The George L. Graziadio Center for Italian Studies

Il Postino
The George L. Graziadio Center
for Italian Studies
California State University, Long Beach
Spring 2014
Il Postino
The George L. Graziadio Center
for Italian Studies
1
A Message from
Dr. Donato
February 25th, 2014
Dear Friends of the Graziadio Center for Italian Studies,
2014 is going to be a very good year for the George L.
Graziadio Center for Italian Studies! Not only are we
accepting applications for our new MA program in Italian
Studies this year, but we are also able to offer a few
scholarships to our incoming students, thanks to a generous
gift from Diana Biafora, Esq. Diana and her family have
specifically designated these scholarship funds to support
graduate education in Italian Studies at CSULB. Read
more about Diana and her Italian roots in this newsletter.
The George L. Graziadio Center for Italian Studies has also
been recognized by the Fulbright-Hayes Foundation as a
site of innovation in Italian Studies and has awarded us
with a prestigious Scholar in Residence award. Neapolitan
Scholar Pasquale Palmieri will join the Graziadio faculty
during the 2014-2015 academic year with full funding. He
will teach four classes during the year covering Italian
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culture, history, literature and politics as well as deliver a number of public lectures. In
Fall 2014 we will also have another scholar in residence, Katharine Mitchell, Professor of
Italian at the University of Strathclyde, Wales. Dr. Mitchell will be co-editing a special
issue of Italian Studies devoted to diva culture with me during this period. She will also
present her work in a series of lectures open to the campus and the community alike.
I had an extremely busy Fall semester attending national conferences and meetings where
issues that will impact the future of Italian and Italian American Studies were discussed.
It was a particular honor to be invited to speak at the National Italian American
Foundation annual weekend of meetings and to attend the gala. During the weekend of
activities held October 26-27, 2013, I had the opportunity to present the activities of the
Graziadio Center, and in particular, our Teaching Credential Program to the Italian
Ambassador, Claudio Bisogniero, at a special meeting for heads of organizations and
programs about the need to sustain the teaching of Italian in the United States. This is
one of our biggest challenges. We need to keep the Advanced Placement examination in
Italian alive so that high school students may receive college credit for the study of Italian
through the passing of the exam. Adding Italian to the high school and college
curriculum where programs do not exist is one of our most important charges as a
community.
Although we may not have many high schools that offer Italian in California, the quality of
Italian teachers in California is extremely high, as demonstrated by the prestigious CocciaInserra teaching award conferred upon Ida Lanza, Italian teacher and Head of the World
Languages Department at San Pedro High School. Read more about her program and her
award in this newsletter.
The George L. Graziadio Center for Italian Studies is committed to making instruction in
Italian available as widely as possible. To this end, we have developed two semesters of
online Italian offerings. Online courses are enabling students to begin their study of
Italian, even if their family, work, and school commitments make it impossible for them to
attend class in real time. Many ask how we cover oral communication in such classes.
This is easier than one might think. Technology allows us to set up virtual classrooms that
allow our students to chat with each other or with the professor in specially scheduled
conversation periods “in real time”. Some 60 students will be studying Italian online
during the Spring 2014 semester, in addition to another 200, of course, who will populate
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our face to face courses. It is our hope that the online courses will bring more students to
the Italian major and minor.
As always, this newsletter is full of news about our students and the lectures and cultural
events we will offer this semester. You will find a feature on Lucia Rovetta, our first
graduate student, as well as reflections on Italian American culture from the 28 students
who took my course “The Italian American Experience” last semester.
Sincere best wishes for 2014,
Clorinda Donato
The George L. Graziadio Chair of Italian Studies
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S EC T I O N 1
The Mastering of Italian Studies
George L. Graziadio Chair of Italian
Studies’ Clorinda Donato applauded the
CSULB Academic Senate’s approval of a
new Master of Arts degree for Italian
Studies beginning next fall at CSULB.
“We’re all very excited in Italian Studies
about the new degree,” said Donato, who
joined Romance/German/Russian
Languages and Literatures in 1988. “The
goal of this Master of Arts degree is to
provide professional-level coursework in
the field of Italian Studies. Students want
M.A. degrees and CSULB is the place to
come. If you are an Italian teacher and you
want to advance in your career, you need a
master’s degree, especially today, with the
demand for advanced placement courses in
high school. Those teachers need M.A.
degrees.
