The Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies in Rome (ICCS) is an overseas study center located in Rome, Italy for undergraduate students in fields related to Classical Studies. It was first established in 1965 by ten American colleges and universities; by 2007 the number of member institutions had grown to 113. It is sometimes called the Centro, the Italian word for center.

Structure Each member institution furnishes a "faculty representative" to the Centro; from these, four are elected by the institutional representatives to sit on a governing board called the Managing Committee, with a fifth member provided by Duke University, which provides administrative services to the ICCS. The Managing Committee elects its chair for a five-year term; the current chair is Professor Jeremy Hartnett of Wabash College. Until 1992, administrative services were provided by Stanford University. The Managing Committee hires a Professor in Charge (PIC) for each year, and three subordinate faculty members, who are responsible for instruction and are usually drawn from American colleges and universities. The Centro offers competitive admission to North American undergraduate students to study the Ancient City, Greek or Latin literature, Italian language, or (Renaissance and Baroque) Art History. A group of normally 36 undergraduate students are competitively selected as Centristi each semester.

The Centro has received financial support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, the Corning Incorporated Foundation, the Danforth Foundation, the Old Dominion Foundation, the David and Lucille Packard Foundation, its consortium of colleges and universities, former students, and friends. One of its founders was the American Classicist Brooks Otis, in whose memory the center's library is named.

Faculty Normally there are four faculty members at ICCS Rome: a senior 'Professor in Charge' (PIC), two junior professors (often an associate professor and an assistant professor), and a graduate student assistant, the 'Resident Instructor' (RI). The Professor in Charge is chosen by the Managing Committee and the remaining faculty are hired competitively at the annual meetings of the Archaeological Institute of America and the Society for Classical Studies in January. Faculty duties vary in accordance with the organizational plans of the PIC, but the course load is nominally two courses per semester except for the RI, who teaches a 1-1 load with additional resident supervisorial duties. The professors live in ICCS-rented apartments in the neighborhood, while the RI lives on the premises of the ICCS.

Professors-in-Charge

Year Name Institution 1967-1968 William Anderson University of California, Berkeley 1968-1969 Charles Theophilus Murphy† Oberlin College 1969-1970 Edward Togo Salmon† McMaster University 1970-1971 Edward Togo Salmon† McMaster University 1971-1972 Charles P. Segal Brown University 1972-1973 John Van Sickle Brown University 1973-1974 Paul MacKendrick† University of Wisconsin 1974 Fall Charles L. Babcock† Ohio State University 1975 Spring Alexander McKay† McMaster University 1975-1976 J. Arthur Hanson† Princeton University 1976 fall John E. Stambaugh† Williams College 1977 spring Jane Cody University of Southern California 1977-1978 Katherine A. Geffcken Wellesley College 1978-1979 Harry B. Evans Fordham University 1979-1980 Mary Sturgeon The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 1980-1981 Gerhard M. Koeppel† The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 1981-1982 Jean D'Amato University of Southern California 1982-1983 Eric Nielsen Bowdoin College 1983-1984 Leon Fitts Dickinson College 1984-1985 Emory University 1985-1986 Paul B. Harvey, jr.† Penn State University 1986-1987 John E. Fischer Wabash College 1987-1988 Ann Ellis Hanson Yale University 1988-1989 Stephen L. Dyson Wesleyan University 1989-1990 Gerhard M. Koeppel† The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 1990-1991 James Russell University of British Columbia 1991-1992 Russell T. "Darby" Scott Bryn Mawr College 1992-1993 Mary T. Boatwright Duke University 1993-1994 James C. Anderson jr. The University of Georgia 1994-1995 James Franklin Indiana University, Bloomington 1995-1996 Stephen L. Dyson University at Buffalo - SUNY 1996-1997 Thomas A.J. McGinn Vanderbilt University 1997 Fall James Franklin Indiana University, Bloomington 1998 Spring Gerhard M. Koeppel† University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 1998-1999 Helen Nagy University of Puget Sound 1999-2000 James Russell University of British Columbia 2000-2001 Harry B. Evans Fordham University 2001-2002 Bernard Frischer UCLA 2002-2003 Christopher Parslow Wesleyan University 2003-2004 Michele R. Salzman University of California, Riverside 2004-2005 Mary Sturgeon University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 2005-2006 Rice University 2006-2007 Douglas Domingo-Forasté California State University, Long Beach 2007-2008 Walter Englert Reed College 2008-2009 Nigel Pollard Swansea University 2009-2010 Peter Burian Duke University 2010-2011 R. Scott Smith University of New Hampshire 2011-2012 Gregory S. Bucher Creighton University 2012-2013 Daniel W. Berman Temple University 2013-2014 Peter Burian Duke University 2014-2015 Beth Severy-Hoven Macalester College 2015-2016 Garrett G. Fagan† Pennsylvania State University 2016-2017 Christopher A. Gregg George Mason University 2017-2018 Jeremy Hartnett Wabash College 2018-2019 Barbette Spaeth College of William & Mary 2019-2020 John Muccigrosso Drew University 2020-2021 Myles McDonnell Queens College, CUNY 2021-2022 Kathleen M. Coleman FBA Harvard University 2022-2023 Christopher A. Gregg George Mason University 2023-2024 Anthony Corbeill University of Virginia 2024-2025 Sonia Sabnis Reed College2025-2026 Andrew Goldman"Bringing the Ancient World to Gonzaga" 17 Dec. 2025 https://www.gonzaga.edu/_shared/stories/2025/12/bringing-the-ancient-world-to-gonzaga Gonzaga University2026-2027 Bert Lott University of Notre Dame2027-2028 Amy Russell Brown University

