My Mission
About Me
With academic degrees both in international economics and relations, I started my career working for the US Embassy in Rome and later, after the fall of the Berlin wall, I moved to London to focus on then Czechoslovakia for an international financial institution. After a number of years of fieldwork, I decided to devote myself to university teaching and administration, both at the undergraduate and graduate level, in Italy and in the US. My work has taken me to the 4 corners of the world and I cannot stop yet because I have so much more to see and witness first-hand.
Academic qualifications
Laurea Magna Cum Laude in "Political Science" from Catania University Italy in 1978; dissertation thesis on "U.S.-Europe Relations during the Carter Administration"
M.A. in "International Studies" from Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies, Washington D.C., 1979-1981; Fulbright scholarship.
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My Mission Statement
I am a European Union national who has divided his existence between Europe and the States. I have a doctoral degree in International Relations from the Italian state university in Catania (Sicily) and was also granted a Fulbright scholarship to study international economics at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies both in Bologna and in Washington DC.
I started out by being the senior economic expert of the US Ambassador in Rome before moving on to London to be the senior country manager for then Czechoslovakia at the newly founded European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. In the meantime I took on teaching as a side activity. Eventually I decided to go solely into teaching and that is what I have been doing ever since.
I have been teaching at the undergraduate and graduate levels for various academic institutions both in Italy and in the US. I was the MBA Director for the Roman branch of the University of Malta. I maintain very close ties with the Italian and US Embassies throughout the world as well as with members of the Italian Government and some Mayors of leading US cities. I travel extensively whenever my teaching schedule will allow me to accept invitations to lecture in places other than those where I normally spend most of my time.
I am often asked to speak on topics relating to the European Union, international business and marketing, as well as electronic business (I taught one of the first courses on e-Commerce ever to be offered either in Italy or in California). I am well known for my practical, hands-on approach to teaching and believe firmly in taking my students into the real world by leading them through intensive tours of some European capital cities or of the key near-by decision-making centers.
More recently I have discovered a deep love for Africa where I carry out volunteer work by designing, financing and implementing projects in favor of rural communities in Zimbabwe and near-by nations.