By Kurt Martone, Staff Writer
A new course hopes to kick off this winter in Perugia, Italy. Dr. Michael Chiariello, a professor emeritus at St. Bonaventure University is hopeful that his redesigned course can start soon.
“I am warily optimistic about my course, which is almost a year from now, although Europe is moving more slowly with vaccinations,” said Chiariello. “We cannot guarantee anything at this early point.”
Chiariello has been teaching in Perugia since 2017. This winter, he plans on offering an updated course, Healthcare Ethics (Philosophy 338), which will satisfy a major requirement for the university’s new healthcare programs.
“I have been working to update the course to examine the many ethical implications of the COVID-19 pandemic and international responses,” said Chiariello.
Chiarello is currently working on getting approval from the university to offer this course to students.
“I am proud of the design of the course and the experience I provide students,” Chiariello said.
Some questions that Chiariello wants students to consider are, “Where resources are limited, how do we allocate them among COVID-19 patients? Or, who gets priority in vaccinations, hospital beds, ICUs? And how do we insure a just distribution of medical resources globally?”
He started the winter program as a second option for students who tend to be busy in the summer and cannot attend other study abroad programs, like health care students.
As of now, the only study abroad program still planning on running in the summer of 2021 is the Francis E. Kelley Oxford program. In the summer of 2022, the Sorrento program with the Sant’Anna Institute and the Perugia program with the Umbra Institute are hopeful to return. Summer programs in Japan, China and Salamanca, Spain have not planned for a return yet but plan to offer programs again in the near future.
Students who attend this winter in Perugia, Italy program will get a first-class experience.
“I arranged first-class accommodations for the class: Hotel Fortuna, with Renaissance frescoes on the walls, dinners are at Il Ristorante Altromondo, in a medieval vault redesigned by Perugia’s leading Futurist artist. Classes are held at the Palazzo Sorbello, the former home of the Sorbello Bourbon family converted into a museum, library and conference center,” Chiariello said.
Chiariello’s course is independent of the other trip to Perugia in the summer, led by Robert Donius, a lecturer for theology and Franciscan studies.
As of right now, the trip is hopeful to “take off” in mid-January 2022.
martonkd18@bonaventure.edu