Coursework The main component of the curriculum at the ICCS is the so-called "Ancient City" course. Worth two credits and demanding an exceptional amount of time, this course teaches the history and archaeology of the city of Rome with a focus on its topography, ancient and modern. Although they are supplemented by a weekly lecture, field trips provide the core of the class, with two excursions per week, one a full day, and one a half day. While pedagogies vary with each PIC, students are generally expected to give one or more on-site presentations, which help further emphasize the physicality of the field.ICCS Rome - Academics

In addition to the ancient city course students must take two additional courses (some choose to take a third). There is no language requirement, though many students take either Greek and/or Latin at intermediate or advanced levels. Currently Centro provides three electives, Elementary Italian, Renaissance and Baroque Italian art history and a course in Conservation Management. Paul Tegmeyer, a faculty member of John Cabot University, teaches the art history course. The class consists of a weekly lecture Wednesday afternoons and a field trip Friday mornings, normally to a museum or church. Instruction in Italian is provided by Dr. Barbara Castaldo.

Life at the Centro All students live in a small four-story building that previously served as a convent, located at Via Alessandro Algardi 19, in the Monteverde Vecchio section of Rome, having moved here from Via Ulisse Seni 2. Breakfast, dinner, and most lunches are eaten together on all weekdays; the bedrooms are small; the long and frequent field trips for the Ancient City course mean that class time is heavily weighted.

Suzanne Deal Booth Scholar-in-Residence In 2012 a program of resident scholars was announced, funded by Suzanne Deal Booth. Booth Residents spend one week at the Centro during each academic year.

Date of Tenure Name Institution 2012-13 Richard Talbert University of North Carolina 2013-14 Susan Stevens Randolph College 2014-15 Erich Gruen University of California, Berkeley 2015-16 Anthony Corbeill University of Kansas 2016-17 Jennifer Trimble Stanford University 2017-18 Judy Hallett University of Maryland

Sources Mary Taliaferro Boatwright, Michael Maas, Corb Smith, et al. 2015. The Centro at Fifty: The History of the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies, 1965-2015. Centro Press. .

References

External links ICCS Newsletter Duke Study Abroad : ICCS - Rome The Brooks Otis Library