The American University of Rome (commonly referred to as AUR) is a degree-granting American university in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. AUR is accredited by the

Middle States Commission on Higher Education The Middle States Commission on Higher Education (abbreviated as MSCHE and legally incorporated as the Mid-Atlantic Region Commission on Higher Education) is a voluntary, peer-based, non-profit membership organization that performs peer evalua ...

in the United States and is recognized by the Italian Ministry of Education as an American University duly authorized to operate in Italy as a Foreign Higher Education Institution. The American University of Rome's degrees, accompanied by a Statement of Comparability or a Dichiarazione di Valore (Certified Degree Equivalency) is valid for admission to Italian graduate degree programs such as the laurea magistrale or Italian first level Master programs. The school was founded in 1969, making it the oldest American degree-granting university in Rome. AUR is situated near the center of Rome on the

Janiculum The Janiculum (; it, Gianicolo ), occasionally the Janiculan Hill, is a hill in western Rome, Italy. Although it is the second-tallest hill (the tallest being Monte Mario) in the contemporary city of Rome, the Janiculum does not figure among t ...

hill in the Monteverde Vecchio neighborhood, and has a total student enrollment of around 600. The language of instruction is English.

History

AUR has its origins soon after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. David Colin, an American journalist in Italy prior to and during the war, settled in Rome. While American students and professors visited Rome, Colin helped foster cultural exchanges between Americans and their Italian counterparts. Over time, informal discussions at his home became more formalized, turning into structured lectures and classes. His wife, Joan Carpenter, assisted Colin with this undertaking. George Tesoro, an Italian who left Italy in 1940 in protest against Mussolini's fascist regime, began to collaborate with Colin. As the program grew, The American University in Rome became reality when AUR was incorporated in 1969 in the District of Columbia with its academic headquarters located in Rome, Italy.

Later development

Upon incorporation, Tesoro served as chairman until 1983, when Joseph D. Ventura, then vice chair, succeeded him. During Ventura's time as chairman, the board of trustees became a degree-granting institution from the District of Columbia in 1986. In 1987, a member of the board, Dr. Margaret Giannini, a professional in the scientific and medical research field, became board chair and served until 2003. Under her 16 years of leadership, the university grew in its student and faculty numbers, curriculum offerings, and financial and management systems. Dr. Giannini initiated AUR's first accreditation with the Accrediting Council of Independent Colleges and Schools in 1992 and planted the seeds for Middle States accreditation. After operating from different locations in central Rome for almost 25 years, AUR moved to its current campus in 1993.

Campus

The campus is located on top of the

, Rome's highest hill, offering views of the city. Most of its buildings are located on Via Pietro Roselli adjacent to a portion of the Aurelian Wall with the Communications Building, commonly known as the Carini building, being located on Via Carini, only a short walk. The Carini building, completed in 1970, is after the style of the Italian architect

Paolo Portoghesi Paolo Portoghesi (born 2 November 1931, Rome) is an Italian architect, theorist, historian and professor of architecture at the University La Sapienza in Rome. He is a former president of the architectural section of the Venice Biennale (1979–9 ...

and has been commonly referred to as ''Casa Papanice''. However, after some dispute, it has been acknowledged that the original Casa Papanice is another building in Rome and the Carini building of The American University of Rome cannot be officially designated as a Portoghesi building but a building 'in the style of'. The campus was extended in early 2018 to include an Art Studio, exhibition space and classrooms on via Angelo Masina. This building is adjacent to, and shares garden space with, the

American Academy in Rome The American Academy in Rome is a research and arts institution located on the Gianicolo (Janiculum Hill) in Rome. The academy is a member of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers. History In 1893, a group of American architects, ...

