Verona Courses – 2025 Summer Session II
Studying abroad can be a more meaningful and invigorating learning experience than at home—both inside and outside of the classroom. You may be more curious and alert than you usually are so use this heightened energy to enhance your studies as well as your cultural and geographical explorations. You may also encounter different teaching styles and course processes; be prepared to adapt and to learn.
Courses
You may take three to seven credits during each session. At least one 3-credit course is required each session you are enrolled. Course availability is contingent upon student enrollment and is subject to change.
Click the course title to view course details, description, and availability.
Italian Language Studies
Summer language courses are intensive. Language courses generally have a maximum enrollment of 15 students each.
Session I and Session II
- Summer Session IItalian World Languages and Literatures 100-level 1 credit Taught in English and ItalianSummer Session IIItalian World Languages and Literatures 100-level 1 credit Taught in English and Italian
The course objective is to enhance the period of study in Italy for participants with little or no knowledge of the Italian language. A working basic knowledge is provided, including a general introduction to common vocabulary, grammar, and syntax. Emphasis is placed on oral communication and precise pronunciation. Class activities will include role playing, dialogues, and games. Additional class visits to enhance the course topics may be scheduled.
This course is for students not taking intensive Italian language. It is designed to help students assimilate into the community.
International Business, Tourism, and Italian Studies
The following courses offer a wide range of subject matter to provide a multi-disciplinary perspective to your studies.
Session I
- Summer Session IGeneral Business Management 400-level 3 credits Taught in English
Students will explore the fundamental aspects of organizing an event from the start to event operations to successful completion. This course will familiarize students with an overview of the meetings, incentives, conventions, and exhibitions industry. In addition, students will learn the different roles of the organizations and people involved in the event industry businesses.
- Summer Session IGeneral Business Tourism / Hospitality 300-level 3 credits Taught in English
This course offers a cross-disciplinary exploration including historical, anthropological, cultural, and business perspectives of the role of food and beverage in tourism, considering motivation for culinary tourism, cultural aspects of food tourism, marketing and branding of food tourism, and development of food and beverage attractions. Students will explore, investigate, and critique culinary tourism offerings in the local area.
- Summer Session ISpeech Communications 300-level 3 credits Taught in English
The purpose of this course is to develop the skills necessary to build and maintain positive communication and business relationships across cultures. Students will explore the definition, nature and manifestation of culture while examining their own values, traditions, and beliefs. Through active in-class and out-of-class activities, students will learn about the similarities and differences in communication behaviors and explore language usage, nonverbal actions, and perceptions to see how they influence face-to-face communication between individuals of different cultures in the United States, Europe, and the rest of the world.
- Summer Session IInternational Business Marketing 400-level 3 credits Taught in English
This course offers a study of all aspects of marketing unique to international business. We will examine the impact of cultures, ethics, history, politics, and the law on marketing practice in the globalized economy. It also provides knowledge of tools for cultural analysis and discusses issues related to culture, the economy, and all other environmental variables that affect global business. A better understanding of cultural diversity is essential for successful international business, and this course provides a comprehensive perspective.
Prerequisite: Principles of Marketing, Introduction to Marketing, or another lower-level business course
- Summer Session IAnthropology Italian 200-level 3 credits Taught in English
This course analyzes various aspects of Italian culture through lectures, readings, discussions, and observation research projects. Students will develop an understanding of contemporary Italy, encompassing its recent history, regional differences, social institutions, and contemporary issues. Students will also reflect on their cultural upbringings and beliefs, and to share their Italian culture experiences in class. Students are encouraged to break down commonly held stereotypes and experience the realities of contemporary Italian life.
