The Academic Program

Students participating in the Discovery Florence program will enjoy a rich and varied introduction to Italy through a challenging semester-long curriculum. The program fulfills the same curricular requirements as those pursued by freshmen studying on Syracuse University's main campus, while providing a course schedule unique to the Florence experience. Upon return to Syracuse in the spring semester, Discovery Florence participants will be on equal footing academically with their main campus peers.

The Discovery Florence academic program

Five courses are typically offered for the Fall term, including the First Year Forum and Italian language, for a total of 16 credit hours. The Fall 2011 offerings listed below are typical of the courses regularly offered.

CAS 101 First Year Forum (1 credit)
This seminar welcomes new students to Syracuse University. The course helps one develop closer relationships with peers and a professor, and eases the entrance into University life. Special topics will introduce and orient students to Florence and Italy, and discuss adjusting to a new culture.

CAS 100.1  First Year Seminar: Writing and Study Abroad (3 credits)
Florence is your muse as you develop your own unique voice and critical approach to writing. You'll process your intercultural experience through intensive writing assignments that include short stories, poetry, journal entries, creative non-fiction, and editorials, as well as participation in student readings and class discussions. Writing and Study Abroad will introduce you to various forms of writing encountered throughout college, and equip you to undertake future writing projects with confidence and creativity. This is a writing-intensive course required of all first-year students who have not received AP credit toward writing. Students eligible to receive AP credits toward writing will be offered an alternate course.

HOA 100 Italian Art and Society from Ancient to Modern Times (3 credits)
Explore centuries of Italian art and culture amidst the joyous living museum that is Florence. This course provides an introduction to the study of art history with some of the world's most celebrated buildings, sculptures, and paintings as your real-life examples. You'll also examine corresponding cultural contexts via topics that include Ancient Rome, the rise of Islam, Humanist Florence, Futurism, and more. Includes field trips to Venice and Rome. This course satisfies a Core Curriculum requirement for humanities.

PSC 100.1 Liberty and Power from the Ancient World to Modernity (3 credits)
What forces have shaped your personal perspectives on justice, equality, and authority? With the cradle of the Italian Renaissance as a fitting backdrop, you'll engage the juggernauts of social theory including Florence's own Machiavelli, plus More, Kant, Locke, Wollstonecraft, and other foundational thinkers. Through their eyes - and via your own interactive projects - you'll explore the historical relationships between morality and politics, politics and religion, the foundations of legitimacy through democratic consensus, and the birth of feminism. This course satisfies a core curriculum requirement for Social Science.

ITA 101 Italian I (6 credits). Introductory proficiency-based course which prepares students to understand, speak, read, and write in culturally authentic contexts. Activities are conducted in Italian. This course meets daily, Monday through Thursday. Other Italian language courses are available for students who are prepared for a higher level of study, based on a placement exam.

All School Field Trips

During the semester, there will be a number of all-school field trips that provide students, including Discovery Florence participants, the opportunity to learn about the history, art, architecture, and culture of Italy through traveling to other cities and regions of the country.