Invited Lectures
2019 “Focaccia Blues and the Conflict over Taste: Questions of Campanilismo” (The Italian Charities of America and Mercy College: April 8).
2017 “Learn Italian through Its Gastronomy: Cook it” (American Association of the Teachers of Italian-Long Island chapter: September 29).
2017 “‘Eat First’: Italian American Gastronomy and Family Values in the Films of Martin Scorsese” (Stony Brook University, Center for Italian Studies: April 6).
2017 “Italian Cuisine through the Ages” (Centro Culturale Italiano di Buffalo: May 10).
Presentations on Cinema and Literature
2020 “Constructing Identity through Food in Roman Holiday and Un americano a Roma” (Food Studies Conference: October 17).
2019 “The Americanization of Italy in the 1950s: Constructing Italianness in Roman Holiday and Un americano a Roma” (Eye-centricity and the Visual Cultures of Italy and Its Diaspora, John D. Calandra Italian American Institute, Queens College: April 27).
2019 “From Youth to Golden Years: Women in The Salt of Life by Gianni Di Gregorio” (Northeast Modern Languages Association: March 22).
2018 “The Violation of a Nation: Rosetta and Cesira in Vittorio De Sica’s La ciociara.” (Corporeal Restrictions, Embodied Freedoms: Italian Interventions on the Body, John D. Calandra Italian American Institute, Queens College: April 28).
2018 “Transnational Gastronomies in the Early 1950s: Steno’s Response to Wyler” (Northeast Modern Languages Association: April 14).
2016 “‘Eat First’: Martin Scorsese’s Mother and Italian-American Gastronomy, Family Values in Film” (Gastronomy, Culture, and the Arts: A Scholarly Exchange of Epic Portions, University of Toronto Mississauga: March 12).
2015 “The Search of the Self in Martin Scorsese’s Documentary, Italianamerican” (American Association of Teachers of Italian: June 23).
2015 “Focaccia Blues and the Conflict over Taste: Questions of Campanilismo” (Northeast Modern Languages Association: May 3).
2015 “Moravia’s Eurocentrism and Colonialism in Traveling to Uzbekistan in 1956” (Northeast Modern Languages Association: May 2).
2012 “Anna Maria Ortese Travels in the USSR: From ‘Political Pilgrim’ to ‘Fellow-Traveler’” (Canadian Society for Italian Studies: May 26).
2012 “Mosca 1955: Carlo Levi viaggiatore nella memoria [Moscow 1955: Carlo Levi Traveller through Memory]” (American Association of Italian Studies: May 3).
2011 “The ‘In-between Spaces’ in Melania Mazzucco’s Vita” (Canadian Society for Italian Studies: June 24).
2011 “Sguardi opachi di Calvino viaggiatore in Unione Sovietica [Opaque Gazes of Calvino Traveling to the Soviet Union]” (Northeast Modern Languages Association: April 7).
2011 “La patria nelle Confessioni di un Italiano di Ippolito Nievo [Motherland in Ippolito Nievo’s Confessioni di un Italiano]”(Northeast Modern Languages Association: April 9).
2010 “Teatralizzazione di un romanzo: i costumi di scena degli Indifferenti di Moravia [Theatralization of a Novel: The Costumes of Moravia’s Indifferenti]” (Midwest Modern Language Association: November 5).
2010 “Il visconte dimezzato di Italo Calvino come allegoria della Guerra Fredda [Italo Calvino’s The Cloven Viscount as Allegory of the Cold War]” (American Association of Italian Studies: April 23).
2010 “Tra romanzo, biografia e autobiografia: il rapporto padre-figlia in Artemisia di Anna Banti [BetweenNovel, Biography, and Autobiography: The Father-Daughter Relationship in Anna Banti’s Artemisia]” (Northeast Modern Languages Association: April 9).
2009 “Le notti bianche tra cinema e letteratura: Luchino Visconti vs. Fedor Dostoevskii [White Nights between Cinema and Literature: Luchino Visconti vs. Fedor Dostoevskii]” (Midwest Modern Language Association: November 14).
2009 “I goumiers marocchini e Rosetta ne La ciociara di Moravia [The Moroccans Goumiers and Rosetta in Moravia’s La ciociara]” (American Association of Italian Studies: May 9).
2009 “La storia vista da sinistra: La rabbia di Pier Paolo Pasolini [The History Seen from the Left: Pier Paolo Pasolini’s La rabbia]” (Northeast Modern Languages Association: February 26).
