2010's
2019
Allison Curley. Completing my Earth Sciences major with Italian and Archaeology minors allowed me to examine multiscalar problems from multiple perspectives. I am interested in physical Earth processes and Earth history, and I recognize that people exert significant influence on the planet and its systems. Taking a human perspective as I’ve done with my minors allows me to consider the implications of my work societally and culturally, which I feel is my obligation as a scientist. It is also my obligation to be a communicator, and thinking so deeply about language as I have in the Italian Department has undoubtedly built my capacity in ways that translate into English. I am grateful to Professor Trazzi for advising my explicitly interdisciplinary independent study, in which I did a linguistical analysis of literature focused on the End-Cretaceous mass extinction (the extinction of the dinosaurs 66 million years ago). This was an excellent opportunity to directly combine my interests and to build professional vocabulary in Italian. In fall 2019 I will start as a graduate student in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Michigan, where I will be working on water science and climate in the late Cretaceous. I hope to find ways to continue using my Italian, though I have no concrete plans in place right now. Regardless, I am tremendously grateful to have built these skills and to have been a part of the warm and supportive community of the Italian Department throughout my four years at Dickinson.
Jasmin Anali Lopez. When I came to Dickinson, I had no idea that the Italian Studies department would even become such a large part of my college years. I grew up with Spanish-speaking parents and had pursued the French language in high school, so I anticipated continuing French in college. After some schedule mix-ups, I ended in Italian 101 and it easily became my favorite class to attend even if it was meeting 5 days a week. As a result, I ended up majoring in Italian Studies and it completely guided the rest of my time at Dickinson. One of the biggest parts of majoring in this language was the support I had from the Italian Department from the professors to the events and being part of the Italian Club. Additionally, I studied abroad in Bologna for a year and lived with a host family that I still keep in touch with. In terms of using my Italian language, I don’t use it daily but still communicate with my host family and actually used it for a job interview that I ended up receiving an offer for. I am now working for Ethicon, a Johnson & Johnson company as a Sales Representative. Majoring in Italian Studies gave me more skills than just language acquisition - it formed my four years at Dickinson through the good and the bad and for that I am grateful.
Marc Morris. The Italian Department at Dickinson will always be an integral part of my Dickinson experience. I am grateful to the Italian Department for letting me, neither a major nor a minor but a heritage speaker, to get involved with the Italian Club and Italian Department and jump into a couple of classes (Discourse of Love and the Senior Seminar) that really helped refine my Italian knowledge. I was happy to be able to share my culture with those who had never been to Puglia - even if they had been elsewhere in Italy. An Italian student that I worked with in field school for two summers now told me that my Italian had gotten better and more confident - this was after a year of speaking Italian regularly at Dickinson. Starting in September, I will be in the Netherlands on a Fulbright Scholarship to pursue a Master's in Mediterranean Archaeology at Vrije Universiteit (VU) Amsterdam. I hope my Master's thesis research will take me back to Puglia for fieldwork and allow me to explore the archaeology of Southern Italy in the Iron Age - and consequently, that a career in archaeology might continue to take me back.
2017
Delphine Dall’Agata. Studying Italian at Dickinson had a meaningful impact on my life, both personally and professionally. Through the wide range of courses I developed a profound appreciation for the lyrical language and vibrant culture. Not only did I revive my Italian roots and learn to correctly pronounce my last name, but I also found a career path. It all began when I spontaneously switched into Professor Trazzi’s Italian 101 course my freshman year. After a life-changing study abroad experience, I wrote my Italian Honors Thesis with Professor Marini-Maio and Professor Trazzi focusing on urban agriculture in Bologna. Upon graduating from Dickinson College, I participated in the SITE Program to teach high school English in Cremona. The following year I received a Fulbright Grant to complete research in Turin, stemming from my undergraduate thesis. The project focused on developing an urban garden network and contributing to the city’s 2030 Green Infrastructure Strategic Plan to advocate for sustainable urban agriculture. I recently began working at the International Training Centre of the ILO, a United Nations agency in Turin that runs trainings for the world of work. My multilingual abilities have been of utmost value and continue to serve me daily on this global UN campus. I will soon be continuing my studies at the Turin School of Development to complete a Master in Management of Development. The Department of Italian’s dedicated support motivated and inspired me throughout my time at Dickinson and beyond. Their passion and encouragement sparked lifelong curiosity, and for that I will be eternally grateful.
