Rome Summer Institute

Introduction

From the wonders of Ancient Rome to the sweet buzzing of contemporary Roman society, the "Eternal City" is rich in history and culture unlike anywhere else in the world. Catholic University's Rome Summer Institute offers students an introduction to Italy's vibrant capital and its pivotal role in the development of Western civilization. Students have the opportunity to experience and participate in the past, present, and perhaps future of one of humanity's greatest millennial cities.
 

Eligibility

Students from all universities are encouraged to apply.  If space is limited, Catholic University students will receive priority acceptance.

Academics

Summer Session I Courses

• ANTH 210 / ART 210/H Principles of Geometry in Art and Applied Science
  **Fulfills an Explorations in Fine Arts requirement.
  This course addresses the Enduring Question, `What is beauty, goodness, and truth?' We will survey how outstanding artists, architects, and scientists across history achieved astonishing beauty through simplicity. Basic rules led to intricate creations to solve practical problems. We will uncover patterns the layout of Stonehenge, pyramids, Plato's Elements, the Golden Ratio, classic proportions of Roman and Greek temples, illuminated manuscripts, Gothic cathedrals, tilings perspective in paintings, Leonardo da Vinci's genius in arts and mechanics, Copernicus' and Kepler's models of the cosmos, Renaissance fortresses and public architecture, and traditional decorative and building crafts. They are immediately accessible by their drawings with paper, pen, and compass. Rome is the cradle of Western civilization (in figurative and literal sense -- civitas being the community) and a continued source of enormous inspiration across all aspects of art, culture, and democracy, not least for the American republic and its built edifices such as the government buildings and monuments around the National Mall in Washington, DC. We will reveal the hidden thread that underlies a veritable cornucopia of applications -- geometry. We will trace its many beneficial uses in arts and crafts over multiple millennia.  We will become familiar with selected graphical methods and gain an appreciation for their continued importance. Weekly exercises and assignments will deepen the topics from each historical period and application. The final project will select an application and investigate it in a scholarly essay. A field trip to the Pantheon -- which has inspired many buildings, including the rotunda at University of Virginia -- will illustrate one of the most geometrically perfect buildings that for over a millennium was the largest dome on Earth. This course does not require technical or drawing skills and is open to all university students.
  Instructor: Gunnar Lucko

• CEE202 Rome Wasn’t Built in a Day: Exploring Urban Planning and Infrastructure in Rome Throughout History
  While the Romans didn't invent concrete, they certainly raised the bar for building with it! This course will explore the infrastructure in Rome from antiquity to the current day. We will discuss ancient civil engineering innovations (including roman roads, aqueducts, bridges, and tunnels), modern engineering marvels (like the Metro C subway line whose excavations have brought even more Roman history to the surface), and urban planning theory and design principles that shaped the eternal city (including grids, circulation, forum, and civil amenities). In addition to class lectures and discussions, students will explore public spaces, facilities, and current construction projects during site visits led by professional planners, engineers, government officials, and others responsible for urban policy working towards current sustainability, tourism, historic preservation, and economic development goals.
  Instructor: Rebecca Kiriazes

• NURS 469 Spirituality & Care of the Sick
  The purpose of this course is to explore the interface between spirituality and the practice of nursing. Although spirituality will be examined broadly, according to a variety of theologies, the primary orientation of the course content is derived from the Judaeo-Christian tradition. The course incorporates an historical perspective on spirituality and the healing arts, as well as contemporary theological and spiritual approaches to assessment and intervention in relation to the spiritual needs of those experiencing health deficits. The newly emerging subfield of parish nursing is also addressed. Finally, the spiritual needs of professional caregivers are identified and explored and potential spiritual support mechanisms are discussed.  Enrollment for nursing students only.
  Instructor: Marysanta Bigony

