There are many ways to explore the historic diversity of the Pittsburgh region. Thirty one of them are nestled in the Cathedral of Learning in Pittsburgh — the Nationality Rooms at the University of Pittsburgh.
The rooms themselves are a first-of-their-kind initiative in the United States, and serve as community spaces where visitors and students can experience the rich cultural heritage of the communities who inspired and supported their creation.
Kati Csoman, director of the Nationality Rooms and Intercultural Exchange Programs of the University of Pittsburgh, spoke to WESA's Priyanka Tewari about the nationality rooms and the Indian Room's yearly celebration of India Day.
Tewari: How did the concept of the nationality rooms come about?
Csoman: So back in the 1920s, when the Cathedral of Learning was being designed by the then chancellor, John Bowman, he had an assistant, Ruth Crawford Mitchell. She was an economist and a sociologist who was working with students, second generation students, and learning more about the immigrant communities through those students and their families. So, at the time the chancellor ran out of money to continue building the Cathedral of Learning, Ruth Crawford Mitchell and he had a conversation or conversations, and decided to reach out to these local ethnic immigrant communities and ask them to fundraise and design rooms to be built as classrooms, at that time, on the first floor of the Cathedral of Learning.
The Indian room will be celebrating India Day this Sunday. Can you tell us a little bit about what people can expect?
This is the 21st celebration of India Day. The theme this year is, the music of India. There will be food vendors on the first floor of the Cathedral of Learning commons. There will be performances throughout the day of music and dance. And theIndian Nationality Room will be open for visitors to have a small guided tour of the space, and to understand more about that particular design for the space, and the meaning of that space to the Indian community in the Pittsburgh area.
How did you first get involved with the Nationality Rooms?
I received a scholarship from the Hungarian Room committee. That's my ethnic background. I studied abroad in Hungary and when I came back to Pittsburgh, I went to graduate school here at Pitt. After working at the American Embassy in Budapest I continued working in international education, moved to central Pa., and served as a committee officer for the Hungarian Room committee for many years, and was a volunteer with the committee.
Do you see the Nationality and Heritage rooms as important spaces for diversity on campus, and especially with the Supreme Court having struck down Affirmative Action in admissions, does that ruling change your mission in any way?
So I describe the Nationality and Heritage rooms as, really, the university's first commitment to diversity. And so it really is about learning from and learning with one another. And I believe that the rooms themselves, the spaces, and the volunteers can help to broaden the university's mission for diversity and inclusion.
The Indian Nationality Room's India Day takes place August 20, 2023, at the Cathedral of Learning. More information is available here.
