Italy

This is an advanced intermediate Italian Language course offered by the University Language Center (CLA) for University of Bologna exchange students. The course is at the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) B2 level. Enrolment in this course is based on an entrance exam. Students enrolled in this course have generally successfully completed ITAL 132 as part of the UCEAP Intensive Language Program (ILP). At the end of the course students can understand the main ideas of complex text on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in their field of specialization. They can interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without strain for either party. They can produce clear, detailed text on a wide range of subjects and explain a viewpoint on a topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options. The course covers the following grammatical points: use of verbs in the past - all tenses; the conditional and past conditional; the present subjunctive vs. the imperfect; the subjunctive: all form of the past; concordance of subjunctive verbs; the passive voice; relative pronouns; and presenting the future in the past. This course is available to UCEAP students in the spring semester only. The course is graded pass/no pass only.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale program. The course is intended for advanced level students only. Enrollment is by consent of the instructor. The course explores some of the main dimensions of Soviet and Russian history in the 20th century. The course provides an overview of the social and political evolution of the Soviet Union from 1917 to 1991 and its legacy for post-Soviet Russia. The course discusses topics including: the main stages of social changes and political governance from the 1917 Revolution to the collapse of the Soviet Union; the social and political legacies of the Soviet experience for Russia after 1991; the major scholarly debates on State/society relationships; and how to contextualize Soviet social and political history in a broader framework, analyzing key junctures when Soviet international concerns or ambitions interacted with its domestic agenda.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale program. The course is intended for advanced level students only. Enrollment is by consent of the instructor. The course offers basic knowledge of the methodologies and of the perspectives of near eastern art history and the reading of symbolism embedded in the material record. The course examines how to recognize and critically examine visual materials, and fine tune the critical tools needed for interpreting ancient visual communication. The course explores elements on sculptural complexes of the Bronze and Iron age in Syria and South-East Anatolia with particular reference to visual communication and architectural settings. Several contexts are analyzed according to a critical approach which are discussed together with the students also through the main scientific references on the relevant subjects. The course discusses sculptural complexes of the Bronze and Iron age in Syria and South-East Anatolia: visual communication and architectural settings.

This intermediate foundation course investigates the various materials, skills, and expressive issues involved in drawing the city of Florence, its architecture, sculptures, and the human figure from the live model. Students explore a range of compositional issues such as figure/ground relationships, light and shade, perspective, line and shape, value and color, texture, anatomy, contrapposto, and design.  Students draw on site in the city of Florence as well as in the classroom. Both are used in conjunction with exploring diverse approaches to the learning of drawing fundamentals. Emphasis is placed on drawing from perception while focusing on different cultural conventions relating to space, perspective, the human figure, architecture, anatomy, and proportion. The course includes trips to on-site locations in the city of Florence: its piazzas, gardens, museums, as well as a visit to an artist studio. There are two versions of the FOUNDATIONS OF DRAWING: DRAWING IN THE CITY OF FLORENCE, a beginner level and an intermediate level, this course is the intermediate level. Intermediate students are required to have completed a beginning drawing course as a prerequisite. Some assignments for the intermediate students will vary from the assignments given to beginning students. Intermediate students' assignments and progress are held to a higher standard than beginning students. The intermediate students are expected to perform at a higher level.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale program. The course is intended for advanced level students only. Enrollment is by consent of the instructor. After completing the course, students are familiar with the main theoretical, methodological and technical tools of the historical-religious disciplines of the social sciences, which address the study of the history of religions of the ancient world with mastery of interdisciplinary methods and contents. They are able to evaluate religious phenomena and dynamics in local and global sociocultural contexts, to identify connections, developments, persistence and transformations of religious phenomena and appreciate interaction between groups in complex societies. They understand the relevance of cultural-historical studies for historical enquiry and can identify the specific contribution that the historical sciences can make in addressing issues and problems of interest to the community, such as the critical promotion of the value of religious differences and religious pluralism. Also, through direct involvement in seminar-type activities on some monographic topics (personal reading and analysis of ancient texts and modern studies), they have knowledge of the sources and problems linked to the study of religions of the classical world and the general characteristics of polytheism. They know how to use the language and tools specific to the discipline. They are able to update their knowledge and elaborate autonomous analytical perspectives, applying the methodologies of investigation to specific problems and documents and considering the scientific and international debate related to the discipline. The 2023 course topic is: Religions as communication systems. Semiotics and semantics of the veil in the Ancient Mediterranean religious systems: a comparative overview of an element of clothing.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale program. The course is intended for advanced level students only. Enrollment is by consent of the instructor. This course describes and evaluates the results of recent research on multisensory integration. First, the mechanisms underlying multisensory integration are outlined. The course then examines the perception of multisensory events, the advantages afforded by the ability to combine different sensory modalities and the key determinants of intersensory interactions. Another key question addressed is how multisensory interactions are linked to and modulated by attention. The course specifically considers the latest evidence assessing the role of exogenous and endogenous attentional mechanisms on cross-modal processes. In addition, the course also focuses on recent research concerning how multisensory information is used to create multiple spatial representations of our body parts and of the spaces within which they can act. The course reviews how these representations that are used to guide body movements through space show a considerable degree of plasticity. Finally, the course considers how the cortical system for perception may become radically reorganized after sensory deprivation and evaluate this surprising degree of cross-modal plasticity.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. The course provides an advanced and critical overview and understanding of the role of victims of crime and abuse of power, social exclusion, and repression in contemporary society with regards to the main theoretical approaches in the discipline as a reflection of the changing of structure dynamics and relations at all level in the "global era". The course provides the skills to: analyze processes of victimization in contemporary societies in a broader political and socio-economic context; set the peculiar condition of victims in the frame of multiple interactions with regards to national and supra national institutions; recognize the ambivalence of victims’ role inside the judiciary and criminal justice systems in a comparative perspective; apply the “new” victimology of human rights in an original and interdisciplinary approach that transcends current official and social perspectives of victimization and its sources.

