All courses are 3 credits, with the exception of ITAL 101, ITAL 103, and ITAL 197.
 

Fall 2026 Visiting Professor Courses

       
FIN391R - Historical Evolution of Money, Banking & Financial Institutions with Emphasize on Italy
This course provides the historical evolution of the money and banking system dating back to 2000 BC in Assyria, India, Sumeria and later in ancient Greece and Roman Empire. The crucial historical development of the banking system started during the medieval and Renaissance in Italy and in particular the affluent city of Florence and Genoa by the Bardi and Peruzzi families in 14th century with the Medici Bank. This development spread from northern Italy throughout the Holy Roman Empire during 15th and 16th century followed by other developments in Amsterdam in the 17th century and in London since the 18th century. We will follow other developments in Europe and America to the present time including the financial crisis of 2007-2008 and the rise of the Europe Union. We attempt to show the historical, political and economic reasons for these developments during each period and their impacts. This course is based on class lecture, seminars and visiting significant historical sites in Italy.
Instructor: Reza Saidi
      
MGT381R - The Business Environment in the European Union
This course provides an overview of historical steps which lead to the establishment of the European Union and the related institutions, a brief introduction to current EU enlargement policies, and an in-depth understanding of the EU business environment.  Specifically, the course utilizes case studies and/or problem solving to offer participants a hands-on familiarity with business practices and effective strategies for conducting business in the EU from the perspective of European managers as well as non-European multinational corporations in a wide variety of industries. The course is taught through lectures, seminars, and the use of case studies and/or problem solving.
Note: This course requires MKT345 and one Economics course (For example, ECON100/101/102/104 or/HSSS101/102 or SRES101/102).
Instructor: Reza Saidi
     
ARPL 401: Architectural Design IV
This studio has students choose from among several projects developed by different critics that cover different issues. In all cases, however, projects build upon the formal and tectonic body of knowledge explored in 200 and 300 level studios, though of increased scale and programmatic complexity. They require students to take project development to a greater level with emphasis on design across a range of scales including that of the region, the city, the building, the interiors, the furniture, and/or the detail. Since students with the best projects earn places in our foreign studies program, competition between them raises the bar for verbal and visual communication.
Instructor: Lavinia Fici Pasquina
  
ARPL 601: Graduate Studio I
These courses explore advanced ideas in design as related to any of the several graduate concentrations operating within our program. These concentrations ask students to go beyond Each concentration studio focuses on the design of a project related to that concentration, with the three studies within a given concentration varying by theme rather than by educational level. For more specific information, see the supplemental course description for a particular concentration.
Instructor: Lavinia Fici Pasquina
      
ARPL 408: On Drawing: The Art of Visual Storytelling
On Drawing is a highly participatory investigation into the process of drawing as it applies to understanding architecture, the built and natural environments, how we think about architecture through drawing and how we design with drawing. Hand drawing is depicted as a critical approach in the continuum of architectural drawing that exists alongside digital drawing. Weekly assignments will focus on the use of different drawing media and methods, sketching, figure, thumbnails, diagrams, all to enhance skills and insights that help the evolving architect see architectural experience as a bodily, formal, expressive, meaningful and important part of life.  
Instructor: Lavinia Fici Pasquina
   

General Education Courses

**Offered every semester**
     
CLAS 318R / CLAS 518R Art & Architecture of Ancient Rome
Fulfills the Explorations in Fine Arts requirement.
This course offers students an introduction to Roman art that is topographic, architectural, and historical in nature. In our study of Rome, we focus on developments in architecture, painting, sculpture, and urban growth in the city. While our survey is limited to antiquity, it is understood that Rome’s modern urban fabric is profoundly affected by the events of the ancient period, so this course also intends to facilitate your understanding of the modern city.
Instructor: Crispin Corrado
 
ENG 378 Italy in American and British Literature
Fulfills the Explorations in Literature requirement.
The course brings students closer to the study of literature through reading major works by American and British writers. The journey to Italy is at the center of the novels and poems that are analyzed during the course. On the one hand we will concentrate on the discovery and transformation of the characters as narrated through their encounters with a different culture and social context. On the other, we will investigate changes in the attitudes and perspectives of the authors themselves due to their own journeys to Italy. We will begin with the reading of poetry from the 19th century, followed by the reading of four complete novels by three well known American and British writers: Henry James, Tennessee Williams and Edward Morgan Forster.
Instructor: Milena Locatelli
 
