Florence: Arts, Humanities, & Culture - Fall 2013
- Position available: Affiliated Scholar
- Appointment for: Fall 2013
- Location: Florence, Italy
- Application deadline: March 31, 2012
- See the program pages for the fall semester Florence: Arts, Humanities, & Culture program
General framework of the program
The ACM Florence: Arts, Humanities, & Culture program seeks to give students the ability to read a city, by immersion in Florence's extraordinary legacy of Renaissance art and culture. Students learn how to view Italian culture and works of art in situ and how to understand them in the contexts in which they were created.
The program has three overall learning goals:
- To develop students' understanding of the creative processes and the historical and cultural context in which Florentine medieval and Renaissance art, sculpture, and architecture were produced;
- To build language proficiency in Italian sufficient to allow students to communicate with host families and other Italians and to read newspapers and other documents;
- To develop in students a broad understanding of present-day Italian society and culture.
In addition to a required Italian language course, students choose from course offerings in Renaissance art history, Italian culture, and studio art. Florence itself is the laboratory for the program, and site visits are an integral part of the courses. The program also includes two weekend excursions, typically to Venice and Rome.
Specific duties of the Affiliated Scholar
The Affiliated Scholar for the Florence Fall program is expected to teach two courses. Each course should relate to the program's overall mission and its focus on Italian art and culture, address specifically the opportunities afforded by study in Florence, and reflect the faculty member's own interests and disciplinary expertise. Classroom instruction should be closely integrated with a variety of out-of-class activities. He/she is expected to work in close cooperation with the on-site Director and Florentine faculty to plan and participate in program-sponsored site visits and excursions and to be available to students outside of classroom hours.
The Affiliated Scholar will attend the ACM annual conference for program directors and faculty as well as an orientation session in preparation for his/her time abroad.
Compensation
The faculty member will continue to receive his/her salary and benefits through the home college. In addition, ACM will provide round-trip airfare between the home school and Florence as well as shipping and housing allowances. Candidates may also apply to ACM for additional travel funds to cover the transportation expenses of a spouse/domestic partner and up to two dependent children (under 18) who will accompany the faculty member and live with him/her for the duration of the program. (ACM will reimburse the home college at the rate of one-half the salary of the faculty member for the period of the assignment.)
Application criteria
Any faculty member at an ACM college is eligible to apply, although priority will be given to a faculty member whose regional expertise is Western Europe. It is also useful to have some experience with off-campus study, as the faculty member may be consulted by the on-site Director on a variety of student-related issues as students become adjusted to their surroundings.
Application procedures
Interested faculty should contact Carol Dickerman, ACM Director of International Study Programs.
Applications should include:
- A letter describing the applicant's background and interest in the program, outlining goals related to teaching, working with students, and undertaking personal projects in Italy, and detailing how the applicant would contribute to achieving the program's overall mission and learning goals.
- A brief description of the proposed courses and how they too would contribute to the program's mission and learning goals.
- A curriculum vitae.
- Summary of teaching evaluations.
- A letter from the chief academic officer endorsing the application.
Faculty members who wish to be considered for both the fall Florence: Arts, Humanities, & Culture program and the spring London & Florence: Arts in Context program should apply separately for each.
Selection will be made in consultation with the London/Florence Program Faculty Advisory Committee. The application deadline is March 31, 2012. The letter of application and supporting materials should be sent, in electronic form, to acm@acm.edu.