Academic Offerings
The Italy Center offers courses on a rotating basis each year. Below you will find the courses listed by semester linked to their full course descriptions. Please note the following items when considering your course schedule (applicable to semester programs only):
- All courses are three (3) credits unless otherwise noted
- 12-15 total credit hours per semester (any more must be approved by the Director)
- Minimum three (3) credits of Italian; Upper level Italian (2XX-3XX) requires prior academic credit in lower level Italian courses.
- HUM 295 and 490 are permission only and have separate applications (see each course for details)
- Course offerings are tentative. Finalization of offerings is based on course enrollment numbers and student interest.
(As part of the Immersion component of the program, completion of one semester of ITA is mandatory during both the Spring and Fall semesters, regardless of the level.)
Download the IC Academic Curriculum as a PDF (updated document available soon)
Fall Semester
Art Sciences
Art History 299: Northern Art in the Renaissance Period
ARH 299 Syllabus
Due to its central position throughout the centuries, Bologna has always been a place where foreigners stopped during their travels, contributing to the spread of new ideas. The University itself, with its importance and antiquity, encouraged the cultural development of the town. In particular, the Sack of Rome in 1527, the coronation of Charles V in 1530, the 1547 spring session of the Council of Trent held in Bologna are all critical events that modified the artistic and cultural climate of the town. This course analyzes the lively atmosphere present in Bologna and Northern Italy in that period. Many lessons will be held in churches, palaces, or museums to understand better the context of the various works of art (approximate costs of entrance fees will be $70).
Art 254: Introduction to Photography & Video Production
This course will examine, on a basic level, the nature and importance of the audiovisual medium today in the areas of artistic expression and documentary or social commentary. This will be accomplished primarily in photo and short video assignments covering a variety of basic techniques, using mobile devices and digital cameras. (SHCIC camera provided). Also offered as CMM 254. Refundable deposit for equipment use required.
Communications 254:
Introduction to Photography & Video Production
This course will examine, on a basic level, the nature and importance of the audiovisual medium today in the areas of artistic expression and documentary or social commentary. This will be accomplished primarily in photo and short video assignments covering a variety of basic techniques, using mobile devices and digital cameras. (SHCIC camera provided). Also offered as ART 254. Refundable deposit for equipment use required.
Communications 376: Intercultural Communication
CMM 376 Syllabus
Develops an understanding of the communication processes in the context of cultural plurality. Students explore how meaning is formed within cultural frameworks and examine contemporary social phenomena, such as diversity, multiculturalism, transnational media and worldwide popular culture. Also offered as BUS 376.
Business
Business 320: International Business
BUS 320 Syllabus
This course provides an overview of business in an international environment, incorporating international transactions’ economic, management, marketing, and financial implications. Topics include exchange rates, trade policy, international institutions, global theory, and cultural aspects in the business realm. This course will place a particular emphasis on the role of Italy and Europe in the global marketplace.
Business 376: Intercultural Communication
BUS 376 Syllabus
Develops an understanding of the communication processes in the context of cultural plurality. Students explore how meaning is formed within cultural frameworks and examine contemporary social phenomena, such as diversity, multiculturalism, transnational media and worldwide popular culture. Also offered as CMM 376.
Finance 321: Money & Capital Markets
FIN 321 Syllabus
This money and capital markets course emphasizes the connections between the financial system, financial institutions, central banks, monetary policy and financial stability. The aim of the course is to give students an overview of the U.S. financial system and an understanding of the theory and practice of monetary policy. Students will see different financial systems from different countries (in particular, in Italy and the European Union) and try to build a solid investment portfolio and see how it evolves throughout the course using a stock market simulator.
Interdisciplinary
Gender Studies 397: Gender Issues in Italy
Students will be introduced to the main topics and keywords related to feminism and gender studies throughout the course, focusing on their meaning and applicability to the Italian context. Each topic will be approached in two steps. First, a theoretical approach serves as a reference point in confronting real-life dilemmas. Second, a practical approach is offered through a workshop complemented by case studies, offering students the opportunity to delve deeper into actual experiences and observe Italian reality.
