Matthew Rice, M.Arch
Director, FIU World Center Italy
FIU Global | Genoa, Italy
Office: Convento di S. Maria di Castello, Salita di S. Maria di Castello, 15 16123 Genova GE Italia
Email: mrice@fiu.edu
Bio
Matthew Rice is the on-site director for FIU’s program in Genoa, Italy. He has lived in Genoa for over twenty years and worked with the Genoa program since its inception in 2004. He secured academic facilities in the historic convent of S. Maria di Castello, guided the signing and two renewals of the Exchange and Cooperation Agreement between FIU and University of Genoa (UniGe), organized local teachers and speakers as well as interaction with local cultural and professional institutions, and assisted in the daily life of over 500 FIU students during their stay in Genoa. He has taught a variety of urban, architectural and coastal design studios as an adjunct professor with the UniGe Department of Architecture and Design from 2004 to 2012 and 2017 to the present. He has played a role in the department’s internationalization by participating in reviews, organizing and/or participating with international workshops, and has translated numerous articles, essays and books for publication for UniGe faculty. From 1999 to 2002 he was Resident Professor at the Daniel Center for Urban Studies in Genoa operated by Clemson University, where he was a tenured associate professor from 1995 to 2003 before leaving to collaborate with University of Genoa.
Rice encourages students to experience different ways of thinking and to develop a critical perspective on their academic and cultural habits, whatever their field of study. He finds Genoa and Italy a rich and complex environment suitable for real learning and growth in the 21st century, and full of opportunities for FIU's initiative to internationalize.