Category: Umbra Blog

Students visit and tour Radiophonica

Staff from Radiophonica, a local WebTV and WebRadio producer, came to the Umbra Institute on Tuesday to share their work with the participants of Umbra’s Journalism & Communications Club. Radiophonica is a member of the National Association of College and Student Radio and regularly works with more than 90 European college radios, as well as a number of stations around the world. The Radio Manager, Rossella Biagi was very open to questions as she shared the history of Radio in Italy, the station’s format, how the station is structured, and how radio shows are created.

Students also received a brief lesson on the culture of news reporting in Europe. Radiophonica’s News Video Editor, Nicola Palumbo, presented the fact that even countries that are often stereotyped into similar cultures are actually quite dissimilar, especially when it comes to reporting style. Focus was placed on Spanish, French, and Italian journalistic cultures, which exhibit stark differences.   

Umbra students then met with Radiophonica staff on Thursday afternoon to tour the station’s facilities, and to learn more about opportunities to participate in the production of their own WebTV or WebRadio shows.

Contact the Umbra Voice Journalism & Communications club for more information about Radiophonica or upcoming workshops and events. 

The class gathers in front of the Broccatelli Cheese Factory

This weekend, HSIT 349: The History and Culture of Food in Italy students learned how cheese and wine is produced as they visited Di Filippo Winery and Broccatelli Cheese Factory. Witnessing production processes led students like Danielle Hennies to say, “It makes you think more about how much time it takes to taste an aged wine or cheese that it has taken three years to produce. It makes you feel more connected to the process of eating food.”

During their field trip, students were introduced to the process of cultivating grapes. They learned about how, by permitting horses and geese to roam the vineyards, they were allowing for the creation of natural fertilizers. “Roberto [di Filippo] focused on the importance of what animals consume and the role that it plays,” shared Lisa Acerba, in reflection as she recalled her trip to di Filippo Winery. “All in all, you get a better product when you take care of the things that go into it.”

After the trip, students commented about how agricultural labor in Italy was a “lifestyle and an art”. “At the winery the craft is traditional but complimented by new innovations like the large press and huge barrels that help to facilitate the process that’s been around for ages,” shared Brittany Miraldi. “I came to Perugia to see this Italy – the real one where the countryside and real labor show the lifestyle this country has.”

Click here to read more about HSIT 349: The History and Culture of Food in Italy.

As many have expressed concern for the Umbra community, we would like to report that the city of Perugia and the Umbra Institute were unaffected by this morning’s earthquake in Italy.

The location primarily affected was the area around Amatrice, about 150 km south of Perugia. 

We appreciate all of your kind thoughts and prayers.

A past theater performance at Onaosi Theater in Perugia

In the fall of 2015, the Theater Club took Umbra by storm as students performed for the community at the elaborate Onaosi Theater in Perugia. Since their first production, the club has continued, each semester, allowing participants to take part in dramatic, comic spettacoli.

“The whole theater club experience was an enjoyable one! Every meeting we were given the opportunity to make the script our own, and therefore, work off of each other within the context of the play,” said Sinarely Minchala, a participant in the club’s Fall 2016 performance.

Sinarely, along with other Fall 2016 participants, including Emily Quinn and Katie Bowman, felt that the best way to share their enthusiasm for the club was to create a video of some of their favorite moments as they rehearsed The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged).

Last semester’s students would like to thank Giuliano and Cristiano for the humor, enthusiasm, and Shakespearian knowledge that they shared throughout their theater experience.

Current students interested in participating in the club should contact Cristiano (in the Library) or Giuliano (in his office on Umbra’s first floor).

Umbra welcomes Spring 2017 students

This last weekend, the Umbra Institute welcomed Spring 2017 students to Perugia. The weekend began with orientation at the Hotel Giò and within the lovely Santa Cecilia Oratory, where students learned all they need to know about academics and safety during the semester.

Italian classes then began their intensive week on Monday, January 9th. During the morning, students learned the vocabulary they needed to know in order to get around Perugia. During the afternoon, they visited local supermarkets, coffee shops, and other locations so as to experience practical situations in which they will need to speak Italian. Monday evening was dedicated to the Community Engagement and Student Activities Info Session, and on Wednesday evening, students will be given the opportunity to ask travel-related questions during the Travel Workshop.

On Monday, January 16th, students will begin their regularly scheduled elective courses whereupon the semester will jump into full swing!

Click here to read more about Community Engagement activities and courses.

Click here to read Umbra’s travel tips.

