Since 2001, the Department of Visual Arts, in partnership with the Department of Literature, Language, and Communications, has been sponsoring study abroad courses. These courses have led to on-site study and adventures in Italy (2001), France and Spain (2003), a return to Italy (2005), Italy and Greece (2007 and 2009), and Turkey, Greece, and Italy (2011). In the planning stages for May 2013 is a course to be conducted on site in Italy and Croatia. This course is entitled Italy and Its Environs: Images on the Edge. It will examine the traditional foci of historical, literary, and artistic developments in Italy — the Classical and Renaissance periods — while exploring contemporaneous alternative voices and visions. Students must undergo an application and interview process and are selected to participate in these Marian-sponsored courses. Students then attend spring semester, lecture sessions which prepare them for a seventeen- to nineteen-day on-site experience in the counties relevant to the course topic.
