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Major Representatives

The major representatives, commonly called major reps, are chosen each year by the Chair of the Transnational Italian Studies Department. These students officially represent the majors to the department faculty and other students. They are available to talk with students informally about the Italian major and to serve as a resource for declared majors as they complete work in the major. Representatives may bring issues to the department on behalf of majors. They also help organize department events. On the occasion of a search for a faculty member or the case of a reappointment, tenure, or promotion of a faculty member of the department, the major representatives assist the department and the College in soliciting and evaluating student views about the candidates or the case.

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2024-25 ITAL Major Representatives 

• Eleanor Tylor '25
• Lilian Belzer '25

Stories by Alumnae

• Lilian Belzer '25 and Sofia Cirone '25. The book was translated from English into Italian under the supervision of ISI Florence Stefano Baldassarri (Director).   
• Laze Sanchez '24 and Renata del Vecchio '25 Podcast on Dacia Maraini's "Marina è caduta per le scale" 

• Alani Hicks-Bartlett, '05, Ph.D., Berkeley, Assistant Professor at Brown, the Huntington Library Fellowship with a project titled Topic: Writing the Disabled Self in Early Modern Literature: Petrarch, Montaigne, Cervantes, 
• Rebecca Fisher ' 18 Business of Pride: Rebecca Fisher and Joey Leroux guiding change with Beyond the Bell Tours 
• Hallie Novak '19 .
• Emilia Otte '18 
• Laura Silla, '14 “I translated rare and ancient Italian medical and scientific texts into English for worldwide access while obtaining insight into international and historical medicine, patient care, and scientific scholarship abroad from Università degli Studi di Firenze Biblioteca Biomedica )”. Catalogo translated by Silla:
• Allegra Flechter, '12, published a book of poems, "Daisy Chains": "At the core, this is meant to be a coming together. Like a wild daisy field. Less an orderly working out of the frayed and frazzled edges of the tapestry of my psyche, and more a celebration of what emerges when I am ok letting the edges settle as they will". 

On the major/minor experience

• Matthew Reichwein HC '20 on his ITAL thesis, click here to view the video
• MJ Johnson '16 on her ITAL minor, click here to view the video 
• Sofia Bella Vitale Gilles '13 on ITAL major 

On Study Abroad (junior year)

• Matthew Reichwein, HC '20:  "Il mio tempo in Sorrento Italia è stato meraviglioso (2018) – le classi, i viaggi dappertutto, e le interazioni con tutti gli italiani, particolarmente la famiglia con cui vivevo e i parenti che ho incontrato in Calabria! Non vedo l’ora di tornare in Italia. Il video vi dà tutti i highlights del mio tempo, ma spero di raccontarvi tutto in più dettagli quando ritornerò nell’autunno."

On the SITE Program in Italy (post graduation)

• Laura Silla, now MD
• ​Allegra Flechter:  "After graduation, I spent two incredible years of my life in Milan, in northern Italy, with the SITE Program. Once past the initial culture shock and homesickness, I found myself right at home in this simultaneously busy and laid-back city. I had to decide to push past my comfort zone in many areas, and the resulting personal growth was more than worth it. Italy takes a combination of diligent preparation and winging it, and you have to be okay with things not going as planned. I became a natural at lazy strolls, ice-cream in hand of course, marveling again and again at the incredible architecture and landscaping around me. I met friends who have become family, I tried incredible cuisine, I am now a bit of a fashionista, and I have a repertoire of wonderful experiences I love telling my students of Italian. Nothing worth anything comes easy, but considering how incredible Milan was, my time there just might be the exception." 
• Cindy Columbus: "I worked at a high school called Istituto Salvador Allende in Milan. My job was to encourage speaking as much as possible in the classroom with dialogues, debates, games, discussions, etc. I think the best lesson I did was one in which I brought in a bunch of clothing and had the students create and act out dialogues as if they were at a store shopping. Outside of the classroom, I found that one challenging aspect of participating in SITE was building up my social life. Starting off, the only person my age that I knew was the other American teaching assistant at my school and my only commitment was the 12 hours of teaching required each week by the program. Some of the things that I did to change this were: 1) Joining a local gym. 2) Seeking out opportunities for giving private lessons. 3) Contacting and meeting up with other SITE assistants placed in Milan. 4) Looking for and attending events to meet locals. (Every Thursday, I went to a popular English-speaking happy hour at a bar and always met lots of Italians there.) There are plenty of ways to build a community in the city you're placed in. You just have to put in the effort! Overall, I really enjoyed my year in Milan and would be happy to answer any questions people have about my experience." 

Senior honors Theses and Senior Research ProJects in Italian