When Dennis Romano, professor and chair
of the history department in Syracuse University's Maxwell School of
Citizenship and Public Affairs and College of Arts and Sciences, was
awarded a 2000 Guggenheim Fellowship earlier this month, he became the
fifth faculty member in his department to receive the prestigious honor.

Distinguished Professor Joseph Levine
(1989-90), professor Peter Marsh (1980-81), professor Michael Miller
(1998-99) and professor Stephen Webb (1982-83) all share the distinction
of having been Guggenheim Fellows. In addition, Sara Matthews Grieco,
professor of history with the SU program in Florence, Italy, received a
1999 Guggenheim Fellowship.

Romano, who specializes in the history
of early modern Europe, Renaissance Italy and Venice, plans to write a
biography of Francesco Foscari, who served as doge of Venice from 1423
to 1457. The book, titled "Francesco Foscari and the Crisis of
Venetian Republicanism," will examine the relationship of foreign and
domestic policy in Venice.

"Foscari is one of the best-known
figures in Venetian history," says Romano. "He led Venice as it grew
from a city-state into a regional state. But his reign was marked by
crisis and tragedy, including the exile and death of his son, Giacomo,
and Foscari's own removal from the dogeship. In the book, I will argue
that these domestic political crises were outgrowths of policy disputes
regarding Venice's foreign expansion."

Several hundred years after his death,
Foscari was immortalized in a Verdi opera, a Byron play and a painting
by the French artist Eugene Delacroix. Romano says he is also interested
in studying this "19th-century representation" of the doge, which
coincided with a critical period in Italian history. "At a time when
Italy was being unified into a nation state, why was there a sudden
resurgence in interest in Foscari?" Romano asks.

Despite Foscari's important role in
Venetian government and history, the last major work on him was written
in the 19th century, according to Romano. "To write the biography of
Foscari will be to write the history of Italy in the first half of the
15th century," he says. "It's a daunting task."

Since 1925, the John Simon Guggenheim
Memorial Foundation has granted more than $192 million in fellowships to
individuals who demonstrate distinguished past achievement and
exceptional promise for future accomplishment. This year, 182 United
States and Canadian fellows were appointed from a pool of 2,900
applicants. Past fellows include Ansel Adams, Langston Hughes, Vladimir
Nabokov, Linus Pauling and Martha Graham.