Modern Languages and Cultures Department
Italian
The B.A. in Italian provides the foundational skills for spoken and written proficiency as well as essential knowledge of Italian culture through the study of a broad range of topics such as Italian literature, history, and contemporary ideas. The minor provides students with a solid base for the many professions linked with international endeavors and helps to prepare students to work in Italian and Italian American communities and institutions here and abroad.
With the growing interest in Italian and Italian American studies at a national level, students of the Italian program will have the opportunity to expand their knowledge and language skills by integrating the major or minor into other fields, such as business, communications, economics, education, fashion, history, and political science, through interdisciplinary coursework that explores various theoretical and methodological approaches. The program strongly encourages students to fulfill their immersion experience through study abroad.
Marist Abroad provides the opportunity for students to study at our campus in Florence, Italy. Freshmen may also participate in the Freshman Florence Experience. Students of any year may take Italian classes in either Poughkeepsie or at the Florence campus at the elementary, intermediate, and advanced levels. Students may earn credit for a major or minor in Italian in Florence, or at our other sites in Rome, Tuscania, or Venice. Classes in Italian at campuses abroad may be interchangeable with classes in Poughkeepsie for the Italian minor. Elective requirements for the minor may be satisfied at either campus, and the campus in Italy offers students a wider variety of elective course choices.