Thera Dal Prà-Iversen. I grew up in Norway with a Norwegian father and an Italian mother. Though my mother taught me Italian when I was young, as I grew older I began to speak the language less and less, influenced by my environment in which everyone around me spoke Norwegian. As a result, as a young adult I was only able to understand Italian but unable to reciprocate a response in the same language. It was not until I enrolled in the Italian Studies program at Dickinson that I was finally able to return to my maternal roots, and regain the ability to speak the language that had been such an intrinsic part of my childhood. Though I initially pursued Italian as a minor, the dedicated, passionate, and engaging professors and the variety of courses offered by the Italian department inspired me to pursue Italian as one of my majors. At the end of my four years at Dickinson, I had not only gained a fluency in Italian, but I had also had the opportunity to study abroad in Italy, and learn about the Italian culture, cuisine, literature, and society in depth. This education was invaluable to me on a personal level, but it also opened unexpected doors in my professional life. Since graduation, I have been able to work as a data analyst and translator for Apple in New York City, where I had the opportunity to use my language knowledge. I am now pursuing a Master's at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam where Italian continues to be an integral part of my studies, and I am deeply grateful for the Italian department's passion and support that continues to inspire me today.
2016
Andrew DiNardo. I came to Dickinson College knowing I wanted to continue pursuing my passion for the Italian language and culture, but could have never imagined where it would take me. With the encouragement of professors and advisors, I enrolled in the Dickinson program in Bologna for a semester to continue pursuing a degree in International Business and Management and Italian studies. This would lead to one of the most purposeful experiences of my life. In the middle of my semester in Bologna, my dad, brother, nonna, and uncle all flew over to Italy to join me in visiting Toro, a small town in Molise. I had heard stories about Toro growing up because my nonna had grown up there as a child before she emigrated to the United States. Finally being able to see Toro carried an inestimable value to me. It was not only my first time being there, but also my brothers' and fathers' as well. It was deeply significant for me to be there, to understand where my family was from, and what life was like for them. Today, the things I learned through the Italian studies program continue to inspire me. This stretches from my nonna and I speaking in her native language while making pizzelles together to me visiting my high school, Sewickley Academy, to share about my experiences with students studying Italian. I'll never forget of the great impact the Italian studies department has had on my life. I trust and know that impact will continue to challenge and change me for the rest of my life.
2015
Mathias Bedolfe. My time in Bologna was truly one of the most fruitful experiences of my life. I was set on studying abroad in Italy ever since I read John Grisham’s novel Playing for Pizza while in high school, which is about an American football player who joins the Parma Panthers in the Italian football league. Bologna was a no brainer and I loved the fact that it felt warmer, more welcoming and local than bigger cities such as Rome and Florence. Not only did I enjoy my coursework at the Dickinson Center, but I took the Organizational Behaviour class at the University of Bologna where I met bright students from all over Europe. For about two months, I joined the Bologna Warriors American football team with Dickinson classmate Tom Mallard, improving our Italian language and diving into the culture. The team was made up of mostly Italians who were very accommodating and entertaining. I also managed to join my University of Bologna classmates for a few games of soccer. My former Bologna companion and roommate, Peter DeSantis and I became so close that we roomed together in New York City after graduating from Dickinson College. Overall, Bologna brought so much to my life and I’ve been back, TWICE, both times visiting a former Italian classmate at his restaurant in neighboring Modena. Currently, I am back in my home state of California, working in marketing at Aspiration, a socially and environmentally conscious financial firm leading the charge against fossil fuel investing Big Banks, and I’m beginning a fully-employed MBA program at UC Irvine, Paul Merage School of Business. Before this, I started my own small business, izerfin LLC, and worked at another bank and financial technology start up. It was clear that my Bologna experience impressed and intrigued my interviewers for both jobs and business school. My experience in Bologna exposed me to a rich and diverse culture, drastically improved my Italian language, introduced me to friends I'm still in touch with today, and it has provided me with a big ego when ordering at Italian restaurants. I couldn’t have completed the challenging and rewarding Italian minor without the incredible support and encouragement of James McMenamin, Tullio Pagano and the rest of the Italian department.
