WolfTracks Summer 2015

WolfTracks The American University of Rome Alumni & Friends Magazine - Summer 2015

Creating a Global Network Whether a graduate or a past study abroad student, stay in touch with your alma mater by joining the “AUR Alumni” Facebook group; networking on the “The American University of Rome Alumni” LinkedIn page; and visiting the alumni blog (www.aur.edu/alumni).

Contribute to WolfTracks with your news and stories. Write to us at alumni@aur.edu.

And if you find yourself in Rome, please come visit!

On the Cover: Fatharani Fadhilah

WolfTracks Summer 2015

Welcome

to the summer 2015 issue of WolfTracks. This issue is dedicated to AUR’s Class of 2015 and honorary degree recipient Alice Waters.

Also included is a report on AUR’s 3rd Annual Rome Alumni Reunion, the most recent successes of our alumni and professors, and other university news.

The WolfTracks Team Anna Schorch Editor Jacob Moore Design & Layout

Contents 2

Commencement

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Alumni News

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Professor News

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University News and Events

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Upcoming Events & Giving Back

Class of 2015 Commencement The American University of Rome’s Class of 2015 Commencement Exercises took place on Friday, May 22, in the stunning surroundings of Villa Aurelia.

The international class of sixty graduates represented 18 countries and were awarded degrees in Archaeology and Classics, Art History, Business Administration, Communications, Film and Digital Media, Fine Arts, and International Relations and Global Politics.

The ceremony consisted of an address by Prof. Irene Caratelli, an inspirational message by Father Giuseppe Moretti, and speeches by honorary degree recipient Alice Waters and Valedictorian Elizabeth Mattei (Film & Digital Media).

Congratulations, Class of 2015!

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We made it!

Betty Mattei Speaks Class of 2015 Valedictorian, Elizabeth Mattei (Film & Digital Media), began her Commencement speech by thanking everyone in attendance for having contributed to the success of her and her fellow graduates. She continued, “...looking out at my peers I am overwhelmed with pride. I feel as though this is a sort of legendary class. We have already accomplished so much: incredible capstones, amazing school events, epic Mr. AUR competitions. We have filmmakers, businessmen, personal trainers, writers, artists, future academic superstars, potential Beer Olympic champions, and some of the best dressed individuals I have ever seen.”

Betty spoke about the milestones she witnessed during her time at AUR including the promotion of the university’s first two Full Professors, Professor Colletta and Professor Ennis, and having been fortunate enough to have studied under the late Professor Walston.

In saying goodbye, Betty provided some words of advice to AUR: stay beautiful in Monteverde Vecchio, atop the spectacular Janiculum; keep hiring awesome Professors who guide and push students above and beyond; and remain compassionate and diverse. “Eighteen different countries are represented here today... Could we be a more perfect picture of world peace?! We have spent the last four years bringing the AUR motto to life: Teaching students to live and work across cultures... I’m proud to say I will be leaving AUR knowing just as much about Egyptian culture as I do about Italian.”

She thanked AUR’s professors for their compassion, dedication, and insight; staff for their help; Student Life for their patience; and the city of Rome itself before appropriately ending with, “Class of 2015, we came, we saw, we conquered...”

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Alice Waters Receives Honorary Degree This year’s honorary degree recipient, chef, restaurateur, author, and activist Alice Waters, spoke to graduates and guests after accepting an Honoris Causa Degree in recognition of her devotion to promoting local and sustainable food options.

In presenting Waters with the degree, President Hodges thanked her for her dedication to making a difference: “You are a source of inspiration for students for the focus you have given to food as a way of life, as a reflexive activity that cannot be reduced to simple and mindless ingestion; the focus on the cost of food which should reflect the true economic, social and environmental costs of production, processing and distribution; most importantly, the focus on food as a vehicle for better nutrition and for social change. Ultimately – for contributing to the creation of ecological and food citizens who are no longer just passive consumers, but who work towards the development of a democratic, socially and economically just and environmentally sustainable world food system.”

the mission is to promote a free, nutritious and sustainable school lunch for all students, K–12, and to introduce children into a new relationship to food.

“The choices that we make about food every day not only affect our health but they affect the way we think about the world and the way we live in it, and when you feed yourself with fast food you digest the values along with it. When you eat with intention you value and support the people who are taking care of the land for the future.”

Alice’s vision for edible education began 20 years ago with The Edible Schoolyard at Berkeley’s Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School, which today draws visitors from around the world. The online Edible Schoolyard Network (www. edibleschoolyard.org) shares lessons and best practices from school gardens, kitchens, and edible education programs worldwide. To date, there are more than 4,000 Edible Schoolyard Network member programs in 54 countries.

The owner and co-founder of restaurant Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California, credited as the inspiration for the style of cooking known as California cuisine, Waters is also Vice President of Slow Food International, and author of fourteen books including The New York Times bestsellers The Art of Simple Food I & II, 40 Years of Chez Panisse: The Power of Gathering, and The Edible Schoolyard: A Universal Idea.

Alice Waters is the founder of The Edible Schoolyard Project, an innovative model for public education that integrates the growing and cooking of food into the core academic curriculum. The centerpiece of 6

In an open letter to President Obama, Alice Waters wrote “Local, affordable, nutritious food should be a right for everyone and not just a privilege for a few.”

Alumni News

AUR’s 3rd Annual Rome Alumni Reunion

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May 20, 2015 In the stunning surroundings of Villa Aurelia, perched high on Rome’s Janiculum hill, alumni from around the world gathered with the graduating Class of 2015 to celebrate their time at AUR, meet old friends, share memories, and enjoy an evening of fine dining, live music, and entertainment.

