Adriatic Italy

Adriatic Italy's Travel Storytelling Project


Travel Storytelling Fact Sheet

Get Started now to reserve your place in Travel Storytelling

NOTE: Colorado State University students must follow these steps.

Want to learn more about program faculty and past participants, with information on their stories, photos, and videos? Click here.

QUESTIONS? Contact Program Directors Deni Chamberlin and/or Kathryn Lancioni. You can also schedule an ieiMedia advising session

FINANCIAL AID: Students studying abroad for the summer term have limited financial aid options, but Pell grant recipients are encouraged to apply and receive our help in applying for a Gilman Study Abroad Scholarship which can award up to $5,000. Check with your school’s financial aid office and your study abroad offices to find out if other assistance is available. For more information on financial aid, get started by connecting with us here.

 

Adriatic Italy's Travel Storytelling Program

Adriatic Italy is a travel-focused storytelling and media production program. This photo, video, and information-gathering adventure includes travel along the central Adriatic coastline and in the enchanting countryside of Italy’s Marche region. The base of operations for this two-week program will be the medieval city of Urbino. Faculty will lead day trips by van, bus, and train to hilltop restaurants, coastal cities and beaches, and historic walled villages. All day trips focus on how to travel safely, inexpensively, and efficiently. Students will learn to use smart phones, small cameras, and microphones to connect with local citizens and culture. During alternate days in Urbino, they will work with instructors to produce professional-quality travel stories for social media. At the end of the program students will compile their work in personal online blogs suitable for a professional portfolio.

An optional excursion includes an adventure to and from Croatia. The group will travel by bus and train to Ancona, Italy, and take an overnight ferry (with comfortable sleeping cabins) to the historic coastal city of Split, Croatia. The day will be spent exploring and collecting media at historical sites, markets, and the world famous Riva Promenade on the Split waterfront. The group will take the ferry back to Italy that night, spending the following day exploring the city of Pesaro and its beaches, then returning to Urbino by bus. Including ferry, train, bus fees and meals, this optional trip will cost approximately $250.

BeautIful scenery in the Marche Region of Italy.

Students are located in the magical walled city of Urbino. The program includes lodging and most meals provided by the University of Urbino. The city will serve as a base of operations, with day trips to the coast, beautiful villages with spectacular food, out-of-the way historical sites and at least one major tourist destination. The nearby cities of Bologna, Rimini, and Ancona are easily accessible by train. Program faculty have a decade of experience in the area and are well acquainted with the region and travel options.  For more information about Urbino, see the Urbino Project, a four-week program that precedes the travel journalism course.

Credits

Students will sign up for three credits of transferable upper-level journalism electives from our partner university, Jamestown University. Students who are interested in earning six credits can complete both the Urbino program and the Marche program back to back over a six week period.

Students who complete a PR & Marketing project will study the changing nature of the global public relations arena and its convergence with marketing. Focus will be on understanding the nuances and sensitivities that go into creating, designing, and implementing a global PR/marketing campaign. Over the two-week session, students will work closely with the owners of local businesses in the surrounding area to create a tourism campaign for the region.

  • Instruction will come from a combination of traditional classroom teachings and field experience, with the program's overall goal to be one centered in experiential learning.
  • Lectures will be from ieiMedia faculty and outside industry professionals from around the world.
  • Possibility of visiting PR firms in local towns and neighboring cities.

Students

The program is open to English-speaking college students and recent graduates from any school. Students from many universities have participated in past ieiMedia programs, including: James Madison University, Colorado State University, Ithaca College, Iowa State University, Stanford University, Pennsylvania University, Penn State University, McGill University, Rider University, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Louisiana State University, Virginia Tech, Carleton University, Ryerson University, New York University, UCLA, Truman State University, Rutgers University, University of Wisconsin, Kennesaw State University, California State University-Fullerton, Colorado State University, Temple University, Arizona State University, State University of New York at New Paltz, University of Arizona, University of Illinois, Georgetown University, University of Northern Iowa, Humboldt State University, Indiana University, Washington & Lee University, Wilkes University, San Diego State University, American University, Nanyang Technological University, University of British Columbia, Westminster College and Baylor University. We’ve also had students from Japan, the United Kingdom, Puerto Rico, Thailand and Trinidad.

The program is based in the historic city of Urbino.

Many of our students are journalism, media, communication, or English majors, but those studying in other disciplines are welcome. For non-journalism/communication majors, experience working for a college or professional publication is helpful, but is not necessary. The program is open to English-speaking students and recent graduates from around the world.

Graduate students also are invited to apply. We’re happy to talk with you about supervising an independent project that would qualify for graduate credit at your school -- or to offer this experience as a graduate internship.

Faculty Director

Vineyards near Urbino.

This program is led by professors Deni Chamberlin from Iowa State University and Kathryn Lancioni from Rutgers University. Deni has taught repeatedly in Urbino with ieiMedia and Iowa State University.  She has recently taught in our Arles, France project.  Deni is an experienced traveler in the Marche region and an excellent instructor for this travel journalism project.