Davis Brown. My Italian Studies experience at Dickinson was the best academic decision I made in my four years. My experience studying in Bologna was unforgettable. The people I met, the places I saw, and the wide variety of lessons I learned was something I will carry with me forever. Entering my second semester of my junior year, the classes the department offered were diverse and intriguing. Not only did these classes help me expand my knowledge of the language itself, but also gave me a deeper understanding of Italy's rich history and culture. During my senior year, I took a class on Dante’s Divine Comedy. Come July, I was interviewed in Boston for a highly sought-after sales position. During the interview, the person who would eventually become my boss mentioned how he studied Dante in College. We went on, totally off topic talking for what seemed to be a long time about Dante and his poetry. I would like to think that this connection not only impressed him, but also demonstrated how well rounded I was as a candidate, giving me an advantage over other applicants. I credit this all to the Italian Program at Dickinson and the great professors who helped me along the way.
Peter De Santis. My decision to double major in Italian Studies and International Business and Management provided me with a unique skillset that carried over into life post-Dickinson. I first started taking Italian courses to fulfill the five semester requirement for my IBNM major. As the semesters progressed, I found myself drawn to the language and to the courses more and more, and decided to pursue a major in Italian Studies. I spent my junior year in Bologna, where I stayed the entire academic year developing my language skills and learning more about Italian culture/politics. These skills have transferred to post-Dickinson life, where I have spent the past four years working in Foreign Exchange Sales & Trading at Nomura Securities and now at ABN Amro. Interestingly enough, the effects that the Italian political/economic situation has had on the Eurozone is something that I have been able to understand quickly and naturally, and has been an area of expertise in my first few years on Wall Street. I am extremely grateful for exploring an area of interest early on in my academic career; Italian has helped me in ways I did not know were possible.
Sarah DiMuccio. My experience at Dickinson would not have been as enriching or as fun had I not decided to minor in Italian. Coming in as a freshman, I actually didn’t need to fulfill the language requirement as I was already bilingual. I decided, however, that learning Italian would be incredibly cool – and I was absolutely right. From the first day of Italian 101, I fell in love with the Italian language and all that the Italian department had to offer. Not only did I learn to speak Italian, I learned about Italian food, literature, film, and culture. Studying abroad in Bologna for a semester and taking a university-level class the University of Bologna not only improved my skills in Italian, but it allowed to me recognize all that I was capable of. If you can survive a university class in Italian on Dante’s Divine Comedy, you can do anything you put your mind to! I am currently in a social psychology PhD program at New York University, and although I do not use Italian every day, I am convinced that being able to say I was trilingual set me apart from other applicants. In addition, learning about Italian culture both at home and abroad helped me develop my current program of research. I will always be grateful for the skills, both language-related and otherwise, that the Italian Department has given me.
Aleksa D’Orsi. My experience as an Italian Studies major has certainly given me an advantage in my post-graduate endeavors. I double majored in Art History and Italian Studies and I was able to study abroad in Florence, Italy. The abroad program provided classes that fulfilled both my Art History major and my Italian Studies major. Spending that time in Italy and being able to speak the Italian language allowed me to immerse myself in the art of the country. Being able to speak the language made my abroad experience that much more fulfilling and has greatly elevated my analytical skills. I also believe that having been a double major at Dickinson College made me stand out as I applied to Graduate programs. I am now a member of the Class of 2017-2018 at the Christie’s Education program at Christie’s Auction House in New York City where I will be studying art law and business. In my essay, I referenced my double major and I discussed seeing renowned Renaissance artwork in Florence, amazing Modern works at the Palazzo Strozzi, and incredible contemporary pieces at the Venice Biennial. I look forward to using my Italian language knowledge again when I re-visit the Venice Biennial, but this time with a Christie’s Education.
