SIP YEAR ABROAD IN Barcelona 40th anniversary celebration (1971-2011)
May 5, 2012 (Illini Union / Levis Faculty Center)
The program was founded in 1971 under the leadership of Dr. Pasquariello, then Head of Spanish, Italian and Portuguese at the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign), with the enthusiastic endorsement of Dr Alberto Porqueras-Mayo, professor of Spanish, Catalan and Comparative literature and a Catalan himself. Negotiations with the University of Barcelona officials were facilitated by Dr. Jordi Prats, an alumnus of UIUC/Sip and professor at Knox college, who had founded a similar program already. Both UIUC and Knox were among the first institutions to have study abroad courses located in the city of Barcelona, at a time when Spain was still a very centralized dictatorship. The Spanish, Italian and Portuguese department recognized very early on the incredible opportunities that Barcelona could offer its students. Indeed, to this day, hundreds of them have benefited from their immersion in the life of a Mediterranean city that overlooks both the mountains and the sea; a city that dates back to the Roman empire 
but has always looked towards the future; a culture proud of its distinct specificity but open to all.
Since its inception, 2405 students have studied in our Barcelona Cal-Illini program: 778 from the University of Illinois and 1512 from The University of California. The program has hosted 17 resident directors (including several times resident director, UIUC's Prof. John Wilcox) and 27 resident assistants, mostly under the watchful and caring eye of Pilar Ocaña Dolcet. We invite all those who have participated in the program, in one way or another, and all those interested in it, to come and celebrate with us 40 years of incredible academic, personal and social growth.
See what recent participants said about the program
Facebook links:
UIUC Barcelona Year Abroad Program 40th Anniversary
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