SMU hosts two summer study abroad programs to Italy.
SMU-in-Italy
June 1 – July 2, 2009
Italy is a country rich in
scenery, history, art, and culture. The SMU-in-Italy program offers students
the opportunity to live and study in this fascinating country while being
introduced to the variety and diversity of its geography and culture. This
program focuses on the fine and performing arts in Italy and is designed to
teach through first hand experiences. The archaeological sites, museums,
palaces and churches of cities such as Pompeii, Assisi, Siena, Florence,
Orvieto, and Rome will serve as living classrooms. These first-hand
experiences with Italian culture will be supplemented by lectures that
provide historical, social and cultural context. The SMU-in-Italy program
was founded in 1985 and has introduced over six hundred students from SMU
and other universities to Italy.
This year's program will be
based in Orvieto, a medieval hill town in Umbria with a rich history dating
back to the Etruscans. Students will have the opportunity to live and
study in the cradle of Italian language and culture (Tuscany and Umbria),
and to explore Rome, the "eternal city" and capital of Italy. Early in the
program, the group travels south to Pompeii and the Naples area to
experience a broad span of cultural history in the colorful south. Each week
the entire group goes on one or more extended field trips to spectacular
sites.
June 27 – August 8, 2009
Poggio Colla, an Etruscan hilltop settlement about twenty-two miles northeast of Florence, is being excavated by an international team of archaeologists sponsored by Southern Methodist University, the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, and Franklin and Marshall College. The site spans most of Etruscan history, from the seventh century to the end of the second century BCE, and, judging by its placement and layout, seems to have been the political and ceremonial center of the Mugello and Sieve valleys. The first fourteen seasons of excavation (1995-2008) revealed three major phases, including an extraordinarily rich 7th-5th century phase that includes the remains of a monumental temple, and a fourth and third century BCE phase when the site seems to have been turned into a fortified stronghold. In the 2009 season students will continue to excavate the acropolis and neighboring areas in order to resolve issues raised by the first fourteen seasons of excavation. Students will also be involved with research in the laboratory, helping to study and catalogue finds, and researching specific classes of the material culture.
A student may submit an application to the Education Abroad Office beginning
on January 20, 2009. Applications
should be submitted no later than March 1, 2009. Space is limited, so apply
early. It
is possible this program may be full before the March 1
deadline