1. To provide the student with interdisciplinary international experience in a country with a different yet similar language and set of customs.

2. To view on site first hand seminal and canonical works of Western Civilization such as Masaccio's Brancacci Chapel frescos, Brunelleschi's Dome and Lantern, Michelangelo' David, and Botticelli's Birth of Venus.  To discover ideas and symbols represented in each, and how they are still relevant today.

3. To promote the cross fertilization of ideas through interaction with Italians and students with different majors and from other colleges.

The Florence program is not directly designed to foster career development, but to broaden each student's knowledge and provide a time of reflection. This is the eleventh consecutive year this program has been offered