Loyola University Chicago Rome Center

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Loyola University Chicago Rome Center is a campus of Loyola University Chicago in Rome, Italy. The Rome Center was founded in January of 1962, on the site of the Olympic Village for the 1960 Summer Olympics. After two intermediate relocations, in 1972 it moved to its present location in a residential neighborhood on Monte Mario, the highest point in Rome, on Via Massimi.

The Center was recently renamed the "John Felice Rome Center of Loyola University Chicago" in honor of John Felice, a Maltese-American man who was largely responsible for the Institution's founding in 1962.

The JFRC is led by its Director, Dr. Eric Apfelstadt, and Dr. Rebecca Edwards, the Vice-Director. Mr. Todd Waller serves as the Dean of Students, and he is assisted by several Student Life Assistants, known as SLAs.

The SLAs are chosen from a wide field of applicants by their merits and the skills that they bring with them to the Center. They serve for a period of one to two years.

Students at the JFRC attend classes four days a week, and most travel during the weekends to various cities in Western Europe, Eastern Europe, and Northern Africa. Some of the trips are planned by the students themselves and their friends, while other trips are planned by the SLAs for educational reasons. These 'study trips' are often to places like Pompeii, Northern Ireland, and Venice.

Undergraduate enrollment each year is approximately 400 students. Most of the students are Loyola students, while others are from various other universities in the United States, and often from other Jesuit Institutions.