“If you work in the arts or in any sort of
international enterprise, an M.A. in a
language, literature and cultural studies
area is essential,” she added. “A master’s
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degree in Italian is a natural extension of
the Bachelor of Arts in Italian Studies.
Students increasingly realize that the B.A.
is a beginning, but for subject mastery, you
need those extra years in an M.A.
program. I’ve received inquiries from
students at a number of our CSU
campuses who are interested in pursuing a
higher degree in Italian Studies and happy
to know that they can now do it within the
CSU system.”
The new master’s has been a long time in
the making, according to Donato.
“When I first came to Cal State Long
Beach, I found only a minor in Italian
Studies. As we raised funds for the
Graziadio Center, we were able to attract
more attention to Italian Studies and we
added more courses and a professor that
we didn’t have before,” she said. “If you
offer more courses and students come, you
know you have a winning formula.”
Rough budgetary seas swamped the
degree’s first proposal in 2009.
“Budget cuts delayed its approval until we
could provide the CSU Chancellor’s office
with more data,” she recalled. “To discover
the student body’s interest throughout
Southern California in having an M.A. in
Italian Studies, we constructed a survey
that we e-mailed to Italian majors
throughout the state. That survey yielded
an overwhelmingly positive response.
Ninety percent of the 200 who responded
said they wanted a master’s degree. That
data was very convincing. There are
students who have been waiting since
2009 for this degree. I believe we will start
strong with a student cohort of no less
than 10 and possibly as many as 15 in the
first year.”
Donato believes the new graduate degree
benefits both the department and the
College of Liberal Arts through the
Graziadio Center.
“This center makes it possible to do things
for both students and the college that
might not be possible otherwise,” she
explained. “For instance, the center cosponsors with other departments such
events as the recent conference on Italian
filmmaker Michelangelo Antonioni,
offered in collaboration with Film and
Electronic Arts that drew to this campus
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some of the best people in the field. Next
up is a lecture series on language and social
justice in Italy offered through the College
of Liberal Arts Scholarly Intersections
Initiative and the Graziadio Center
beginning in December and running
through spring 2014. The center brings to
campus experts who create knowledge.”
With the success of the new degree
approval, Donato feels confident in the
future of the Graziadio Center in
particular and Italian Studies in general.
“The Graziadio Center has become the
voice for Italian Studies on the West
Coast,” she said. “In a recent conference of
the National Italian American Foundation
held in Washington D.C., the Italian
ambassador to the U.S. pointed out Italian
Studies at CSULB for its innovative
thinking through such programs as Italian
for Spanish speakers. The goal of the
Graziadio Center is to find ways to work
with the community and build bridges for
the students,” she said. “People find us.
We’re a beacon.”
Perseverance in the road to the master’s
degree has paid off, and in the long run,
created a better program, Donato believes.
“Through the ups and downs of the
approval process, you learn more about
your program and the constituencies it
should serve. Learning how to gather the
information and put it together for all
parties involved is key,” she said. She also
never lost sight of the goal set by the
Italian American community and the
Graziadio family when the Graziadio
Center was created.
“I have believed in Italian Studies since
the day I started working here and saw
what it meant to our students,” she said.
“What kind of university do you have if
you can’t study Italian? My commitment
really comes out of what ought to be
present in a big, comprehensive university
such as Cal State Long Beach. How can
you not have a place for Italian? Without
Italian, a whole chunk of professional
possibilities goes out the window. Where
do Art History students study Italian if
they can’t do it on their own campus?
Where do opera students study Italian?
How does the marketing major find out
how to sell more widgets to the Italians?
We’ve committed to STEM but we haven’t
committed enough to the humanities and
the new knowledge that comes from both
sides of the university working together.
This master’s degree adds a vital
component to CSULB’s stellar degree
offerings.”
- Richard Manly
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S EC T I O N 2
Italian Online
In summer 2013, ITAL 101A was offered
online for the first time at California State
University, Long Beach. Taught by Dr.
