Academic Program

Rock Creek Bldg. 3, Rm. 223 | 971-722-7152 | 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 2011 Florence program will be made available at the Florence information meetings, or you can contact the Study Abroad Office at 971-722-7152.

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

Students should choose a minimum of 14 credits from among the following course options. NOTE: Humanities 199 and the Italian language class are both required courses. A full load consists of at least 14 credits.

**HUM 105 Italian Life and Culture (2 Credits)

Taught by the AIFS faculty in Florence. Two hours per week are either lectures on Italian culture, or, more often, field trips to historic and artistic sites in and around Florence.

**First Year Italian (ITA 101)

Taught by the AIFS faculty in Florence. Designed for the beginner. Emphasizes active communication in Italian. Develops students’ basic skills in listening, reading, writing and speaking.

**Students will register for these courses through one of our member consortium colleges, as PCC does not offer these courses. This does not affect financial aid because the classes are taken alongside two other PCC 4 credit courses (8 credits plus 6 credits of HUM 199/Italian Language equals a total of 14 credits). Please speak to the study abroad office if you have any questions.

Additional Fall 2012 Course Offerings

Melody McMurry, Portland Community College, mmcmurry@pcc.edu

With a Master's in Sociology and an Ed.D. in Curriculum & Instruction from Portland State, Melody also brings a wealth of experience from her 2005 quarter abroad in London. She has remarked, "While this was the most intimate experience with students during my teaching career, I cannot say it was the easiest. There are many challenges in the personal lives of students abroad as well as academic challenges (materials, technology, languages, libraries), but I understand many of these better since returning. I also got a good feel for what experiences provided the most growth for students, some of whom have continued their sociology projects in later course work or student activities when they return to Oregon. Some managed to incorporate their home stay families or meals/menus, and many involved the music and the contemporary culture of other young people in Europe, as well as the more usual formal papers on cathedrals and photo shows." She brings this enthusiasm for student learning to her Florence appointment, along with her recent experiences at the Worldwide Forum on Education and Culture in Rome, her summer Italian classes, and her study of the operas of Verdi and Puccini.

SOC 204, Introduction to Sociology (4 credits) This course introduces students to the sociological perspective and sociology as a scientific discipline. The focus is on individuals and groups in terms of one’s social location, societal processes that shape lives such as socialization by one’s culture and society, and the inequalities of groups within society. In the Italian location, students research their individual relationship to culture and society through ancestor mapping in group exercises. In Florence, this mapping may involve travel agendas for students who want to explore where immigrant ancestors may have originally lived and reasons for their immigration to the U.S. Students usually collect data as projects in this course, so daily observation assignments may compare and contrast daily life and culture in Italy to one’s home culture, in such settings as contemporary meals, shopping, consumption patterns, neighborhoods, leisure activities, and community services. The weekly topics of culture, society, race and ethnicity, gender and sex, class, and deviance will lend themselves easily to observations,as well as interaction practice as students gain some language and cultural skills.

SOC 206, Social Problems (4 credits) This course applies the sociological frame of reference to the study of social problems, their identification, analysis of causes and possible solutions. Problems explored may include mental disorders, drug and alcohol addiction, crime and delinquency, discrimination, poverty, violence, and environment/energy. The text Solutions from Other Societies is a reader featuring fourteen different nations' approaches to their social problems (most of which are EU countries).As with the London 2005 program, students could pursue culture contrast through daily sharing, and weekly travel reports on social problems in countries they visit, or observe in field trips. The Slow Food movement in Italy could be a feature for the "Sustainability" and "Global Climate Change" topics, and would complement food excursions, markets, eateries, and cooking classes. It is also useful to cover alcohol and drug abuse as a vehicle for reviewing safe and culturally appropriate behaviors.