- Summer Session IArchitecture Art History 300-level 3 credits Taught in English
This course will examine the artistic Renaissance in Italy. It aims to present the birth of Renaissance art from the end of the thirteenth century with the innovative frescoes by Giotto in Assisi and Padua to the significant changes accomplished in Florence by Donatello and Masaccio in the first half of the fifteenth century. Lectures will also present the Renaissance in Rome with the Sistine Chapel's artistic laboratory, Pope Paul III's role in the sixteenth century, and Venetian art – Bellini, Titian, Veronese, Tintoretto - and its influence on Veneto. An accurate selection of this period's most important works of art will allow students to understand why the Renaissance period has been and is still considered a pivotal moment in European art and culture. In addition, students will have the opportunity to experience three field trips to Verona.
The objectives of this course are to understand the Renaissance as a multiform phenomenon through significant examples that illustrate the artistic evolutions through nearly three centuries in Italy. An interactive method will teach students "how" to look at a painting or a sculpture, from the composition to the iconography and its physical and cultural context as well as learn through works of art different artistic techniques, artistic movements, European history, society, politics, and religion. Get excited, have fun, and exchange ideas and opinions.
Session II
- Summer Session IIAnthropology 300-level 3 credits Taught in English
Food is a topic with which every student of every ethnicity has personal experience; it is so common that its cultural connotations tend to be overlooked. Food is often an area related to strong identity, whether positive or negative, of one’s ancestry. Cuisines are not just about sustenance, but also about cultural symbols that bind together people in ritual and as a community. How one participates in the act of eating (when/how) and why certain foods are to be prepared are learned and understood at the table.
This course explores connections between what we eat and who we are through cross-cultural study of how personal identities and social groups are formed via food production, preparation, and consumption. Several films will be used to discuss specific topics, such as festivals/rituals and food as family/community. Moreover, our topics and readings will be eclectic: food taboos; gender and kinship, voice and identity, symbolic and expressive culture, feasts, festivals, fasts, famine, religion and spirituality, race and ethnicity, nationalism, class and social stratification, politics of globalization, among others. Then, we will focus on foodways in Italy, using the tools of anthropology, history, geography, sociology, journalism, and marketing. Furthermore, we will use food as a lens through which to deepen understanding of your new home and neighbors for this term in Verona.
- Summer Session IIInternational Business Management 300-level 3 credits Taught in English
This course will cover topics related to the challenges of competing in a global economy. Students will acquire knowledge in strategic management in a global competitive environment and develop the ability to effectively analyze how culture impacts motivation, leadership, communication, negotiation, decision-making, HRM practices, and management of a multicultural workforce.
Prerequisite: one semester of college-level business, or equivalent
- Summer Session IITourism / Hospitality 400-level 3 credits Taught in English
This course examines the international tourism and leisure market environment, focusing on the economic, social, political, cultural, and environmental considerations of international tourism management and development. It provides students with concepts, models, and techniques to analyze economic and non-economic factors necessary for the identification and evaluation of foreign market opportunities in tourism, including the future of the global travel economy and its broad trends.
Prerequisite: introductory coursework in management
- Summer Session IIArchitecture Art 400-level 3 credits Taught in English
This course will explore the most important examples of Roman art and architecture in Verona and the Veneto area and give students foundational knowledge of Roman history related to the world of art and architecture. We will use magnificent Verona as our backdrop to learn firsthand about ancient Roman life and culture through the well-preserved examples of art and architecture created in and part of old Roman life and remain as part of the daily life of the Veronese people today in the twenty-first century.
To request a course syllabus: syllabus@usac.edu
Summer Session I, 2025
Course: Food and Beverage Tourism
Kathryn Mercurio, Ph.D., CSU Chico
Dr. Kathryn Mercurio is Assistant Professor of Marketing at California State University, Chico, specializing in marketing management, brand strategy, and international business. She has received numerous teaching awards and published in leading journals. Dr. Mercurio has lived in Denmark and London for study abroad and is passionate about international travel, having visited 26 countries.
Summer Session II, 2025
Course: International Tourism Management
Lorraine Taylor, Ph.D., Fort Lewis College
Dr. Lorraine Taylor is an Associate Professor of Tourism and Hospitality Management in the Katz School of Business at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado. She has visited 18 countries on five continents and worked in the resort industry for Walt Disney World, Marriott International, and Kiawah Island Golf Resort.