Clorinda Donato, it represented the
Graziadio Center's first venture into
online classes, though it would not be its
last. Although hybrid classes had been
taught in the past (i.e. traditional classes
supplemented by an online component),
ITAL 101A was 100% online. This is not
to say however, that the students never
met, or that they never saw or spoke with
their instructor. E-mail and online
discussion boards facilitated
communication on a daily basis, but it was
the use of a virtual classroom, made
possible by the web-based platform
Collaborate, that truly gave students a
forum in which to express themselves in
Italian. As you can imagine, a language
class without the spoken word could
hardly be called such, and for many of our
students, the chance to converse face to
face in Italian is not simply a means to
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proficiency, but the reason why many of
them study Italian in the first place. The
belief that this cannot be done online is
why many have cautioned against online
classes in general, yet it has been our
experience that the virtual classroom,
which gives students the ability to see one
another, and to converse in real-time,
provides them with an excellent
alternative to the traditional classroom
setting. Online classes are not being
developed to compete with their
traditional counterparts; indeed, there will
always be those who prefer the latter, and
justifiably so, but why deny language
learners access to quality instruction, when
the only thing holding them back is time
or distance? It is worth mentioning that
those who enroll in these classes are not
only CSULB matriculated students, but
individuals from outside our campus,
outside our state, even outside our
country. This past summer, ITAL 101A
enrolled students from Ecuador, The
Aleutian Islands, and Egypt. It has proven
to be a springboard for future online
classes as it has quickly became apparent
that those who wish to learn Italian are
looking for quality content offered by an
institution such as the George L.
Graziadio Center for Italian Studies at
California State University, Long Beach.
Since summer 2013, ITAL 101A was
offered again during January winter session
2014, attracting 18 students who were
willing to spend 3 intense weeks of their
winter break studying Italian. Note that
never before had an Italian class
successfully run during this three-week
intersession. There were never enough
students to fill it, until it was offered
online. This means that work and family
obligations kept students from the fivehour a day schedule during the month of
January, but that those same five hours
done online allowed students to dovetail
language learning with their other
obligations. The online class will make its
regular semester debut this spring, having
filled two sections for a total of 60
students. Building from the success of
ITAL 101A, ITAL 101B is currently under
development and will be offered this
summer.
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S EC T I O N 3
9
S EC T I O N 4
Kim Potowski kicks off lecture series “Language and Social
Justice in Italy”
On December 6, 2013, Kim Potowski,
University of Illinois, Chicago, kicked off
the lecture series “Language and Social
Justice in Italy” (see page announcing all
lectures in series on p. 9) with her talk,
“Language and Social Justice in Northern
Italy: The Education of Spanish Speaking
Immigrants.” Dr. Potowski, a sociolinguist
specializing in heritage language speakers,
presented her research about a middle
school in Genoa, Italy, where a new
program in Spanish language instruction
benefits both the Italian students learning
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Spanish for the first time, as well as the
heritage language speakers of Spanish now
residing in Italy. Through this program,
they will have the opportunity to maintain
their knowledge of Spanish as well as
acquire the written and academic abilities
that often elude the person who has
learned languages at home through
speaking and listening, not writing or
reading. Dr. Potowski also discussed the
larger implications of the Italian case with
regard to globalized transnational
identities and languages.
S EC T I O N 5
Student Profile
In Fall 2014, the Master of Arts in Italian Studies will
make its long awaited debut at California State
University, Long Beach, home to the George L.
Graziadio Center for Italian Studies. For the Spring
2014 issue of Il Postino, we have decided to feature our
very first grad student, Lucia Rovetta. To learn more
about Lucia, her interests and some of the experiences
that led her to CSULB, please see her student profile to
the right.
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I was born and raised in the beautiful city of
Milan, the Italian capitol of fashion, business
and design. I have a BA and an MA in the
History of Italian Language from the Catholic
University of Milan, and have been teaching
Italian to foreign students for almost a year and
half. Since I started my university career at the
Università Cattolica in Milan, my aspiration has
always been to become an Italian teacher. I
therefore decided to study Humanities and the
Arts, deepening in particular my interest in
History of the Italian Language, which then
became the subject of both my BA and MA
dissertations. This passion for studying the
language led me to apply for an Overseas
Exchange Program in Australia, the aim of
which was to study the language of Italian
immigrants that moved to Australia during the
Second World War. This experience only
strengthened my desire to study the Italian
language and to pursue a career in teaching. For
that reason I decided to apply for the Italian
MA program at CSULB where I look forward
to broadening my knowledge of Italian language
and culture in hopes of sharing what I have
learned with my future students.
Un’Estate Italiana
Campus L’Infinito
Recanati, Italia
This upcoming summer, July 2014, enjoy 4 weeks of complete immersion
in one of Italy’s most beautiful regions, le Marche.
