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Above: Robert E. Carlucci L.H.D. with AUR President RobertA. Marino and Mrs. Aileen Carlucci.Honoris Causa Degree toItalian-American Entrepreneurand Philanthropist Robert E. CarlucciA Doctor of Humane Letters Honoris Causa degree wasawarded by AUR to Robert E. Carlucci on September 29 ina ceremony held at the Auriana Auditorium and attended byTrustees, faculty, staff and students.A successful Italian-American entrepreneur and philanthropist,Carlucci was born and raised in Malden, Massachusetts,while his paternal and maternal grandparents emigratedto the USA from Santa Maria del Molise, Molise-Abruzzo, andPalermiti da Catanzaro, Calabria, respectively.He formed BCS, Inc., a wholesale and vending company,and Cooperative Refreshment Centers, a relatedfood product supplier throughout Maryland and Virginia. Healso founded R&R Ventures and Affiliates, a major operator of Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut Express restaurantsthroughout Central and Southern Maryland, the Eastern Shore and Delaware. Mr. Carlucci’s success has led himto a leadership role with the KFC/YUM corporate entity, having served as Vice Chair Franchise KFC/YUM BrandsGovernment Affairs for the Northeast, as President of the Northeast Franchise Association, and as the President ofthe KFC Advertising Board for Washington DC.Mr. Carlucci has devoted the same driving force to community service and philanthropy that he devoted tohis business. Most notably his leadership produced a major partnership between R&R Ventures and the MuscularDystrophy Association. R&R Ventures has contributed over a half a million dollars towards the fight against musculardystrophy. This funding has supported MDA clinics, medical equipment, MDA summer camp and research to a curefor over 43 different forms of neuromuscular diseases.R&R Ventures has also been very active in the local communities it serves, providing discounted productsand product donations to needy schools and churches throughout Southern Maryland. Furthermore, Mr. Carlucci haspersonally served as Chairperson for the United Way of Anne Arundel County and as a member of the Board ofDirectors of the Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts. In recognition of his many accomplishments, in 2008 the LidoCivic Club of Washington DC named him as its “Man of the Year.”Most recently, Mr. Carlucci has expanded his philanthropic and service activities to the national scale, withhis recent election to the Board of Directors of the National Italian American Foundation, the leading organizationdevoted to the preservation of the Italian heritage in the United States.AUR is honored to have welcomed Robert E. Carlucci, L.H.D. into its academic family.Conference on Contemporary RomeOn the 26 and 27 of November, AUR hosted a bilingual conference discussingthe “Changing Faces of the Eternal City.” The conference was organizedby Isabella Clough-Marinaro, Cristina Lombardi-Diop, and Bjørn Thomassen withsupport from the Center for Global and Cultural Studies and The American Universityof Rome as well as the Patrocinio from the Comune di Roma and RegioneLazio.The conference provided a forum for the discussion of Rome’s “people, itspolitics and economy, its environment, the challenges of globalization.” It providedinterdisciplinary discussion of transformations currently taking place in Rome withregards to “the fast-changing urban realities of Italy’s biggest city and capital.”Featured at the conference was keynote speaker Dr. Michael Herzfeld of HarvardUniversity.Above: Keynote speaker Dr.Michael Herzfeld11