SUMMARY

  • Multilingual, award-winning scholar in the humanities
  • Accomplished lecturer, speaker, and public intellectual
  • Critical thinker adept at delivering creative solutions to complex challenges
  • Experienced communicator skilled at generating, refining and presenting ideas

 

EDUCATION

2005-2011               MA and PhD, Italian Studies        University of Toronto

  • Won 10 awards, including a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Doctoral Award (SSHRC), 2008-2010
  • Published a journal article (peer-reviewed), 9 book reviews, and 9 translations
  • Presented 5 papers at international conferences and gave a public lecture at the University of Guelph
  • Co-organized 3 academic conferences
  • Appeared in the media as a Michelangelo scholar (“Italian Renaissance,” Omni News Focus (TV): Italian Edition, 17 January 2011)

 

1998-2002               BA, French and Italian                  University of Toronto

  • Graduated with distinction
  • Dean’s List Scholar
  • Studied abroad with scholarship funding: Paris, France; Florence, Italy.
  • Golden Key International Honour Society (lifetime member, by invitation only)

 

LANGUAGES         

English, French, and Italian(oral and written). Reading knowledge of German, Spanish and Latin.

 

EXPERIENCE

LEADERSHIP

July 2015- present        Managing Editor        Quaderni d’italianistica (academic journal)

  • Was elected to the editorial board of the official journal for the Canadian Society for Italian Studies, and assumed the role of managing editor and treasurer
  • Coordinate and oversee subscription management, production and distribution of the journal’s issues
  • Manage the journal’s finances, including payments, transfers and reporting
  • Initiated and executed a financial merger with the Canadian Society for Italian Studies (2017)
  • Collaborated with colleagues to create a new journal cover and logo to promote the publication (2016)

 

June 2010-June 2011        Board Member       Canadian Society for Italian Studies

  • Served as graduate student representative for the association
  • Collaborated with a colleague in the creation of the association’s newsletters
  • Co-organized the annual conference in Venice (one of the largest in the association’s history)

 

Sept. 2007- Sept 2009        President        Graduate Students Association of Italian Studies

  • Acted as the Chief Executive Officer of the association, its official spokesperson, and representative
  • Attended departmental council meetings as a representative of the graduate student body
  • Established a conference organizing committee for the 2009-2010 academic year
  • Organized and hosted a colloquium for graduate students to present their research (April 2009)
  • Prepared a special report on academic experience and student life for the chair of the department

 

RESEARCH

Sept 2017- present  &     Research Fellow                     Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies,              Sept. 2011-Aug 2016                                                               Victoria College in the University of Toronto

  • Won a publication award from the Modern Language Association (MLA) in New York for the best manuscript in my field in North America (Scaglione Award, 2013) [subsequently published by Cambridge University Press: Michelangelo’s Christian Mysticism: Spirituality, Poetry and Art in Sixteenth-Century Italy. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2014].
  • Interviewed and probed the minds of successful Canadian politicians, business leaders and company builders for a jointly-commissioned book by respective Canadian and Italian industry leaders (2014).
  • Published 3 books: a monograph, a commissioned monograph, and an edited volume.
  • Presented 10 papers at international conferences and gave 3 public lectures (by invitation).
  • Co-organized an international conference with 61 speakers and participated as a round table discussant.
  • Organized 7 panels and co-organized 2 sessions for 4 separate international conferences.
  • Was interviewed as a scholar and singer-songwriter on Sirius XM, Canada Talks, Channel 167 on 11 March 2016 for the radio release of the title track to my debut album, Dark Angel (2015).
  • Consulted twice as a Michelangelo specialist: for a documentary on contemporary replicas of Renaissance masterworks (“20 Moves,” Aired on Rogers TV on 1 July 2015; personal interview filmed on 14 March 2014); and for the Michelangelo: Quest for Geniusexhibit at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) from 18 October 2014 to 11 January 2015.

