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Statutes

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Forum for Advanced Studies

“Gaetano Massa”

 

The undersigned of this statutory document, in view of their meeting on June 25th 2013 at the seat of the Academia Real de Espana in Rome, upon the conclusion on the International Conference on the theme “The Contemporary Profile of Western Culture,” and in context of their meeting on May 25th 2016 at the Palazzo Santa Lucia Filippini in Rome, on the theme “The Renaissance in Italy” approve the following constitutional statues:

 

I. The Forum for Advanced Studies “Gaetano Massa” constitutes University/College and Associate Centers in Europe and the Americas which promote, within a private or public institutional context, support of the Arts, Humanities, and Sciences  as classically defined; emphasizing that its histories, literatures, arts, languages, philosophy and religions still speak to us in a modern age, may upon written agreement, become members of the Forum.

 

II. Cultural and academic initiatives are developed with economic and structural support from its institutions.

 

III. Research and teaching activities are synthesized in a series of public presentations, symposia and publications.

 

IV. Those in accord with the above initiative accredited by the Forum are:

 

Dr. Robert M. Berchman, Director General of Forum for Advanced Studies “Gaetano Massa”, Roma, Italia – Salem, SC/USA; Secretary-Treasurer of The Institute at Caesars Head Ltd (TICH Ltd), Salem, SC/USA.

 

Professor Jay Bregman and Nancy Ogle, Directors of the Center for Pythagorean Aesthetics, Orono, ME/ USA.

 

Professor Francisco Bertelloni, Director of the Institute of Philosophy “Alejandro Korn”, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina.

 

Professor Bruce Chilton, Director of The Institute of Advanced Theology, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY/USA.

 

Professor Kevin Corrigan, Director of the Center for Platonic, Aristotelian and Neoplatonic Studies, Emory University, Atlanta, GA/USA.

 

Professor Claudia D’Amico, Director of the Program for the Reception of Platonism, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

 

Dr. Douglas Hedley, Director of the Center for Platonic Studies, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.

 

Professor Salvatore Lavecchia, Director of the Center for the Study of Neoplatonic Aesthetics, Università degli Studi di Udine, Italia.

 

Professor Tomas Lejeschleba, Director of the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Palacky University, Olomuch/CZECH REPUBLIC.

 

Professor Mark Nyvlt, Director of the Canadian Society for Aristotelian Studies, Dominican University, Ottawa, Ontario/CANADA.

 

Professor Frederick Schroeder, Director of the Center for Classical Studies, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario/CANADA.

 

Professor Jose Zamora, Director of the Center for Neoplatonic Ethics, University of Madrid/Moderna, Madrid/SPAIN.

 

V.  University-College and Associate Centers

 

FSA, TICH, its University-College and its Associate Centers are constituted as a federation of member institutions and centers. Its policies are determined by a Board of Directors consisting of members from FSA and its Associate Centers. Each associate center has its own appropriate focus:

 

Forum for Advanced Studies “Gaetano Massa” is for Academic and Cultural Studies (Director, Robert Berchman).

 

The Institute of Philosophy “Alejandro Korn” at the University of Buenos Aires has his focus in the Reception of Platonism from Late Antiquity to Contemporary Thought, with special emphasis on the Middles Ages (Director: Francisco Bertelloni).

 

The Center for the Study of Neoplatonic Aesthetics, Università degli Studi di Udine has as its focus  Platonic and Neoplatonic Aesthetics (Direttore: Salvatore Lavecchia).

 

The NIRSEO (Network Italiano di Ricerca e Studio sull'Esoterismo Occidentale) is a network  whose aim is to promote communication among all the Italian scholars who deal with Western Esoterism.

 

The Center for Platonic, Aristotelian and Neoplatonic Studies at Emory University is for Platonic, Aristotelian, and Neoplatonic Studies (Director: Kevin Corrigan).

 

The Center for Pythagorean Aesthetics concentrates on arts and music (Co-Directors: Jay Bregman and Nancy Ogle).