The reunion began with the traditional aperitivo in the garden of Villa Aurelia before moving into the dining room where guests watched a video of AUR students sharing their experiences, listened to President Richard Hodges’s welcome, and saw AUR’s own Director of Admissions and alumna Arianna D’Amico (Interdisciplinary Studies, 2002) introduce Leticia Santi (Communication, 2015) who launched The AUR Alumni Scholarship (for more information, see page 34).

This was the first alumni reunion in which graduating seniors were invited.

Having just finished their finals, they had yet to attend their graduation ceremony held two days later. Alumni welcomed the Class of 2015 and all shared in their common experience of thriving in the unique environment that is AUR.

Melanie Pisano (Communication, 2013)

a sequel to my thesis, and just found a publishing house based in California this past December. I’m currently editing and reworking both the novels and preparing to write a third, which will be the last in this trilogy. The process has been a bit slow but I’m hoping to have everything finalized by mid-summer so the books can be available before the fall. I really wouldn’t be where I am today in the publishing process without the trust, support and guidance of Professor Lisa Colletta. I still remember walking into our first senior thesis meeting and showing her the printed rough draft of my first book – her face went white. For Lisa Colletta, agreeing to edit this novel for my senior thesis meant a lot of extra work on her end, but she still said yes and I’m incredibly grateful to have had that opportunity. Working on my senior thesis with her was the best memory I have from my time at AUR. I’m looking forward to this new post-graduate-school chapter in my life.” ..........................................................

“Since my graduation from The American University of Rome in 2013, I interned for twelve months at the World Food Programme with the Online Fundraising Team in the Private Partnerships Division.

I also just recently graduated this June Maegan Lilley from St. John’s University, Rome Campus (International Relations, 2011) with a Master’s degree in Government and Politics (Law and Diplomacy). With my Communication background, studying for a Masters in Government and Politics was a very different experience. I think having a combination of two very different degrees is a great way to leverage and apply this knowledge to a UN career. Right now, I am working at FAO in the Forestry Department and am currently preparing for the World Forestry Congress in September.

I am still living in Rome but I traveled to New York City three times in the past five months and was able to spend some time in LA for New Years 2015. One of my New Year’s resolutions was to spend money on experiences instead of material things, so “I am currently in Maryland. I finally I’m trying to travel more this year. finished my linguist training (which took forever), but I love being a linguist! When “For my thesis at AUR, I had written a 500-something page novel, which I spent my military contract [U.S. Army] runs out, I will be going back to civilian life, though my senior year editing with my advisor, I still want to continue to be a linguist and Professor Lisa Colletta. Since graduating from AUR, I have written a second novel, continue my service as a civilian.”

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Michela Franci Shwa Losben (International Relations, 2000)

(Study Abroad, Fall 2001)

Michela Franci (International Relations, 2000) has been keeping busy in Grosseto since 2008 managing Centro Benefit, a Yoga Center for which she also teaches.

During the last 15 years she has explored the arts and discipline of Yoga, focusing her studies in the therapeutic aspect of the practice.

She recently received a Master’s degree in ‘Yoga Studies, Body and Meditation in Asian Traditions’ from the University Ca’ Foscari in Venice, Italy. Her thesis was on medical and scientific studies of the effects of Yoga and how it can provide relief from chronic ailments. At present she is developing a refined body-mind system, AcrobaticYoga, that blends the techniques of yoga with the dynamic power of acrobatics, along with the loving kindness of healing massage.

Joshua (Shwa) Losben (pictured here with Prof. Patania) graduated from American University (Washington, DC) with a BA in International Relations in 2003. He spent the next eight years touring the country as a singer/ songwriter, independently releasing four CDs and winning the 2008 ASCAP Robert Allen Songwriting Award. This past May he graduated from the USC Writing for Screen and Television MFA program where he was named a Jack Oakie Comedy Fellow. He currently lives in San Francisco and is obsessed with his dog “Porcini.”

Shwa recently visited Rome with his wife and reminisced about his time spent at AUR. 13

Lee Chapman

(Interdisciplinary Studies, 2014) “Within AUR’s Interdisciplinary Studies program I focused primarily on Classics and English. I minored in both fields of study. I also studied Art History and Italian language and nearly minored in both. After graduation I worked several jobs, one in a real estate office and another in a sign production factory. I missed being around the educational process and I gravitated toward substitute teaching at the same school where my brother is a fully tenured teacher.

I taught, as a stand-in teacher, a wide variety of subjects for the eight months I was home in California. I had an affinity for teaching English and ESL that stems from my passion for the English language and language learning in general.

I was most interested in taking a teaching position in the Far East because it is a world I knew nothing about. My time at AUR impressed on me the idea that the

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“One of AUR’s principal goals is to prepare students for lives and careers around the world and it absolutely accomplished this goal for me.” best way to learn about a culture, it’s language, and it’s history was to go and spend time in the region of the world that interests you. It is wonderfully challenging and exciting living in Thailand. I live in a small town and not much English is spoken here so I am being challenged to learn the culture and language in order to make friends and eat dinner. Everyone rides scooters here in Thailand, just like in Italy. Family and dining are central to Thai culture, just like Italian culture. The people here are very kind and welcoming. I certainly feel my time in Rome helped me prepare for this journey to Thailand. Everything from the visa process to simple things like grocery shopping in a foreign country are routines that I have been through and am comfortable doing. One of AUR’s principal goals is to prepare students for lives and careers around the world and it absolutely accomplished this goal for me.”

Petar Stoykov

With offices in L.A., Mexico City, Madrid, (International Relations and Buenos Aires, Circus maintains a & Global Politics, 2011) “global presence with a multi-cultural influence.”