• SAS 225 Science and Religion
  In our society, the prevalent opinion is that science and religion are in some kind of opposition to each other, with widely varying views on the degree of this assumed mutual hostility. Most people ingest this simplistic viewpoint since childhood, from various sources such as school, mass media, etc., and then rarely have a chance to question it. Public discussions of this matter are in the vast majority of cases are characterized by very low intellectual level of the arguments that are put forth by the warring sides. This course will educate the students on a comprehensive variety of topics on interaction of science and religion. It will provide the students with a base for further exploration of this field. It is neither a Christian apologetics course nor a course on “scientific” atheism. This course fulfils the Foundations in Natural Sciences requirements of the Liberal Arts Curriculum; it includes a study of the Scientific Method of acquisition of knowledge and case studies of the application of the Scientific Method in a variety of topics relevant to the interaction of Science and Religion. The course supports the mission of the university by engaging the students in an active exploration of the dialogue between faith and reason, different pathways of acquiring the knowledge and the truth about the natural world and human interaction with it.
  Instructor: Vadim Knyazev

Summer Session II Courses​

• ANTH 240 Politics of the Past: An Introduction to Cultural Heritage Studies
  **Fulfills the Foundations in Social Science requirement.
  What makes the past meaningful to individuals, communities, nations, and the world? How is cultural heritage mobilized to build identity, social cohesion, develop tourist markets, encourage financial investment, and stake political claims? This course critically examines western relationships to the past tied to property and rooted in the colonial drive to plunder, collect, and catalogue, and how non-Western heritage frameworks both complement and challenge this conception. In addition to the tangible material remains of the past, the course also explores heritage's `intangible" dimensions, from folklore, music, dance and festivals to language, knowledge, and even landscapes. The focus is on how cultural heritage is embedded in everyday life and how the past is political, continuing to live on and be creatively reinterpreted in the present.
  Instructor: Joshua Samuel

• ENG 212/CLAS 212R Worlds of Many Gods: Comparative Mythology
  **Fulfills the Explorations in Literature requirement.
  This course offers a comparative study of the Greco-Roman and Germanic mythologies with a brief introduction to their shared Indo-European origins, and their reception in literature and art across centuries. The course is based on discussions of key literary sources (e.g., Iliad, Odyssey, Aeneid, Ovid, Snorri’s Prose Edda, the Poetic Edda) and representations of myths and legends in the visual arts. Taught in the city of Rome, it will explore the unique position of Rome at the crossroads of religious and cultural traditions and the concept of interpretatio romana, and take advantage of the museums and sites of the city. The course will highlight the following themes: creation and foundation stories; heroes vs. monsters; and extraordinary women. In this course, students will engage with fundamental and enduring human questions by means of analyzing literary works, along with visual representations, and immerse themselves in the exploration of literature as well as religion and culture, constantly comparing their own experiences with those of peoples of the past.
  Instructor: Lilla Kopar

• MUS 276 Performing Arts & Society
  **Fulfills the Explorations in Fine Arts requirement.
  Performing Arts are a mirror of the culture and the culture mirrors performing arts. In this course, students will examine art forms that use performance as their vehicle for full creative realization. Historic and modern performance works will be studied in relation to the society in which they were produced. Focus will be given to studying the rich and varied Italian performing arts, which originated from artistic and intellectual movements of the 16th century to present day. Explorations will include attendance at performances in some of Rome's performing art centers and musical venues, along with visits to museums. We will look at traditional and non-traditional thought relating to the performing arts, giving attention to artistic objectiveness, aesthetic consideration, and critical evaluation of elements that define "interpretation". Topics for discussion will include: performing arts among the many paradoxes of our historic and modern world; the role of performing arts as an often unnoticed backdrop to human activity; commonalities of the various genres (music, dance, theatre, opera, film, performance art); the Catholic Church as patron to the performing arts; the relationship and interaction between artist, artwork, and audience; 21st-century mass distribution of the performing arts and its growing diversity of choices for consumers.
  Instructor: Jacqueline Leary-Warsaw

Accommodation & Meals

Finances

Students and parents are advised to discuss the expected costs of study abroad programs during the application process. Budget sheets are available at the top of the page and linked below as well. Students are charged a program fee and standard Catholic University tuition rates for 3, 6, or 9 credits. The budget sheets give an idea of the total amount students will need to budget for including transportation, meals, and other assorted costs. 

• Summer

Scholarships