 

Aug 2016- July 2017       Postdoctoral Fellow        Department of History, Harvard University

  • Completed a paid research project on Michelangelo and early modern religious culture
  • Was invited to speak at a special topic conference held at New York University’s La Pietra Villa in Florence, Italy, and to publish my work in the resulting edited volume
  • Gave an invited lecture at Boston College and a public talk at Harvard University
  • Conducted research for a work of historical fiction set in Florence 1494 (tentatively entitled The Seer)
  • Presented my research at an international convention
  • Completed a workshop on digital teaching

 

TEACHING

Sept 2015- May 2016          Visiting Lecturer        Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures, Brock University

  • Designed andtaught 3 interdisciplinary undergraduate courses to serve multiple departments: a first-year seminar on the culture and civilization of Italy from the thirteenth to the twentieth century (Sept-Dec 2015); a second-year survey course on European Renaissance art and architecture (Jan-April 2016); a second-year seminar on the history of Italians in Canada and Italy-Canada relations (Jan-April 2016)

 

Jan 2012- May 2013           Sessional Lecturer        Renaissance Studies Program, University of Toronto

  • Designed, pitched and taught 2 interdisciplinary undergraduate courses for the Renaissance Studies program: a first-year cultural history seminar on the upheavals of the Renaissance and the Reformation, and the birth of the global modern world (Sept. 2012-April 2013); a third-year undergraduate course on Renaissance Venice (Jan-Apr 2012)

 

Sept. 2006- April 2012       Course Instructor        Department of Italian Studies, University of Toronto

  • Taught a first-year detective fiction seminar (Jan-Apr 2012), a second-year undergraduate modern Italian poetry course (Jan-Apr 2011), and a first-year undergraduate Italian language course 4 years consecutively (Sept 2006-Apr 2010)
  • Completed a semester-long professional development course on teaching in higher education (2011)

 

Sept 2010- Dec 2010         Sessional Lecturer        School of Languages and Literatures, University of Guelph

  • Taught an introductory Italian language course

 

Nov 2009- April 2010       Teaching Assistant       Concurrent Teacher Education Program, University of Toronto

  • Designed and delivered workshops and learning strategies for future French-language educators while simultaneously conducting a study on language acquisition
  • Liaised with the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) regarding language portfolio development (for students of French and Italian)
  • Began developing a language instruction manual and data bank in conjunction with the Department of Language Studies and the Concurrent Teacher Education Program at University of Toronto Mississauga

 

Nov 2003- Nov 2006        Teacher       Toronto District School Board

  • Accepted 3 consecutive, long-term teaching contracts as a French-immersion educator at Clairlea Public School, a three-stream elementary school (English, French, Deaf-Oral)
  • Taught grades 1, 5/6 and 7/8, respectively, as a French-language classroom teacher
  • Served as a teacher-librarian, running the library and its Resource Centre while concomitantly teaching classes in music, drama and computer studies to 348 students enrolled in the French and English streams (Nov 2004-June 2005)

 

Nov 2001- Aug 2006        Language Instructor        Berlitz Language Centre (Toronto)

  • Taught private and public sector clients English, French and Italian in group and individual contexts
  • Conducted language proficiency assessments and evaluations
  • Corporate clients I taught included executives from BMW, Telus, ING Direct, Scotia Bank and the Government of Canada

 

June 2002-Sept 2002        Language Instructor        Le Comptoir des Langues (Paris, France)

  • Taught English to members of the Parisian business community

 

ADMINISTRATION

 

July 2015- July 2016        Program Coordinator        Book History and Print Culture, University of Toronto

  • Organized speakers, venues and publicity for the Toronto Centre for the Book’s four public lectures
  • Monitored revenues and expenditures, and prepared the annual budget
  • Liaised with administrators and faculty in the 16 participating departments, centres and institutions that comprise the collaborative graduate program in Book History and Print Culture
  • Managed databases, listservs, course records, and graduate program recruitment initiatives

 

PERSONAL     

Reads avidly. Learns quickly. Feels most alive when challenged personally, intellectually, and creatively. Sings and plays the piano. Creates music, poetry, and prose. Competed athletically.

 

REFERENCES

Personal and professional references and full academic CV available upon request.