The course focuses on the changes which occurred in urban communities in connections with the birth of universities that drew students from a broad geographical territory and employed a plurality of masters. The course discusses topics including: the meaning of urban communities through the transformations that have taken place over time; comparative view between Italian and European cities through specific examples; how to make use of satellite images of urban settlements to identify the phases of their development from Ancient times to the present day; and recognize the reasons for the formation of the cultural identity of Europe and the connective tissue of which cities are an important part.

This intermediate foundation course investigates the various materials, skills, and expressive issues involved in drawing the city of Florence, its architecture, sculptures, and the human figure from the live model. Students explore a range of compositional issues such as figure/ground relationships, light and shade, perspective, line and shape, value and color, texture, anatomy, contrapposto, and design.  Students draw on site in the city of Florence as well as in the classroom. Both are used in conjunction with exploring diverse approaches to the learning of drawing fundamentals. Emphasis is placed on drawing from perception while focusing on different cultural conventions relating to space, perspective, the human figure, architecture, anatomy, and proportion. The course includes trips to on-site locations in the city of Florence: its piazzas, gardens, museums, as well as a visit to an artist studio. There are two versions of the FOUNDATIONS OF DRAWING: DRAWING IN THE CITY OF FLORENCE, a beginner level and an intermediate level, this course is the intermediate level. Intermediate students are required to have completed a beginning drawing course as a prerequisite. Some assignments for the intermediate students will vary from the assignments given to beginning students. Intermediate students' assignments and progress are held to a higher standard than beginning students. The intermediate students are expected to perform at a higher level.

The course introduces students to the political economy of global health. It evaluates the underlying social, political, and economic causes of ill health and the role of various policies in responding. An emphasis is placed on analyzing the role of institutions, aid flows, corporations, and macroeconomic changes in global health. The course gives students an understanding of core concepts, issues, and debates in global health. Students apply social and political science perspectives to the analysis of health problems and identify research questions and designs on global health topics. The course requires students to have completed an elementary statistics course as a prerequisite. The course is split into three parts. Part I offers an introduction to Global Health topics. The first two sessions introduce the main debates in global health: the global burden of disease project, Primary versus Selective Health Care, horizontal versus vertical health systems, Universal Health Coverage, DALYs, and the theory of epidemiological transition. The next six sessions evaluate in more specific detail the history, epidemiology, and economics of leading sources of death and disability worldwide. Part II focuses on better understanding the wider causes of ill health and potential modifying factors. It covers different methods for measuring and mapping the scale of health inequalities across countries and over time. It also reviews the ongoing debates about whether inequality is a causative factor in health outcomes. This component of the course reviews evidence on the impacts of financial crises on health, from the Great Depression through to the recent economic downturns in Europe and North America, as well as implications for health of radical populism and fascist political movements. Finally, it evaluates the roles of health and social security systems in responding to these health determinants. Part III maps key players and actors in global health. This part of the course evaluates the political economy of global health. It assesses who holds power, covering the role of the World Health Organization, Private Philanthropic Foundations and other non-state actors, International Financial Institutions, and Multi-National Corporations. It reviews debates on alternative forms of redistribution, from charity to aid to lending programs. Finally, this section evaluates the histories of engaging with commercial determinants of health and alternative regulatory systems.