In Early Fall 2024, the Robinson Center for Young Scholars launched the inaugural RC in Rome Study Abroad program to the UW Rome Center.
Two UW staff members accompanied twelve UW students to Rome, where they spent two weeks traversing and exploring miles and miles of history spanning thousands of years. The Robinson Center is home to a unique, tight-knit community of early-entrance UW students, and the RC in Rome program offers participants a unique opportunity to explore and stretch their sense of independence while also strengthening their existing relationships with each other. This year, the students delved deep into Multimedia Storytelling, led by faculty member Nicole Peters of the UW Department of English. From villas to ancient underwater ruins, from nights filled with tiramisu to early mornings catching Italy’s high-speed trains, there was not a dull moment while the RC students were abroad in Rome.
Streams of migrants flow north daily from the southern hemisphere to Italy and the United States, where Europe held colonies, and the United States dominated business and politics for generations. The two countries are also both wrestling with swings in political discourse and shifting immigration policy, all at the same time as their citizens are occupied with debates about perceived threats to cultural identity. Italy and the United States provide similarities and contrasts for studying migration, immigration law, resettlement, and the lived experience of migrants. And so a group of 21 of us went to the University of Washington Rome Center during the Winter 2024 Quarter to do just that.
Roman Forum
Nineteen undergraduate honors students (and two Professors) joined two Italian Professors in four courses designed to complement each other and to provide students with a broad experience living in a world capital. They took basic Italian to be able to navigate the city, have some understanding of simple commerce, and greet their neighbors. The students took a lecture course which outlined patterns of disasters from genocide and civil war, to earthquakes and global warming. It focused on the varied traumas migrants experience from physical assault and depravation, to perilous migration routes, camps, detention, torture, and trafficking. And they learned about the institutions, policies and immigration law in Italy and the U.S. that migrants must navigate after they escape. The students worked in and examined resettlement organizations assisting migrants in Rome, and had some limited contact with refugees in these service sites. Finally, they studied Roman history and used the built environment of Rome to study narratives of power through the millennia that continue to reverberate today in discussions of public benefits, law and order, citizenship, trafficking, forced assimilation, and structures of inequity. Each course touched on elements relevant to the other courses and challenged students intellectually and emotionally.
Rome at sunset
The undergraduate students came from Environmental Studies, Biology, Philosophy, History, Public Health, Public Policy, and Anthropology. There is no discipline untouched by migration studies, from the biology of starvation and traumatic brain injury to the politics of water during global warming, as such there is something for each discipline and an expertise each student has to teach their peers. While this was not the international lark many will describe their study abroad program to be, the students engaged with real people, living the topics they were reading about, they learned about the enormity of losses faced, and the remarkable resilience of survivors, and while the workload was not overwhelming and they did have an opportunity to travel, many of them reported having their eyes opened to the hard realities of history and public policy, and firmly feeling they had left more provincial views behind.
Written by Dr. Jonathan Carey Jackson, professor in the Department of Medicine and an adjunct professor in the Department of Global Health at the University of Washington. Dr. Jackson has 32 years of experience designing research programs and services for immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers. He has mentored and taught generations of graduate students, medical students, residents, fellows, and colleagues on refugee-related issues for decades.
Not even 5,000 miles of distance is enough to stop these Huskies from cheering on their football team as they take on the Wolverines Monday evening. University of Washington fans around the world are getting ready to cheer on their team as the Huskies fight for a national title against the University of Michigan on Monday. Students studying abroad at the UW Rome Center may be eating their way through the nearly 3,000 year old capital city of Italy, but their hearts are bleeding purple.
UW students in Rome at a Husky football watch party
When Huskies linebacker Zion Tupuola-Fetui recently spoke about a meaningful moment from his UW experience, he teared up. The meaningful moment did not take place on a football field. It involved a foreign country and a favorite professor.
Classics Professor Jim Clauss (center, in purple) discusses the history and politics of ancient Rome with students during a visit to the Roman Forum.
Tupuola-Fetui (BA, Comparative History of Ideas) was moved to tears speaking about Jim Clauss, professor of classics in the College of Arts & Sciences, who led a ten-day study abroad program in Rome for UW student athletes. For Tupuola-Fetui, the experience reignited his love of learning, which had waned when classes went online during Covid.
“When I met Jim, the first thing I noticed was his enthusiasm for what he’s teaching,” Tupuola-Fetui recalled, speaking at the UW’s newly renovated Rome Center in June, to an audience that included UW President Ana Mari Cauce and College of Arts & Sciences Dean Dianne Harris. “Jim has an infectious attitude that makes us all want to learn more.”
After participating in the Rome program in 2022, Tupuola-Fetui was so inspired that he signed up again in 2023. “Sadly, my time at school is coming to an end and I don’t think I’ll be able to make it three years in a row,” he told the Rome Center audience, only half joking.