Deni Chamberlin is an associate professor of journalism at Iowa State University, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist and the Director of Photography at the Food & Environment Reporting Network. She has more than 20 years experience as a newspaper and magazine photojournalist and has worked for publications such as TIME, The New York Times Sunday Magazine and National Geographic. Most of Deni's professional career was spent living in Eastern Europe, where she covered the fall of communism and reintegration of Europe for many international publications over a 15-year period. Deni has spent most of her career shooting slide film but is now a strong advocate of the power of multimedia as a storytelling tool, and focuses her work and teaching on multimedia storytelling. Deni teaches photography in Urbino.

Kathryn Lancioni is lecturer in the School of Communication and Information at Rutgers University. She is an award-winning, internationally recognized expert in the field of communications and was recently named as one of PR News' "People of the Year." Her expertise lies in the intersection of communication, technology, and society. Ms. Lancioni has a unique appreciation and understanding of its dynamic landscape working as a journalist, public relations executive, communications strategist, and college professor. She has worked for some of the world’s leading PR agencies and with numerous global corporations, and in 2006 she launched Presenting Perfection, a communications consultancy. Ms. Lancioni has served on the faculty of Fairleigh Dickinson University, Montclair State University, Seton Hall University, St. John Fisher College, and William Paterson University, has guest lectured at various universities, and has been the featured speaker at many international conferences. She is the author of three books, a regular contributor to Medium, and a member of The Forbes Business Council.

Faculty

Brenda Witherspoon is a teaching professor in the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. Her early career included daily news work as a reporter and editor, including at The Dallas Morning News and the Des Moines Register, among others. She lived in New Zealand while studying newspapers’ portrayals of ethnic relations, and her recent research has looked at the experiences of women working as photojournalists in conflict-affected countries. Her teaching collaborations increasingly focus on multimedia tools coupled with sound strategies for gathering information. Brenda teaches travel storytelling in Urbino.

Past Faculty

Steve Weiss is an award-winning television anchor, reporter and producer of local and network television sports and news programming. He has produced and hosted programs for ESPN, TNN, FOX Prime Sports and the Outdoor Network, among others. He began teaching part time at Colorado State University in 1992, and has been teaching full time since 2010. Steve directs the university’s program in live television production unit, first taught in Italy in 2013, and led several travel journalism courses in Croatia. Along with other awards for teaching, Steve received the Excellence in Teaching Award from the College of Liberal Arts at Colorado State University in 2021.

Greg Luft has recently been appointed as the interim Vice President of Marketing and Communications at Colorado State University.  Prior to that he as held a position with the university as a professor and chair of the Journalism and Media Communication department.  Greg is also an award-winning reporter and photojournalist, with a diverse career in television news and documentary production before and during his career in academia. He began teaching in Urbino in 2012. Greg served as academic dean on the Spring, 2019 Semester at Sea voyage, has served as a visiting professor at the Communication University of China in Beijing, and was named a Colorado State University Best Teacher in 2013.

View complete faculty biographies on our Adriatic Italy Faculty Page.

Accommodations

Students will live in University of Urbino dorms, either in a private room with private bath or sharing a room with a private bath with one other student. Three meals a day in the student cafeteria are included. Sheets and towels are provided.

Equipment

Students are expected to bring a laptop computer and mobile phone, and are welcome to bring professional camera equipment, but this is not required. Additional accessories will be available through the program.

Interpreters

University of Urbino students with experience in this program will act as interpreters in Italy. Students find working with these Italian students to be one of the most rewarding experiences in the program.

Program Cost

$3,295 plus airfare (includes tuition for three credits, accommodations, most meals, travel insurance, farewell dinner and program-related local travel.)  Modest additional costs may be incurred with optional travel.

Application Deadline Details

Our application deadline for Summer 2024 programs is February 9, 2024. Applications submitted after the priority deadline will be accepted on a rolling basis dependent on program capacity. 

Submitting your application by the priority deadline means you will be accepted to a priority spot on the program of your choosing, as well as secure additional time to prepare for payment deadlines and scholarship and financial aid opportunities.  

If you do not have the necessary access to submit your application by the priority deadline, please reach out to admissions@ieimedia.com to speak with an advisor.

GET STARTED...

NOTE: Colorado State University students must follow these steps.

Click the GET STARTED now to reserve your place in the Adriatic Italy Storytelling, program.  You can also contact us at admissions@ieimedia.com, or our Program Directors Deni Chamberlin and Kathryn Lancioni.

Application deadline: Application Deadline is February 9, 2024.  ROLLING ADMISSIONS UNTIL PROGRAM IS FULL. Applications received after the deadline can be accepted until program capacity limitations are reached. 

TRAVEL ADVISORY: ieiMedia will be monitoring the situation with COVID-19 and will provide status updates to those who sign up for the program.

VACCINATIONS: Students must be vaccinated against COVID-19 to participate in the program.

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