Petar Stoykov (pictured at right) and his colleague, Boyan Stanoev, recently created, managed, and competed in the World Bank Hackathon at Software University in Sofia, Bulgaria June 6-7.

Both work in project and application development for the World Bank and are assisting in the World Bank’s goal of designing an application for mobile devices that allows users to report irregularities directly to the state.

Christopher celebrated recent success for the launch of the Warner Bros. game he helped develop based on the film San Andreas, featuring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. As Project Leader, Christopher led the tech and development teams in the process of the game’s development ensuring the project ran smoothly. The game, Earthquake Heroes, was designed to help promote the film San Andreas and allows users to help The Rock save earthquake survivors.

He also took part in building a campaign called Social Trailers for Netflix which recently won the Lion in Cannes and took Bronze at the 30th edition of the “Festival Iberoamericano de la Comunicacion Publicitaria” 2015 El Sol. In an effort to generate buzz for its main titles, Netflix Social Trailers gives viewers the opportunity The event, designed for young to review titles based on the idea that a programmers, attracted more than 50 friend’s opinion is far more trustworthy than students to compete. an actual trailer which shows only the best .......................................................... parts of a movie or series. Netflix invites followers to comment on a post of a specific Christopher Roberts title then creates trailers based on these (Communication, 2008) opinions. As Circus Marketing’s case study states, “Netflix and it’s fans co-created Christopher original content that helped great stories be Roberts told.”

(Communication, On his experience at AUR and how it has 2008) is currently running contributed to his success, Christopher shares, “AUR is the base for everything an agency in I have done professionally since 2008. I Los Angeles, was fortunate to have had passionate and California called Circus Marketing. dedicated professors that instilled in me the tools and knowledge that I still apply He is part of a until this day. From a human and academic collarobative team, “an independent micro-network built perspective, AUR was my foundation for what was to come. Work and life experience upon contemporary values and principles is the most valuable process to becoming [which] combines art and science to craft an expert at any field, but AUR prepared in creative principles that produce awardthe communication realm for what was to winning global brand strategies, services be my future in the world of advertising.” or products that help organizations grow.”

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Work by Claudio Franchi Photo by Nicolo’ Massa Bernucci

Claire Serpi

(Art History, 2009)

houses in London as well as the Guggenheim in Venice.

Of her new venture Claire shares, “Manimenti is the realization of an idea that began when I first moved to Italy.

What captured my sense of wonder weren’t just masterpieces by Caravaggio or skeletons of grand architecture in the Forum, but the ubiquitous attention to artistic detail: flourishes in unexpected places like doorknobs and fountains, street lamps and wrought-iron gates. These meticulous labors of passion, articulated with originality and skill, spoke to my heart.”

Claire Serpi (formerly Tinguely-Rubin) recently launched an art startup, Manimenti, a curated website where master artisans and historic workshops can showcase their one-of-a-kind work.

Only artisans with existing relationships with museums or sites of world heritage are invited to participate. It also offers visitors the opportunity to commission work, to take direct part in the processes of these artisans and workshops while helping sustain endangered traditions.

As CEO and co-founder, Claire assesses the quality and aesthetics of each work on the site, whether it is a piece of jewelry or furniture. The site also offers services, from restoration to architectural details, as well as custom requests, in addition to the online selling exhibitions. Artisans featured on Manimenti include the papal gold and silversmith Claudio Franchi and restorers who have previously worked on the Trevi Fountain and St. Peter’s Basilica.

After completing her Bachelor’s degree in Art History at AUR, with a concentration in Heritage Management, Claire went on to pursue a Master’s in Art Business from Sotheby’s Institute of Art/University of Manchester. She has since expanded her knowledge in the field of connoisseurship at the Christie’s and Sotheby’s auction

Manimenti’s secure site offers not only a retail experience but trains clients in connoisseurship and is host to studio visit videos, artisan interviews, and art historical context. It functions similar to the way a gallery would, giving each artisan their opportunity to shine. Visitors are given an exhibition of unique works of art as well as the stories of their origin and handcrafting.

Manimenti launched its inaugural collection of jewelry and fine silver this summer in partnership with the Associazione Dimore Storiche Italiane. The collection was on display at the event “Cortili Aperti e Artigiani,” hosted at the Palazzo Medici Lante della Rovere in Rome.

Visit the site: www.manimenti.com Instagram: @manimenti

Claudio Franchi at work Photo by Nicolo’ Massa Bernucci

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Karan Babbar

(International Relations & Global Politics, 2013) Karan Babbar (pictured at right with his field research team) is currently enrolled in a Master’s program in Sociology at the South Asian University in Dehli.

Of the program he shares, “The South Asian University is a new university in India. It was established very recently in 2010. It is a South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) project with investment from all the SAARC nations. The focus of this university is to promote South Asian studies in a ‘South Asian’ context.

Since many of the South Asian studies departments are either in foreign universities or in Indian universities, this university provides a common ground between them. Scholars that are located within the region can then study the region together.

It is a great study experience because since we are very new, any dissertation by a student is also considered to be an integral part of studying the local regions. So if I do a study it is used by my professors to further develop the knowledge base of the region. The students here are from all the SAARC nations and luckily in my batch I have a good balance of students. So I get to hear all perspectives and traditions

that I never knew about. For example I never knew about the barter system still being followed in Afghanistan on a regular basis at the local level.

My study is on (work in progress) the factors affecting women’s education in an urban environment. So I will be conducting field interviews of women who have dropped out of schools and try to analyse the major cause for them to drop out. I am doing this in part to critique the frame in which the NGOs present their findings, that is, they link everything to economic factors so that they can ask for more money. This gives an obscured picture of what is actually happening. My hypothesis is that familial factors, which would include things like traditions and mind set of the family towards the females, are stronger influences than just economic alone.”