ENT 391R Entrepreneurship in the Catholic Tradition
An analysis of the phenomenon of entrepreneurship emphasizing intertwined aspects of value creation, entrepreneurial spirit, and application in the Church context. Topics include: the fundamentals of entrepreneurship in the Catholic tradition, private initiative in the social teaching of the Church, the revolution of Centesimus Annus, the place of entrepreneurship in Church operations, the role of venture capital, and entrepreneurship as a driving force behind societal changes.
Instructor: Alexia Massacand
       
ITAL 219 The Promise of Eternity: Rome and its Image throughout the Centuries
Fulfills the Explorations in Fine Arts requirement.
This course proposes a stimulating survey of the history and culture of Rome, to enrich students’ experience of the city in which they are spending a semester abroad.Through an interdisciplinary approach that incorporates history, literature, cinema, art and music, we will consider the evolution of the Eternal City, observing the complex layers of history which remain visible within the fabric of contemporary Rome. We will follow the footsteps of the most representative characters, cultural movements, and historical events century by century, concluding with a discussion of the city's contemporary social and political identity within Italy and as a world capital. This course will fulfill an Explorations in Fine Arts requirement, and a Media Studies and Global Studies elective. Taught in Rome.
Instructor: Milena Locatelli
 
PHIL 310 Philosophy of Art
Fulfills the Philosophy Area I requirement.
Philosophical treatment of a range of art forms that focuses on the nature of creativity, beauty, and representation. Major arts are compared and contrasted.
Instructor: Michael Severance
 
POL 478 Politics of Global Environmental Problems
An introduction to the politics of global environmental problems, with special emphasis on climate change. The three dimensions of global environmental problems are addressed (science, economy and policy) and connected to relevant topics such as: success and failure of international cooperation, the role of state and non-state actors (business, NGOs) and of international institutions (e.g. UN, World Bank), biodiversity loss, and deforestation. The course is interdisciplinary and taught in a non-technical style
Instructor: Alexia Massacand
     
TRS 202B The Church and the Human Person
Fulfills the Theology Elective requirement.
This course introduces students to the nature of the Church and the Human person through the examination of scriptural, historical, and contemporary treatments of the questions. The course will explore the images used in Scripture, Tradition and the Magisterium to express the nature of the Church (People of God, Body of Christ, Temple of the Spirit, etc.) and her origin, structure and mission; the four properties or "notes" of the Church and Christ, her head, reflects on Christian Anthropology in the light of the modern and contemporary context. Here, everything from the nature of man to Catholic Social Doctrine in the economic sphere of our contemporary world will be considered. 
Instructor: Father Francesco Giordano
     
HSTR 203 The Church: Community and Institution
Honors students only.
This course will consider the life and shape of the Church at various points in her history, i.e. from a primitive era, to a missionary and monastic post-Constantinian era (where we see the concept of plantatio ecclesiae visibly), to the latter Medieval Scholastic era with its feudalism and its growing city centers, to the era between Trent and Vatican II. Christopher Dawson has much to share with us in two compact volumes of Church history. What he gives us is the sense of Christian History, as the Abbot of Solesmes, Dom Prosper Guéranger, would stress.
Instructor: Father Francesco Giordano
      
TRS 345 Liturgical Art and Architecture
Fulfills the Theology Elective requirement.
This course leads students in examining the art and architecture of Christian churches. Salient primary texts regarding worship and the arts are studied in conjunction with various monuments. Using a historical approach, students will come to an understanding of the various theologies expressed in the matrix of Christian liturgical art, architecture, music and worship spaces from the early Church to the present. The course will incorporate churches throughout Rome in its study of the ways that human beings construct meaning in their places of worship and how images, sculpture, architecture and music are a theological reflection upon faith.
Instructor: Flavia De Nicola
 

Italian Language Classes 

**All students must take one Italian language class**
 
ITAL 101 Elementary Italian I
Designed for students with little or no prior experience with Italian. Introduction to the basic principles of language necessary for written and oral communication.
 
ITAL 103 Intermediate Italian I
Students build on what they have learned during the first two semesters of Italian. They improve their communication skills by discussing and writing about various topics drawn from readings and film focused on Italian culture. This course includes review and expansion of grammar and vocabulary. 
 
ITAL 197 Basic Conversational Italian
An intensive Italian language course for beginners, designed to meet the needs of students requiring short term language study. Students will achieve the basic language skills and cultural competence necessary to successfully communicate in every-day situations.