Professor of Spanish, Italian and Linguistics and University Scholar of the University of Louisville, and former Vice-President (2010-2011), President (2012-2014), and current Past President (2015-2017) of the American Association of Teachers of Italian has been awarded the Distinguished Service Award for College and Universities for 2018.  Nuessel has published 16 single-authored manuscripts along with numerous articles, book chapters, and book reviews. In addition to his scholarly contributions, Frank Nuessel has educated generations of undergraduates, graduates, and teachers of Italian, particularly though his leadership as the first Chief AP Reader for the Italian language and culture examination. Under his leadership, the AATI went through a variety of updates including branding and the creation of a mission and vision statement. He organized and executed numerous AATI@ACTFL conferences along with the AATI@Strasbourg Conference.

Dr. Antonietta Di Pietro, AP Italian Instructor at G.W. Carver International Studies Program, Lecturer of Italian at Florida International University, and current Executive Board Member for High Schools (2018-2020) of the American Association of Teachers of Italian has been awarded the Distinguished Service Award for K-12 for 2018.

Di Pietro is a long-term active-researcher in Language Acquisition and busier practitioner of teaching Italian on numerous levels, from high school to college. She has demonstrated her dedication and interest to the field through her various certifications for the teaching, curricular design, and assessment of Italian as a non-native language in the United States. In fact, Dr. Di Pietro is an ACTFL certified OPI and OPIc Proficiency Interview Tester, a College Board AP Italian consultant, AP Italian Question Leader during the rating, along with being a consultant on other nationally recognized Italian examinations. Currently, she is the High School Co-chair of the AP Italian Development Committee, where she works diligently to write a thought-provoking examination.

Besides being an active language teacher on both the high school and college levels, along with other fields in the Humanities, Dr. DiPietro actively presents at conferences and has reviewed books in the field of History. In addition to his scholarly contributions, she is also the President of the Florida Association of Teachers of Italian (FATI), where she has organized events aimed at the promotion of teaching Italian.  As one of her recommenders has noted: 

what makes Dr. Di Pietro most deserving of our award are the constructive and collaborative spirit, the sense of vision and leadership, and the personal investment she shows to each student, colleague and committee with whom she works. These attributes are often instinctive, vocation-like traits for unsung heroes.

 Thus, Di Pietro not only serves as an amazing language instructor and colleague, but also as an ambassador for the greater good of Italian Studies, a role which is becoming increasingly difficult to fill in contemporary society.

Dr. Di Pietro’s passion, dedication, and creativity make her stand out as a distinguished member of our community. Her influence on Italian Studies will be felt by students, colleagues, and future teachers within the field.