395 Biomedical Science Tower

Mansi Ashish Shah, Pitt School of Medicine’s Center for Neuroscience, “Analysis of ADP Receptor Signaling Pathways in Nociceptors and Implications for Inflammatory Pain,” 1:30 p.m. Feb. 18, 1495 Biomedical Science Tower 

Anthony Comegna, Dietrich School’s Department of History, “‘The Dupes of Hope Forever:’ The Loco-Foco or Equal Rights Movement, 1820s-1870s,” noon Feb. 19, History Conference Room, 3703 Posvar Hall

Kristina Swanenburg, Dietrich School’s Department of Psychology, “Reaction to Deviates and Conformers: The Effect of Regulatory Fit,” 1 p.m. Feb. 22, 4127 Sennott Square

Tucker S. Ferda, Dietrich School’s Department of Religious Studies, “Jesus and the Galilean Crisis: Interpretation, Reception, and History,” 8:30 a.m. Feb. 29, 2628 Cathedral of Learning