Bologna Fact Sheet
Apply now to reserve your place in Bologna, Italy.
PROGRAM COST: $4,995 USD + airfare. (Includes: Tuition – 3 credits, Italian lessons, interpreters, travel insurance, farewell dinner, accommodations and most meals in dorms, program activities and cultural events).
GENERAL LOCATION: The north-central Italian city of Bologna, in the lovely Emilia Romagna region.
FOCUS: Multimedia journalism about one of the political and cultural crossroads of Europe.
COOPERATING UNIVERSITIES: University of Jamestown, Lee University
CONTACT: Questions about the Bologna Project? Contact Program Director Michael Finch at: mfinch@ieimedia.com
The Bologna Project
Practice international, multimedia, social-first journalism under diverse award-winning media producers in a European crossroads steeped in culture. Go deeper – see the heart beyond the headlines when reporting on issues as global as the region’s refugee crisis or as local as your morning barista’s narrative.
All types of student journalists are welcome in this course, from broadcast personalities to student newsroom copy editors and everything in between. During this course, you will work as a team to develop as multimedia storytellers. Each participant will have a chance to leverage his or her strengths (and get digital clips for portfolios) but will also be challenged to cooperatively develop new journalistic tools under the guidance of our seasoned faculty mentors.
Walking and biking beneath Bologna’s trademark porticos.
Skills to be taught and put into practice:
- Social media strategy
- Mini-documentary, Vice News-style video production
- Global citizenship/perspective
- Trauma reporting
- Balancing sympathy and objectivity
- Advanced reporting methods
- Journalistic entrepreneurship
- Freelance strategies
- Digital nomadism and the modern foreign correspondent
Credits
Students will earn three credits of upper-division journalism electives for this course. The credits will be issued by our partner campus, the University of Jamestown, and we will work with you so they are easily transferable to your university.
Housing
Students will stay in dorms on a well-equipped mini campus adjacent to the university district, in use by both Italian and foreign students year round. The double and triple rooms are equipped with bathrooms and kitchenettes, within buildings that include cafeterias, gyms and “multimedia” rooms, which are available for screenings, watching TV and public computer use. Free Wi-Fi is provided.
A bustling street in Bologna.
Equipment
Students should bring their own laptop computers and digital or video cameras and recorders as well. The program will provide some equipment as needed.
Travel Opportunities
Bologna is magnificently located in one of Italy’s most exciting regions, with Florence, Venice, Rome, Milan, the Italian lakes and the Adriatic coast an easy day trip by train or bus. The Emilia Romagna region itself is well worth exploring: It’s home to some of Italy’s top food destinations and restaurants; to the luxury car empires of Ferrari, Lamborghini and Maserati; and to the elegant Renaissance cities of Ferrara and Ravenna, known for their palaces, artistic heritage and bike-friendly medieval lanes.
Faculty
Michael R. Finch, Ph.D., (Program Director), is an assistant professor of communication and student media adviser at Lee University in Virginia. Finch worked as a journalist and then became a Poynter Fellow before he became a professor. He received his Ph.D. in communication from Regent University, where he completed a dissertation about resistance and identity among minority subcultures in the Soviet Union. Finch restructured his university journalism program from a traditional, legacy style program into a “multimedia” journalism program, preparing students for the converged social/digital media professional world. Many of his graduates already work at local, regional and national news organizations in print, digital and broadcast formats. Finch led international trips to Costa Rica, Ukraine, Poland, Australia and New Zealand.
A student at work in Bologna.
Clemente Lisi (multimedia faculty) is an assistant professor of journalism at The King’s College, co-director of the NYC Semester in Journalism program and an adviser to the student online newspaper/print magazine/video platform, The Empire State Tribune. A graduate of the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, Lisi worked as a journalist and editor for over two decades, serving as an editor the New York Post and the New York Daily News, as well as ABCNews.com. He has covered some of the biggest stories of the century, including the September 11 attacks and their aftermath, as well as the elevation of Timothy Dolan to cardinal at the Vatican in 2012.
Leah Stacy (multimedia faculty) is an assistant professor in professional practice at Nazareth College and has worked as an arts journalist and entrepreneur. She started her career in Rochester, N.Y., as a web editor for the Democrat and Chronicle, then earned a master’s degree at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, where she focused on learning video, social media and other digital skills to become a more multifaceted journalist. After graduate school, she held positions as the editor-in-chief of a city-regional magazine, public relations manager for a regional theatre, a startup founder and a freelance writer/videographer for publications such as City Newspaper, American Theatre magazine, Esquire.com and USA Today. She remains editorial director of Boomtown Table and the cofounder of Upstate Social Sessions, an annual social media conference in downtown Rochester.
Peter Wayner (multimedia faculty) is a videographer and writer from Rochester, New York. He grew up hearing stories from his grandfather, a World War II vet who farmed through the Great Depression. In college, and during his tenure at grad school at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Pete began cultivating his own storytelling style. Journalistic storytelling has taken Pete into training with an Army unit, inside a Boston pub for 18 hours on Saint Patrick's Day and three hours into the desert outside Las Vegas. He's been published nationally in Bespoke Post, MensHealth.com and Esquire.com. Now he's a content manager at Dixon Schwabl, a marketing and advertising agency in Rochester. He shoots videos for brands large and small, ranging from Frontier Communications to Genesee Beer.
View complete faculty biographies on our Bologna Project Faculty Page.
Program Cost
The cost is $4,995 USD + airfare, including tuition for three credits, Italian lessons, interpreters, travel insurance, farewell dinner, accommodations and most meals in dorms, program activities and cultural events. Graduates and students who do not need credit can deduct $450 from the program cost. Students who pay in full, by check, by Jan. 15 will receive a $150 “early-bird discount.”
Financial Aid
Students studying abroad for the summer term have limited financial aid options. Check with your school’s financial aid office and your study abroad offices to find out if assistance is available. More information on financial aid is available here.
