In Italian, "mobile" once meant "fickle," Emilio Del Gesso says. He is referring to the intersection of word meanings. Then, because he understands the importance of historical context, he hums "La Donna e Mobile" from Verdi's "Rigoletto," which anyone unfamiliar with opera would recognize.
Del Gesso is assistant professor of art and architectural history at the University of Arkansas Rome Study Center for Architecture and Humanities, a newly formed collaboration between the School of Architecture and Fulbright College.
Under the leadership of Professor of Architecture and Adjunct Professor of Humanities Davide Vitali, the study center allows UA students and faculty like Del Gesso to study and teach abroad in an effort to better understand Rome's influence on the West.
People are defined by the places they inhabit and the context from which their buildings, paintings, traditions or languages emerged, Del Gesso says. While the meaning of the English word "fickle" comes from "betrayal" or "deceit," for example, the English and Italian word "mobile" is derived from Latin's "mobilis" meaning "moveable." If students study Rome's movement to the West, Del Gesso believes that they might become better thinkers, professionals and educators.
Located near the Piazza Navona, the Rome Study Center for Architecture and Humanities started in 1985 when former dean of the School of Architecture Murray Smart hired Davide Vitali, a practicing Italian architect, as a visiting professor to teach in the architecture studio at the University of Arkansas. By1988--89 the first full-semester Rome program was underway with Vitali's direction.
The Fulbright College and the School of Architecture united in 1994 when an interdisciplinary team of professors in the Fulbright College and the School of Architecture, including Dr. Ethel Goodstein, developed a four-semester sequence of courses synthesizing world literature history, art and architecture--a project funded by the National Endowment of the Humanities. This project, now known as the Honors Humanities Project, combines various themes, numerous texts and team teaching in a multifarious classroom.
It was in 2000 when the Dean of the Fulbright College Randall Woods and then Interim Dean of School of Architecture Jeff Shannon started collaborating to create another multidisciplinary curriculum now known as the Rome Study Center for Architecture and Humanities. Following their agreement, Vitali was appointed professor of Humanities in the Fulbright College and arrangements were made to send more Architecture and Humanities faculty and students abroad.
"Important ideas don't respect political boundaries--our goal is to encourage the movement of ideas, to bring people together in unexpected combinations, in order to exchange perspectives and discover common interests," says Associate Dean of Fulbright College Charles Adams.
Dean Jeff Shannon also believes that this new multidisciplinary center will strengthen the education of young architects and landscape architects.
"Collaboration with the Fulbright College faculty and honors students has greatly enriched the Rome Study Center for Architecture and Humanities, allowing our students a broader palette of electives," he says.
Because of Del Gesso's specialty in Italian art and architecture, he has strengthened the curriculum, both past and present: in 1999 architecture students voted Del Gesso as the most outstanding teacher of the year, Dean Shannon says, and this spring during his first full semester at the UA, he is providing both the School of Architecture and the Fulbright College with two specialized courses.
In Del Gesso's Architecture II, a "Sarcophagus" isn't merely a coffin; it's "a name that means flesh-eater given by the Greeks to a special limestone found in Asia Minor and used in caskets," he says.
As an art historian and a painter, Del Gesso has the ability to recognize almost any image put before him--from fifth-century reliefs to eighteenth-century etchings by Piranesi to twentieth-century paintings by Wayne Thiebaud.
But Del Gesso is only one of many UA professors and students encouraging "mobile" ideas this academic year. Dr. Lynda Coon, Dr. Kim Sexton and Dr. David Fredrick also traveled to Rome in 2001--2002 to teach such topics as early Christianity, self-image in ancient Rome and art history.
School of Architecture and Fulbright students traveling to the Rome Study Center for Architecture and Humanities include: Jennifer Caperton of Fort Smith, Kim Krulin of Little Rock, Chris East of El Dorado, Katie Finnegan of Little Rock, Cheryl Hall of Rogers, Melissa Harlan of Jonesboro, Joshua Holt of Cabot, Leah Karnes of Berryville, Chris Lankford of Hot Springs, Bryce Mercado of Walla Walla, Wash., Maury Mitchell of Little Rock, Carolyn Pike of Mountain Home, Justin Posey of Benton, Wilson Robertson of Searcy, Keith Rodebush of Fort Smith, Lewis Roebuck of Fort Smith, Mark Rukamathu of Rogers, Philip Rusk of Little Rock, Jeff Sparks of Fort Smith, Justin Staley of Maumelle and Greg Williams of Magnolia. Italian student Davide Tinto is also currently studying in the UA School of Architecture this spring semester as well.
Provost Bob Smith applauds the students and faculty's diligent work in the past and present.
"My impressions of the Rome Study Center for Architecture and Humanities include a great faculty contingent, bright and highly motivated students and, of course, a setting and curriculum that is nearly unbeatable," Smith says.
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