Global Studies
FLORENCE, ITALY

Each year the College of Architecture and Environmental Design (CAED) provides an opportunity for its students to live and study in Florence, Italy, where Kent State University has been educating students for over 40 years. Home to the program is a renovated 18th-century palazzo in the heart of the city. Fall and spring programs are structured as an opportunity to earn a full semester credit load that fits conveniently into all CAED curricula.
An ideal location for an education abroad program in architecture, interior design, or architectural studies, Florence is a magnet for art and architecture lovers. Living in our convenient, fully furnished apartments only a 10–20-minute walk from school, students experience life as locals. The city’s meticulously preserved architecture dates from the Medieval and Renaissance periods to the present and is home to more than one hundred museums that encompass all the fine arts.
How do you begin to understand the world beyond your borders if you’ve never witnessed it? As a Kent State Florence student, you aren’t just a tourist, you’re a member of the community, sharing a daily routine with local residents and beginning to understand life through the lens of another culture. Being exposed to diverse ways of life and facing the challenges of cross-cultural communication are essential to becoming a global citizen.
Rome, Venice and Milan are a train ride away, and non-stop flights are available to many other inspiring European cities. In Florence and beyond, students can fully experience the history, evolution and modernization of European art, architecture and urbanism.
CAED’s semester abroad is an enriching, academically relevant experience, preparing its graduates to be well-traveled professionals who are also culturally adaptable in a global profession.
For more information, visit www.ksuflorencecaed.net or contact David Thal, AIA - CAED Global Education Coordinator | 330-672-0879
The fall semester program offers:
- An undergraduate program in architectural studies, open to CAED students and students from other universities
- An undergraduate program in architecture and interior design, for students from other universities, with a curriculum similar to the CAED undergraduate program in architecture and interior design offered in the spring semester
The spring semester program offers an undergraduate program in architecture and interior design, specifically tailored for CAED students. Faculty from other universities interested in learning more about the Florence programs and how they may be integrated with your curriculum, please contact David Thal, AIA - CAED Global Education Coordinator).
Some of the cities and regions that have been explored include:
- Rome
- Rotterdam
- Milan
- Turin
- Citta Emilia
- Madrid
- Berlin