Program Director of Arezzo: Italian Studies in Italy Program
Professor at the University of Rochester for the course “Mamma, Donna, Madonna: The Strength of the Female Figure In Italian Imagination and Culture”
Last fall we had the privilege of spending a semester with the program director, Donna Logan, on the Arezzo: Italian Studies in Tuscany program. Donna Logan is a native of New York who has been a resident of Italy for thirty years and has worked in Arezzo since 1993. During our time in Arezzo, Donna was more than just our program director – she was our teacher, our mentor, and our friend. Although we learned a lot about Donna on the program, we still had some questions that had been left unanswered. This led us to meeting with Donna to learn more about her experiences with study abroad programs in Italy.
We met with Donna at a table outside of Starbucks. She was looking very put together (as is typical of Italian women) as she was finishing an email in Italian. She was exclaiming “I’ve forgotten my Italian!” which we found amusing considering that Donna has been speaking Italian since the time that she studied abroad in Italy in 1975.
Donna had always dreamed of going to Europe and had chosen to study abroad in Italy due to her interest in Italian and Renaissance art. She explained that she wanted a language and cultural immersion in Italy so her study abroad program was perfect for her. In her program, she spent the first month in Florence with intensive art and language courses. This part of her experience required advanced language skills since the courses she was taking were exclusively taught in Italian in lecture style classes with oral examinations. The second part of her trip she went to Urbino where she formally studied at an Italian university. She remarked that her study abroad experience was extremely important because it led her to the work that she does today (and because she met her husband while studying abroad!).
Since studying abroad was such an important experience for her, we asked her why she believes others should study abroad. She stated, “I believe that all students should have a study abroad experience to broaden their horizons and to understand a little more about the world that they live in and to understand who they are as a person”.
Since Donna has been the director of the Arezzo program for many years, we wanted to know what was the best and worst part about her job. Donna told us, “The best part is when I am with students in Italy and they experience some aspect of Italy for the first time. When they do that I remember what it was like when I first experienced Italy. The most difficult part, however is when a student has great difficulty feeling comfortable in a foreign city. I feel like I have failed in a way to not know a student enough to help them feel comfortable”.
As the director of the Arezzo program, she has many fond memories and so we asked her what was her favorite memory. Of course, for such an excellent program, she was unable to think of just one favorite memory. However she was able to narrow it down to a few of her favorite memories from this past semester. She told us that “this past year, some of my favorite memories are from the first day that we arrived in Rome, the excitement of the joust, and the day that the American students and Italian students met up at the University of Siena. Of course, the time we were on top of the tower in Siena was fun too!”
With personally experiencing college in both Italy and the US (both as a student and as a professor), we were curious to know Donna’s opinion on the main difference between colleges in both of these countries. The main difference that she explained was that Italian colleges do not have campuses and are not residential. In the US teachers are around the campus, but in Italy students mostly only see their teachers in the classroom. Because the colleges are not residential, in Italy learning is much more independent since students don’t live with other students and there aren’t any clubs for students to get involved in.
After our long discussion about studying in Italy, we ended the interview asking Donna any advice she has for college women. She said the most important thing for anyone in college is to find something that they are passionate about and to go towards it. She said, “A college woman today can really accomplish anything she can set her mind to. Love what you do and find what makes your heart beat. And lastly, don’t be afraid to change!”