2008 “Allegorie storico-politiche ne I Vicerè di Federico De Roberto [Historical-political Allegories in Federico De Roberto’s The Viceroys]” (Midwest Modern Language Association: November 15).
2008 “Le mani di Alda Merini: la poesia dentro il corpo sociale [Alda Merini’s Hands: Poetry inside the Social Body]” (Northeast Modern Languages Association: April 13).
2008 “Short Stories, Novel, and Film in a Cold War Context: From Giovannino Guareschi to Luigi Comencini” (Carolina Conference on Romance Literatures: March 29).
2007 “Giovannino Guareschi and the Comrade don Camillo: How Book and Film Serve Ideology” (Graduate Association of French and Italian Students: March 24).
Presentations on Pedagogy and Linguistics
2020 “Connecting Content to the World outside the Classroom in Hybrid Classes” (Faculty research Network Symposium: November 19-20).
2020 “Engaging in Cross-disciplinary International Collaboration through COIL” (Northeast Modern Languages Association: March 7).
2019 “Between Interdisciplinarity and Experiential Learning in Online and Hybrid Culture Courses” (Italian Language and Culture Conference: Challenges in the 21st Century Italian Classroom, Georgetown University: October 26).
2019 “Switching Class Format to a Hybrid and Online One: How to Engage Students” (American Association of Teachers of Italian: May 31).
2019 “Going Hybrid: Blending Italian and International Cinema Classes” (Northeast Modern Languages Association: March 23).
2019 “Building Self-Confidence through the Reader’s Theater: Jhumpa Lahiri Enters the Italian Classroom” (Language as Communication and Literacy: Bridging Languages and Cultures in the Modern Classroom: February 1).
2018 “Writing about Film: From Reading to the Digital Presentation Via the Traditional Essay” (SUNY Council on Writing Conference: October 20).
2018 “Seeing through the Senses: Italian Gastronomy in Film” (Northeast Modern Languages Association: April 14).
2017 “Teaching Italian Language and Culture through Its Cuisine” (Italian Language and Culture Conference: Innovation in Italian Programs and Pedagogy, Georgetown University: October 21).
2017 “Italian Food Culture in the Classroom: Cook it!” (American Association for Italian Studies and Canadian Association for Italian Studies: April 22).
2017 “Exploring Options for Italian Studies Programs in a Changing America” (American Association for Italian Studies and Canadian Association for Italian Studies: April 21).
2017 “Teaching Italian Food Culture in Practice from the Middle Ages to the Present”(Northeast Modern Languages Association: March 25).
2017 “Teaching Italian Women in Film as an Honors Seminar” (Northeast Modern Languages Association: March 25).
2015 “Introducing a Service-Learning Component in First Semester Italian” (American Association of Teachers of Italian: June 25).
2014 “Countertrend in Italian Studies: Why Not?” (Canadian Society for Italian Studies: May 25).
2014 “Partiamo! Filming a Trip to Italy in an Italian Language Class” (Northeast Modern Languages Association: April 3).
2014 “From the Inside Out: Learning Italian as a Complete Process” (Third International Conference on Second Language Pedagogies, University of Toronto-Mississauga: February 2).
2013 “Blogging on Culture as part of Second Semester Italian” (Northeast Modern Languages Association: March 22).
2012 “Students Portfolios in the First Two Semesters of Italian” (Northeast Modern Languages Association: March 17).
2012 “Paratextuality and Music in Italian Language Classes” (Northeast Modern Languages Association: March 17).
2010 “Italian Popular Culture in a Beginner’s Class: The Night Before the Exams and the 1980s” (American Association of Italian Studies: April 23).
2010 “Language and Culture through Cinema and Literature in an Advanced Italian Class” (Northeast Modern Languages Association: April 9).
2008 “The Linguistic Awareness of Native Speakers Trapped between Italian and Dialect: The Case of Tuscany” (Midwest Modern Language Association: November 16).
Workshops
2017 “Learn a World Language through Its Gastronomy: Cook it!” (New York State Association of Foreign Language Teachers: March 11).
2012 “Films and Remakes: Students’ Direct Engagement in an Upper Level Film Class” (6th Annual Teaching & Learning Conference, State University of New York at Fredonia: August 20).
2011 “Don’t Be Afraid… Be Creative! Italian Language and Culture through Songs” (5th Annual Teaching & Learning Conference, State University of New York at Fredonia: August 15).
