News - March 27, 2009

SUF conference on Migration a resounding success

Almost 200 people attended the international conference Migration in Europe: Rights, Participation, and Identity, reinforcing the fact that the themes of migration and immigration are of great importance for understanding Italian and European culture at this very moment. The conference saw an unprecedented collaboration amongst American universities and Italian institutions in Florence: SU Florence, New York University, the European University Institute and the Facolta’ di Legge and Scienze Politiche of the Universita’ di Firenze.

Says Matteo Duni, Coordinator of Humanities, Social Sciences and Business at SUF and part of the planning committee, “When I heard Samim Akgonul's opening definition of himself as ‘a Greek Turk who teaches in English to American students in the German part of France,’ and looked at our many US students sitting on the benches of the city council of Florence, I fully realized the fantastic opportunity we have given them to enlarge their horizons by learning about the growing multicultural dimension of European society. To pick such a controversial and crucial theme such as migration, to get several different, important academic institutions to work together on it, to gather here in Florence some of the world's foremost experts and practitioners and have them engage with each other and with our students is the essence of our mission as scholars and educators, and we can be proud of such an achievement.”

This second session of the two-day event entitled A Transatlantic Dialogue on Migration was hosted by SU Florence and held in one of the most important locations of the city of Florence—the Sala de’ Dugento of the Palazzo Vecchio. The first session, entitled The Immigrant and the City: Immigration and its Impact on Municipalities was held at NYU’s Villa La Pietra the previous day and saw a similar turnout.

SUF interns Alexander Galicki, Tamara Feld, and Danielle Fischer played an important role in the organization of the event and agreed that they have greatly improved their organizational and leadership skills. Intern Danielle Fischer says, “My experience was fast paced and very informative. I've learned a lot about current events in Europe in preparation for the conference as I collected materials for the student reader.”

Says SUF Director Barbara Deimling, “The theme was well prepared in the classes and the conference gave students the unique chance to experience some of the most important scholars in the field, not to mention their own professors.” Students were prepared with questions and a lively round table discussion followed the conference.

Notes SUF Professor Debora Spini, part of the planning committee and moderator of the event, “The conference shows how much Syracuse University in Florence is committed to being part of the civic and intellectual life of Florence."