Capturing the Essence of a Timeless Celebration: June 16-18, 2023
Review the joyous moments and experiences shared by students, faculty, alumni, and distinguished guests who gathered to commemorate the rich legacy of the University of Washington’s Rome Center.
We’re almost there! After nearly four years of renovations, we can almost say, “We’re done!” Final—but big—touches are currently being completed on the fourth floor, where we’ll now have five apartments for faculty and UW Rome Center intern use. Kitchens, lighting, and doors are currently being installed and wardrobes are being built. We’re also getting ready for some much needed dusting off of furniture and a complete rehab of the Penthouse apartment terrace.
As this floor is dedicated to apartments, the project took a different shape as we envisioned how to best make use of the space and make each apartment more functional for its inhabitants. The most major change in use was the reconfiguration of the former studio-turned library and computer lab-turned temporary office and classroom space to two new apartments. For anyone who knows this space, our challenge was to make them light and comfortable without the gift of a view with the tall windows. In the new apartment to the right, we were able to repurpose the prior bathroom and laundry room into a kitchen with a view. Other important changes to the layout also include direct access to the balcony from the bedroom in the first apartment to the left (for those of you who know it, Apartment 410), and removal of the step up to the Penthouse Apartment and step down to the living room. We’re thrilled with the results!
Consistent with the work on the first and third floors, the scope of renovation for the fourth floor also included reinforcement of the floors and new tile throughout, a completely new HVAC system and electrical work throughout the space, and new lighting. And like the other floors, the style and feel still holds the integrity and historical aspects of the building, while offering cleaner lines and greater ease of use for our guests.
We are more than ready to unpack and get the apartments up and running, as we will be welcoming guests early next month. We’ve got lots to do between now and then, but we’ll be ready! And we’re thrilled to be able to share these updates live and in person with guests attending our UW Rome Center Celebration from June 16-18, 2023, where everyone will have a chance to tour the Penthouse Apartment and its beautiful terrace overlooking Campo de’ Fiori—offering an unparalleled view of the city line including St. Peter’s Basilica and the Janiculum Hill.
To learn more about the UW Rome Center Celebration, please click here! We’d love to have you join us to celebrate not only the completion of the renovations, but also to celebrate the history and legacy of more than 35 years of the University of Washington in Rome.
In November 2022, Governor Jay Inslee made a surprise visit to the UW Rome Center. During his visit, Governor Inslee interviewed Kenneth Sebens, Professor of Biology in the UW Department of Biology and Professor in the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences in the UW College of the Environment, and Giovana Ramos, a senior at the University of Washington studying Biology (Physiology), about a new study abroad program in Rome.
We have learned a lot about invertebrates and the ecology of what’s going on in the Mediterranean regarding climate change.
Giovana RamosUW Student
The Ecology of the Mediterranean Sea (Biology), the first UW Study Abroad program to be sponsored by the Department of Biology in Rome, offered 15 UW students the opportunity to take courses on the Ecology of the Mediterranean Sea, Science Writing: The Environment, and Introduction to Italian during the Autumn 2022 quarter. Students participated in six field trips to coastal locations, including snorkeling and underwater photography.
Amity Neumeister, UW Rome Center (UWRC) Resident Director, shares about her recent visit to Cività di Bagnoreggio with UWRC alumna Leah Martin ’97 to meet with the husband of the late Astra Zarina, founder of the UW Rome Center.
The first time I visited Cività di Bagnoreggio, I was on a holiday break from my study abroad program in Siena. My father and stepmother had come to visit for Christmas and we spent several days driving around Tuscany, Umbria and Lazio, discovering interesting towns to explore for the afternoon, getting lost in the beauty and intrigue of this foreign land that was already starting to feel like home. We set our sights one day on Cività di Bagnoreggio.
Walking up the bridge
After parking our car before the long bridge up to the tiny town that sits perched on top of a plateau of volcanic tuff (“tufo” in Italian) overlooking the Tiber river valley, we traversed that long bridge up to the town. As we entered into the main piazza of Cività, I remember looking to my right and being blown away by a sign that said (among other things) “Università di Washington”. While I wasn’t a Husky at the time—I had opted to go to University of Puget Sound in Tacoma for my undergraduate studies—I distinctly remember being struck by this coincidence, wondering who, what, when and how there was a connection between the massive UW and this little, tiny hilltop town in the middle of Italy, thousands of miles away from Seattle. We didn’t have cell phones or regular access to the internet in those days, so those questions remained with me for quite some time.
Fast forward five years, and I’ve completed my MBA at UW (now finally a Husky), and I’m working at the UW School of Medicine. One of my colleagues mentions to me one day that his daughter, Lauren Easterling, is doing an internship at the University of Washington Rome Center. I remember asking myself, How did I not know the UW had a Rome Center? (even though I had lived less than a mile from it after I ended my study abroad program and moved to Rome for a bit before returning back home).
