Engaging the Community

The Bishop Anthony M. Pilla Program in Italian American Studies at John Carroll University was established to promote, perpetuate, and celebrate Italian culture, history, and language through a collaboration with JCU, community organizations and institutions, and the benefactors of the program.

Continuing Education

In conjunction with the Office of Continuing Education, the Bishop Pilla Program develops non-credit enrichment courses that seek to bring to the community a sense of Italian and Italian American contributions to society and culture. Enrichment courses focus on various regions of Italy, as well as their art, history, geography, and cuisine. Courses that have been offered so far include:

• The Mosaic of Sicily: Art, History, and Literature
• Dining with the Italians: Slow Food Style
• Magna Graecia
• In Search of Our Roots: Abruzzo and Molise
• Beautiful Tuscany
• Baroque Sicily
• Travel Opportunities

Every year the University community is invited to participate in educational trips to Italy with John Carroll students. The community is also invited to attend on-site classes on Italian history, literature, art, and culture.
These trips, as well as pre-trip lectures held on campus, are organized entirely by the Bishop Pilla Program.

Lecture Series

Throughout the academic year, distinguished national and international scholars speak on important issues and topics relevant to Italian and Italian American culture. The lecture series brings an important cultural and intellectual aspect to John Carroll University's campus, while engaging both students and the community at large. Past guest speakers include Giuseppe F. Mazzotta, Ph.D., Sterling Professor of Italian Language and Literature, Yale University and Justice Antonin Scalia, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.

High School Recruitment

The Bishop Pilla Program will actively recruit students from area high schools where Italian is taught by visiting and presenting the students with what is available at John Carroll University. The Program plans to work closely with the Italian Government through Comites (Comitato Italiani Estero), which is working to introduce the Italian language in high schools.

Productions & Publications

The Bishop Pilla Program has assisted in the development of a documentary, Prisoners Among Us, produced by MichaelAngelo Productions of Scranton, by securing a grant from the Ohio Humanities Council. It won Best Documentary at the New York Film Festival and the Montreal Film Festival.

The Bishop Pilla Program also publishes Mosaico, an annual, bilingual magazine that summarizes lectures and events that the program sponsored during the previous academic year.