Cost
Italian Language Course + 10 field trips (4 Weeks) €873/$1,193
Accommodations (4 Weeks)
€390/$533
Enrollment Fee
€40/$55
Please note: Italian classes are held 5 times a week; accommodations
consist of well-furnished, modern apartments; and the cost of
transportation from Rome to Recanati, the round-trip flight, and daily
living expenses is not included above. Students are required to enroll in
the program by March 5th, 2014. €185 ($250) of the €873 will be due at that time.
For More Information
If you’re interested in the program and want to learn more, please attend
an information session on February 12th, from 2:00-3:00pm, in AS- 385
(3rd floor, AS Building). You can also contact Lucia Rovetta, the program
coordinator, at [email protected].
You can also find more information at:
www.campusinfinito.it/index.php?lang=en
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S EC T I O N 7
We Thank Our Donors
The George L. Graziadio Center for
Italian Studies would like to recognize the
generous $10,000 gift from the family of
Diana Biafora Sparagna. These funds will
be used for scholarships for students
entering the new MA program in Italian
Studies in September 2014. Diana and her
husband, Francis Sparagna II are both
attorneys in the San Fernando Valley,
where they reside. Francis came to
California from New Jersey, while Diana is
a native of Northridge, California. They
bring together the best of Italian
American culture east and west. Diana
Biafora Sparagna and Francis Sparagna
recognize the importance of educating
university students in the art, culture,
language, history, and literature of their
ancestors. “The establishment of the
Masters Program in Italian Studies at
California State University, Long Beach is
a tribute to our heritage and its ongoing
vitality in the United States,” said Diana
Biafora Sparagna. The ties between this
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Italian American family and Italy have
become very close over the past year
through the marriage of their son, Francis
Sparagna III with Maria Gnarini Sparagna
from Torre Annunziata, Italy. The couple
are expecting their first child this April.
Dr. Donato has acknowledged this gift and
its importance to the students on our
campus, “We are extremely grateful to the
Biafora and Sparagna families for this gift.
There is no better way to preserve the
Italian legacy to the United States than by
promoting educational programs that
enable students to pursue advanced Italian
Studies.” The scholarship awardees will be
announced at the 2014 departmental
banquet in May.
Grazie!
From left to right: Daniel Sparagna, Diana Biafora
Sparagna, Jacqueline Sparagna, Francis Sparagna III,
and Francis Sparagna II.
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S EC T I O N 8
A Guest Lecture by Loretta Graham
An old photograph or story can often compel us
to wonder about all the characters and all the
story lines that led us to where we are now. It is
a strange and abiding feeling that motivates us
to learn more about our families. Questions can
begin to fill your head. What was my greatgrandfather like? Was my grandmother nervous
or excited before she left home for good? In
Loretta Graham, we met someone in the midst
of all these questions, who after having started a
family of her own, realized that she wanted to
learn more about her family history. It was a
realization that would first lead Loretta Graham
to the Graziadio Center seeking help with the
translation of a few family documents, and later,
to a full blown investigation of her family tree,
that grew out of the information gleaned in
those translations. Ultimately this lovingly
conducted research lead to a special guest
lecture by Loretta in Dr. Donato's class “The
Italian-American Experience.” Her search, as we
would all find out, began by asking family
members to simply share what they knew.
"People just don't realize how much they can
remember," said Loretta, "But you just need to
hang around long enough until they do." The
information that she gathered by word of
mouth would later prove well worth the effort.
15
With the creation of websites like ancestry.com,
Loretta was finally able to cross-reference the
information she had gathered from her family
with official documents. Nevertheless, she
cautioned all of us to be wary of what was
sometimes written in such documents.
"Genealogy can be frustratingly inaccurate,"
said Loretta, "Dates can be off by a few years
and names are often misspelled, so you have to
be willing to look at things with a grain of salt."
In 2005, Loretta traveled to Leominster,
Massachusetts, where she met her Aunt Lena
and son Don for the first time. Her cousin Don
would eventually send her various documents
that would fuel her search for years to come, the
very same documents that Dr. Donato
translated into English. Although Loretta's
search has not always been easy, she has taken
advantage of a few lucky breaks, including her
cousin inviting her to Italy in the summer of
2013. A musician, Loretta's cousin Leslie was
scheduled to perform at a music festival in
Assisi, but did not want to travel alone. So to
entice Loretta, Leslie promised that they would
take a side trip to Bari, the city from which
their grandparents had immigrated. It was
enough to reel in Loretta, and with the Italian
that Leslie had learned in college, they both set
out to find their grandparents' marriage license.
