College Year in Athens (CYA) is a

not-for-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

501(c)(3) A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 50 ...

educational institution founded in 1963 and incorporated in the State of

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

. It is based in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...

, and governed by a board of trustees. It offers its

study abroad International students, or foreign students, are students who undertake all or part of their tertiary education in a country other than their own and move to that country for the purpose of studying. In 2019, there were over 6 million internati ...

program through the Athens-based International Center for Hellenic and Mediterranean Studies (DIKEMES). CYA is the first study abroad program in Greece for English speaking students and is a member of NAFSA: Association of International Educators, EAIE: European Association for International Education, and a charter member of FORUM: Forum on Education Abroad.

History

CYA was founded in 1962 by Ismene Phylactopoulou (1907-1983), a graduate of

Wellesley College Wellesley College is a private women's liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henry and Pauline Durant as a female seminary, it is a member of the original Seven Sisters Colleges, an unofficial g ...

who received the Doctorate of Humane Letters from

DePauw University DePauw University is a private liberal arts university in Greencastle, Indiana. It has an enrollment of 1,972 students. The school has a Methodist heritage and was originally known as Indiana Asbury University. DePauw is a member of both the G ...

in recognition of her achievements in study abroad.

Campus

The program's academic facilities are located at 5 Plateia Panathinaikou Stadiou, next to the Athens Marble Stadium (panathenaic Stadium), in the

Pangrati Pangrati or Pagrati ( el, Παγκράτι) is a neighborhood in Central Athens, Greece, having an estimated population of 35,173 residents. Named after the ancient sanctuary of Hercules Pancrates ("All Powerful"), its frontage runs from Vasil ...

area of

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, near the Athens National Gardens and

Lycabettus Hill Mount Lycabettus (), also known as Lycabettos, Lykabettos or Lykavittos ( el, Λυκαβηττός, ), is a Cretaceous limestone hill in the Greek capital Athens. At 277 meters (908 feet) above sea level, its summit is the highest point in Cen ...

Curriculum

The CYA

program focuses upon the history and civilization of

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

and the Mediterranean region. The program of studies originally focused on Archaic and Classical Greece; over time, the historical range was expanded to include courses from prehistoric to modern times. In 1986 courses were added on the history, politics, and international affairs of the Balkans, western Asia, and the Middle East in recent times. Later in 1993, courses in European and East Mediterranean Studies were added. All classes are taught in English, while Modern Greek language courses are offered as part of the curriculum. Many courses are taught on-site at archaeological sites and museums. Study-travel is an integral part of the CYA curriculum and trips are conducted by faculty and staff. Students visit major sites relevant to ancient, Byzantine, or modern Greek history during trips to Crete, the Peloponnese, and Central and Northern Greece. The program is organized using American standards for teaching and grading. CYA offers its own year- or semester-long program, as well as shorter summer programs. It also creates and hosts customized programs for other US educational institutions.

Library resources

The CYA Library has a collection of approximately 5.500 books, CDs and DVDs in the fields of philosophy, history, art and archaeology, ethnography, literature, languages, religion and politics, natural sciences, and maintains various subscriptions to print journals and newspapers, a subscription to the Blegen Library of the

American School of Classical Studies at Athens , native_name_lang = Greek , image = American School of Classical Studies at Athens.jpg , image_size = , image_alt = , caption = The ASCSA main building as seen from Mount Lykavittos , latin_name = , other_name = , former_name = , mo ...

, as well as part of

JSTOR JSTOR (; short for ''Journal Storage'') is a digital library founded in 1995 in New York City. Originally containing digitized back issues of academic journals, it now encompasses books and other primary sources as well as current issues of j ...

's database of electronic journals and to

Columbia International Affairs Online Columbia University Press is a university press based in New York City, and affiliated with Columbia University. It is currently directed by Jennifer Crewe (2014–present) and publishes titles in the humanities and sciences, including the fiel ...

. It is the first library in Greece to use the open source Integrated Library System KOHA for cataloguing, catalog searches, circulation, and patron management, and also makes use of the Course Management System Moodle, which facilitates instructor communication with students regarding course assignments, on-site meeting times and places, and important updates.

Housing

CYA students live in self-contained apartments in residential apartment buildings in the

area of

, which are situated a two- to ten-minute walk from the Academic Center. A typical apartment houses four or five students.

Notable faculty

Frederick Ahl Frederick M. Ahl (born 1941) is a professor of classics and comparative literature at Cornell University. He is known for his work in Greek and Roman epic and drama, and the intellectual history of Greece and Rome, as well as for translations of tr ...

* Peter Green * H.D.F. Kitto *

Kimon Friar Kimon Friar (April 8, 1911 – May 25, 1993) was a Greek-American poet and translator of Greek poetry. Youth and education Friar was born in 1911 in İmralı, Ottoman Empire, to a Greek father and a Greek mother. In 1915, the family moved to th ...

Philip Sherrard Philip Owen Arnould Sherrard (23 September 1922 – 30 May 1995) was a British author and translator. His work includes translations of Modern Greek poets, and books on Modern Greek literature and culture, metaphysics, theology, art and aesthet ...

Stewart Perowne Stewart Henry Perowne OBE, KStJ, FSA, FRSA (17 June 1901 – 10 May 1989) was a British diplomat, archaeologist, explorer and historian who wrote books on the history and antiquities of the Mediterranean. Despite his homosexuality, in 1947 he ...

Notable alumni

* David L. Carden (US Ambassador) *

Barbara Kingsolver Barbara Kingsolver (born April 8, 1955) is an American novelist, essayist and poet. She was raised in rural Kentucky and lived briefly in the Congo in her early childhood. Kingsolver earned degrees in biology at DePauw University and the Univers ...

(Writer) *

Eleni Tsakopoulos Kounalakis Eleni Kounalakis (née Tsakopoulos; born March 3, 1966) is an American politician, businesswoman, and former diplomat serving as the 50th lieutenant governor of California since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, she is the first woman elect ...

(US Ambassador) * Steven Rales (Chairman,

Danaher Corporation Danaher Corporation is an American globally diversified conglomerate with its headquarters in Washington, D.C. The company designs, manufactures, and markets professional, medical, industrial, and commercial products and services. The company's ...

) * Deborah L. Wince-Smith (President, U.S.

Council on Competitiveness The Council on Competitiveness is an American non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C. The Council’s goal is to increase the United States' economic competitiveness in the global marketplace. The Council also works to bring high-value ...

)

References

{{Reflist Study abroad programs