Ashton Fiucci. My experience in the Italian Department at Dickinson is why I’m where I am today. I started in Italian 101 my first-year where I fell in love with the language, the culture, and the enthusiastic faculty. I later went on to live in the Romance Languages House for a year and to major in Italian Studies. My experiences abroad in Genova and Bologna not only increased my love for Italy and its language, but also inspired my interest in international education. The summer after I graduated, I continued my internship with the Forum on Education Abroad and started another with Alvernia University’s Office for Study Abroad and International Students where I used my abroad experiences to promote study abroad and to develop materials for students before, during and after their travels. In 2018, I graduated from Boston College’s Italian Literature and Culture M.A. program. I taught two classes of Elementary Italian at BC as an Italian Teaching Fellow and was a member of the committee for Boston College’s Department of Romance Languages and Literatures annual conference where I presented my paper Master’s thesis, “Neither This nor That: Igiaba Scego and the ‘Hybrid’ Identity of Second-Generation Immigrants in Salsicce.” Although I do not use the language in my current role as an Admissions Counselor at the Pennsylvania College of Health Sciences, I continue to utilize my experiences abroad in the international education field through my membership and participation in the Global Leadership League, an organization for empowering women in international education. These days, Italian continuously flows through my personal life, as I use it often to communicate with some of my friends, stay up-to-date on Italian cinema, and sing along to my favorite Italian songs.
Molly Joyce. The Italian Department at Dickinson has given me so much, academically, professionally, and personally. In fact, one of the most profound experiences I had at Dickinson was my time in Bologna. There were two opportunities I took advantage of during my year abroad that started me on the academic and professional journey I’m on today: a class and an internship. As a year-long student in Bologna I had the opportunity to have an internship during the second semester. I interned at The Anglo-American school where I observed and eventually taught English to Italian students. That internship piqued my interest in language instruction, which has become an integral part of my academic research. All of the classes I took at the Dickinson Center were amazing, but the one that had the greatest impact was Italian Colonialism with Professore Schiavulli. What I studied in that class stayed with me and I chose to write my senior thesis on the impact European colonialism continues to have in Africa using the former Italian colony of Eritrea as an example. When I decided to go to graduate school, I knew that I wanted to continue studying Eritrea. I am currently in my final semester of graduate school at The George Washington University and will graduate in December with a Master’s degree in International Education. I am writing my thesis on multilingual education in Eritrea. I also have a fellowship with The Global Campaign for Education – United States and an internship with the Federal Aviation Administration. In one way or another, I can connect everything I’m doing right now back to Dickinson and the Italian department. In my opinion, the best thing about the Italian department is the people. I would not have had the amazing experience I did as an Italian minor without my professors, Trazzi, Lanzilotta, Marini-Maio, and McMenamin. They supported and challenged me throughout my four years at Dickinson and continue to do so today. The Italian department and Bologna also gave me some of my dearest friends. In a wonderful twist of fate, I now live near several of them in Washington, D.C. and we get together as often as our busy schedules allow.
Vivian Sicilia. I currently work as an Education & Events Coordinator at Eataly Chicago, where I utilize my Italian on a daily basis. While I plan private and corporate events, I also oversee all the cooking classes that take place in La Scuola, Eataly's cooking school. We host classes on regional Italian cuisine and wine as well as seasonal ingredients. While at Dickinson, I took full advantage of the incredible Italian Studies program and also lived in the Romance Language House during my sophomore year, where I was able to converse with other Italians. At Eataly, I use my Italian everyday, whether I'm devising a menu, communicating with Italian colleagues, corresponding with Italian guest chefs, or leading Italian visitors around the store. It's been an incredible opportunity and has helped me keep up my Italian. I'm incredibly thankful for the relationships I built with professors from the Italian Studies department during my undergraduate experience. In the future, I hope to build a career in the Italian food industry. I am currently exploring various food studies graduate programs in Italy. Whatever I choose, I know I will use Italian in my future endeavors!
