President’s Newsletter
Fall 2021
Dear Colleagues,
Happy Autumn! Happy Italian American Culture and Heritage Month!
I hope this message finds you all happy and healthy. I know how trying the last 18-20 months have been for us all, but I’m delighted to report that the AATI has been working hard to “Preserve, Advance, and Promote Italian Studies.” Please take a look at the rest of this piec to see what’s happening with our Association.
What is most apparent is the new layout of the AATI Newsletter. As mentioned in my Spring Newsletter, we are exploring new methods of delivery. Many thanks to Jessica Greenfield, Editor, Alessia Defraia, Director of Communication, and the entire committee for their efforts in modifying the newsletter.
The AATI Website Committee has formally submitted a recommendation for a web design team to re-envision our website. The EC will vote on this soon, and hopefully, the AATI will have an updated look in 2022.
The AATI/IASA conference in Lucca is well underway. Please submit your completed sessions by the November 7th deadline. We are looking forward to returning to Italy with an in-person conference. Fondazione Campus, our host for the conference, is excited to have us on-site. Many thanks to M. Marina Melita, Chair, and her entire team for working hard to make this event a success. Members of both AATI and AAIS who present at AATI@Lucca and AAIS@Bologna will receive a discounted registration. More information to come in early 2022.
Gina Maiellaro and the AATI National Italian Exam team have been working all summer and fall to get the exam ready to pilot and then test in the spring. Registration is open. For more information, please visit https://www.nationalitalianexam.org.
This past summer, the AATI co-sponsored Fred Kuwornu’s summer workshop, “Teaching Black Italy,” and it was a great success. Fred had mazing enrollments all summer long, and I am thrilled to see so much interest in expanding our knowledge on the topic. The AATI awarded five grants to attendees of various teaching levels. We are in the process of organizing webinars in which participants will share their experiences and didactic units/syllabi. This should be a great set of webinars and we hope you will join us for this exclusive AATI event.
We also launched the inaurgural AATI Book Award. Mark Pietralunga and his committee are finishing up evaluating submissions. Announcements should be made in early November.
Colleen Ryan (Indiana University Bloomington) and Teresa Picarazzi (The Hopkins School) deserve congratulations for being selected as the AATI’s Distinguished Service Award winners. Read more about them in the newsletter.
Over the past eight years, our current editor of Italica, Michael Lettieri, has been doing great things with the Association’s journal, the latest having Italica become a Fascia A journal. The Association owes much gratitutide to Michael for all the hard work and dedication to he devoted to Italica. The journal currently accepts only 25% of its submissions, making it a premier publication. Michael’s editorship will end in 2021, but we are happy to announce our new editor, Dr. Giovanna Summerfield, Professor of Italian and Associate Dean for Educational Affairs at Auburn University. Giovanna brings the journal a plethora of editorial and scholarly experience. We are happy to have her join the journal and look forward to collaborating with her.
As previously mentioned in various listserv announcements, the AATI and AAIS have created a handful of co-sponsored initiatives. The first, our mentoring program organized by Michael Lettieri and Monica Seger, has been going strong since Spring 2021. They are doing a great job in this new collaboration. We will also be offering a co-sponsored session at the MLA 2023 conference. More details will come in December. We are also starting co-sponsored sessions at each of our conferences. For 2022, Carla Cornette will be overseeing these sessions, and the announcement has been sent out recently on the listserv. Lastly, the AATI and AAIS have created a DEI committee to organize an event in February 2022. Details will follow shortly, but much appreciation to Rosetta Giuliani Caponetto, Aria Cabot, and Steve LaPeruta for their effort on this front.
I would also like to thank Carla Simonini for her piece in this edition of the newsletter entitled “Mother Cabrini and Frances Scala: Tireless Advocates for Italian Immigrants and Their Communities” which considers the role of migrant women and social work in Chicago. Once again, we owe Giovanni Pinna our gratitude for the artistic cover page that complements Carla’s article. Make sure to check out the entire volume. It’s full of great information.
As I conclude this update, I would be remiss if I did not wholeheartedly thank the officers and the entire Executive Council of the AATI. They have been working tirelessly all year to make AATI thrive.
Best wishes for a successful end to the semester,
Ryan
AATI President
