Faculty replace 2 introductory Italian courses at meeting

On behalf of the Committee on the Course of Study, Dean of the College Valerie Smith proposed dropping from the curriculum ITA 221: Introduction to Italian Literature, Language and Society: From the Beginnings to 1700 and ITA 222: Introduction to Italian Literature, Language and Society: From 1700 to the Present. Italian professors Simone Marchesi and Pietro Frassica previously taught ITA 221 and ITA 222, respectively.

These changes were both unanimously approved. Though both courses appear in the Undergraduate Announcement 2011-12 and 2010-11, the last time either has been offered was around five years ago, Frassica said.

Frassica and Marchesi will be co-teaching ITA 220: Italian Civilization Through the Centuries alongside professor Gaetana Marrone-Puglia and senior lecturer Fiorenza Weinapple.

ITA 220, a weekly three-hour seminar, combines ITA 221 and ITA 222, and offers a one-semester examination of Italian cultural movements and the development of Italian civilization.

“Some of the students could take the first part, some others could take the second part, but very rarely students took the two semesters,” Frassica said of ITA 221 and ITA 222. “Instead, we combined the two courses, restructured [them] completely and do that in one semester so the students have a clearer idea about what’s going on.”

Though the course was only officially added to the department curriculum with unanimous approval at Monday’s meeting, Frassica said it was first offered around four years ago.

“That’s the way it works with the University,” Frassica said of the approval’s delayed timing. “You open the course for a few years, and then it goes through the administration. We normally try a few times ... before we make the course a staple.”

Marchesi, Marrone-Puglia and Weinapple could not immediately be reached for comment.

At the end of the meeting, University President Shirley Tilghman, who presided over the meeting, offered her congratulations to Dean of the Wilson School Christina Paxson, who was named the 19th President of Brown University Friday morning. Paxson was not present at the meeting.