SU Florence to co-host two-day international event on migration

SU Florence to co-host two-day international event on migrationMarch 19, 2009Jill Ennis

Syracuse University in Florence (SUF), renowned for its commitment to cultural engagement and enrichment, is preparing for a major international event in the Florentine community. The two-day conference will take place on March 23-24 at New York University’s Villa La Pietra and the Salone de’ Dugento at Palazzo Vecchio.

Several hundred participants from the public and private sectors are expected to participate in “A Transatlantic Dialogue on Migration,” a collaborative effort between SUF, NYU, the European University Institute, and Facolta di Giurisprudenza and Scienze Politiche of the Universita di Firenze.

In recent decades, both Europe and the United States have seen an increase in immigration and growing public controversy surrounding government initiatives to address the issue. This partnership between European and American academic institutions in Florence brings prominent international scholars, policy makers and practitioners together to discuss critical issues surrounding immigration, its impact on public policy and the complex interrelationship between national policy and local practice, and to suggest reflections on immigrants’ rights, cultural diversity and national identity, which have prompted debate on both sides of the Atlantic.

“The main objective of the conference is to get scholars, politicians, and social workers from both the EU countries and the United States together to identify problems, compare policies and propose new strategies,” says Matteo Duni, coordinator of the humanities, social sciences and business department at SUF. “Equally important for SUF, however, is to have our students actively involved in the conference. It will be a unique chance to see what politics and society are doing on migration on both sides of the Atlantic, and to comprehend more fully a phenomenon which is at the same time one of the greatest challenges and one major opportunity facing the world today.”