A long-standing Duke global education program in Italy is changing shape.
The Duke in Florence program is ending after its host institution, the University of Michigan, decided to close its program near Florence, Italy, after Fall 2011. Duke in Florence, which began in 1997, might reopen next year as a new partnership with the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The Florence program, located in Sesto Fiorentino, was a learning consortium headed by the University of Michigan in partnership with the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Duke. Last Spring, the University of Michigan announced it would no longer manage the program and that it would end in December, said Margaret Riley, director of the Global Education Office for Undergraduates.
“The future of the Duke in Florence Program is yet to be determined,” Riley wrote in an email Thursday. “The University of Wisconsin... has indicated interest in reconfiguring the program.”
Due to complications with study abroad programs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the redesign has been unable to move as quickly as anticipated. Riley said she hopes that the new program will begin accepting applications Spring 2013.
University of Wisconsin-Madison received approval for the program from its Division of the Dean for International Studies Friday. Now, Duke must wait for the provost at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to give the program final approval, before Duke can begin reconfiguring the program with those at Wisconsin.
Thomas Robisheaux, Fred W. Schaffer professor of history and the faculty director of Duke in Florence, indicated that the incoming program will improve on the previous one.
“The new partnership gives us a chance to review things that worked really well and those that have not been tended to carefully,” Robisheaux said.
Robisheaux said there will be more internship and civic engagement opportunities and civic engagement in the new Duke in Florence program. He also noted there will be improvements to the facilities, more integration with the local community in Sesto Fiorentino and more ties to the University of Florence.
“There will also be a strong sustaining faculty involvement provided by Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies of Duke University,” Robisheaux said.
The 16th-century Villa Corsi-Salviati in Sesto Fiorentino—a historical site that has an important connection with early Italian opera—is about 30 minutes from the center of Florence and is expected to continue housing the program.
The Florence program has served students from University of Wisconsin-Madison and Michigan since 1982. Duke joined the group in 1997. Thousands of students from Duke have participated in the program to date.
Given the partnership changes and program improvements, Robisheaux hopes that Duke student enrollment will grow.
“As the cultural and historical center of Europe, Florence has always been a popular study abroad destination for Duke students,” Robisheaux said, adding that between 50 and 80 students travel to Florence through Duke and other university programs each Fall.
Robisheaux noted that depending on the program, students’ experiences with Florence can be very different.
Junior Allison Schulhof, who participated in the Duke in Florence program in Fall 2011, said the program was a life-changing experience.
“I got to live in a villa on the outskirts of Florence, eat pasta prepared by an amazing Italian chef and travel to charming Italian cities on the weekends.” Schulhof said.
Robisheaux said it was heartbreaking that the University of Michigan canceled the program, but he expressed his hope for the renewed Duke in Florence program with the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“There is nothing like [Duke in Florence],” he said.
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