Classrooms Without Walls
The semester-long Kenyon in Rome and Florence Program will give students the chance to live in the center of Italy's historical hubs while they study with a member of Kenyon's faculty. The course offerings, which vary from year to year, will include such topics as American expatriate artists in Rome and Florence, archaeology, art history, art and theology, architectural history, Florentine culture, Italian language, monuments and culture of Rome, and photographic documentation of art and architecture.
According to art history professor Kristen Van Ausdall, one of three Kenyon faculty members who will take turns directing the program each year, studying art history in Italy is a transforming experience. "To be able to see art and architecture up close means everything. When a student is able to go beyond the two-dimensional forms offered in textbooks and slides, it brings a new dynamic to the learning experience," she says. "Rome and Florence become classrooms without walls."
The Kenyon in Rome and Florence Program is open only to Kenyon students. Some 15 students will be chosen each year from eligible candidates to attend. February 1, 2005, is the application deadline for the spring 2006 semester.
In addition to the courses taught in Italy, Kenyon offers two other successful study-abroad programs. The yearlong Kenyon-Exeter Program brings students to the University of Exeter in England for literary study. The Kenyon-Honduras Program, led by two Kenyon anthropologists, gives students opportunities ranging from archaeological fieldwork to ethnography to producing cultural studies, combining seminars on Central America with independent research projects.
About 40 percent of Kenyon students spend a semester or year off campus. They participate in any of 150 approved programs in 70 different countries.
For more information about the Kenyon in Rome and Florence Program, contact Kenyon's Office of International Education or Professor of Art History Melissa Dabakis.