A new focal point for the study of the Italian language and culture is taking shape at the University of Michigan. The Interdepartmental Center for Italian Studies (ICIS) has been created as an initiative of U of M Professor Gabriele Boccaccini and 13 scholars from various academic backgrounds interested in the study of the Italian language, history and culture, in collaboration with Dr. Nicola De Santis, Consul of Italy in Detroit. The goal of the ICIS is to act as an international nexus for Italian studies, to engage area Italian cultural organizations and to act as a resource for Italians in Michigan.
Today's renewed immigration of Italians to the United States is centered at universities, not in the industrial sector as in the past. The creation of the ICIS will foster continued emigration of researchers and scholars from Italy to the United States, particularly to Michigan. The ICIS also hopes to connect today's Italian immigrants to those of previous generations, who emigrated to the United States to work primarily in the industrial sector.