"Leslie's husband has a saying," said Loretta, "If
you're stupid you’d better be tough. I guess we
proved we were tough." After a great deal of
searching, they were finally able to obtain a copy
of the marriage license, but Loretta was not
done yet. She saw that San Mango Sul Calore
was only a two-hour drive from Bari, and so she
quickly hired a driver and a translator, and
headed for that small town of less than 1,000
people. Before she left however, she sent an
email to the town's mayor, Teodoro De Blasi,
whose last name also figured among the
surnames found in her family. She received a
reply, from a cousin named Anna Maria De
Blasi, and when they eventually drove into
town, they were greeted by family members she
had never even met before. The time she spent
with them would prove to be the highlight of
her trip. In those moments, she lived the joy of
knowing and feeling who she is, a trajectory that
is both personal and collective, the story of
Italian Americans everywhere, and the desire to
reconnect and understand their place in the
world. Her description of those moments was a
fitting end to her guest lecture in Dr. Donato's
class. For those of you who would like to see
Loretta's entire lecture, please see the following
link below.
http://www.csulb.edu/lats/itss/design/video/flash/
rgrll/donato/Loretta_1.html
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Loretta Graham’s great-grandparents:
Mariantonia Coppola DiBlasi and Angelo DiBlasi
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Loretta Graham (right) and her cousin
Annamaria DiBlasi Acone at her home in San
Mango sul Calore
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S EC T I O N 9
Ida Lanza Wins Coccia-Inserra Award for Excellence and
Innovation in the Teaching of Italian K-12
If at some point you find yourself in the
classroom of a teacher that believes in you
enough to challenge and inspire you to pursue
your interests, then you will most likely look
back, years and years after that chance
encounter, and realize that it was a turning
point not only in your academic career, but in
your life. The George L. Graziadio Center for
Italian Studies trains Italian high school
teachers and is devoted to the study of Italian
language and culture. It is gratifying to hear of a
local Italian instructor that has truly honed her
craft, and in doing so, has impacted the lives of
those who have passed through her classroom
door. As the 2013 recipient of the CocciaInserra Award, Ida Lanza was recognized for her
excellence and innovation in the teaching of
Italian. This award is given every year through a
generous grant from the Coccia-Inserra families
to Montclair University in New Jersey and is
very competitive. Candidates must provide a
statement of teaching philosophy, a video of
their teaching performance, and a portfolio of
teaching materials.
Currently at San Pedro High School, Ida has
been an Italian instructor for the past 6 years,
and chair of the World Language department
19
for the past 4. As chair, Ida has sought to
promote Italian, French and Spanish, yet as an
instructor of Italian, she has gone to great
lengths to create a classroom environment that
fosters student success and interest in Italian at
the High School level and beyond. She believes
in a student centered classroom that employs a
variety of teaching strategies to keep students
interested and fully engaged in the learning
process. Music is at the heart of one such
strategy, and with the help of the L.A. Opera's
Education Department, Ida has organized over
a dozen trips to see performances at the L.A.
Opera over the past 6 years. On a more regular
basis, Ida uses Italian popular music from the
1950s to the present day as the underlying
foundation for many of her grammar and
vocabulary lessons. Since music engages
students on many levels, it serves as an excellent
medium for the natural acquisition and
understanding of vocabulary and grammar
concepts. This semester, San Pedro will be the
first High School in Southern California to offer
French and Italian for Spanish speakers. As an
active participant in an ever growing project
housed at California State University, Long
Beach, and funded by the National Endowment
for the Humanities, Ida has worked alongside
her colleagues to offer accelerated courses for
Spanish speakers that utilize their knowledge of
one Romance language in the learning of
another. In Ida's words, "By showing them how
to use their Spanish to learn Italian, I am sure to
increase the number of students who will take
the AP Italian course and successfully pass the
AP exam in both Italian and Spanish. I will be
articulating our curriculum with the curriculum
offered at Cal State Long Beach to insure rigor,
and relevance. Whether it is through
technology, direct cultural experiences, guest
speakers, field trips, exciting classroom
activities, or new innovative courses, I want the
study of Italian language and culture to thrive
and flourish at San Pedro High School."
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From left to right: Rina Miraglia, Ida Lanza, Maria Abate
DeBlasio and Rosalie Romano.
