Academic Program
Rock Creek Bldg. 3, Rm. 223 | 503-614-7151 | FAX: 603-614-7170 | studyabroad@pcc.edu
Courses
Students will take 12 credits of course work from PCC as well as offerings from other colleges participating in the program. Details of all the courses given in the Fall 2008 Florence program will be made available at the Florence information meetings, or you can contact the Study Abroad Office at (503) 614-7151.
The OIEC (Portland Community College, Central Oregon Community College, Chemeketa Community College, Clackamas Community College, Mt. Hood Community College and Rogue Community College) offers this unique program to enable students to study abroad while making normal progress toward their degree objectives, earning 12-15 transferable credits in courses taught by community college faculty and local guest lecturers. This program is offered in conjunction with other community colleges in partnership with the American Institute of Foreign Study (AIFS), which provides transportation, living accommodations, and a wide range of student and instructional support services, including an optional pre-program tour of Europe. Credits earned will appear on transcripts from these fully accredited community colleges.
Beginning Fall 2008, PCC will have standard prerequisites of reading, writing and mathematics for general education courses. The standard prerequisites are:
- Successful completion (grade “C” or higher) of WR 115, or placement into WR 121, and
- Successful completion (grade “C” or higher) of RD 115, or equivalent test scores, and
- Successful completion (grade “C” or higher) of MTH 20 or placement into MTH 60
PCC strongly recommends taking care of any missing prerequisites right away, especially to avoid an issues with study abroad registration. Students can meet with an academic advisor at any academic advising office for help in planning classes and getting questions answered about classes taken at another school. For more information go to the Prerequisites Begin Fall 2008 web page.
Course Offerings:
- Italian Life and Culture
ITAL 101 (Required): Taught by the AIFS staff in Florence, Italy. Two hours per week is "survival Italian language." Two hours per week is either lectures on Italian culture, or field trips to historic and artistic sites in and around Florence. * This course is required for all students participating in the program.
- Adjunct Art History Professor from Florence: ART 206, Introduction to Art History (4 credits)
Surveys the major periods in art history of Western civilization. This course surveys the development of art, in historical context, from 14th Century Late Gothic through early 19th century Neoclassic and Romantic styles. Emphasizes development of painting, architecture and sculpture of the Renaissance and Baroque periods, especially in Italy.
The following will be taught by Nancy A. Casciato, from Portland Community College, ncasciat@pcc.edu
Nancy earned her Ph.D. in English from the University of Oregon and has been teaching at PCC for nearly twenty years. In the last few years, she has been active in giving presentations at the Community College Humanities Association Conference across the country. In the Florence program, she is thrilled to return to a city she “fell in love with on sight—on smell, taste, touch, and hearing, too,” as she writes. Her first visit was in fall 2006, and she “felt changed by the experience.” Looking back at her career, she notes, “I have had the pleasure of teaching students from many countries; students holding many world views; students shouldering many life experiences; and students offering many gifts. What my students have taught me, over and over again, is that one must reach beyond oneself before any real learning takes place.” Though she has traveled widely—not only to Italy, but to Israel, Ireland, and England—she looks forward to “the challenges and delights of learning in a culture and language that would challenge our sense of what we know and who we are.” Nancy adds that she would be happy to find running partners for early morning or late afternoon fitness/sightseeing expeditions.
WR 121 OR 122, English Composition (4 credits)
In the composition course, we will explore and participate in special combination of gravity and levity that the city and people of Florence seem to possess, as we make a series of field trips around the city, from the Ponte Vecchio to the Loggia to the Uffizi to the Academia. In prose and poetry, persuasive essays and reflections, we will record our adventures in this magnificent light-filled, stone-held city.
ENG 195 Film Studies: Emphasis on Italian Cinema (4 credits)
Italian-American film director and film scholar Martin Scorsese explores Italian cinema in a documentary tribute to the land of his ancestors, Mio Viaggio in Italia. With Scorsese as our guide, we will explore the provocative, joyful, sorrowful and often hilarious world and the history of Italian cinema, including Rossellini’s Open City and Flowers of St. Francis; Fellini’s I Vitellone and La Dolce Vita; De Sica’s The Bicycle Thief, Antonioni’s L’Avventura. We will also study Scorsese’s own love letter to his Italian-American parents and the life of his family of friends on Manhattan’s Lower East Side streets of 1940’s Little Italy. Your instructor, like Scorsese, is a third-generation Italian-American, a fact of background likely to incline her to bringing dolci to class on film-watching days.
