Programs, 1895-2016

The Programs Department in the New York Office of the American Academy in Rome is responsible for activities relating to the programs of the Academy, particularly those concerning selection and management of Fellows. The Programs staff facilitates the Rome Prize Competition (publicity, processing of applicants, coordination of the Jury process, administering of Fellowship stipends, and the orientation of new Fellows), Classical Summer School programs, and AAR publications.

Programs developed its current structure in the 1980s when the Academy expanded its staff. The Executive Secretary managed the administrative affairs of the New York office until 1982 when the Academy hired a Communications Assistant and a Fellowships Assistant. The President and Board of Trustees continuously have reviewed and evaluated the mission and policies of the Programs Department. The competition process has undergone much scrutiny which has resulted in a refinement of the jury system and selection process. For example, in the early years at the Academy, architects, landscape architects and artists who were applying for fellowships were required to submit works to the juries in response to a design problem defined by the Academy. Actual original work samples from artists were reviewed by juries, as well.

Currently, juries evaluate the architect's or artist's talent by the viewing of digital images and portfolios -- a process which is less time consuming and which allows the artist or architect a certain amount of freedom and creative control.

As the selection process changed, so did the Department's approach to the Fellowship Program. For instance, publicity efforts to attract new applicants were not aggressively pursued in the early part of this century because the pool of candidates came from a pre-screened group of young men from member institutions. Once the competition became open to more people, Programs staff developed advertising schedules and procedures, such as writing letters and press releases and printing flyers and posters.

In addition to the administration of the Fellowship program, the Programs area has expanded by administering other programs such as the Classical Summer School beginning in 1923 and the Summer Archaeology Training Program in 1990.

As stated in the Annual Report for 1923, the Summer School was created for college graduates who, because of time restrictions due to professional responsibilities as teachers and scholars, could only spend a brief time studying in Rome. In the last 70 years, this program has introduced many hundreds of teachers and graduate students to the principal Roman sites. The Academy's eight-week specialized Summer Program in Italian Archaeology was launched in 1990 for graduate students. With a combination of instruction in archaeological methods and field work, the Program was an important step in implementing suggestions offered by archaeologists for meeting the needs of students, in addition for it being a way of encouraging archaeological activity at the Academy.

The evolution of the Programs Department reflects the development of the American Academy in Rome into an established academic institution. The expanding influence and mission of the Academy is clearly seen through the changes in administration of the Department, the selection process for Fellows, and the development of the Summer School programs.