2014
Julia Gabrielle Barnes. As an aspiring translator from a young age, learning Italian proved to be the key to launching my career. Aside from Italian being a beautiful language, it is also very practical. The Italian publishing market is small and heavily reliant upon making connections. With the languages of major past colonial powers, like French or Spanish, many native speakers are necessarily brought up in a bilingual environment, which means more competition in the translation market. Italian, then, was a strategic choice; at its core, however, it is a passion. In the summer after graduating from Dickinson in 2014 I moved to an apartment in Milan with six Italian students who have become my best friends. I teamed up with Italian translator Giuseppe Sofo and began working for the publishing house Leone Editore, for which we have just translated our second book. This past summer, one year later, I translated an interview with Vladimir Putin for Il Corriere della Sera that was published in the New York Times. Currently I am working on literary translations for MJM Editore, Barbera Editore, and Italian author Davide Amante. During the day, I work as an English teacher in two Italian high schools in Milan, Italy, through the SITE program that my brilliant Dickinson professors encouraged me to apply for. In these schools I design my own curriculum and teach my classes independently, and am currently working on an article for Il Corriere della Sera about a series of classes I taught last year on feminism. Though all my coursework is in English, knowing Italian has allowed me to form lasting relationships with people in the school with whom I otherwise would not be able to communicate. My dearest friend of all at school is a 91 year-old nurse named Gina, a concentration camp survivor from Udine (in northeastern Italy) who speaks only Italian and German. I sit in her office every day to talk about her life, and she's become something of a moral mentor to me. I am so grateful that my schooling at Dickinson gave me both the linguistic capacity and cultural sensitivity to put down roots in this brilliant country and meet Gina and people like her. Becoming an Italian Studies major was really the best thing I've ever done. I now count as friends my former professors to whom I owe whatever success I have achieved.
Margot Cardamone. Moving to Carlisle PA from San Francisco was a daunting transition, a transition that was made more difficult by the fact that I was leaving my large Italian family behind. I was born in Varese, Italy and moved to California when I was young. At home we only spoke Italian (and only ate Italian food) and my first semester at Dickinson I missed being surrounded by Italian energy. I decided to take an Italian course with Professor Pagano and quickly found a home within the Italian department; a home filled with the Italian language, culture, and food I was so dearly missing. The interdisciplinary nature of the Italian department allowed me to study aspects of Italian history I knew nothing about: Italy's attempt at colonial rule in Libya, Ethiopia, and Eritrea. I continued these studies in Bologna where I spent the academic year. While in Bologna, I worked at an International law firm and taught English. After graduating from Dickinson as an Italian and History double major, I moved to Charlotte NC to teach fourth grade through Teach For America. The English teaching experience I had abroad served as an asset for the Teach For America application process; however, I think my ability to problem solve and generate creative solutions set me apart from the other applicants; all skills I learned though Dickinson and the Italian department. I was elected as the Young Alumni Trustee for the class of 2014 and served the college for 2 years in that capacity. In 2016, I moved to Boston to pursue my Master's in Education at Harvard University and graduated in the spring of 2017. I now work at Tufts University in the Office for Student Success and Advising as a Student Success Advisor. I am eternally grateful to the Italian department for the skills they taught me and the relationships I forged through the program. I hope I can support my students at Tufts helping them find their home away from home the way Dickinson's Italian department did for me.
Brian Gerney. Having arrived at Dickinson as a freshman with no desire to take any language courses at all, I was probably the most surprised that I ended up majoring in Italian Studies. This choice became one of the best decisions I made during my four years as an undergrad and a fundamental part of my college experience that I would never trade for anything. The support and guidance I received from all the Italian professors as I navigated the lower level courses gave me the confidence not only to continue with the major but also to pursue other academic interests outside my comfort zone. As a Political Science/Italian Studies double major, the flexibility and support of the Italian department was invaluable and the study abroad experience in the Bologna program perfectly matched my goals and interests. While in Bologna, I had the chance to play for a club basketball team (Giardini Margherita) that not only introduced me to the local culture, but also put my language skills to the test as I tried communicate with my teammates and sometimes even argue with referees who spoke no English. I am still in contact with my teammates today. After graduation, I obtained my masters in Economic Geography at UNC Charlotte and found my experience with Italian urban design to be very helpful as many of the strategies employed by cities and planners in the United States are commonplace for most Italian cities. Likewise, in my professional career, dealing with fashion oriented real estate, not only is it always a great conversation starter to have studied Italian and spend a year in Italy but almost all new projects are attempting to capture the magic of an Italian piazza or the pedestrian oriented streets that help make a place like Bologna so special.
