J-Term Seminar: Mediterranean Basin

Greece • Italy 

December 28, 2023 - January 14, 2024

IAU’s Mediterranean Basin January Term Traveling Seminar is designed for students interested in an academic and cultural experience in Greece, Italy, and France. Students build visual literacy in the history of art and archaeology as well as examine philosophical literature of the Mediterranean Basin from Antiquity to the Middle Ages. The seminar cultivates students' abilities to synthesize cultural, historical, political, and social information as it relates to the visual arts. The experiential learning component consists of a series of site visits made by academic experts from IAU in addition to local guides and faculty in the fields of history, art history, and archaeology.

Please note: IAU reserves the right to cancel programs due to low enrollment. Itineraries are tentative and subject to change at the discretion of IAU. Students should consult with an IAU advisor prior to purchasing their flights.

Academics

Students can choose one of the following courses:

• Archaeology 385: Greek and Roman Archaeology
• Art History 385: Ancient and Medieval Classical Art and Architecture
• Cross Cultural Studies 385: Cultural Identities in Mediterranean Europe
• History 385: Ancient and Medieval Mediterranean Cultural History
• Religious Studies 385: From Polytheism to Monotheism, The Early Christian Period in Italy, Greece & France

View the syllabus here. All content and the itinerary is subject to change.

Itinerary 

• Greece: Athens, Mycenae, Epidaurus, Delphi
  
• Crete: Heraklion
• Italy: Amalfi Coast, Salerno, Pompei, Ercolano, Naples, Rome, Florence

All details are tentative and subject to change. IAU reserves the right to alter the itinerary.

About the Professors

Dr. Guillaume Durand has been a professor of archaeology and art history at IAU since 2002 and Assistant Dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences since 2014. Prof. Durand completed a Masters of Art History and Archaeology on Byzantine Studies and a Ph.D. in Romanian History at the Université de Provence. In 2014 he completed a three-year post-doctorate program funded by the European Union and under the aegis of the Romanian Academy (Bucharest) and the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (Paris). He has published two books and several articles in French academic reviews (Cahier des Etudes Romanes, Turcica) and in Romania (Historical Yearbook, Annals of the Spiru Haret University). Professor Durand participates regularly in international conferences in France and throughout Europe and maintains active involvement and oversight of local, regional, and national archaeological excavations. He speaks French, English, and Romanian.

Professor Pamela Morton is a visiting associate professor fine arts at IAU. Professor Morton is an artist and university teacher who has been living and working in the south of France for over thirty years. An expert on Provence and the artists of the south, she has organized and led museum and site visits for cultural organizations and college students. She lectures on Picasso and Matisse as well as on Cezanne and van Gogh and has taught painting and drawing along with 19^th and 20^th century art history courses for study abroad programs in Aix and Marseille. With a background that includes art restoration and museum education, Pamela brings special insight to her understanding of artistic works and their settings both in time and place. Like the artists she studies and admires, Pamela finds inspiration for her own work in the bold light and landscapes of the south of France.

2024 Program Fees: $6,230

Program fees include tuition for three credits, lodging, daily breakfast, some group lunches and/or dinners, intra-program transportation (by plane, train, or bus), entrances/fees for all scheduled cultural activities and academic visits, orientation, and health and repatriation insurance. Additional student costs include roundtrip airfare, most lunches/dinners, textbooks, and personal expenses.

Students who enroll in a January Term Seminar and the spring semester at one of IAU's campuses consecutively are eligible to receive a $2,000 grant credited to their spring semester invoice. In order to be eligible to receive the grant, students must participate in the Early Start Program during the week between the end of the January Term Seminar and the start of the spring semester. The Early Start Program allows students to move in with their hosts a week before the semester begins, receive language instruction, and participate in local cultural activities! Visit IAU's Scholarship website for additional details.