Professional Presentations
2015 Participation in the roundtable “AATI and Contingent Faculty: What Is Our Role?” (American Association of Teachers of Italian: June 23).
2014 Participation in the roundtable “How Can NeMLA Better Serve Contingent Faculty Members?” (Northeast Modern Languages Association: April 5).
Selected Campus Talks and Posters at Farmingdale State College SUNY
2020 “Introducing the Italian Film, Quanto basta-As Needed” (International Mother Language Day: February 20).
2020 “Workshop about COIL” (February 18).
2019 “(E-)Portfolios as a Final Project in Language Classes” (Poster at the Celebration of Scholarship: November 5).
2019 “The Violation of a Nation: Rosetta and Cesira in Vittorio De Sica's La ciociara” (Poster at the Celebration of Scholarship: November 5).
2019 “Changing Everyday Habits, Starting with Food” (Earth Day: April 23).
2019 “World Languages: From Lingua Franca to Global Language” (International Mother Language Day: February 21).
2018 “Italian Food Culture in the Classroom: Cook it!” (Poster at the Celebration of Scholarship: October 30).
2018 “Language Diversity” (International Mother Language Day: February 20).
Selected Campus Talks at the State University of New York at Fredonia
2016 “International Perspectives on the U.S. Elections: Italy” (Roundtable on International Perspectives on the U.S. Elections: November 2).
2016 “Ernesto Livorni and the Poetics of Exile: An Italian(-American) Perspective” (“English Works for Everyone”: October 11).
2016 “Eurocentric and Colonialist Perspectives in Moravia’s 1956 Uzbek Travelogues” (“Theorizing Anti-Colonialism: An Interdisciplinary Workshop”: March 4).
2015 “Raising Bilingual Children: Italian and English” (Panel on “Multilingual Parenting: Sharing First-Hand Experiences”: April 9).
2014 “The Italian Education System” (Panel on “Educational Systems around the World: From Elementary School to University”: April 14).
2014 “From Italy to Western New York via Wisconsin” (Panel on “From Whom I Was to Who I Am”: April 11).
2014 “Italian Intellectuals Traveling to the U.S.S.R.” (Research and Writing Colloquium on “Place”: March 24).
2013 “Going Abroad for a Semester or a Year: How This Can Change our Students’ Lives” (Panel on “Going International: Experience Abroad as Life Change”: February 18).
2012 “Buon Natale! Italian Celebrations of Christmas” (Brown Bag Lecture Series on “Holidays from around the World”: December 5).
2011 “Trip to Italy: Portfolios as a Way of Learning Languages and Cultures” (Panel on “Homo sapiens, homo faber, homo ludens: Creativity as a Learning Strategy”: March 9).
Organizer and Discussant of Panels et alia
Cinema and Literature
2020 Organizer and chair of three panels “Representing Italian Reality on the Screen” (Northeast Modern Languages Association: March 5 and 6).
2019 Organizer and chair of the seminar “When the Past Meets the Present: Bringing Italian History and Society to the Screen” (Northeast Modern Languages Association: March 24).
2018 Organizer and chair of the panel “Documenting Italian Reality through Film” (Northeast Modern Languages Association: April 12).
2016 Organizer of the panel “Italian and Italian-American Documentary Film” (Northeast Modern Languages Association: March 18).
2015 Organizer and chair of two panels “Ciak, si mangia! Italian and Italian-American Food in Film” (American Association of Teachers of Italian: June 23 and 24).
2011 Organizer and chair of the roundtable “1861-2011: Reflecting on Italian Unification in Literature and Cinema” (Northeast Modern Languages Association: April 9).
2011 Organizer and chair of the panel “From Cavour to Berlusconi: 150 Years of Italian History in Cinema” (Northeast Modern Languages Association: April 8).
2010 Organizer of the panel “Cold War Perspectives: Italian Literature and Cinema Trapped between Moscow and Washington” (American Association of Italian Studies: April 23).
2010 Organizer and chair of eight-presenters seminar “Past and Present on the Screen: History and Society in Italian Film” (Northeast Modern Languages Association: April 8).
2009 Organizer and chair of the panel “Past and Present on the Screen: History and Society through the Images of the Italian Filmmakers” (Northeast Modern Languages Association: February 26).
Pedagogy
2020 Co-organizer and co-chair of the panel “The Importance of Warm Up Activities to Promote Student Engagement and Facilitate Learning” (American Association of Italian Studies/American Association of Teachers of Italian: March 28).