. The main campus includes two gardens centered around the main A and B buildings, the Evans Hall Library, and the Auriana Auditorium. The main teaching block (Building B) is part of a

Barnabite , image = Barnabites.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = One version of the Barnabite logo. "P.A." refers to Paul the Apostle and the three hills symbolize the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. , a ...

monastery. File:AUR Full View Campus.JPG, View of AUR main campus A and B buildings File:AUR Library Study Room.jpg, Photo of an Evans Hall Library Study Room File:AUR Evans Hall Library Outside.jpg, AUR Evans Hall Library view from outside File:AURGardenView2.jpeg, AUR Main Garden

Organisation and administration

The American University of Rome is governed a

board of trustees A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit org ...

, president, and a senate. The highest governing body, the board of trustees, is responsible for overseeing the university and maintaining its academic and financial health and welfare. Among other duties, the board appoints the president and has final approval of changes to the curriculum proposed by the AUR Senate (the body which, forms and amends academic policies and includes a student government representative). The current president of the university is Dr. Scott Sprenger who assumed the position in July 2020, taking over from Dr. Richard Hodges OBE, who was named President Emeritus & Professor Emeritus upon completing his tenure. AUR is a member of the Association of American International Colleges and Universities and The American International Consortium of Academic Libraries (AMICAL).

Academics

The American University of Rome is a liberal arts university with a student-faculty ratio of roughly 16:1. AUR's undergraduate student body of roughly 500 students is multicultural and representative of over 30 nationalities.

Accreditation

The American University of Rome is regionally accredited by the

, which is an institutional accrediting agency recognized by the

U.S. Secretary of Education The United States secretary of education is the head of the U.S. Department of Education. The secretary serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States, and the federal government, on policies, programs, and activities rel ...

and the

Council for Higher Education Accreditation The Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) is a United States organization of degree-granting colleges and universities. It identifies its purpose as providing national advocacy for academic quality through accreditation in order ...

. The American University of Rome is licensed by the Department of Education of the State of Delaware to award associate, bachelor's and master's degrees. In Italy, AUR is registered as a legal entity with the Rome Tribunal and it is authorized to operate in Italy by the Ministry of Education, Universities and Research.

Academic programs

AUR offers three master's degrees (in Peace Studies, Sustainable Cultural Heritage and Food Studies) and ten bachelor's degree programs with 16 concentrations or tracks, two associate degree programs and 18 minors. Of the ten undergraduate programs nine are Bachelor of Arts degrees. The Program of Business Administration offers a Bachelor of Science Degree in

Business Administration Business administration, also known as business management, is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. From the point of view of management ...

. Associate of Arts Degrees can be obtained in liberal arts and international business. Internships are available in all majors for course credit and provide a practical format to relate their studies to career interests. The university's programs and areas include: *

Archeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts ...

and

Classics Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

Art History Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today, ...

Communication Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inqui ...

and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

, Writing, Literature and Publishing *

Film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmospher ...

and

Digital Media Digital media is any communication media that operate in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital media can be created, viewed, distributed, modified, listened to, and preserved on a digital electronics device. ...

Fine Arts In European academic traditions, fine art is developed primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from decorative art or applied art, which also has to serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwor ...

* Interdisciplinary Studies * International Relations and Global Politics * Travel and Tourism Management The university also offers four master (M.A.) degree programs: *

Arts Management The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both hi ...

* Food Studies * Peace Studies * Sustainable Cultural Heritage

The Rula Jebreal Scholarship Fund

AUR together with

Rula Jebreal Rula Jebreal ( ar, رولا جبريل, he, רולא ג'בריל; born April 24, 1973) is a Palestinian foreign policy analyst, journalist, novelist and screenwriter with dual Israeli and Italian citizenship. She was a commentator for MSNBC. ...

(award-winning journalist, author, and foreign policy analyst) started the Rula Jebreal Scholarship Fund in 2015. The scholarship fund has been designed to directly respond to the global migration crisis, a crisis that is particularly affecting Italy. In 2017, AUR brought three students from

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

to study in Rome and since then the project has expanded to provide tuition and living costs for six further students from conflict-torn countries (

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

, Palestine,

Eswatini Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its no ...

