Dr. Colleen Ryan, winner of the AATI Distinguished Service Award in the College/University category, is Professor of Italian and Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of French and Italian at Indiana University, Bloomington.

Dr. Ryan has for many years worked tirelessly for the betterment of the profession and the advancement of Italian Studies in the US and abroad. Some of her important work has been done as an active member of the AATI. Since 2006, she has held numerous positions within the organization: these include her current role as Chairperson of the AATI’s Centers for Excellence Exploratory Committee; and her previous positions as Vice President of the AATI (2014-2017); Chairperson of the Distinguished Service Award Committee (2014-2017); Vice President for College/University Level (2015-2018); Elected Midwest Representative (2010-2013); Co-Organizer, with Dr. Paul Colilli, and Chairperson of the Graduate Student Professional Development and Dissertations-in-Progress Sessions (2009-2012); and principal organizer of the National College Essay Contest (2006-2009). A colleague who has worked with Dr. Ryan in the AATI noted her impressive contributions and commitment to serving colleagues, students, and the profession, “Over the years I’ve witnessed that Colleen is a colleague who never withholds her talents, insight, and ideas. She is the first to offer assistance and guidance and to contribute so as to assure that others succeed. This is as true for her service in AATI as it is for her work at the university with faculty and students alike. I have never known her to work exclusively for her own benefit. She has always been guided by a sincere mission to help others and our profession. She is consistently a key player in keeping Italian Studies alive in North America.”

In addition to her active and longstanding service to the AATI, Dr. Ryan’s dedication to Italian Studies is also evident in the numerous other leadership and administrative positions she has assumed as university professor and scholar of Italian language and culture. At present, she is Elected Representative of the MLA’s Italian American Language, Literature, and Culture Forum; Secretary of the Italian American Studies Association and Chair of the association’s Memorial Fellowship Dissertation /Graduate Travel Awards. She contributes to the continued development of scholarly excellence and conversation by serving on the editorial board and peer-review committee of several academic journals in the fields of Italian, Italian-American, and Language Studies. Previously, she was President (2016-2018) and Vice President (2014-2016) of the American Association of University Supervisors and Coordinators, where from 2009-2011 she also served as founding Section Head for Italian. She has been on several committees related to the Advanced Placement Italian Language and Culture Exam, for which she was invited to be on the initial task force in 2003 and has received subsequent invitations to create testing materials and determine standards for the exam. At Indiana University, she has held several important student-focused administrative positions, including Interim Director of Graduate Studies (2017-2018), Chairperson of the General Education Committee for World Cultures (2016-2020), and Director of Italian Language Instruction (2007-2014). In addition, she served as Director of Language Programs at both Indiana University and in her former position of Associate Professor at Notre Dame University, where from 2004-2007 she also served as the William M. Scholl Chair in Romance Languages.

Dr. Ryan is a respected scholar of 20th- and 21st-century Italian literature and cinema and has made vital contributions to the field of language pedagogy. In the field of teaching methodology, she co-edited two highly useful and inspiring volumes on the pedagogical value of theater in the language classroom and a volume on the foreign language curriculum that serves as guide to marrying the formal study of artistic genre with the study of languages, and co-authored the Italian textbook, Caleidoscopio. In the field of Italian cinema and literature, she published a monograph on women in the cinema of Pier Paolo Pasolini, establishing herself as an expert in the field of Pasolinian studies, and articles and book chapters in the fields of Italian Women’s and Ethnicity Studies. As professor of Italian, Dr. Ryan has distinguished herself in the classroom and as a mentor. She has developed courses that implement the latest national standards in language learning and has mentored graduate students in pedagogy as they prepare to become teachers of Italian. She has also served as mentor for student scholarship, directing graduate and undergraduate theses. A colleague noted that through Dr. Ryan’s vision and curricular design, “Indiana University’s Program in Italian has become a true model for basic language instruction as well as professional development and mentoring of graduate teaching assistants.”

As proof of the recognition of her vital contributions to language instruction and curricular design, Dr. Ryan has been invited to present keynote addresses, lectures, and workshops at numerous colleges and universities, high schools, and cultural institutes in the United States and abroad, and at professional associations, including the AATI. Reflecting on these recognitions, a colleague concluded that they are “an eloquent statement of the impact she has made nationally in this area.” Of note as well, is that during the covid-19 pandemic of 2020, when teachers had to quickly reconfigure their courses for a platform that for many of them was new, Dr. Ryan gave of her time and expertise in curricular innovation to organize a scholarly, effective, and helpful online webinar on teaching remotely.

For her many accomplishments and meaningful service to colleagues and students alike, Dr. Colleen Ryan is an inspiration for current and future Italianists and instructors of language. Referring to Dr. Ryan’s important contributions to the field, a colleague notes that because of her “leadership experience at the local, national, and international levels, she has become an ethical and professional model for her colleagues and an ideal mentor for junior scholars and graduate students.” In sum, another concludes, she is a “national treasure” who “brings passion, experience, knowledge, expertise in many areas, and is a grand human presence” in our profession.