OU Arts and Sciences International Website Up

The international study area of the University of Oklahoma's College of Arts and Sciences has just put up a website where all the information on the college's study abroad programs will be posted. It is at http://casip.ou.edu. Check it out for the latest information on the Arezzo courses, and, of course, all the others.

Nature and Environmental Writing: Walking, In Italy

Dates for English 3113 offered by the University of Oklahoma in Arezzo, Italy, have been set! The course is now scheduled from July 3 to July 28, 2010. I will be teaching it, and Prof. Rita Keresztesi, also of the OU’s English Department, will be teaching another three-hour course in Arezzo, “Spaghetti Westerns.” If you take both courses, you can earn six hours of OU general education or English credit over the summer.

Enrollment is under way, and we already have students from OU’s international programs enrolled, so slots are limited. Karen Elmore in the Arts and Sciences’ Dean’s Office can provide more details if you need them (karenelmore@ou.edu).
I will be using this blog to give you more details as I finish designing the course. We can share information about Italy and the environmental movement in Italy, especially in Tuscany where the course is located. We can also discuss Italian nature and environmental writing and writers and figure out the best modes to share the writing for the least cost and weight!

Right now, one thing we can do is watch Italy’s participation in the Copenhagen climate summit—and study our Italian! (Although the course readings will be in translation, the Italians around us will not!) I’ll pass on more information as I discover it. Ciao!

Walking in Arezzo: Nature and Environmental Writing

I just learned I will be teaching Walking in Arezzo: Nature and Environmental Writing this June and July in Italy! Arezzo, in Tuscany, is near Florence and just a short bus ride away from Siena. It is also not far from a national park with stunning views of the Apennines, where I am planning to take the class for some gentle hiking.

I have set up this blog to help keep readers, students, and myself in touch with the latest news as I develop this course and move it and the students from Oklahoma and the U.S. to Arezzo. By the way, Arezzo, a city of about 100,000 inhabitants, is about the same size as Norman. In fact, it is Norman's sister city.

Please email me if you are interested in taking the course, which is one of the regular University of Oklahoma College of Arts and Sciences summer school offerings and is a 3-hour credit course. Graduate students will be able to enroll for graduate credit with a bit more reading in ecocriticism. We will meet for four hours a day, four days a week in Arezzo, so we will all have a three-day weekend for outings and walks!