 

The “Gaetano Massa” Center at The Institute at Caesars Head has as its focus philosophy and literature (Co-Directors: Robert M. Berchman and James O. Tate).

 

The Center for Classical Studies at Queen’s University has as its focus Classical Studies (Director: Frederic Schroeder).

 

The Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at Palacky University has as its focus Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy (Director: Tomas Nejeschleba).

 

The Center for Neoplatonic Ethics at the University of the University of Madrid/Moderna has as its focus later ancient and medieval Ethics (Director: Jose Zamora).

 

Program of Studies for the Reception of Platonism of the University of Buenos Aires has as its focus the study of Platonism from Late Antiquity to Contemporary Thought, with special emphasis on the Middles Ages. (Director, Claudia D’Amico). 

 

The Center for Gnostic Studies at the University of Nebraska has as its focus the study of Gnosticism in late antiquity. (Director John D. Turner).

 

The Associate Center at the Institute of Advanced Theology at Bard College has as its focus Religious and Theological Studies (Director: Bruce Chilton).

 

The Independent Center for Platonic Studies at Cambridge University has as its focus studies in Plato and the Platonic Tradition (Director: Douglas Hedley)

 

The Independent Canadian Society for Aristotelian Studies, has as its focus studies in Aristotle and the Aristotelian tradition. (Director: Mark Nyvlt).

 

VI. Purposes and Goals

 

FSA, TICH and its Centers bring together the specialized scholarship and resources to provide a variety of venues and possibilities for the study of the connections between ancient, medieval and modern art, literature, philosophy and religion. The major aims of both are:

 

To offer a venue for the study of these fields from antiquity to the present.

 

To foster new levels of co-operation and possibility for inter-disciplinary, and comparative studies in these fields at the highest possible levels.

 

To make accessible the highest standards of international standards for the graduate and undergraduate students of our respective institutions as well as to promote the dissemination of such scholarship to the respective academic and cultural communities we serve as well as to the general public.

 

Our major goals are therefore: 1) international co-operation; 2) cutting edge research; 3) first class international scholarship accessible to student and local communities; 4) a sense of the potential unity between research and teaching; and 5) accessibility and service to the broader community at large.

In accordance with these major goals, FSA, TICH and its Associate Centers seek to foster research, teaching and public service by its annual events, conferences, symposia, seminars and lectures for the public, and publications in Italy and the USA. Its associate university and college Centers will function as independent environments for research and study by scholars world-wide. FAS and TICH build upon these institutions to enhance scholarship, teaching and community service to enhance work across subject boundaries to develop interdisciplinary research, publications, and public service at the highest level.

 

FSA , TICH and its University-College and Associate Centers help to co-ordinate resources in such a way as to enhance the activities and events at each Associate Center. Typically, for instance,  a Center may host a series of events on a 1-3 year basis, offering, for example intensive one week seminars, colloquia, or conferences with major international scholars, and open to Fellows, Visiting Fellows, Student Members, and Friends of all centers. Activities include public lectures to promote greater public visibility and accessibility of member’s research, scholarship and publications to the broader community. FAS and TICH will co-ordinate events in Italy and the USA on a year to year basis, to facilitate publications when appropriate, and serve as a conduit for co-ordinate planning. In special circumstances, large international scholarly projects such as the production of dictionaries, encyclopedias, and collaborative studies will be supported. FAS and TICH will hold annual academic and cultural events as well such as symposia and public lectures in Rome, Italy and Salem, SC/USA.

 

VII. Officers.

 

The Executive Office of Foro di Studi Avanzati Gaetano Massa is:

Honorary President, Riccardo Campa.

Director General, Robert M. Berchman.

Secretary, Michele Olzi.

 

Its Executive Committee is composed of the Directors of its University-College and Associate Centers. The Institute at Caesars Head Ltd. is the incorporated, non-profit, philanthropic, and financial center of the Foro di Studi Avanzati Gaetano Massa (President, Secretary and Treasurer, Robert M. Berchman).

 

VIII. Membership

 

Although all members are equal participants in the activities of FSA, TICH, and its University-College Centers, there are four different categories of membership:

 

Fellows of an individual Institution and/or Center.