Leah Martin (left), Amity Neumeister (right)
And we fast forward again to three weeks ago, when I had the opportunity—now as Resident Director of the UW Rome Center—to go back to Cività for the first time since that first venture long ago when I was at university and to meet Anthony (Tony) Costa Heywood, husband of the late Astra Zarina, founder of the UWRC. Over the years, I’ve heard lots of stories about the history, vision, challenges, influence and ultimately unparalleled legacy of Professor Zarina. Knowing that her husband Tony, who helped Zarina design and renovate the UWRC in the early 1980s, was just a little over an hour away with answers to questions I still had from my very first visit to Cività felt like pieces to a puzzle that hadn’t been accessible before Leah Martin, a 1997 alumna of the UWRC, stopped by to see the renovated UWRC last month. Leah mentioned that she might go visit Tony, and I jumped on the opportunity, inviting myself to join her on her tip. So up we drove up those windy roads to Cività to see that marvelous tiny town once again, and once again I saw the sign that proudly says “Università di Washington” in the main square.
Inside Tony and Astra’s home
But more importantly this time, I got to traverse the bridge and make a connection with Tony, who’s one of only now seven permanent residents of the town. Having no phone number or email for Tony, we went unannounced and had no idea what to expect. We found his front door literally open (the Cività Institute that Tony co-founded with Astra was hosting an educational program that week), and after calling his name for a bit and waking him up from a nap, he welcomed us into his home that he had shared with Astra since the early 1960s. I saw signs of Astra’s influence and legacy on the UWRC everywhere in his home—but most immediate and striking were the same red architect lamps that we still have at the UWRC. Tony shared stories of Astra and the UWRC, and Leah and he reminisced about her study abroad experience in Rome, driving up to Cività with Astra as a bossy copilot by her side, having elaborate dinners Astra cooked for the students in her effort to introduce her students fully to the culture and traditions of the Italian people, only occasionally washing their clothes in the public wash basins carved out of the same tufo upon which the town sits.
It’s a bridge I’ve wanted to cross for a long time since I became the Resident Director in 2015. Perhaps not by coincidence, my father and stepmother are visiting again this week, and I’ve asked Tony if we could come up again for another visit. I look forward to learning a little bit more again this time about Tony’s life and Astra’s legacy to the University of Washington.
Tory Brundage, UW College of Education, shares about Education Rome, a three-week study abroad program that focuses on gender, multiculturalism and education in Italy.
Studying in Rome
Education Rome aims to help students develop a better understanding of how, as social constructs, gender and multiculturalism have some roots in Italian history. That history helps analyze modern-day social issues, with particular focus on issues of education, in Italian society. Students engage in field research and photo elicitation to explore historical, contemporary, and artistic concepts of gender and race. This was the third year that we have run the program and we intend to go back to Rome a fourth time next summer.
This year we took 14 students to Rome. It was an incredibly diverse cohort with 10 participants coming from the Brotherhood Initiative, a program that serves Black, Latino, Native, Pacific Islander and Southeast Asian male undergraduates. Additionally, the group had students from all class standings as well as from a wide range of majors – education, public health, business, environmental studies, engineering, informatics, life sciences, etc.
Group photo
My personal favorite memory from this year’s trip was taking the students on a street art walking tour in the Ostiense neighborhood. It was a good way to get off the beaten path in Rome by exploring art and political commentary that you definitely won’t see in the Vatican Museums. There was a stretch that included depictions of influential people for each letter of the alphabet. One was an American rapper that many students immediately recognized and the excited discussion that followed was an absolute joy to witness. The students were clearly having fun and made connections across the globe as well as across course themes in a unique and adventurous way.
In addition to the street art walking tour, we visited the Vatican Museums, St. Peter’s Basilica, the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, the Palpatine Hill, the Joel Nafuma Refugee Center, and La Sapienza, University of Rome.
UW Alumni Tours, the travel program of the UW Alumni Association, was delighted to visit the UW Rome Center during a recent three night stay in Rome as part of ‘A Portrait of Italy’ tour.
Touring the UW Rome Center
Amity Neumeister, Resident Director of the UW Rome Center, greeted the group of 14 UW alums and friends and gave them an overview tour of the recent renovations to the UW Rome Center. The group was excited to see the various classrooms, along with the lovely terrace overlooking the Campo de’ Fiori, once a flower market of historical Rome. The travelers, with UW degrees ranging from Business Administration to Aeronautics & Astronautics to Microbiology, were impressed by the study abroad opportunities for current UW students. A few UW alums mentioned being tempted to re-enroll at the UW in order to spend more time at the UW Rome Center!
Dinner in Rome
Following the tour, the group enjoyed a walking tour of the surrounding area by a UW affiliated instructor at the UW Rome Center, Mariella Mastrogiacomo, an archeologist who has worked on excavations in Rome and its suburbs. Seeing the exact place where Julius Caesar was assassinated was a highlight of the walk!
The evening ended with a gastronomic event at Osteria Romana de Simmi. Mamma Mia! The multi-course dinner with local specialties was incredible.
The group regrettably said goodbye to Roma and departed for the hilltop village of Orvieto.
