VCU Hosts Center for Integrative Mediterranean Studies Sixth International Conference

By V. Renee Russell
VCU Global Education Office

Virginia Commonwealth University hosted the Sixth International Conference of the Center for Integrative Mediterranean Studies (CIMS,) a tripartite research and exchange-based partnership between the University of Messina, Italy; the University of Córdoba, Spain and VCU.

The conference took place Sept. 13 to 15 and attracted nearly 100 participants, including 14 delegates from VCU's international partnership universities, nine VCU faculty and 75 VCU students.

This year’s conference themes were “Sport and Society” and “Freedom and Social Memory.”

The conference keynote address featured a panel discussion titled “Freedom and Social Memory in Global Perspective,” which was also one in a series of events marking VCU’s Year of Freedom: Confronting our past, facing our future, the university’s reflection on the 150^th anniversary of the American Civil War and Emancipation. 

Panelists were Madge Dresser, Ph.D., professor of history at University of the West of England, who discussed the role monuments play in social memory; Javier Fernández Galeano, Fulbright Fellow specializing in history at The New School of Social Research, who drew comparisons between the Republican cause in the Spanish Civil War and the Confederate cause of the American Civil War and Rozena Maart, Ph.D., professor of gender studies at University of KwaZulu-Natal, who discussed the topic of social memory as it relates to post-apartheid South Africa.

“Each of VCU’s international partnerships forms a bridge linking Richmond to an important part of the world for our students, our faculty and our community,” Brown said.

In addition to Freedom and Social Memory, the conference included three sessions on “Sports and Society.” 

“The European Commission has provided funding to develop programs that feature sports within the university setting,” said CIMS executive director Marcella Patrizia Scalisi. “European universities can use the U.S. model to begin to build successful programs. VCU is a strategic partner from which we can learn best practices for developing sporting programs that enhance the educational experience of students worldwide.”

The 2013 CIMS conference will be held at the University of Messina, Italy.

“This type of ongoing collaboration is critical because the relationships between universities are really based on relationships between people,” Scalisi said. “It is important for us to meet regularly so we can strengthen those relationships and expand the reach of our global partnership.”