Visiting Fellows from participating Institutions and Center.

Student Members of individual Institutions and Centers.

Friends of individual Institutions and Centers.

 

IX. With the intent of ensuring execution of the projects proposed, the president and director of Forum and Institute, and University-College and Associate Directors commit themselves to carrying out all customary formalities. These formalities specify: a) conferences, symposia and themes; b) time periods during which projects are to be completed; c) the location in which projects are to be realized; d) the financial costs and sources of support for realizing projects.

X. The undersigned of the statues set forth in this document designate that the following officers as answerable to and responsible for the Forum, for a period of five years, with the anticipation of renewal.

Director General: Dr. Robert M. Berchman. Co-Director.

 

XI. The official location of the Forum’s direction are the offices of Dr. Robert M. Berchman

 

XII. Read, approved, and signed below.

 

Victoria Arroche

Robert M. Berchman 

Franscisco Bertelloni

Gregory Bloomquist

Riccardo Campa

Kevin Corrigan

Claudia D’Amico

Salvatore Lavecchia

Tomas Lejeschleba

Claudia Marsico

Mark Nyvlt

Michele Olzi

Luciana Soares Santoprete

Frederick Schroeder                                                                                                 

Valentina Zaffino

Jose Zamora

Inaugural Statutes 2013 

“Gaetano Massa” Forum for Advanced Studies

The undersigned of this statutory document, in view of their deliberations on June 25th and 26th, 2012, at the office of the Istituto Italo-Latino Americano, an intergovernmental organization located in Rome, do now resolve, on June 5th, 2013, at the seat of the Academia Real de España in Rome, upon the conclusion of the International Conference on the theme “The Contemporary Profile of Western Culture,” marking the tenth anniversary of the interdisciplinary Giambattista Vico Chair at Dowling College in Oakdale, New York, their approval of the following constitutional statutes:

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1. The Foro di Studi Avanzati “Gaetano Massa,” or the Gaetano Massa Forum for Advanced Studies, constitutes the transformation of the Cattedra interdisciplinare “Giambattista Vico,” or the interdisciplinary Giambattista Vico Chair, into Foro di Studi Avanzati/Roma.

 

2. Universities and cultural institutions in the Americas, both of Anglo-Saxon and Latin traditions, in Europe and in the Orient, proposing to promote, within a public or private institututional context, the knowledge of, and acquaintance with, conceptual, philosophical, scientific, artistic, and religious problematics of Western culture and its interaction with cultures to its east, in classical, modern and contemporary configurations, may, upon written agreement, become members of the Forum.

 

3. Cultural initiatives are developed with economic and structural support from the interested institutions. 

 

4. Research and teaching activities are synthesized in a series of publications primarily in English, but also in other languages of cultural diffusion whose use may, at one time or another, be opportune and justified by economic and distributional circumstances. 

 

5. Those in accord with the above initiative who have been accredited by the Forum so far are:

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Dr. Kevin Corrigan, Co-Director, Gaetano Massa Center at Emory University

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6. With the intent of ensuring adequate and appropriate execution of the cultural projects proposed by interested universities and institutions, the general directors of the Forum commit themselves to carrying out all customary formalities.  These formalities specify, among other particulars, a) the delineation of the cultural thematics of projects; b) the period of time during which projects are to be realized; c) the location in which projects are to be realized; d) the financial costs and sources of support for realizing projects.

 

7. The undersigned of the statutes set forth in this document designate the following scholars as answerable to and responsible for the Forum for a period of five years, with the possibility of renewal:

Presidency: Professor Riccardo Campa

Director General: Professor Robert Berchman

 

8. The official location of the Forum’s direction are the offices of Professor Robert Berchman.

 

9. The present statutory document, composed in Italian, is to be translated into English and Spanish.

 

10. Read, approved and signed below.

 

 

                                                                                   Riccardo Campa

                                                                                   SIGNATURE

 

                                                                                   Robert Berchman

                                                                                   SIGNATURE

 

                                                                                   Kevin Corrigan

                                                                                   SIGNATURE      

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