, and

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

Student life

Students live off-campus mostly near the university, giving the opportunity to allow the students to immerse in the surrounding communities. The AUR community of students and faculty publishes a literary journal of student works called Remus each year. A monthly student run newspaper called "the Howler" is now being published. AUR student run organisations include Student Government and a variety of clubs such as: Veterans Club, Business Club, Communication Club, Culture Club, Italian Studies Club, and International Relations Club which also organises AUR's Harvard National Model United Nations delegation. The Communication club also supports AUR's Communication Week which is a showcase of the American University of Rome students communications and English work. AURWolfie

Athletics

The Wolves and She-Wolves are the American University of Rome's soccer clubs which play competitively against Rome's other universities including

La Sapienza The Sapienza University of Rome ( it, Sapienza – Università di Roma), also called simply Sapienza or the University of Rome, and formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", is a public research university located in Rome, Ita ...

and

Roma Tre University Roma Tre UniversityUniroma3.it
( it, Università degli Studi Roma Tre) is an Italian John Cabot University, in what has been dubbed the "American Derby". Notable performances over the years in this match were: 2008 AUR team led by the trio Jeff Palumbo (ST), Greg Walker (LB) and John Mangione (M) coming from 0–3 to win 4–3. AUR Wolves, men's soccer team, won the Universities of Rome a5 Football Championship on April 26, 2018, their first trophy since co-founding the league in 2006. In 2013, the university added volleyball as a competitive team and became a founding member in the newly created co-ed tournament, "Campionato di Volley delle Università Romane"

Mascot

The school mascot is "Wolfie". The first mascot in Roman university athletics, Wolfie has been representing AUR since 2006. Originally named "

Romulus Romulus () was the legendary founder and first king of Rome. Various traditions attribute the establishment of many of Rome's oldest legal, political, religious, and social institutions to Romulus and his contemporaries. Although many of these ...

" in reference to the mythical founder of Rome, the name Wolfie was popularized by students and later formally adopted.

American University of Rome Abroad (AURA)

The American University of Rome hosts a number of study abroad students but also promotes the opportunity for resident students to study abroad from AUR using the AURA program. Partnering institutions that accept AUR students to study abroad with them include: *

American University The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was cha ...

(AU), Washington, DC *

Drexel University Drexel University is a private research university with its main campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Drexel's undergraduate school was founded in 1891 by Anthony J. Drexel, a financier and philanthropist. Founded as Drexel Institute of Art, ...

, Philadelphia, PA *

Emory University Emory University is a private research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1836 as "Emory College" by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory, Emory is the second-oldest private institution of ...

(Goizueta School of Business), Atlanta, GA *

Florida Atlantic University Florida Atlantic University (Florida Atlantic or FAU) is a public research university with its main campus in Boca Raton, Florida, and satellite campuses in Dania Beach, Davie, Fort Lauderdale, Jupiter, and Fort Pierce. FAU belongs to the 12-c ...

, Boca Raton, FL *iCLA - International College of Liberal Arts, Yamanashi Gakuin University, Yamanashi, Japan * International School of Management (ISM), Dortmund, Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg, Cologne, Stuttgart – Germany * LIM College, New York, NY * Marymount University, Arlington, VA *

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of ...

, College Park, MD *

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, i ...

, Coral Gables, FL *

University of Westminster The University of Westminster is a public university based in London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1838 as the Royal Polytechnic Institution, it was the first polytechnic to open in London. The Polytechnic formally received a Royal charter in Aug ...

(School of Media, Arts & Design), London - U.K. * Vesalius College, Brussels – Belgium Through the AAICU Direct Educational Exchange Program (AAICU-DEEP) (Association of American International Colleges and Universities) students can apply to study abroad for a semester at: * American College of Thessaloniki *American University of Bulgaria * American University of Armenia *

American University of Central Asia The American University of Central Asia (AUCA) (russian: Американский университет в Центральной Азии; ky, Борбордук Азиядагы Америка Университети), formerly the ''Kyrgyz ...