Karan Babbar (center-left) with porters in Nainital, India 18

David Chacon Presents with Prof. Koehler (Archaeology & Classics, 2014) In June the Dutch Institute of Rome (KNIR, Koninklijk Nederlands Instituut Rome) hosted a conference on water supply, irrigation, and flood protection.

The conference, entitled “Water Management in Italy from Antiquity to the Early Modern Period,” allowed engineers, anthropologists, archaeologists, art historians and philologists to exchange the latest trends in research on the topic.

AUR’s Professor of Archaeology and Classics Jens Koehler and AUR alumnus David Chacon (Archaeology & Classics, 2014) presented a paper on the Aqua Alexandrina in which they compared and analyzed a range of views from antique and medieval manuscripts to the research of Raffaele Fabretti (1680). Known as ancient Rome’s last built aqueduct (AD 226), Aqua Alexandrina may have originally supplied the Baths of Caracalla.

The water pipeline’s post-antique life, referred to as the Forma Iovia, may have continued through the 9th century AD.

Having written his senior thesis on the subject (“The Ancient Roman Aqueduct Known as Aqua Alexandrina: History, Contested Theories, and Present Condition”) and continued his research at the European Diploma in Medieval Studies, David came well-prepared.

Professor Koehler has been doing research on water in antiquity and Roman baths for several years and has recently published a paper on the water supply in Severan Rome. He presented on the archaeological remains of the urban track between Via Prenestina and Via Casilina and the nearly unexplored track at Pantano Borghese. The ancient interventions to raise the level of the water channel and the enormous calcareous deposits due to leaks in the pipeline are impressive.

The event closed with a discussion focusing on possible directions for future research. With water becoming more important in a period of violent global climate change, all participants expressed their hope to meet again soon.

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Professor News

Prof. Martin’s Productive Summer

Prof. Ennis Exhibits Work & Wins Award

Professor Timothy Martin of AUR’s Fine Arts Area followed up a criticallyacclaimed run of the theatrical production of Driving Miss Daisy with Bernstein’s Candide in Florence as part of the internationally renowned festival Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.

Professor Breda Ennis, Director of the Fine Arts program, exhibited her work in Belgium last fall at the 4th Rencontre Biennale de Peintres Contemporains, Prix Medaille d’Or de la Ville de Spa 2014. The exhibition featured works by artists from Belgium, Switzerland, UK, Russia, Cuba, Italy, Greece, Holland, France, Ireland, Jordan, Libya, Ukraine, Canada, and Brazil.

Prof. Ennis’s mixed media work, Ode to Cirrus des Aigles (detail below), received the Special Merit award from the critics.

Professor Martin also collaborated with Italian directors The Manetti Brothers on their much anticipated television series Coliandro - Il ritorno. And he was the featured guest artist at the Cervo di Strega event, a presentation for the national literary award Il Premio Strega, performing three evening recitals featuring a series of Schubert Lieder, American folk songs composed by Aaron Copland, and a collection of African American Spirituals.

Under the direction of Prof. Martin, The Amazing Grace Gospel Choir performed a joint concert with Italian singer Gianni Morandi and the Banda della Guardia di Finanza at a benefit event for abused children in the Gala Hall “Salone d’Onore - Sante Laria” at Caserma Piave, the Guardia di Finanza’s general headquarters.

The choir then performed at the US Ambassador to the Holy See’s annual Fourth of July celebration followed by the opening concert for the Rome 2015 FontanonEstate festival. The choir is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a series of concerts culminating in a Christmas performance on December 27th at the newly-restored Teatro Rendano in Cosenza followed by a tour of the East Coast and southern US in 2016.

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Jenny Petrucci on Peer Mentoring Jenny Petrucci presented a paper called “Peer Mentoring as a Way to Support Students Thrive” at The 22nd Annual European First Year Experience Conference in Bergen, Norway in June. The conference emphasized the role of educators in supporting students throughout their entire undergraduate experience, a period of significant transition for young adults.

exit questionnaires from freshmen Jenny’s paper and presentation focused enrolled in the program. Jenny has used on the importance and benefits of Peer this feedback to improve AUR’s program Mentoring programs for college freshmen. and saw an increase of how helpful She covered not only the evolution of Peer students found the program from 35% of Mentoring over the past twenty years, but participating students in 2008/09 to 97% also provided the audience with a practical in 2012/13. example of her work with the Peer Mentor Program at AUR. She discussed her While at the conference Jenny had the selection criteria, training activities, and chance to meet Prof. Emeritus Vincent the roles and tasks of Peer Mentors. AUR’s Tinto (pictured above), a noted theorist Peer Mentor Program requires the mentors in the field of higher education, student to provide weekly feedback as well as retention, and learning communities. ........................................................................................................................

Prof. Palana’s Recent Work Professor Kristen Palana’s animated short film This Too Shall Pass will make its Italian premier in September at The Salento International Film Festival in Puglia. The film has already screened in thirteen international film festivals and has won awards at Cannes Short Film Festival, The Accolade Global Film Competition, and The International Family Film Festival in Hollywood.

Palana is also currently working on a number of design and illustration projects including a full-length children’s book by American author Barrett Clemmensen Powell, Lori Leak Travels to Paris, about a young African-American heroine who aims to inspire girls to see the world as well as make their mark in it.

Professor Palana has also recently started teaching online courses on Life Design for the UN-mandated University For Peace in Costa Rica through their Centre For Executive Education. In September she will publish a book, Crowdfunding Confidential: Raise Money For You and Your Cause that will be a how-to guide to compliment her online Udemy course of the same name.