Luca May. I was naturally attracted to Italian Studies at Dickinson as I grew up speaking Italian at home with my mother, a native Italian who immigrated from a small town outside of Milano named Vaprio D'Adda. The first language courses I took with Professor McMenamin helped me perfect my grammar and really sparked my passion for the Italian language and culture. Professor McMenamin quickly urged me to go for a major over a minor in Italian, and this would prove to be a paramount decision for my academic and professional career. This decision to major in Italian Studies allowed me the opportunity to become the first Dickinson student to study abroad at the University of Perugia for Foreigners, in Perugia, the home town of Professoressa Marini-Maio. There was a very special learning environment at the University because my classes were made up of foreigners from all over the world who were there to learn Italian. I earned a certificate of the C1 level and had the opportunity to study at C2, the highest level, for my last 3 months. After studying abroad I became an Italian citizen and before graduating I had a job lined up in Florence, Italy at Bus2alps AG, the market leader in European student travel. Since Bus2alps operates most of its tours from Italy, I was an attractive candidate for the organization. I started as a Sales and Logistics Specialist and eventually became the Sales Supervisor of the company where I managed and motivated a team of 35 direct full time Sales Representatives. Italian Studies at Dickinson undoubtedly prepared me for a successful 2.5 year career in Florence, Italy. I have recently moved on from Bus2alps and am continuing a career in sales as an Account Executive for TransPerfect, the world's largest privately held provider of translation/localization services, in Chicago.
2013
Melia Bonomo. Studying Italian at Dickinson provided me with many amazing opportunities to learn about and experience the beauty and rich history of the Italian culture. I absolutely loved the Dickinson in Bologna study abroad program, during which I was able to take a medical physics course at the University of Bologna. Not only did it enrich my major in physics and minor in Italian at the same time, but also through this course I got to collaborate with my professor to write a Fulbright research grant proposal. After graduating from Dickinson, I was an intern for the SITE Program in the Lombardy region of Italy and was placed in the charming little town of Crema, outside Milan. I worked there for two years teaching English to high school students, both in regular language classes and through CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) modules in physics, chemistry, biology, math, art, and history classes. I’m currently in the Applied Physics PhD program at Rice University, but I still feel a strong connection to Italy and hope to return to teach or do research there after finishing graduate school.
Mariya Hristova. I currently work as an Account Manager for the Global Language Service Provider, TransPerfect in Milan, Italy. I became part of the Italian Department at Dickinson after having completed the year-long study abroad program in Bologna. The possibility of getting to know the professors while improving my language skills and understanding of Italian culture was an absolute pleasure for me. The valuable knowledge and great experiences I had with the Italian Department have undoubtedly contributed to my success in getting a full time job and eventually moving to Italy just a couple of weeks after graduation day. If you are passionate about languages and are looking for a truly meaningful experience while at Dickinson I would not give it a second thought but run to ask for information – the Italians will do the rest.
2012
Emily Osborne. I have always been fascinated by the human experience, especially when vastly different than my own. This curiosity brought me to Italian Studies at Dickinson, and has remained a constant long after my education and into my career - it's ever-present in my role today as a User Experience Researcher. During my time at Dickinson, I was very involved with the Italian Department. I spent an incredible year studying in Bologna, where I interned with UNICEF Italia and took a course at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Upon my return to Carlisle, I tutored students in Italian; I enjoyed teaching, so after graduation I moved to South Korea to teach English. After spending over a year in Asia working and traveling, I moved to New Zealand for another adventure, working for Amnesty International and Greenpeace, and also taking a few months to live out a van and experience Kiwi wilderness. I returned to my native Pittsburgh in 2014 to work for a local nonprofit, but then somehow found my way into tech via a sales position at a software consultancy. I immediately discovered User Experience (UX) Design & Research, a fairly new field dedicated towards creating technology driven by people's motivations and behaviors. After completing my Masters in Human-Computer Interaction at Carnegie Mellon University, I moved to San Francisco for a brief stint at a startup before landing a role as UX Researcher for Google where I represent the voice of the user with our product development team. Thinking back to my undergraduate education, I'm overwhelmed by the unanticipated value that cultural immersion has given me. I’m forever grateful to the incredible Italian department for giving me foundational skills for a lifetime of professional growth.
