E. Maxine Bruhns, Director Nationality Rooms and Intercultural Exchange Programs University of Pittsburgh oil on canvas 16 x 20 2007

Artist Statement:

Eleanor Maxine Bruhns has served as director of the University of the Pittsburgh Nationality Rooms

and Intercultural Exchange Programs since 1965.  She is only the second director to hold this position

since the Nationality Rooms were established in 1938 by sociologist Ruth Crawford Mitchell

as a way to remind students of the immigrant cultures that made Pittsburgh an industrial powerhouse

and place it on the international map. "I see the Nationality Rooms as an integral part of not just the University, but the city,”

says Maxine Bruhns. “They are valuable symbols that must be preserved."

In a sentimental tribute to her friends in the Middle East, Ms. Bruhns chose to have her portrait created

in the fragile setting of the Syrian Room.

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