The course stresses the non-dominant role of women throughout the world and in Italy. In particular, Italian culture’s specificities related to gender in the past and present day.
Interdisciplinary Studies 397: Gender Issues in Italy
Students will be introduced to the main topics and keywords related to feminism and gender studies throughout the course, focusing on their meaning and applicability to the Italian context. Each topic will be approached in two steps. First, a theoretical approach serves as a reference point in confronting real-life dilemmas. Second, a practical approach is offered through a workshop complemented by case studies, offering students the opportunity to delve deeper into actual experiences and observe Italian reality.
The course stresses the non-dominant role of women throughout the world and in Italy. In particular, Italian culture’s specificities related to gender in the past and present day.
Internship & Research Opportunities
Humanities 295: Directed Undergraduate Research
The Spring Hill College Italy Center Director will work with a student and his home campus adviser to assist in designing an academic research project. The project goals and objectives are to be agreed upon by the student with his/her home campus professor. The Italy Center will assist in aligning the student with community resources to include a faculty advisor. Examples of undergraduate research projects include a study of sibling relationships in a Bologna Rom (gypsy) camp and Italian language acquisition among immigrant North African children compared to their parent’s language abilities. Independent studies will be approved solely for students who exhibit a prior track record of academic excellence and an ability to work independently.
Humanities 490: Social Justice Internship
Professional experience through a semester of directed part-time internship at a local cultural, business, or not-for-profit Bologna agency. Enrollment is restricted and will require a two-month advance correspondence with the Spring Hill College Italy Center Internship Coordinator. Students are expected to work a minimum of ten hours per week in a community agency. Placements are available in both the English and Italian languages.
Languages & Literature
English 320: Literature–Mediterranean Place, Race, & Language
ENG 320 Syllabus
This course will focus on literary texts that deal with travel/displacement and conflict, difference, and alienation while engaging in a new place, culture, and language. The novellas, poems, novels, and short stories, written between the high middle ages and the end of the last century, from primarily Italy, but also England and the United States, will mirror and help students to make sense of some of the things that they are experiencing this semester as they travel throughout Italy.
Italian 101: Elementary Italian I
The primary goal of this course is to introduce students to the Italian language. This intensive course combines a typical semester’s worth of material into a five-week session. Emphasis will be placed on developing speaking, listening – comprehension, reading and writing expressions, and grammar sufficient to support these. Students can expect to learn about modern Italy through in-class activities and homework assignments, including geography, culture, history, and society. Spring Hill students can practice daily class lessons in one’s life in the residence hall. The majority of Friday’s will include a cultural trip, allowing one to practice his/her language skills in the city while offering exposure to some of the hidden treasures, markets, and galleries of Bologna.
Italian 102: Elementary Italian II
The primary goal of this course is to introduce students to the Italian language. This intensive course combines a typical semester’s worth of material into a five-week session. Emphasis will be placed on developing speaking, listening – comprehension, reading and writing expressions, and grammar sufficient to support these. Students can expect to learn about modern Italy through in-class activities and homework assignments, including geography, culture, history, and society. Spring Hill students can practice daily class lessons in one’s life in the residence hall. The majority of Friday’s will include a cultural trip, allowing one to practice his/her language skills in the city while offering exposure to some of the hidden treasures, markets, and galleries of Bologna.
Italian 201: Intermediate Italian
The primary goal of this course is to advance students in the Italian language. Aspects of teaching will entail: reading, analysis, and class discussion of texts (articles, songs, short stories), oral presentations based on research on the newspapers, writing homework assignments (compositions, essays, journal). This course is conducted entirely in Italian. There is an emphasis on developing speaking, listening – comprehension, reading and writing expressions, and grammar sufficient to support these. Spring Hill students can practice daily class lessons in one’s life in the residence hall. Dedicated Fridays will include a cultural trip, allowing one to practice his/her language skills in the city while offering exposure to some of the hidden treasures, markets, and galleries of Bologna. Students are required to have taken two semesters of Italian at the collegiate level.