Community Engagement (CE) is the cornerstone of the Umbra Institute’s mission in higher education. At least two-thirds of the courses offered each semester work directly with the local community on projects ranging from working with companies who are interested in developing their international business strategy to designing ceramics that will be sold as a fundraiser for UNICEF. For the Umbra courses that do not participate in CE initiatives, most are complimented by at least one field trip that provide students the chance to visually experience topics discussed in class.

Some of Umbra’s most popular CE courses include:

• Seminar and Practicum courses with topics in Fair Trade, Museum Studies, Education, and Critical Disabilities.
• IBST 380: International Business Strategy and BSIM 390: International Marketing: These two courses take business concepts discussed in class and apply them to real-world experiences. This semester, students will work on a consulting project for locally based companies, that is then formally presented to company owners or representatives at the end of the semester. One class will be working to bring a ceramics producer into the international market, while another will assist a global interior design company with broadening its international reach.
• ISLI 330: A Taste for Knowledge
  

  

  
  : This creative writing course works with SapereFood Magazine to create food fiction pieces that are then published and shared throughout Italy and the English-speaking community based on visits to local food producers.
• PYIR 450: Community-Based Research in Psychology: Through this class, students work with one or more partners, using field research methods to understand and evaluate an area in need of improvement and to test possible solutions. Recent partners have included a local immigration center where students worked with political refugees to understand their struggles integrating into the community and providing possible solutions based on qualitative analyses.
• PYHD 430: Human Development: A course that brings students into two local elementary schools to observe classroom functions relative to human development and to lead interactive cultural activities in English, using methods discussed in class.
  

  

• ESUS 310: Placemaking: Creating Sustainable Urban Spaces and Communities: This semester, students will continue developing a project involving the revitalization of a terrace in one of Perugia’s picturesque neighborhoods. During the Fall 2016 semester, students worked to promote the community space to local children and their families. As they said during the Halloween party and puppet show they hosted, “What is important is to raise awareness among children of the need for sustainable space. We can work all we want, but they are the future that will keep these projects moving forward.”

Current students should mark their calendars for Monday, January 9^th at 5:15 PM to participate in the Community Engagement and Student Activities Info Session and learn more about Umbra’s CE activities, student clubs, volunteer opportunities, and other Umbra-sponsored events.

Click here to read more about Community Engagement at the Umbra Institute.

Museum Studies Seminar and Practicum: Cathedral Museum Tour:
This morning began with an invigorating tour through Perugia’s cathedral museum, located beneath the Umbra Institute. The tour was led by Akosua Ako-Addo. Akosua taught tour attendees about how the church recycled pagan symbols in order to make new followers feel more welcome and comfortable, back in Roman times. She also shared how Rome, at one point in history, was not deemed safe for the church and, at that point, Perugia was a significant location where bishops met and Popes were chosen. The church museum extends underground and individuals viewing the archaeological side of the museum are able to climb down the ancient hillside as they view sites such as the buried medieval church building, which rests on top of a Roman house, which rests above an Etruscan temple.

Photography and Ceramics: Art Show
“Photography has inspired me to stop and look at the finer details. When exploring new cities, I couldn’t help but stop and capture the little moments,” shared Samantha Ide as she pointed out some of the photos she took.

Julia Mericle and Haley Donathan, who participated in the Introduction to Ceramics course posed with their favorite ceramics pieces that were created after studying historic Umbrian ceramic styles. When asked about her experience in the course, Julia said, “I like that we were taught several different traditional methods for creating ceramics, but we were still able to be creative with what we made.” She also described the process of dipping ceramic creations into glaze before creating designs that were then painted.

Community Engagement Presentations
Many classes at the Umbra Institute engage the community either through service-learning projects, community-based coursework, or seminar and practica courses. This afternoon, representatives from each class shared their projects and what they valued most about the work in which they participated. Twenty presentations were given, of which, the following contributions were made:

• Intercultural Communications students shared how they worked to break language barriers using body language as they conducted reading sessions in local libraries. The readings were then recorded to assist blind readers, helping them hear the stories in English.
• International Business Strategy students shared their work with Pashmere, a local luxury cashmere designer. The presentation covered how they worked to convert goals to strategies in a consulting project with the company’s owners.
• Cosa Nostra students shared their experience with the Libera Association, an Italian anti-Mafia organization, and Col di Pina farm in Pietralunga, a property that was previously owned by the Mafia and was confiscated by the Italian government, which then gave the property to locals to cultivate. Students shared the dramatic differences between the Hollywood interpretation of the Mafia, and the reality of the Mafia that is presented through Italian media.