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Prof. Dzalto Travels Europe

Prof. Dzalto with Helsinki conference group

Prof. Gwynne Publishes Francesco Sperulo Volumes Patterns of Patronage in Renaissance Rome is the first full-length study of the life and works of Francesco Sperulo of Camerino (1463-1531). In a remarkable career during which the poet progressed from serving as a soldier of fortune in the service of Cesare Borgia to an Italian bishopric, Sperulo produced a significant body of Latin poetry here presented in a critical edition for the first time.

Professor Dzalto has had a busy 2015 with four published articles, five public lectures, two conference papers, and three media appearances on art history, iconography, and theology. He travelled from Belgrade to Bosnia, from Oxford to Croatia. And in Helsinki Dzalto presented a paper entitled “Speaking Truth, Challenges Power Structures: Orthodox Theology as a Critical Discourse” at the international conference Political Orthodoxy and Totalitarianism in a Post-Communist Era. .........................................................

Prof. Villani’s ‘Roman Kosher’ Wins Award

Patronized by popes and cardinals, an impressive array of contemporary figures such as Leonardo da Vinci, Isabella d’Este, Raphael and Baldassare Castiglione appear in his verse. By placing Professor Villani’s film Roman Kosher won his work within the larger historical, the Award of Merit: Documentary Short literary, political and social context, this from the Accolade Global Film Competition, study, published in two volumes, provides a prominent film competition in Los an invaluable window onto the role played Angeles, CA. It was also recently accepted by neo-Latin poetry at the papal court into Roma Cinema DOC, an Italian film and documents the impact of classical festival that features the best short films culture in Rome during the period usually and web series from around the world. referred to as ‘the High Renaissance’.

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Volume One reconstructs Sperulo’s life and circle of contacts by placing the poet’s works in a chronological order and setting them within the political and social circumstances of their composition.

Archival documents scattered across Italy, penitentiary records from the Vatican Archives and a voluminous correspondence with the Duke of Urbino and members of the Varano family of Camerino show that Sperulo was intimately enmeshed in papal politics and intrigue; indeed, he was nearly assassinated for his involvement.

A selection of this correspondence is here included to supplement the poet’s biography.

Volume Two presents a complete critical edition of all Sperulo’s surviving Latin works in poetry and prose with translation and commentary. This remarkable œuvre documents Cesare Borgia’s conquest of Faenza; suggests to Raphael a programme for the fresco decoration of the Villa Madama; records conversations on love with Isabella d’Este; describes the newly-discovered antiquities and reports a sensational murder. Two orations, delivered on the eve of the Sack of Rome, celebrate a treaty between Spain and France and a Polish victory in the Crimean Steppes.

School of Economics), is the result of a three-year long project involving an international group of scholars including Frederick Dickinson, Kevin M. Doak, Naraoka Sochi, Xu Guoqi, and Keishi Ono. The book covers Japan’s place in the First World War and how the conflict affected the country. East Asia, and particularly Japan, is often omitted from both popular and academic accounts of the First World War. This is evident not just in the Western historiography of the conflict but also in the Chinese and Japanese histories of the war, and does not do justice to the many ways in which the conflict shaped Japan both at the time and in its aftermath.

Yet, if the First World War is to be truly understood as a ‘world war’, it has to be seen in its global context. In order to look at some of these issues, Japan and the Great War brings together seven internationally renowned experts on Japanese and Asian history. These scholars investigate, with innovative methodological approaches, various aspects of the Japanese experience during and after the First World War.

Paul Gwynne is Associate Professor of Classics and Director of Interdisciplinary Studies. His areas of interest include: Latin Language; Latin Palaeography; The Survival of the Classical Tradition: Literature, Art, History; Humanism and the Renaissance in Italy; and Late Medieval and Renaissance Court Cultures. ........................................................

Prof. Frattolillo: Japan & the Great War Professor Oliviero Frattolillo is to publish Japan and the Great War (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015). The book, co-edited and co-written with Antony Best (London 23

Prof. Ratti, Writer and Co-Editor

Prof. Conti & Human Rights

The International Relations and Global Politics Adjunct Professor Luca Ratti recently contributed a chapter to the book Beyond Ukraine: EU and Russia in Search of a New Relation (2015), published by the Italian Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI). The chapter, entitled “After Maidan: ReStarting NATORussia Relations,” discusses the place of NATO-Russia relations in post-Cold War European security. It evaluates the causes of their progressive deterioration and sets out suggestions in finding a mutual understanding. It argues that the current dispute is only the latest chapter of a crisis whose distant origins have to be found in the nature of the 1989-1990 East-West settlement that left unclarified the role of the Soviet Union and of its successor states in the post-Cold War European security architecture.

IRGP Adjunct Prof.

Francesca Conti has contributed a chapter to the book Umani Diritti (Human Rights). The chapter, “La forza e il mancato potere delle Ong per il diritti umani,” is about the history of and role played by human rights non-governmental organizations, such as Amnesty International and Save the Children, in the advocacy and implementation of human rights. It analyzes the subject based on interviews while focusing on the initiatives, approach, and history of NGOs. ..........................................................

Recent Works by Prof.

Guerra

Prof. Ratti has also co-edited a book entitled NATO Beyond 9/11: The Transformation of the Atlantic Alliance, an examination by leading scholars from both sides of the Atlantic of the significance of 9/11 in the transformation of the Atlantic Alliance over the last decade. Blending international relations, political science, theory, and history, it asks whether 9/11 represented a major transformative event for an alliance that was still grappling with the implications of the end of the Cold War. 24

Fine Arts Prof. Anita Guerra exhibited this summer at St. Stephen’s School. In the exhibition, entitled Ascent: Recent Works, Prof. Guerra uses bamboo ladders as metaphors of our life journey. These ladders lean precariously against walls and dangle magically from the ceiling. Sheets of hand painted mono prints hang, rest, or are woven between the rungs. Plaster shells of discarded objects (cell phones, books, soccer balls, shoes, coins, and clothing) are scattered under the ladders or are draped, abandoned at the base.