Italian 205 (1-3): Contemporary Italian Readings
A course devoted to topics of interest to students and faculty. Students are required to have taken two semesters of Italian at the collegiate level
Italian 381: Advanced Italian
The primary goal of this course is to advance students in the Italian language. Aspects of teaching will entail: reading, analysis, and class discussion of texts (articles, songs, short stories), oral presentations based on research on the newspapers, writing homework assignments (compositions, essays, journal). This course is conducted entirely in Italian. There is an emphasis on developing speaking, listening – comprehension, reading and writing expressions, and grammar sufficient to support these. Spring Hill students can practice daily class lessons in one’s life in the residence hall. Dedicated Fridays will include a cultural trip, allowing one to practice his/her language skills in the city while offering exposure to some of the hidden treasures, markets, and galleries of Bologna. Students are required to have taken three/four semesters of Italian at the collegiate level.
Philosophy & Theology
Philosophy 214: Environmental Ethics
PHL 214 Syllabus
The course will examine the philosophical issues of environmental ethics and the following questions: Environmental science’s competing paradigms, historical roots of the environmental predicament, animal rights, and the idea of a sustainable society. The semester begins with studying the “myths” of the origin of humanity in ancient Greece (Prometheus) and the biblical tradition (Genesis). Chronologically the material will proceed, arriving at a late semester review of contemporary authors. The closing sessions will address recent developments regarding their implications on the future of human nature.
Theology 261: World Religions
This course studies religious faith as a central fact of history and world culture through a reflective interpretation of significant historical and theological documents. The survey course is anchored in the literature of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism.
Theology 345: Religion & Culture
A study of religious faith as a central fact of history and world culture through a reflective interpretation of major literary, historical, and theological documents.
Science & Mathematics
Biology 120: Farms to Pharmaceuticals
BIO 120 Syllabus
A survey of plants and plant products used by people for food, medicine, clothing, and shelter. This course is intended as an introduction to economic botany for non-science majors. By the end of this course students will obtain a better understanding of the role plants play in everyday life and gain a greater appreciation for the natural world as it relates to the global community.
Service – Learning Opportunities
Social Science 295: Human Rights & Global Change
SSC 295 Syllabus
Community-Based Research and Service–Designed to acquaint students with the leading human rights issues confronting Italy and Europe, the course focuses on the changing face of the Mediterranean as new immigrants groups are arriving at unprecedented numbers while fleeing dictatorships in the Arab world. The class will concentrate on how Italians, the media, the Italian government, and the European Union are protecting (or failing to protect) immigrants and political asylum seekers fleeing from nations at war or on the verge of collapse. This course will bring students in direct contact with immigrants themselves. Students are required to conduct a minimum of 24 hours of community-based research and service work in the community.
Social Sciences
History 322: Europe Since 1945
HIS 322 Syllabus
Emphasis is on the postwar period, the Cold War, politics, decolonization, the European Union, the changes in Eastern Europe, and contemporary developments.
Political Science 161: International Politics
POL 161 Syllabus
This course introduces the major concepts, issues, and theories in the political science subfield of international relations (IR). In particular, it considers that the international system is still fundamentally anarchical, meaning that there is no centralized authority capable of enforcing norms and imposing behavior on the actors involved. This generates conflicts of values that can be solved through various instruments, such as war, peace operations, and international institutions.
Political Science 375: Terrorism, Revolution & War
A central theme in this course is to figure out the extent to which wars are the purposeful, rational pursuit of policy or the result of seemingly inexorably forces over which there is little control. The course will explore the dilemmas both countries and international organizations face when addressing political violence in their own country and/or abroad. At the end of the semester, students will develop a deep understanding of the political and moral justifications for resorting to force when confronting political violence.
Psychology 263: Statistics for Social Sciences (Introduction to Statistics)
PSY 263 Syllabus
An introductory course in understanding, applying, and interpreting statistics. The course will focus on the assumptions and concepts behind common statistical techniques in order to understand how and why statistics are used across various disciplines. Basic descriptive and inferential statistics are covered including measures of central tendency and variability, t-tests, analysis of variance, chi square correlation and simple regression.