Pitt-Greensburg Offers Unique Digital Humanities Program

 

The Center for Digital Text is in session. The Center helps mine and process texts and convert them to readable code. Open to both students and faculty, it helps people interested in digital methods fine-tune their skills.

“Nobody offers a program quite like we do,” Dr. Elisa Beshero-Bondar said.

Dr. Beshero-Bondar is the Center Director. Every spring, she teaches a three-day “crash course” on coding open to the public. She said people have travelled across the country for the Coding School.

Pitt-Greensburg faculty are encouraged to take classes through the Center to continue their educations in digital methods. Five faculty members are funded to attend an annual five-day conference at the University of Victoria in Canada. Each workshop there costs around $900 to attend.

“It’s actually really exciting for us to go back to school again,” she said. She will be teaching a workshop on XPath in Victoria this upcoming year.

A Digital Studies Certificate is available for students. Typically taking two years to complete, this certificate trains students in coding, research, and design. Dr. Beshero-Bondar called Pitt-Greensburg’s digital humanities program “unusual” in its comprehensiveness.

“This is the sort of thing grad students are looking for, which is why they’re coming to us,” she said.

Rebecca Parker, who graduated from Pitt-Greensburg in April, now works as a research assistant with the Center.

“My current position here is entirely due to my experience and love of digital studies,” Parker said. “I’m really proud to be at the forefront of this new and exciting program.”