Surveying Circo Massimo

In previous ground penetrating radar research at Circus Maximus, AUR’s Professor of Archaeology Pier Matteo Barone discovered some anomalies which he recently had the opportunity to explore further. This year Prof.

Barone returned to the site with AUR Archaeology and Classics students to survey the Aventine side of the ancient stadium. Their research brought to light that between 1.4 and 3 meters below the surface lay a series of reservoirs likely part of a fountain complex from the Fascist period. Despite its current barren state, the Circus Maximus played host to large exhibitions and structures during the 1930s like that of a model city constructed for Hitler’s visit to Rome in 1938. Prof. Barone’s discovery shed light on a phenomenon that previously lacked documentation.

Perugia, Orvieto and Città di Castello.

His course at AUR will examine the career and achievements of Raphael (14831520) while considering the artist in the context of the High Renaissance in Florence and Rome. Although he died at 37, Raphael has always been recognized as the greatest painter of the High Renaissance. How did he reach this preeminence and how was his art shaped as he moved from Urbino to Florence to Rome, where his most famous works survive in situ?

Students will look at historical sources and documents, as well as later historiography, and will study Raphael’s work on site in Rome and in the Vatican Museums. Raphael’s collaboration with other artists, the organization of his workshop, and his impact on generations of followers will also be examined.

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Raphael and the High Renaissance with Prof. Henry Tom Henry, visiting History of Art Professor from the University of Kent, is a specialist in Italian Renaissance art, with a particular interest in Central Italian painters including Raphael, Piero della Francesca, Perugino and Signorelli. He is the Director of a project to publish Italian Renaissance documents on-line and has co-curated exhibitions of Raphael’s work in major museums in Paris, Madrid and London. In 2012 he published The Life and Art of Luca Signorelli and organized an exhibition of Signorelli’s work in 25

Roberto Saviano at AUR

University News & Events

In memory of AUR Professor James Walston, on the anniversary of his passing, The American University of Rome held a Memorial Lecture to discuss topics that were very close to his heart: the freedom of speech and the rights of the individual.

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The lecture was held in the American Academy in Rome’s Villa Aurelia and was in the form of an interview with Italian writer and journalist Roberto Saviano, author of the bestselling book Gomorrah.

The interview was conducted by Dr. Elizabeth Leake, Professor, Director of Graduate Studies, and Director of the Summer Program in Venice for Columbia’s Italian Department.

AUR students, alumni, professors, staff and friends of the university enjoyed the discussion which ranged from Islamic radicalism to mafia control, and from freedom of expression to literary genres, while also touching upon the issue of geographical and political boundaries and immigration.

In response to a question about immigration and the issue of boat crossings, Saviano responded, “...politicians must respond to these situations, and decide what needs to be done vis-a-vis irregular migrants, but in my mind what should prevail is the ancient law of the sea, which simply says that no one can be left to die. I think the wisdom of the fishermen in Lampedusa is the solution, they continue to stand by the law of the sea.”

Roberto Saviano is an Italian writer and journalist. In his book Gomorrah, he narrates the story of the Camorra, a powerful Neapolitan mafia-like organization, exposing its territory and business connections. Since its publication in 2006, Saviano has been threatened by several Neapolitan “godfathers” and has been granted a permanent police escort by the Italian Minister of the Interior. Because of his courageous stance, he is considered a “national hero” by author-philosopher Umberto Eco. His second book, ZeroZeroZero (2013), is a study of the business around the drug cocaine, its movement across continents, and the role of drug money in international finance.

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AUR’s First Fine Arts Graduate Presents Thesis Exhibition 2015 Fine Arts graduate Sebastiana D’Amico exhibited her capstone in AUR’s Art Studio in Building B during the month of May with an opening exhibition on the evening of May 7th attended by peers, friends, and AUR faculty and staff. Sebastiana is AUR’s first Fine Arts graduate, having received her degree on May 22nd.

Professor Breda Ennis, Director of the Fine Arts program, shares: “As a student [Sebastiana] was fantastic - very focused and determined, which is necessary if you want to be an artist.”

Sebastiana spent time in the Los Angeles and Barcelona art scenes before ending up in Rome where she decided to finish her studies with the help of the Michael D’Angelo Fine Arts Scholarship of which she says, “without it I wouldn’t have been able to attend the university… It gave me my education. Now I have a Bachelor’s in Fine Arts and had a fantastic experience at the university while here.”

Her capstone presentation, entitled Thesis Exhibition, was a first for AUR. Held in the new art studio on AUR’s campus, visitors gathered to gaze upon Sebastiana’s skillfully textured works.

“My thesis exhibition is a series of fifteen paintings that were inspired by the exterior walls of Rome and how, over time, their color changes, their texture changes with contamination and other environmental and human elements. I have used oil on canvas, sometimes mixing the oil paint with sand to give a little bit of added texture to the paint. Basically I just walked around Rome and took photographs of walls that were strikingly beautiful or unique in some way and then did an abstract interpretation of the photographs.”

She knew she wanted to be an artist from a young age from an experience in a summer art program. “The program provided every art medium you could think of.

That was when I realized I loved doing art with my hands – sculpture, 3D design. I discovered how peaceful I would become just by creating something out of clay, or whatever I had to make a work of art,” she says.

Sebastiana plans to remain in Rome, continue painting, focus on marketing herself as an artist, and get involved in more exhibitions. On living and working in Rome, she says, “... I find the art scene here to be a great community... Rome is the perfect place for creativity, never a dull moment.”

