JCU Establishes New Guarini Senior Fellowship on Transatlantic Relations
President Franco Pavoncello and Ambassador Armando Varricchio signed a new agreement establishing the Guarini Senior Fellowship on Transatlantic Relations last week during a visit by the Ambassador to John Cabot University. The new fellowship was created to promote transatlantic dialogue and stimulate discussion and cooperation between the United States, Italy, and Europe on key topics in international relations.
Ambassador Varricchio recently completed posts as the Italian Ambassador to Germany (2021-2024) and the United States (2016-2021). He has served as a diplomatic advisor to the President of the Council of Ministers in Italy as well as to the President of the Republic, and has been awarded the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.
As the inaugural holder of the Fellowship, Ambassador Varricchio will work closely with the Guarini Institute for Public Affairs and the M.A. Program in International Affairs, offering lectures in the program’s International Affairs Practicum on diplomacy and foreign policy-making, and engaging with students about careers in the field.
He will also participate as a keynote speaker in the 2025 Transatlantic Policy Dialogues. The Transatlantic Policy Dialogues are an ongoing policy workshop hosted by JCU every Fall semester that aims to evaluate the evolving geopolitical challenges and opportunities facing the United States and the broader Euro-Mediterranean region. Past editions of the dialogues have focused on themes, including the evolution of transatlantic cooperation on food security and the new security environment facing the United States and Europe today. More information on recent workshops can be found here, here, and here.
According to Professor Michael Driessen, Director of JCU’s MA program in International Affairs, the fellowship, together with this ongoing dialogue series, reflects John Cabot University’s longstanding efforts to serve as a bridge between the US, Italy and Europe and connect scholars, students, policymakers and the diplomatic community from across the Atlantic and Mediterranean.