ENG 201 OR 202 Shakespeare (4 credits)
Shakespeare traversed the landscape of Italy with a rich poetic gusto that can seem almost Italian. In this class, we will read Shakespeare’s Italian plays—from ancient Rome (Julius Caesar), to civil-war-torn Verona (Romeo and Juliet), to the teeming streets and crowded ponti of Venice (The Merchant of Venice). From our special vantage point, with the Duomo as our architectural sun and Michelangelo’s majestic, brooding David and poignant, wrenching Prisoners as our standard bearers, we will explore the ways in which the magic light of Florence, refracting gold, bronze, and burnt orange, illuminates Shakespeare’s passionate characters who live and love under the blue stone sky of the city of Dante.
The following will be taught by Nancy Olson, from Mount Hood Community College, nancy.olson@mhcc.edu
Nancy earned her Ph.D. in Social Psychology at the University of Houston. She has taught at Mount Hood Community College for four years, coming to her position with a strong background in psychological research and sex education. She has lived and traveled abroad, for example in a summer exchange to Finland. Nancy writes that in this experience she learned, “I am adventurous, interested and adaptable. I learned about cultural norms from a personal perspective. The experience of trying new things made me more confident and comfortable when faced with other challenges in my everyday life.” She has also used her own travel journal over the years to record what she learns about history, war and interpersonal relationships. Similarly, she predicts, “students will grow academically, personally, and psychologically, by exposing themselves to Italian culture, customs, architecture and history. I hope to encourage learning from each other, sharing what we have experienced and discovering what is available to us in Florence and beyond.”
PSY 216 Social Psychology (4 credits)
Social Psychology involves the scientific study of the behavior of the individual within the context of a social setting. The course explores the significant variables that influence the social responses of the individual. Topics will include attitude formation and change, social perception, persuasion and social influence, pro-social behavior and group decision making. The Florence setting will be especially relevant since the course examines issues like stigma and prejudice and how these attitudes are culturally driven. Students who will be in a minority position potentially for the first time in their lives may begin to better understand the benefits and sanctions of those who are not members of privileged groups, related to either race or class. Additionally, students will be able to observe Italian prejudices toward social groups, such as the gypsies or the African vendors.
PSY 231 Human Sexuality (4 credits)
The focus of this class is on the psychological and physiological aspects of human sexuality. Study will include male and female sexual physiology and functioning, sexual behavior patterns, sexual dysfunctions and therapy, sexual development, atypical behavior, and relational enhancement. Information and discussion will aim for an open and non-judgmental level of understanding. In the latter half of the course, various issues having both a sexual and social basis will be examined, such as the relation between artistic representations of the human form and the Italian comfort with nudity; the use of art in sex education; and the cross-cultural analysis of the ways Italian fashion encourages men to display themselves in a way that is different from men in U.S. culture.
PSY 215 Developmental Psychology (4 credits)
Comprehensive study of human development over the life span from prenatal through late adult development. Focuses on physical, cognitive and psychosocial changes throughout the human life cycle and emphasizes an interactionist approach to explain developmental processes and outcomes. In the Florence setting, this course will especially examine how culture influences development, making observations and comparing U.S. and Italian cultural expectations. For example, research suggests that Italian men spend more time playing with and tending children than do men in the U.S. Additionally, in the U.S. children are expected to leave the nest soon after they graduate from high school, while in Italy it is common for 30-year-old offspring to continue living with their parents. Similarities and differences in human development will be compared across the two cultures, and consequences for violating expectations will be explored.
Weekly Class Schedule
Time Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday* 9:00 WR 121/122
ITAL 101
WR 121/ 122 ITAL 101
10:00 11:00 PSY 215-DEV PSY 215-DEV
PSY 215-DEV PSY 215-DEV
12:00 Lunch Lunch Lunch Lunch 1:00 PSY 231-HUM
ENG 201/202
PSY 216-SOC (till 2:30pm)
ENG 195 (2:30pm-6:00pm)
2:00 PSY 216-SOC (2:30pm-4:00pm)
3:00 PSY 231-HUM (4:30pm-6:00pm)
Culture
4:00 ENG 201/202 (4:00pm-6:00pm) 5:00 6:00 * There are no classes on Friday.