News - December 05, 2008

SU Florence announces finalists in the Academic Excellence Award

SU Florence has announced the fourteen recipients of this semester’s Academic Excellence Award, in the categories of Outstanding Students—for the Volunteer Program, the Internship Program, and the Lettore per il Giorno, as well as for the prestigious Coluccio Salutati Award.

The Outstanding Students from the Volunteer program are:
Ashley Poulin, Syracuse University
Rita Pattarini, Syracuse University
Jonathan Nwosu, Syracuse University

The Outstanding Students from the Internship program are:
Leanne Perricone, Santa Clara University
Luke Bonucci, Northwestern University
Weston Scott, University of Colorado
Alexandra Palomino, Fordham College at Lincoln Center

Lettore per il Giorno:
Luke Bonucci, Northwestern University
Angela Cotton, University of Colorado, Boulder
Rachael Cook, Wake Forest University

The Coluccio Salutati Award, the highest recognition SU Florence can bestow upon its students, honors students with high academic achievement and engagement with the Italian culture.

SUF professors nominated over fifty students and more than thirty subsequently submitted an essay. 

Congratulations to:

These outstanding students will be honored in an award ceremony during the campus-wide Student Day celebration on Thursday, December 11.

The Speaking Hand: Gesture in Italian Art

With such an intriguing title, interest is running high for this year’s symposium by the Syracuse University Graduate Candidates for the Master’s Degree in Fine Arts.

The grads can hardly believe they have finally come to the end of a challenging year of studies in Florence. Says grad Tom DePasquale, “In the course of our research we’ve continuously come upon new questions about the role that gestures play in art which we never could have anticipated when we first chose our symposium topic. It’s been very fulfilling to be involved in new research on an aspect of art that is so essential to the way that art conveys meanings to the viewer.”

After much research and discussion the grads have chosen the following quote by Leonardo da Vinci to sum up their symposium topic, "The hands and the arms must, in all their actions, display the intention of the mind that moves them."

Notes grad Stephanie Kaplan, “Perhaps the most amazing aspect of this process has been witnessing the development of all of our papers.  It's interesting to see them change and progress, and to suddenly realize that our papers are coherent as a group.“

Coordinator of the Graduate Program in Florence Rab Hatfield continues to be pleased with this very interesting topic, which involves many fascinating images and adds that, “The students could well be breaking new ground.” Grad Mary Delmastro comments, "All of us are very excited about the symposium. Much of what will be presented is original research on a subject (gesture) that has been given little attention. I think it's a relevant topic though—a better understanding of the form and meaning of gestures allows us to more accurately read art. The most challenging part has been trying to consolidate months of research in a 20 minute presentation that can be understood by the general public."

The grad students are deep into rehearsals now, aiming for a flawless presentation. Says Kaplan, “Every rehearsal the feedback is valuable and every rehearsal I'm again intrigued by my colleagues' research.”

The symposium The Speaking Hand: Gesture in Italian Art will be held at SU Florence on Friday, December 12, 2008.