At the end of the presentation event, students voted for their favorite presentations. The winners were students from the Museum Studies Seminar and Practicum, who shared their work with local museums as they uncovered local history, and the Placemaking course, which shared their work with the Borgo Bello community and promoted their Neighborhood Puppet Show and Project Presentation Event (to take place tomorrow night).

Still to come…

• This evening, students enrolled in Creative Writing and the Taste for Knowledge will share their creative works during a Creative Writing Reading event.
• Tomorrow, Placemaking students will conclude their semester with a Neighborhood Puppet Show and Project Presentation event.
• On Friday, Archaeology students will provide tours of a local museum.

Ornaments on display in Quasar Village

This year, the ARCW 350: Introduction to Ceramics class used some of their extra ceramics materials and free time to contribute to the local UNICEF chapter by creating holiday ornaments. The ornaments are currently on sale both at the Umbra Institute and at various locations throughout Perugia, such as the Quasar and Emisfero Shopping Centers. Funds raised from ornament sales, like those raised through the Pigotta doll project, will go toward paying for vaccinations and lifesaving medical assistance that is provided to women and children affected by poverty.

The project began when a representative from UNICEF, Maria Luisa Blasi, came to speak with the class about the organization, its goals and its work. Julia Mericle, a student from Saint Bonaventure University, assisted with the UNICEF ornament project and felt inspired by it. She said that she wants to encourage her friends back home to learn more about UNICEF and “brainstorm ideas for ways our classes back at Saint Bonaventure might be able to get involved with this organization as well.”

The Umbra Institute is excited about the enthusiasm that students direct toward its partnership with UNICEF each semester. Umbra looks forward to continuing its work with local UNICEF members in the semesters and years to come.

Click here to learn more about UNICEF.
Click here to learn more about volunteer opportunities at the Umbra Institute.

 

Dr. Daniele Nucci presents the Mediterranean Diet

 

Students of STFS 330: Sustainability and Food Production in Italy attended a special guest lecture on the Mediterranean Diet with dietician and researcher Dr. Daniele Nucci. Students learned about the recommended food pyramid, and then applied its principles in the kitchen preparing a tasty and nutritionally complete lunch. The menu was brown rice with pumpkin and leek sauce, pasta with pesto of broccoli and nuts, chickpea burgers, vegan mayonnaise, and cabbage and apple stew.

Two students wrote about their experiences during the field trip. Jill Wallace, of Pennsylvania State University, shared: 

“I really enjoyed our class visit with the dietitian. In the United States I study basic life sciences and nutrition, so it was really interesting to get another culture’s perspective on things I have previously learned. I was also very impressed with the dietitian’s experiences and the work he is currently involved in. Although some of the information provided related to the Mediterranean were things we were already taught in class, it was exciting to be able to apply that knowledge hands-on in the kitchen. Healthy, fresh ingredients can be tasty too!” 

Eliana Zupcich, of Hamilton College, added: 

“I am grateful to have attended Dr. Daniele Nucci’s seminar on the Mediterranean Diet and the cooking lesson that followed it. I was particularly attentive to his assertion that the healthiest diet is also the most environmentally sustainable. As it turns out, the practices he promoted were almost entirely vegan. In the United States, many people have unsolicitedly informed me that my diet must be nutritionally incomplete or at the very least inefficient; thus, I appreciated the denunciation of animal products and flesh from a successful nutritionist, cancer prevention specialist, and chef. Moreover, I was delighted to eat the wonderful plant-based meal he helped us prepare!”

Yesterday, the PYIR 450: Community-Based Research in Psychology students met a group of Nigerians who recently immigrated to Italy at the office of C.I.D.I.S. Onlus. C.I.D.I.S. Onlus is a non-profit association dedicated to helping foreigners, immigrants, refugees and those seeking asylum integrate into the local Italian society and culture; work towards equal rights; and combat discrimination and racism. The meeting began with a conversation about integration and feeling at home in a new place. While sitting together in a circle, each person took a turn answering the question, “What is one thing I can do and what is one thing I would like others to do to help me feel welcome here in Perugia?” Responses ranged from eliciting a simple greeting when meeting one’s neighbors to identifying the issue of racism affecting immigrant communities. Afterwards, everyone came together to eat some typical Umbrian snacks and mingle.

The ideas generated by the discussion will fuel a new class research project on intercultural differences and cultural integration facilitated by professor John Lawrence Dennis and will be continued by Spring 2017 students. Umbra students will work together with C.I.D.I.S. and the Nigerian immigrants to find informed and creative ways to make this group feel at home.