WS 101, Introduction to Women's and Gender Studies (4 credits) This course surveys and critically analyzes the position of women in society in terms of present realities and future possibility. It provides a framework to connect personal experience and contemporary social and political issues. The weekly topics/assignments in this course relate to socialization to gender roles; women’s participation in politics, religion, and military; as well as issues such as domestic violence, reproduction and contraception. In the Florence setting,students would make compare-and-contrast observations and interactions with local students, feminists, activities, events, and causes as they may be similar to or different from the students’ previous life experiences in the U.S. Projects could be tailored to student’s majors in art, music, language, or political science. One assignment to provide students greater dialog with women in Florence could be managed through language class partnering, resulting in meaningful culture exchange.

ART 206, Introduction to Art History: Medieval to Renaissance (4 credits) This course provides an introduction to Western Art, covering the art and cultures of the Early Middle Ages, Romanesque, Medieval, Gothic, Early and High Renaissance, Northern Renaissance, and Mannerism, though the focus will be on Italian Renaissance art. Instruction focuses primarily on painting, sculpture and graphics and covers selected examples of architecture to introduce key principles and centers for each period. Students will take many field trips to Florence’s impressive galleries and museums--including the Uffizi Gallery, the Galleria Palatina, the Bargello, the Santa Maria Novella, the Santa Croce Museum, and the Medici Chapels--that house some of the world’s most celebrated works from this significant period in art history. This course is designed for non-majors as well as art majors.

The following classes will be offered if 20 or more students enroll with the Fall 2012 program.

Greg Lyons, Central Oregon Community College, glyons@cocc.edu

As a U.S. Army dependent, Greg lived in Germany and in France for three years each. This experience developed his curiosity and empathy toward other cultures. After completing an undergraduate degree in English, he returned to France for eight months, studying the language in Aix-en-Provence and working on a communal farm in Corsica. Since then, he has made several professional and vacation trips to France, Mexico, Britain and Italy--trying to speak French, Spanish and Italian with varied success. In 2004, as part of his teaching in the OIEC Florence program, he designed seventeen field trips and fell in love with the city, Italian food, people and architecture. He plans to share the travel bug, and the fun of writing about new places, with Oregon students on an adventure.

WR 240, Introduction to Creative Writing: Nonfiction (4 credits) Introduces students to writing creative nonfiction, adapting the personal essay to multiple purposes, such as nature writing, travel writing, memoir, biography, and journalistic essay. Prose craft exercises, critical reading of published authors and responding constructively to other student work are essential learning processes. In Florence, we will focus on the students' local experiences and explore how their perceptions as outsiders change as they become more familiar with Italian culture. The course fulfills 4 credits of the Humanities distribution or disciplines studies requirements for the AA degree. Recommended prerequisite: WR 121.

ENG 105, Introduction to Literature: Drama (4 credits) Examines the traditions, imaginative purposes and organizing visions of drama, such as tragedy, comedy and realism. Close reading and interpretation of selected plays with attention to the cultural contexts of their creation and to the literary dimensions of character, dialog, setting, language and theme. In Florence, readings will include one Shakespeare work set in Italy and the dramas of Italian playwrights, such as Luigi Pirandello, Carlo Goldoni, Dario Fo, and one Renaissance comedy. More specific connections to the Florentine setting will be a backstage tour of Teatro Pergola; an opera in Italian, for which we will read the English libretto; Children's puppet theater based on ancient Italian folk tales at Puppi di Stac, and hopefully a live performance in English.

ENG 195, Introduction to Film (3 credits) Enhances student enjoyment and understanding of film through exploring the film languages of acting, directing, cinematography and narrative. Includes discussion and written analysis of cinematic techniques with a focus on the Italian works of such directors as DeSica, Rossellini, Tornatore, Soldini, Visconti, the Taviani brothers and Radford.


Weekly Class Schedule

Time Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday*
9:00

 

 

 

 

   * There are no classes on Friday.
10:00
11:00

 

 
12:00 Lunch Lunch Lunch Lunch
1:00

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2:00
3:00

 

 

 
4:00       
5:00  
6:00