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USA Girl Scouts CEO Visits AUR

Archaeology Students Blog Colosseum Dig

The following was taken from the Blog USA Girl Scouts CEO Anna Maria Chavez www.aur.edu/archeology-classics. recently visited AUR during her visit to Rome for the Vatican Conference on Catholic Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting. She stopped by for a visit with President Hodges and long-time Girl Scout volunteer Prof.

Kathleen Fitzsimmons, as well as students, staff, and guests. She also thanked AUR for its enthusiastic support of USA Girl Scouts in Rome and for hosting training and volunteer conferences since 2008.

Chavez has been CEO of USA Girl Scouts since 2011. Before, she held various positions in President Clinton’s administration, served as Deputy Chief of Staff for Urban Relations and Community Development under former Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano, and was CEO of the Southwest Texas Council of Girl Scouts. June 16: We hit the ground running with the start of the first week of the dig.

Divided into two groups consisting of Coincidentally, Kathleen Doherty, Deputy AUR and Roma Tre students, one group Chief of Mission of the US Embassy in continued working on the layer that we Rome, happened to be on campus and had been doing last year and the other welcomed Chavez, sharing her own Girl group started from scratch. The latter Scout experience and enthusiasm for the group had a tougher week, seeing as most organization. She spoke to the fact that a remarkable number of successful women in of it consisted of removing the concrete!...

By Friday, despite the sore arms and diplomacy were Girl Scouts. blister ridden hands from grasping the pickaxes more often than not, we were all very happy with our progress and work in the beautiful Coliseum!

Chavez with former Girl Scout and AUR BizClub President Eileen Francesconi 30

June 19: After a long week of physical activity and a much needed weekend break the activities began... The team that has been assigned to the layer excavated last year had a stimulating second week as a new layer thought to be a wall was found after thorough cleaning.

A challenging “game” of assumptions has began with the Roma Tre supervisors encouraging both the AUR students as well as their own to chip in. The second group continues to perform the tough but necessary act of pick axing. It has already cleared through several modern layers.

and finally the much awaited stage of sieving has begun... Today was a good day for all of us as a group as the first graphic and probably the biggest piece of pottery was found by the first group... A general warm feel surrounds us as we all have officially gotten to know each other and friendships are beginning to form.

June 22: Last week much was discussed about the walls inside the Cuneo, and their relationships with each other and to the different layers surrounding them.

The students and Professors engaged often in conversation regarding their theories about which part came first and their functions in their society.

The second group of students that concentrate on the upper level finally broke through to the medieval layers and spent much of their time drawing and recording its characteristics. We even had a visit from a journalist that interviewed the faculty from Roma Tre, while we were excavating!

July 1: The past three weeks digging at the colosseum have been wonderful.

It was a unique experience... It was fascinating to start with a layer in the 19th century and dig all the way down to the original sewer of the Coliseum. It was also a wonderful environment working with Roma Tre students, former students, and AUR students, all coming from a different background. Now this week we begin post excavation work with new students!...

Students Attend the Expo in Milan

AUR students attended EXPO 2015 in Milan in June with Professors Fitzsimmons, Sonnabend, Quieti, and Patania. On the first day of their visit they were welcomed by Deputy Mayor De Cesaris at City Hall, given a tour of the Campari gallery, and visited an exhibition at the Modern Art Gallery. The following day they were given a formal welcome by the U.S. Commissioner to the U.S. Pavilion at the EXPO, Ambassador Hickey, and toured a number of other nations’ pavilions. On their way back to Rome, they stopped in both Modena and Pienza.

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La Dies Natalis Urbis Romanae: Happy Birthday Rome April 21, 753 BC is traditionally given as the date Rome’s foundation. Accordingly, students from all levels of Professor Paul Gwynne’s Latin classes met on the Palatine Hill to celebrate Rome’s 2764th birthday (Dies Natalis Urbis Romanae) and the foundation of the city by Romulus and Remus. The students were led through the Palatine by Father Daniel Gallagher from the Paideia Institute. This meeting was not just a tour of the Palatine, but a Latin reading session in which both AUR and Paideia students and professors read and translated texts of the foundation of Rome in situ; that is, in the very place that these mythological and historical events occurred.

recounted by Ovid in The Fasti which claims he was clubbed to death with a shovel by the Celer, the site manager or superintendent of the walls’ building site!

“As a study abroad student, being able to go to the Palatine Hill on Rome’s Birthday was a once-in-lifetime opportunity. It was a great experience to study Latin among some of Rome’s most important ruins, and with an incredibly knowledgeable group,” said Erin Oakland who studies Classical Archaeology at Carthage University and has come to AUR for the year. Her favorite passage was an excerpt from Ovid’s Fasti: “Imagine Remus being killed by a shovel! I never knew that!”

Sitting on a shady patch of grass on top of the hill overlooking the Tiber, they read Livy’s account of the birth of Romulus and Remus and their rescue by the SheWolf and the farmer Faustulus (Ab Urbe Condita, 1.3-4). The group then moved on to the remains of a wattle and daub hut village, the first settlement on the Palatine Hill and the presumed home of Romulus (Casa Romuli). At least, that’s how Rome’s first emperor liked to present this primordial heritage site.

They then read about the ritual marking of the city’s boundaries and an alternative version of the death of Remus, as 32

Students Exhibit Their Work in “An Eternal Love”

energy and beauty that still attracts the young American art student today, wandering through the city with brush, sketchbook or camera in hand.

