A&M International Students Headed for Italy This Summer

Although Spring semester courses have ended for most Texas A&M International University students, those enrolled in an "Italian Renaissance" history course still have 10 days of coursework to go. They're not complaining however, because those 10 days will be spent in Italy touring the historic sites they've studied throughout the semester.

The course, HIST 4390 for undergraduates and HIST 5310 for graduate students, is being taught by Dr. Stanley Green, Professor of History at A&M International.

Dr. Green believes the course will provide students with a unique and exciting learning experience.

"Travel is an education unto itself. New places inspire a curiosity about different cultures, people, and ways of life. This course will change forever the way these students see the world," he said.

In Italy, Dr. Green and his students will tour Milan, Verona, Venice, Bologna, Florence, Assissi, Pompeii, the seaside resort city of Sorrento, Rome, Pisa, and the Isle of Capri.

"We will be exploring firsthand the sites which transformed Italy during the Renaissance. This is a class with a view to the past, to the world, and to a future full of new experiences and possibilities," he noted.

Tour highlights include the Grand Canals of Venice; Florence's Piazza della Signoria, where Michelangelo's David originally stood; the Basilica di San Franceso in the medieval pink-stoned town of Assissi; and St. Peter's Basilica, the Sistine Chapel, and the Colosseum in Rome.

Dr. Green hopes to offer a similar course and tour again next Spring.

"I hope to either offer the Italian Renaissance course again or offer a 'Renaissance and Reformation' course which would include a tour to Germany," he explained.

The Italian Renaissance or Renaissance and Reformation course would entail 35 hours of classwork to be completed at the University during the Spring semester plus a 10 - 12 day tour scheduled during the end-of-semester break between Spring and Summer classes.

Students pay standard tuition and fees plus tour fees of approximately $1,800. Tour fees include round-trip airfare from San Antonio, hotel stays, daily continental breakfast and dinners, transfer fees and intercity transportation, sight-seeing tours led by licensed local guides, visits to special attractions, plus the full-time services of a bilingual tour director.

For information on the "Italian Renaissance" course, please contact Dr. Green at 326-2612 or visit his office in the Sue and Radcliffe Killam Library, room 431B.

Information may also be secured via electronic mail at sgreen@tamiu.edu.

Journalists who need additional information or help with media requests and interviews should contact the Office of Public Affairs and Information Services at pais@tamiu.edu