French & Italian Studies Newsletter - Spring/Summer 2022

Announcement from Chair Geoffrey Turnovsky

 I’m delighted to introduce my colleague, Associate Professor Beatrice Arduini, who, on July 1, takes over as the next chair of French & Italian Studies. My thanks to everyone, students, colleagues and staff, for making my five years as chair rewarding and exciting. We certainly dealt with some challenging times, but managed meaningful accomplishments along the way, like revamping the French and Italian curricula. I look forward now to focusing on new projects, such as developing our newly created minor in Textual Studies and Digital Humanities, which is housed in FIS, and my own research. 

Bonne continuation and Congratulazioni to Beatrice, as she takes on the duties of chair, and to everyone: colleagues, staff, and students. Above all, I wish a hearty congratulations to our graduating seniors and our MA students! It’s been a sincere pleasure working with them and I’m excited to hear about their next adventures. Have a great summer!

Associate Professor Geoffrey Turnovsky                                                                                                                                         Chair of French & Italian Studies

Two of our graduating French majors, Simon Ferry and Cecilia Ward have been accepted to the prestigious Teaching Assistant Program in France during the 2022-2023 school year. Simon, a History and French double major from Kirkland, WA will be teaching at a secondary school in the Académie de Amiens. Simon started taking French in high school and kept taking French courses as he… Read more
Read this article in EuropeNow by Professor Geoffrey Turnovsky about the particular challenges creating the new minor in Textual Studies and Digital Humanities. 
When Chris Tutolo moved to Seattle, Washington to attend the University of Washington, he had one goal in mind—to join a graduate program that would allow him ample opportunities to teach French. While enrolled in the Master of Arts program in French Studies, Chris taught French classes to undergraduates each quarter, giving him the experience in the classroom that he was… Read more
Congratulations to Assistant Professor Hannah Frydman for her receipt of the Malcolm Bowie Prize from the Society for French Studies! The Bowie Prize goes to the best article published in the preceding year by an early-career researcher in French Studies. Frydman’s article,… Read more
In Autumn 2021, Associate Professor of Italian Studies Beatrice Arduini published several new works in Italian and Textual Studies, including scholarship that connects with her work supported by the Simpson Center's Digital Humanities Summer Fellowships earlier that year. In collaboration with Jelena Todorović, Professor… Read more
We are very pleased to announce the winners of the  second annual French & Italian Studies Academic Awards! All students who have enrolled in a French & Italian Studies course during the 2021-2022 academic year were eligible to submit one project completed in a FIS course. Examples of submissions could be recorded presentations, well-written and researched papers, or other creative projects that exhibit innovation (in any format or medium). A FIS faculty committee review the… Read more
The Department of French & Italian Studies would like to congratulate the class of 2022! FIS wishes to recognize our graduates for their work ethic and perseverance in continuing their studies online despite a global Pandemic and challenging circumstances. On June 8th, graduating majors in French & Italian Studies gathered with their families and professors on campus to mingle, enjoy refreshments, and celebrate their achievements at a graduation reception for the class of 2022. After… Read more
FIS Professor Maya Smith has co-authored a chapter in the new volume, Diversity and Decolonization in French Studies; New Approaches to Teaching (New York: Palgrave Macmillan).  Read her work, “Multilingual Texts and Contexts: Inclusive Pedagogies in the French Foreign Language Classroom”Read more
Please join us in congratulating Albert Sbragia, Associate Professor of Italian Studies, on his retirement. Professor Sbragia had a distinguished career at the UW, he served for 32 years teaching 19th and 20th century Italian cultural history and Italian language courses. Professor Sbragia was instrumental in developing large outreach courses in FIS, in particular his very popular course on Rome, which was jointly offered with History and Art History. He also served as chair of FIS for 5 years… Read more
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