The exhibition entitled An Eternal Love: The Art Student and the Non-Catholic Cemetery in Rome comprises thirty small watercolors, drawings, prints, collages, and photographs made by American art students during their recent semester abroad. Exhibiting students included those from Cornell in Rome, St. John’s University in Rome, The American University of Rome and Temple University Rome. All work was created on location or otherwise inspired by the site.

The show, curated by Prof. Anita Guerra, celebrates this eternal connection, this love, through the eyes of the following students: Jademan Baker, Rhiannon Bell, Rachel Brooke, Kathryn Burns, Marina Caprara, Bernadette DuBois, Jodi Faber, Antonia For te, Laura-India Garinois, Katie Hennessy, Emily Hracho, Rina Kang, Laura Kimmel, Rachel Kosbab, Taylor Lynch, Caroline MacNeil le, Lucia Marquez, Audra Mer curio, Min Keun Park, Natalie Pickel simer, Evan Rawn, Zoe Te ssler, Erica Thoste sen, Amy Tomasso, Arabella Tuthill, Sarah Whitehead, Zheng Xiang, Karen Yeash, Willem Zaeyen.

The Non-Catholic Cemetery for Foreigners in Rome, historically referred to as the Protestant Cemetery or the English Cemetery, has, since the early eighteenth-century, been a site of burial for the numerous foreigners who died in the city and is still an active burial ground today. Many of those who rest there were English and American artists and poets. The most famous of these are John Keats and Percy Bysshe Shelley. Lesser known sculptors, musicians, writers, archeologists and painters came to the city and ended up staying not only their entire lives, but even into eternity.

For centuries, lured by the extraordinary masterpieces and monuments around the city, as well as by the unique light, young foreign artists, poets, musicians and intellectuals flocked to Rome and were inspired creatively. The exhibition is a testimonial to the ongoing contribution of young American artists in the Eternal City whose work continues to be informed by the gardens, tombs and touching stories of the people interred at the cemetery.

The sculptors, W. W. Story and Hendrik Andersen, the writer, Constance Fenimore Woolson and more recently, the painter and art critic Edith Schloss, are some of the many Americans who came to live in Rome and were seduced by that same

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The AUR Alumni Scholarship The AUR Alumni Scholarship was launched at The 3rd Annual Rome Alumni Reunion in May 2015 by AUR alumna Leticia Santi (Communication, 2015) in thanks to AUR for the financial support received during her time at the university. It aims to support two students (one from the US, one international) during their Leticia Santi launches first year at AUR and will be available from Fall The AUR Alumni Scholarship 2016. Recipients will be chosen annually based on their application, their financial need, and a required essay about the applicant’s contribution to AUR’s community and school spirit.

Make a difference. Give back to your Alma Mater by helping fund the education of a degree-seeking student in need. No amount is too small – the level of alumni participation is valued most. ...........................................................................................................................

The James Walston Fund “There are few better ways to honor Professor Walston than by supporting something that he so strongly believed in. The academic field trips through AUR’s International Relations Department embody some of the most important lessons Professor Walston taught his students – listen, observe, get to know the world, never judge, and never stop asking questions... For me, a donation to The James Walston Fund is a way to be sure that – even in Professor Walston’s absence – students have the chance to live what they study.”

-Hayley Benjamin (International Relations, 2011) The James Walston Fund supports AUR degree-seeking students enrolled in the International Relations & Global Politics program. Funding goes toward academic field trips organized by the department which follow two objectives: to study the international organizations in major EU cities and to gain firsthand experience in areas of conflict, peace-building, separatism, nationalism or development. To Professor Walston these trips were an essential component of an education in International Relations because they provided students with the possibility to experience theoretical and historical training on the ground.

For more information on giving to AUR, please visit www.aur.edu/give.

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Upcoming Events September 22 - 6:30 pm

October 12 - 6:30 pm

Business Lecture Series – “Marketing Challenges in the Cruise Industry” AUR alumnus Marcel Kaminstein (Business Administration, 2006), President – Catapult Brands Group (CBG) September 23 - 7:30 pm International Relations Special Seminar – “Human Torture and Rights” President of Amnesty International Italia, Antonio Marchesi.

October 2, 2015 Conference on Global Sustainability and Local Foods

Business Series Lecture – “Business & Government Relations in the International Economy” AUR alumnus Almas Mushashov (Business Administration, 2001), Commercial & Business Development Manager, ENI SpA November 26-28 AUR’s First Parents’ Weekend Please join us for The American University of Rome’s first annual Parents’ weekend. Along with providing parents a glimpse of their student’s life at AUR, the weekend features Thanksgiving dinner, faculty lectures, special campus tours, and a Tuscan day trip.

The American University of Rome and the American Academy in Rome are holding a Conference on Global Sustainability and Local Foods in collaboration with the University of For more information on AUR’s events, Naples Federico II and Pisa University. please visit: http://www.aur.edu/events/ ........................................................................................................................

Giving Back Credit Card - Visit: www.aur.edu/give/ Checks in dollars payable to: The American University of Rome • U.S. Postal Service:

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• Express Mail (UPS, FedEX, DHL):

The American University of Rome c/o Bank of America - Lockbox Services Lockbox 841229 1950 N. Stemmons Freeway, Ste. 5010 Dallas, TX 75207

Checks in euro payable to: The American University of Rome

• The American University of Rome Via P. Roselli, 4 00153 Rome, Italy

Wire Transfers:

Account: The American University of Rome Bank: Banca Poplare di Sondrio Branch: 21 Rome Address: Via Famiano Nardini 25

Rome, Italy Account Number: 000003010X51 IBAN: IT48 C056 9603 2210 0000 3010 X51 Swift /BIC: POSOIT22 35

The American University of Rome Via Pietro Roselli 4 00153 Rome Italy Tel +39 06 5833 0919 To learn more, please visit: www.aur.edu