* American University of Nigeria * American University of Sharjah *

Al Akhawayn University Al Akhawayn University ( ar, جامعة الأخوين, Berber: ''Tasdawit En Wawmaten'') is an independent, public, not-for-profit, coeducational university located in Ifrane, Morocco, from the imperial city of Fez, in the Middle Atlas M ...

, Ifrane, Morocco *

Central European University Central European University (CEU) is a private research university accredited in Austria, Hungary, and the United States, with campuses in Vienna and Budapest. The university is known for its highly intensive programs in the social science ...

, Hungary * Franklin College, Switzerland *

Forman Christian College Forman Christian College is an private liberal arts university in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. It was founded in 1864 and is administered by the Presbyterian Church. The university follows an American-style curriculum. Founded in 1864 by America ...

University, Lahore *Haigaizian University, Lebanon *Institute for American Universities (Aix-en-Provence) * Irish American University * Lebanese American University *Saint Louis University, Madrid * The American College of Greece *

The American University in Cairo The American University in Cairo (AUC; ar, الجامعة الأمريكية بالقاهرة, Al-Jāmi‘a al-’Amrīkiyya bi-l-Qāhira) is a private research university in Cairo, Egypt. The university offers American-style learning programs ...

*The American University of Afghanistan *The American University of Beirut *The American University in Kosovo *

The American University of Paris The American University of Paris (AUP) is a private, independent, and accredited liberal arts university in Paris, France. Founded in 1962, the university is one of the oldest American institutions of higher education in Europe, and the first ...

Notable scholars and honorary degree recipients

Stanley Tucci Stanley Tucci Jr. ( ; born November 11, 1960) is an American actor and filmmaker. Involved in acting from a young age, he made his film debut in John Huston's '' Prizzi's Honor'' (1985), and continued to play a variety of supporting roles in fil ...

* James Murdoch *

Colin Renfrew Andrew Colin Renfrew, Baron Renfrew of Kaimsthorn, (born 25 July 1937) is a British archaeologist, paleolinguist and Conservative peer noted for his work on radiocarbon dating, the prehistory of languages, archaeogenetics, neuroarchaeology, ...

James Walston James Walston (1949 – 12 May 2014) was a professor of international relations at The American University of Rome (AUR), specialising in Italian politics and modern history. He was chair of the AUR's Department of International Relations from ...

* Parker W. Borg * Bjorn Thomassen * David Thorne * Ronald P. Spogli *

Hage Geingob Hage Gottfried Geingob (born 3 August 1941) is a Namibian politician, serving as the third president of Namibia since 21 March 2015. Geingob was the first Prime Minister of Namibia from 1990 to 2002, and served as prime minister again from 201 ...

Andrea Camilleri Andrea Calogero Camilleri (; 6 September 1925 – 17 July 2019) was an Italian writer. Biography Originally from Porto Empedocle, Girgenti, Sicily, Camilleri began university studies in the Faculty of Literature at the University of Palermo, b ...

Roger Waters George Roger Waters (born 6 September 1943) is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. In 1965, he co-founded the progressive rock band Pink Floyd. Waters initially served as the bassist, but following the departure of singer-s ...

Donna Shalala Donna Edna Shalala ( ; born February 14, 1941) is an American politician and academic who served in the Carter and Clinton administrations, as well as in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2019 to 2021. Shalala is a recipient of the Preside ...

Francesco Guccini Francesco Guccini (, born 14 June 1940) is an Italian singer-songwriter, considered one of the most important '' cantautori'' of his time. During the five decades of his music career he has recorded 16 studio albums and collections, and 6 live a ...

* Mary Beard *

Aurelio De Laurentiis Aurelio De Laurentiis (born 24 May 1949) is an Italian film producer through his company, Filmauro, and the owner of Italian football clubs Napoli (of which he is also chairman) and Bari. He is the nephew of film producer Dino De Laurentiis ...

* Piero Angela * Andrea di Robilant * Richard Hodges (Archaeologist)

References

External links

The American University of Rome
{{DEFAULTSORT:American University Of Rome Universities and colleges in Rome Rome R. XIII Trastevere Educational institutions established in 1969 1969 establishments in Italy