2020 Co-organizer and co-chair of the roundtable “Are Languages Losing Ground? How to Navigate Changes and Endure” (American Association of Italian Studies/American Association of Teachers of Italian: March 27).
2019 Organizer and chair of the roundtable “Adapting to Modern Times: Teaching Film via Fully Online and Hybrid Courses” (Northeast Modern Languages Association: March 23).
2018 Chair of the panel “Culture, Media, and Engagement: Building a Writing Climate of Connection across Media, Cultures, and Platforms” (SUNY Council on Writing Conference: October 20).
2018 Organizer and chair of the roundtable “Teaching Italian and Italian American Culture through Film” (Northeast Modern Languages Association: April 14).
2017 Organizer and chair of the two roundtables “Teaching Italian Culture through Film” (Northeast Modern Languages Association: March 25).
2016 Organizer of the roundtable “Teaching Italian and Italian-American Film: Tools for Success in the Classroom” (Northeast Modern Languages Association: March 20).
2015 Organizer and chair of the roundtable “Linking Students to the Community: Attracting Students to Italian Programs via Civic Engagement” (American Association of Teachers of Italian: June 25).
2015 Organizer and chair of the roundtable “Teaching Fully Online or Blended Italian Language, Literature, Culture Courses” (Northeast Modern Languages Association: May 1).
2015 Organizer of the roundtable “Bridging Italian Studies and the Community: The Service-Learning Component” (American Association of Italian Studies: March 26).
2014 Chair of the roundtable “Teaching Literature in the Digital Age” (Northeast Modern Languages Association: April 5).
2013 Organizer of the panel “Going Digital: Inter-Cultural Approaches in the Italian Curriculum” (Northeast Modern Languages Association: March 22).
2012 Organizer and chair of the roundtable “Italian Language, Literature, and Culture via Creative Projects” (Northeast Modern Languages Association: March 17).
2010 Organizer and chair of the roundtable “Teaching Language and Culture through Films” (American Association of Italian Studies: April 23).
Professional
2015 Organizer and chair of the roundtable “AATI and Contingent Faculty: What Is Our Role?” (American Association of Teachers of Italian: June 23).
Events Organized at Farmingdale State College SUNY
2020 Co-organizer of the International Mother Language Day (February 20).
2020 Co-organizer of the COIL event on campus (February 18).
2019 Co-organizer of the International Mother Language Day (February 21).
2018 Co-organizer of the AATI (American Association of Teachers of Italian) Intercultural Education Workshop, For an Intercultural Language Education: A Pedagogical Proposal to Teach and Learn Italian (in Italian), run by Lucia Livatino and Luisa Bavieri, University of Bologna, Italy (May 4).
2018 Co-organizer of the CTLT (Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology) Intercultural Education Workshop, Enhancing Mobility and Internationalization: Intercultural Learning and Teaching Activities from the IEREST Project (in English), run by Luisa Bavieri and Lucia Livatino, University of Bologna, Italy (May 4).
2018 Co-organizer of the CTLT (Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology) Intercultural Education Conference (May 3).
2018 Co-organizer of the International Mother Language Day (February 20).
Events Organized at the State University of New York at Fredonia
2015 Organizer and chair of the roundtable “Multilingual Parenting: Sharing First-Hand Experiences” (April 9).
2014 Organizer and presenter of the film screening “The Great Beauty” (November 10).
2014 Organizer and presenter of the film screening “The Golden Door” (Film series “Voyages of Discovery: Finding Family and Self in Film”: October 13).
2014 Organizer and chair of a 15-students and faculty panel on “Educational Systems around the World: From Elementary School to University” (April 14).
2014 Co-organizer and presenter of the film screening “The Orchestra of Piazza Vittorio” (Film series “Through Your Eyes”: March 11).
2013 Co-organizer and co-presenter of the documentary screening “The Peasant and the Priest” by Esther Podemski (November 6).
2013 Co-organizer and co-chair of the Symposium “Dreaming in Languages: Politics, Pedagogy, and Technology for Language Instruction” (March 16).
2013 Co-organizer and co-chair of the panel “Going International: Experience Abroad as Life Change” (February 18).
2011 Organizer and chair of the Interactive Exhibit-Panel “Homo sapiens, homo faber, homo ludens: Creativity as a Learning Strategy” (March 9: panel; March 7-25: exhibit of students’ works).