Ilana Rainero-de Haan. I majored in Music at Dickinson but from the very beginning was determined to study abroad in Bologna for a year. I fell in love with Bologna and the Italian language during my junior year abroad, during which I managed to take a contemporary Italian literature class at the University of Bologna and intern at the Music Museum – all in Italian! Thanks to the support and flexibility of the Italian department I ended up taking a few more Italian classes my senior year and graduated with an Italian minor. I promptly moved back to Bologna after graduation to do my Masters in Arts Management at the University of Bologna and spent two more wonderful years in this city that I loved. After some freelancing in Europe I moved back to San Francisco (my hometown) and have been working in the Artistic department at San Francisco Opera for four and a half years now. I’m very lucky be able to combine my passions – music and languages – in my job. I use Italian often, with Italian singers and agents and of course with the numerous Italian operas we produce.
Justin Ruffini. I am currently a first year student at Brooklyn Law School. The knowledge and skills I acquired as an Italian Studies major, along with the opportunities and experiences the department made available to me outside of the classroom, have been invaluable. At Dickinson, whether I was translating and interpreting the poetry of Petrarch, analyzing the role of landscape in Italian society, or examining representations of terrorism in Italian cinema, I learned to question, to think critically and creatively, and to write and develop strong communication skills, all of which are necessities in law school. In addition, as an Italian studies major, I had the opportunity on many levels to collaborate, relate, and listen to individuals from diverse backgrounds, which has been an asset not only in law school but my everyday life as well. I learned Italian, lived in the Romance Language house with international students, and studied for a year at the Dickinson Center in Bologna where I gained a global perspective and a glimpse of the world not just from the eyes of an American but from the eyes of the individuals I met and studied with who came from all over the world. After graduation, I returned to Italy to participate in The Network of Autonomous Schools of the Lombardy Region’s Study and Intercultural Training and Experience (SITE) program, another opportunity made possible by Dickinson’s Italian studies department. I worked as a teaching assistant at The Istituo Tecnico Professionale “Tassara-Ghislandi” in Breno, Italy and also provided English tutoring for the children of various families in the town. The internship offered me valuable teaching experience and the chance to navigate the working world in another culture. Just as importantly, it also allowed me to truly become part of an Italian community. I hope to return to Italy next summer to participate in Brooklyn Law’s Summer Study Abroad Program held at the Faculty of Law of the University of Bologna.
Mike Thompson. While at Dickinson, I selected the very practical major of International Business and Management. This led to a career as a federal bank regulator for the past seven years since graduation, and I am currently transitioning to a new role as a consultant in the financial services industry. While my career path may appear to have very little to do with the Italian language at first glance, the lessons I learned through obtaining a minor in Italian have shaped my life in a more pronounced way than I ever could have anticipated. Admittedly, I do not have one drop of Italian blood in my veins and had no ties to the culture or language prior to arriving at Dickinson. I had studied the French language for nearly a decade and was anxious for a change. Unexpectedly over the course of the next four years, learning Italian became my academic passion. I admired Professors Pagano, McMenamin, and Marini-Maiao for their intellect and appreciation for culture and life. I initially arrived at Dickinson with a primary focus on succeeding on the football field, but I never expected that the Italian program would fill a void of losing a dream when injuries cut my playing career short in my second year. I immediately signed up to study abroad in Bologna in the following semester, an experience that helped me uncover an entirely new sense of identity and provided me with so many memories I could never have enjoyed otherwise. In terms of applicability to the workplace, my Italian studies greatly improved my writing abilities and grammar skills in English. Learning a new language forces you to consider how you use and apply your own native language, and these skills have helped me to distinguish myself as a bank regulator and consultant. However, I also directly attribute my ongoing appreciations for art, culture, geography and literature to the breadth of topics covered in Dickinson’s Italian program. I also gained the ability to interact with individuals across all walks of life and made life long friends as a result of my Bologna experience. I even starred in the one and only play in which I have ever performed as part of Professor Marini-Maio’s class. Each of these experiences support Dickinson’s mission of providing a well-rounded, globally-focused liberal arts education, and the life lessons that I gained from them have perhaps served me even better than language skills in and of themselves. Overall, studying Italian gave me the gift of one of life’s most important lessons of all: at certain times it is beneficial to fearlessly leap into the unknown- you never know what adventures may await! These lessons have carried me through a recent move to Boston, a career change, and the decision to pursue a Master of Business Administration degree. I will forever be grateful for the experiences and relationships that the Italian department provided which had such a tremendous impact on my life.