At the University of California, scholars working in Italian Studies are widely dispersed across the humanities and social sciences. The Italian Studies Multicampus Research Program Initiative (ISMRPI) - sponsored by the UC Office of the President, UCB Department of Italian Studies, UCD Dean of the Humanities, UCLA Department of Italian, UCSB Dean of the Humanities, UCSC Dean of the Humanities and UCSD Dean of the Humanities - unites faculty and graduate students in a multicampus interdisciplinary research unit for the first time in the University's history. The principal focus of our research unit is the open-access e-journal California Italian Studies, whose inaugural issue - "Italy in the Mediterranean" - appeared in March 2010. The UC ISMRPI will work closely with its sister organization, the California Interdisciplinary Consortium for Italian Studies (CICIS). CICIS' mission is to foster interdisciplinary and transnational research related to Italian studies in California, and to convene conferences where this research can be promoted, undertaken, presented, and discussed. The organization is open to UC faculty and graduate students as well as scholars and researchers from other California research institutions, and independent scholars residing in California. Web ISMRPI