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S EC T I O N 10
Photos
Dr. Enrico Vettore and his students in
ITAL 478, The Italian Novelistic Tradition
22
Dr. Enrico Vettore and his students in
ITAL 478, The Italian Novelistic Tradition
23
Dr. Clorinda Donato at the National ItalianAmerican Foundation Gala Weekend, addressing the
organization about the George L. Graziadio Center
for Italian Studies and its role in promoting ItalianAmerican awareness in the west.
24
Dr. Clorinda Donato at the National Italian-American Foundation Gala
Weekend, pictured with leaders in the Italian-American community. Left to
right: Joseph Agresti (Past National President, UNICO National), Joseph
Sciame (President/Chair, Conference of Presidents of Major Italian American
Organizations), Clorinda Donato, CAV. Mary Ann Re (Director, Coccia
Institute for the Italian Experience in America).
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On Monday, October 21st, 2013, Paola Tiberii presented Il dizionario
delle collocazioni, published by Zanichelli. From left to right: Dr.
Clorinda Donato, Paola Tiberii, and Massimo Sarti.
26
During her recent talk at UC Riverside, Clorinda Donato met with
Rebecca Addicks-Salerno, former Graziadio Assistant. Rebecca is
doing a PhD at UC Riverside in the English Department, working
with Italian sources and the image of Italy in British literature.
Dr. John Russo visiting the Graziadio Center recently,
representing the Renaissance Lodge of The Sons of Italy of
America. He is pictured with Graziadio Chair, Clorinda
Donato at the Center.
The George L. Graziadio Center for Italian
Studies
The Italian Bachelor of Arts Program exists thanks to an agreement between the Italian American
community of Southern California and California State University, Long Beach. Their combined
efforts led to the establishment of the program itself as well as the Center for Italian Studies, named in
honor of Mr. George Graziadio. The founding gift made by George and Reva Graziadio speaks to
their desire to foster Italian Studies in Southern California. Since 2001 the Center has promoted the
diffusion of Italian language, culture, and civilization through a variety of cultural events (lectures,
conferences, film screenings, etc.) related to Italian and Italian American Studies. Additionally, the
Center offers scholarships for study abroad in Italy. The Center’s events offer students and the
community the opportunity to experience Italian and Italian American culture through programs that
are held in collaboration with Italian and Italian American institutions and organizations in
Southern California.
Italian is one of the largest growing languages to be taught in high schools, colleges and universities in
The United States. The growing popularity of Italian is a result of Italy’s status on the world stage:
from its historic past, contributions to humanity and innovations that have and continue to inspire the
world. Italy combines the best of tradition and innovation in ways that have made Italy a leader in
the arts, humanities, and fashion, but also industrial design and manufacturing. Italy’s increasing
globalized market makes the knowledge of Italian language and culture an invaluable asset.
We are proud to be the only university in The State of California to offer a Single-Subject Credential
in Teaching of Italian as well as Minor, Bachelor of Arts, Master of Arts degree programs in Italian
Studies. Our partnership with the local Italian and Italian American Communities has resulted in the
creation of the George L. Graziadio Center of Italian Studies. Together, they promote the diffusion of
Italian language, culture and civilization through a variety of academic and cultural events featuring
prominent scholars and authors in the fields of Italian and Italian American Studies.
Our goal is to assist students in the attainment of linguistic and socio-cultural competencies in Italian
language, literature and culture in order to communicate effectively to speakers of Italian. We strongly
encourage our students to study abroad through the CSU Study Center in Florence, Italy or through
xxix
the direct exchange with Ca’ Foscari, the University of Venice, or on their own at universities in Italy
such as those in Perugia and Siena, among many others.
Italian Studies cultivates interdisciplinary teaching and learning methods in order to ensure the
broadest possible application across the many fields that incorporate and Italian component. Our
students are trained for jobs in the academic and non-academic worlds alike. We offer a full range of
courses in Italian language, literature, and culture, from elementary language classes to graduate
courses. In the following pages, you will find information about our undergraduate programs, our
faculty and their areas of expertise, events such as lectures and cultural exchanges, as well as our extracurricular student organization, Club Italia.
Department Contacts
Clorinda Donato, Ph.D.
The George L. Graziadio Chair of Italian Studies
Program Director and Undergraduate Advisor
Professor of French and Italian
[email protected]
Enrico Vettore, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Italian
[email protected]
Manuel Romero
Assistant to The George L. Graziadio Chair of Italian Studies
Designer and Editor of Il Postino
[email protected]
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