Ryan C. Calabretta-Sajder, DML Cand. Middlebury College

I joined the Rice University faculty in August 2009 as Lecturer in Italian in the Center for the Study of Languages. A native of Chicago, I completed my BA at Dominican University's Honors College (Degree with Distinction) in Italian and English Lietarture and a Certificate in Medieval and Renaissance Studies. My honor's thesis "Teaching Italian — Immersion Method, The Theory Behind the Curriculum," focused on language pedagogy, methodology, and curriculum development. I hold a Masters in Italian from Indiana University Bloomington, where I fell in love with Italian cinema. After completing my Masters I moved to New York as a Visiting Lecturer and Division Chair of Italian at SUNY New Paltz where I taught courses in Italian language, literature, and cinema, including a course concerning the images of and from Italian women. I have completed advanced graduate work at the University of Chicago. I am a Candidate for the Doctorate in Modern Languages at Middlebury College, where during the summer of 2009, upon the recommendation of the faculty of the Scuola Italiana, I received the Director's Prize for Academic Excellence. During the summer months, I teach courses on Sicilian/Mediterranean literature and Cinema at Babilonia, the Italian language school in Taormina, Sicily. My research interests concern feminist and queer theory in modern Italian literature and cinema. Additionally my studies focus on the nuances of Sicilian, Italian, and Italian-American culture and migration. A recent article I wrote on "Sicilian Satire as seen from the Non-Sicilian Lens: The female as satirized in Germi's Divorzio all'italiana and Sedotta abbandonata" will be published in Le Siciliane (così sono se vi pare) (Puntacapo, forthcoming). I will also be publishing a translation of a recent interview with Italian author and leading feminist scholar Dacia Maraini. I have lived, studied, and worked throughout Italy and have taught Italian to students ranging from eight years of age to adult. I look forward to the Rice experience and to creating a home in Houston.

122 Rayzor Hall - MS 36
Rice University
6100 Main Street, Houston, TX, 77005
Telelephone: 713.348.2251
Facsimile: 713.348.5846
Email: rc19@rice.edu