International Summer Institutes

2010 Program Information Available Soon.

MSU Faculty Led Short-Term Study Abroad Institutes Global Education Center Montclair State University 22 Normal Avenue Upper Montclair, NJ 07043

Tel: 973 655-4185 Fax: 973 655-7654 simonw@mail.montclair.edu

Montclair in Siena
Focus on Italian Civilization and the Arts
July 21 – August 21, 2009

Program Overview
This program includes six days of faculty-led study tour and four weeks in the medieval city of Siena. Students will visit historical sites in Milan, Parma, Rome, Florence and especially Siena, with a special focus on the themes of time, the living links of the present to the past, and the role of arts throughout the history of those cities. Numerous faculty-led excursions will give students a personal view, expanding upon their academic coursework, and will include archaeological museums, Siena’s Duccio, Correggio’s sites, and the Vatican Museum, among others. From their home base of Siena, students will visit Florence and will have the opportunity to explore the Tuscan countryside. The stay in Siena culminates with the Palio, the centuries-old horse race that takes place twice a year in the heart of the ancient city.

Faculty
Dr. David Sanders, who received his Ph.D. from New York University, is an associate professor in the Broadcasting Department. In addition to his duties as producer of Inside MSU, the weekly campus television news program and audio supervisor for Carpe Diem, the MSU Broadcasting Department's award winning weekly cable show, Dr. Sanders teaches courses in television production, audio production, multi-track recording, sound design, and music technology.  He has been the Director of the National Music Council since 1994.   He produces the National Music Council's annual Leadership in Music symposium and American Eagle Awards in New York City, and is the U.S. representative to the International Music Council of UNESCO. He has taught the Italian Media Journal course in Siena numerous times.

Dr. Andrew Atkinson is a photographer, critic, curator and professor of digital photography at Montclair State University. He holds a Ph.D. from the Centre for Fine Print Research at the University of the West of England and is working on a book on the Woodburytype. He has curated exhibitions in the U.S. and Italy and exhibits internationally. He writes for Afterimage and The Architect's Newspaper and is a board member of the Society of Photographic Education Mid-Atlantic.

Pianist David Witten has performed extensively in Europe, Russia, and South America. As a 1990 Fulbright Scholar, he spent five months teaching and performing in Brazil. Witten has recorded piano music of various Latin American composers. In Europe, his tours in Italy have included solo recitals in Milano, Torino, and Bologna, and he is active in establishing connections for Montclair with Conservatorio Verdi in Milano. In May 2009, he will present both a solo piano recital and a solo photography exhibition in Melzo. Witten's involvement in music has not been limited to performance. He has published various articles and chapters on piano music. His music history courses at the Cali School of Music are very popular among the students majoring in music. Witten studied at Peabody Conservatory, and the Rubin Academy of Music in Jerusalem. His undergraduate studies at Johns Hopkins University led to a degree in Psychology. Later graduating with high honors from Boston University, he earned the D.M.A. degree in piano performance. Witten is currently Coordinator of Keyboard Studies at the Cali School of Music at Montclair State University.

Poet Wallis Wilde Menozzi, who will offer a special overview course on Italian Culture, is an accomplished American writer who makes her home in Parma, Italy. She is the author of the memoir, Mother Tongue, An American Life in Italy, and several volumes of poetry, including Half-a-Self-Portrait and Heron Songs, and the collection of essays The Ocean is Within Us. Her work has won awards in poetry, short stories and essays. She has taught creative writing and translation and has lectured numerous U.S. institutions including New York University, Southern Methodist, Stanford and Boston, at the University of Parma, Genova, Verona and Rome, and at writer’s colonies in Italy, Switzerland and England.

 

Academic Offerings
All students register for Italian Study Abroad: Cultural History, and then select one additional course from the following list.

The Cultural History (ITAL 375) course will examine the Italian sense of time and of Italy as a geographical expression long before it became a unified country. Students will examine the time line of the place as it has been lived in by various and often warring human groups, drawing upon not only written records but also first-hand observation in museums and other sites. Consideration will be given to the Etruscans, the Roman influence, and the idea of city states and modern Italy as a new democracy. Students will be asked to keep a journal reflecting on the differences between cities and regions and the interaction between Italian culture and its environment, government and art.

The Broadcasting course, Italian Media Journal (BDCS 470) is open to both Broadcasting majors and non-majors. Students will research, write and produce short videos on various aspects of Italian culture. They will explore the Western European broadcast system to experience Italian culture through its media. Students will train on video camcorders, learn simple production techniques and then use the camcorders as a tool for research.  For their primary project, students will research a particular area and conduct primary source research by interacting with people, doing interviews and producing short video journals.  Knowledge of television production is not necessary. 

Contemporary Art (ARHS 451) and Selected Problems in Art History II (ARHS 592) will explore the work of major artists in Italy of the twentieth century with particular reference to the dominant ideas of the period. It will include readings, museum trips, discussion of contemporary writing and criticism.

Music History III: A View From Italy (MUHS-407) will examine major figures, forms, genres, and styles from Busoni to the present. This course will cover the major world figures and genres in modern music, with a particular point of view concerning composers who were influenced by Italy and Italian culture.

All courses are taught in English. All study abroad programs fulfill GNED 303: Global Issues (one of the Contemporary Issues "Core" courses in GenEd 2002).

 

Accommodations and Meals
Students reside in double occupancy rooms with private baths in a student dorm. Meals are not included in Siena, although students may use the university cafeteria or the dorm kitchens. During the overnight excursions at the beginning and end of the program, students are housed in double occupancy hotel rooms, including breakfasts and dinners.

Program Cost:
$3,500 plus tuition and fees for six credits. The price includes:

• Roundtrip airfare
• Transportation and transfers in Italy
• Double room in university dormitory
• 6 nights’ hotel, 6 breakfasts and 6 dinners during excursions
• Guided tours of Vatican Museum
• Entrance fees for museums in Florence, Milan, Parma, Siena and Rome
• Pre-departure orientation at MSU
• Administrative and guest lecturer fees

Single rooms in hotel and dorm may be available for an additional fee. Program prices are based on 20 participants and current exchange rates and are subject to change.

Application procedure and payment schedule:
All participants are required to have
1) a minimum GPA of 2.75;
2) an interview with one or both of the faculty leading that program;
3) a reference form completed by a faculty member other than the faculty
leading that program; and
4) a $100 non-refundable application fee.
Summer programs are open to non-MSU students and high achieving high school seniors who demonstrate special interest. Non-MSU students, new transfer students and high school seniors will need to submit two references forms plus an official transcript from their home institution(s).

Space Still Available

Once accepted into the program, the payment schedule for program costs is as follows:
Payment Schedule:
Non-refundable application fee         $100
By March 15, 2009                             $1,700
By April 15, 2009:                              $1,700
Make checks payable to “Montclair State University”. A limited number of partial scholarships are available for MSU students. Contact the Global Education Center for information.

Pre-enrollment form and Application Packet

Non-MSU students:
Send two reference forms and transcript from home institution, plus $100 non-MSU administrative fee.

For further information:
Contact the Global Education Center at 973-655-4185 or email simonW@mail.montclair.edu.
For further information on academic offerings, contact Dr. Sanders at 973-655-7974 or or email sandersD@mail.montclair.edu.

Or visit us on the web at www.montclair.edu/globaled