Pizza and books combine to create a delicious education

Senior Alex Zimmerman, who has been participating in an Honors College reading group since he… Senior Alex Zimmerman, who has been participating in an Honors College reading group since he was a freshman, said only one thing kept him coming back every year.

“It’s the pizza,” he joked.

The University Honors College hosts and funds a variety of reading groups each semester open to all Pitt students. Pizza and Plays and Pizza and Prose are just two of the reading groups offered to students, combining food with reading in a discussion-based environment.

Mike Giazzoni, the director of student assistantships at the Honors College, runs Pizza and Plays, which meets once a week during the academic year.

“I got involved because it seemed like a good way to get involved in the Honors College community,” Zimmerman said.

As a political science and philosophy major, Zimmerman likes that a variety of students participate in Pizza and Plays. Rather than a select group of theater and English literature majors, Pizza and Plays encourages students from all disciplines to join the group.

Giazzoni, who founded Pizza and Plays in the spring of 2003 and is its current faculty adviser, said he sought to create an open space for students from all different majors.

“We attempt to get people in the group from across the disciplines. So, the last thing I wanted was all literature and theater majors sitting around and discussing in highfalutin literary criticism language,” he said.

Giazzoni, who has a background in English literature, believes that plays are a nice length for discussion and inspire students to expand their imaginations in the short meeting times.

Students from various undergraduate academic fields choose to participate in the reading groups, allowing for diverse perspectives to flourish in the discussion. Pizza and Plays and Pizza and Prose welcome all students, regardless of their knowledge of the subject.

Pizza and Prose provides members with a variety of subjects to read. Rather than maintaining a status quo, the program crosses into a variety of topics. In past semesters, the group has delved into science, religion and freedom-hating. This past semester, however, Pizza and Prose read an anthology. The group seeks to transcend academic disciplines and establish an intellectual community for its members.

Nathan Hilberg, the director of academic affairs at the Honors College, runs Pizza and Prose, which started in 2001. After beginning his job at the Honors College, he wanted to get more involved with the students.

“We try to read the real stuff that would be of appeal to the students across the disciplines,” he said. “That’s the hallmark of Pizza and Prose.”

Both faculty-run reading groups are discussion-based. The last thing that Giazzoni and Hilberg want is to lecture students on the texts. Instead, they serve as facilitators of the discussion, helping to guide students when necessary.

Regardless of major, year or GPA, students can join a group to further their reading education. There are no prerequisites to the groups, but students are required to read the assigned texts before the meetings so that they can take part in group discussion.

The members of the two groups select the readings that their group will focus on throughout the semester. Students have the opportunity to read things that might not come up in class.

Both groups tend to stick to their restrictions, but generally they allow for any suggested text. With a free range of topics, students can explore many interesting themes, from contemporary Chinese theater to prose that addresses science and religion.

This past semester, Zimmerman selected Harold Pinter’s “The Homecoming” for Pizza and Plays. Although “The Homecoming” is a difficult play, Zimmerman said he was pleased with the group’s discussion and thought the play led to some interesting conversation points.

“We only have 50 minutes, so it’s not like a graduate seminar. But there are times when you can really get pretty deep into a conversation,” he said.

Zimmerman thinks the reading groups are critical in creating genuine, interdisciplinary conversations. Because the groups discuss the different texts, they are able to have fruitful conversations with students from different subject areas.

“You can’t expect people to know everything about drama theory,” Zimmerman said. “There are conventions in play writing that wouldn’t be obvious to someone not in the discipline. You’re talking to a room of smart people who don’t know what you’re talking about.”

But regardless of tastes in reading material, there is always one thing that keeps students united at both Pizza and Plays and Pizza and Prose.

“The pizza. Come for the pizza and stay for the engaging discussion,” Zimmerman said.