Cavalier Portia Prebys: Rome Program Director Receives Knighthood

Cavalier Portia Prebys: Rome Program Director Receives Knighthood

The Saint Mary’s community is well aware of the dedication that Portia Prebys has to the Rome Program. Now the Republic of Italy also knows, as Prebys was recently knighted by President Giorgio Napolitano. Prebys received the title of Cavalier of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, for meritorious service to the nation of Italy, recognizing her long career in international education. “I am thrilled to have been chosen for Italian knighthood,” says Prebys who was awarded the civil knighthood on May 24, in Rome.

Prebys has been the director of the Rome Program since its inception in 1970. A 1966 graduate of Saint Mary’s College, Prebys has been a resident of Italy since the fall of ’66 when she received a Fulbright Fellowship to study Renaissance history. Prebys received an Italian dottorato from the University of Sassari, Sardinia and was awarded a doctorate in Letters honoris causa from John Cabot University, in Rome, in 2003. In 2004 Prebys was awarded the President’s Medal from Saint Mary’s College. As an advocate of a liberal arts education, Prebys has worked to further the interdisciplinary approach to studying history, literature, art, philosophy, and language through the Rome Program.

This is the insignia that Cavalier
Portia Prebys received when she was
knighted on May 24

“Young students from Saint Mary’s have a deep fascination for Italy that stimulates the imagination,” says Prebys. “In Italy, they can reach out and touch the richness of the civilization and the ancient arts and experience the customs and the cultural diversity that literature, cinema, music, and television have continually thrust at them in their own culture.”

Prebys has held a number of positions on various boards and committees of both academic and cultural institutions, including serving on the Italian Board of the Fulbright Commission for Educational and Cultural Exchange between Italy and the United States. She is also widely published in English and Italian, her most recent book being Educating in Paradise: Thirty Years of Realities and Experiences of North American Colleges and Universities in Italy, published by Centro Stampa 2P, 2008, Florence.

Prebys has seen over 4000 students come through the Rome program. She has dedicated her life to the cultural exchange between Italy and the U.S. Upon receiving her knighthood, she says, “I am extremely proud to belong here in this very special way and hope to be able to contribute to our collective interests for many years to come.