Curriculum

Courses at Casa Artom

Spring 2020

Shaul Bassi
Claudia Meneghetti

113. Intensive Elementary Italian. (4h) Intensive course for beginners, emphasizing the structure of the language and oral practice. Students acquire the fundamentals of the Italian language: basic structures and essential vocabulary are introduced through quick explanations and a set of activities that encourage their immediate use in everyday situations. Students are gradually engaged in the discussion of social and cultural aspects of Italy today, with special emphasis on their Venetian experience.

153. Intermediate Italian. (4h) Intensive exposure to speaking, listening, reading and writing at the intermediate level with special emphasis on the surrounding Venetian culture. All the main grammar patterns are studied, enabling students to improve their reading, writing, and conversational skills. One weekly hour is fully devoted to conversation in Italian on topics in Italian culture.

217. Studies of Italy. (3h) Survey course on Italian literature addressing special cultural themes in Italy to give to students in Venice a deeper and broader understanding of Italian cultural complexity. Different types of texts – short stories, essays, poems, news items, film, songs, visual material – are read both to improve the students’ acquisition of the Italian language and to address the most important aspects of Italian society and culture (family, politics, religion, gender, migration, sport, food, etc.).

Agnese Chiari

Art 269. Venetian Reinaissance Art. This course offers a general survey of Byzantine and Gothic art in Venice as an introduction to the work of major Early Renaissance painters and architects, such as a Mantegna, Bellini, Carpaccio, Codussi and Lombardo. In the 16th century the focus is primarily on the paintings of Giorgione, Titian, Tintoretto and Paolo Veronese and the architecture of Sansovino and Palladio.

Lectures in class are supplemented by visits to churches and museums of Venice.
Field-trips to Torcello and the islands of the Venetian lagoon are part of the program.

Monica Chojnacka

HST 119 (3h) Venice and the World examines the city’s thousand-year history primarily through walking lectures that take place across the city. These walking lectures cover most of Venice’s historic center while paying special attention to certain palaces, churches, streets and squares that were the site of important historical events. These walks are supplemented by readings and in-class discussions and lectures.
Assignments include participation, a quiz, a group project, an essay and a final exam.

Monica Chojnacka and Roberta Cimarosti

HMN 160A. Venice Today. The course is student-centered and interactive, based on the exploration of issues confronting the city of Venice through joint activities with the students of the University of Venice Ca’ Foscari and involving field research. Mixed teams of Italian and American students develop research projects on the following topics: Travel and Tourism, Lagoon Environment, Migration, and Cultural Heritage. At the end of the semester, the different teams present their projects to the class.

Page West

BEM 371 Strategic Management (3h)
Focuses on the derivation of competitive advantage and sustainable, superior performance by organizations. Emphasizes the shape, character, and overall direction of the total enterprise, and the activities of managers who are responsible for achieving strategic coordination and coherence across functions and divisions. Course content includes analyzing the effects of industry and competitive environments on the firm, determining the basis upon which the firm should compete, formulating and implementing integrative action plans, and strategic leadership. Strategy analysis frameworks are applied to situations including for-profit and nonprofit organizations, diversification, global strategy, and strategic change. This is a discussion-oriented class in which principles of strategic management are applied to complex case studies. Satisfies the requirement for all BEM, FIN, and ACC majors. 

BEM 375/ECN 290 Merchants of Venice: From Mercantilism to Global Capitalism (3h) GTCS
Explores how Venetian and Italian commercial history led into the development of commerce, mercantilism, and 21st century global trade. 
Satisfies BEM concentration in International or Consulting. Counts as credit toward Global Trade & Commerce minor. Satisfies and Economics major credit.

Caterina Cruciani

ECN 271 The Political Economy of Italy (3h) (D)
Traces the role of Venice as an important cultural, military, and economic power from its founding in the 8th century to today.
Satisfies the Division IV requirement.