“The Pinewood Scholars Series I”
June 5, 2016

“Education, the Humanities and Cultural Heritage”
Our first Pinewood Scholars Series was a definite success. Six dynamic
women, all members of the wider Pinewood community joined forces and
through their presentations incited the members of our conference to
think how important “Education, the Humanities and Cultural Heritage” are for our own lives and the Dr. Roxanne Giampapa
is the Director of Pinewood American International School and a strong
supporter of providing opportunities for scholarly dialogue to the
Pinewood community. Thus, together with the vision of her colleague, Mrs. Amalia Spiliakou,
the Pinewood Scholars Series has become a reality and the first year in
what will be a long tradition of inviting our own Pinewood families and
friends of the school to share their areas of expertise in a forum
which allows for thought-provoking discourse, opens the mind to new
ideas and brings together dynamic groups of people.
Pinewood’s Conference was greatly supported by the Thessaloniki Cinema Museum-Cinematheque and Mrs. Argyro Mesimeri,
EUforia Program Coordinator and Head of Thessaloniki Cinemateque,
warmly welcomed our guests to the Takis Kanelopoulos Auditorium in the
Thessaloniki Cinema Museum-Cinematheque, which was impeccably prepared
to receive our guests and speakers.
Dr. Elizabeth Duclos-Orsello,Ph.D., is a Fulbright
Scholar, Greece 2015-16, and an Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary
Studies and Director of American Studies in Salem State University
(USA). In her talk Dr. Duclos-Orsello, encouraging the audience to
participate answering questions, discussed the public value of the
humanities and illustrated some of the many ways people might make use
of the knowledge, skills and competencies of the humanities to ensure a
strong future at the personal, local, national, and global levels. The
audience was invited to consider the ways in which the humanities allow
each of us to better understand and contribute to the world in which we
live.
Dr. Eurydice Georganteli, Ph.D. is Marie Curie Senior
Research Fellow, European Commission for Research and Innovation
(2013-2016) at Harvard University and the University of Birmingham, UK,
Keeper of Coins at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts and Lecturer in
Numismatics at the University of Birmingham since 2000, and starting
July 2016, she will be joining Harvard University as Lecturer on
Byzantine Art and Architecture. In her talk Dr. Georganteli introduced
the Via Egnatia as one of Europe’s longest, oldest and most significant
cultural routes and explained its course in history. Egnatia’s priceless
tangible and intangible heritage, shared between Greece, Turkey, the
Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Albania, concluded Dr.
Georgnteli, needs to be part of European heritage education, so that
regional and inter-regional research initiatives and study programs
could materialize.
Mrs. Maria Koloni is Academic Head of the EUphoria
Project and a Museologist/Museum Educator with the Thessaloniki Cinema
Museum. Twice this year Mrs. Koloni captivated our students’ attention
as she unfolded for them the very first steps of cinematography. As
Academic Head of EUforia, a wonderful European Community program on
creating a student Documentary, Mrs. Koloni explained all parameters of
the Program our Pinewood Grade 6 students are so excited to participate.
Mrs. Amalia Spiliakou is an Art Historian and Pinewood’s Host Country Studies Coordinator since 1996. Her Interdisciplinary Pinewood courses touch upon various aspects of the Humanities and focus on Greek cultural heritage. A strong advocate of “The Pinewood Scholars Series,” Mrs. Spiliakou presided at the Conference session. Introducing the speakers, she explained how both speakers influenced her teaching content/methodology, presenting as lovely proof, examples of Pinewood student work.
The Pinewood Scholars Series I, Organizing Committee