Nancy Caronia
Dr. Nancy Caronia Named Paul and Ann Rubino Endowed Professorship of Italian American Studies
Dr. Caronia Joins the Department of English in the College of Arts and Sciences
The College of Arts and Sciences at Loyola University Chicago has announced that Dr. Nancy Caronia will start on August 11, 2025, as a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Department of English, as the Paul and Ann Rubino Endowed Professorship of Italian American Studies.
Dr. Caronia earned her PhD in English and cultural studies from the University of Rhode Island in 2015. She is currently a Visiting Scholar at Chatham University and previously served as a Teaching Associate Professor for eight years at West Virginia University. Dr. Caronia studies Italian American and Italian diaspora culture and literature, with an emphasis on women writers of Italian descent, Italian American film, and the representation of Italian Americans in popular culture.
She has published nine scholarly articles and book chapters in the area of Italian American Studies and is the co-editor of a volume, Personal Effects: Essays on Memoir, Teaching and Culture in the Works of Louise DeSalvo, a renowned scholar within the field of Italian American Studies, which was published by Fordham University Press. Five years ago, Dr. Caronia co-founded the Italian Diaspora Archive Research Map (IDARM) Project. Supported by University of Pittsburgh, West Virginia University, and the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh, IDARM has been funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). This project is aimed at making Italian American archival resources more visible and discoverable for researchers of all kinds, including citizen researchers, undergraduate and graduate students, scholars, and library, archive, and museum professionals.
Dr. Caronia’s work is interdisciplinary at its core, spanning studies of culture, history, and literature. She will be teaching a variety of courses on the Italian American experience, including Italian Americans in literature and Italian Americans in film. In addition to her research and teaching, Dr. Caronia will engage with Chicago’s vibrant Italian American community. She will oversee College of Arts and Sciences-funded activities that are designed to promote Italian American Studies, including an annual lecture by a distinguished scholar and undergraduate student-oriented activities, such as the involvement of undergraduate students in the College of Arts and Sciences' Undergraduate Summer Research Experience (USRE) program.
“Dr. Caronia was the unanimous choice of a hiring process that included faculty representatives from eight different academic departments under the leadership of Dr. Catherine Putonti, Associate Dean for Interdisciplinary Initiatives and Academic Innovation,” said Peter J. Schraeder, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Loyola University Chicago. “This search was unique in that it also benefited from the input of Chicago’s Italian American Community, with Vincent Rubino, a member of that group as well as the son of the original donors, Paul and Ann Rubino, who created the Rubino Endowed Professorship of Italian American Studies, participating in the interview process.”
Please join us in welcoming Dr. Caronia as one of the newest members of the College of Arts and Sciences academic family.
About the College of Arts and Sciences
The College of Arts and Sciences is the oldest of Loyola University Chicago’s 13 schools and colleges. More than 150 years since its founding, the College is home to 20 academic departments, 31 interdisciplinary programs, and 7 interdisciplinary centers, more than 450 full-time faculty, and nearly 8,000 students. The 2,000+ classes that we offer each semester span an array of intellectual pursuits, ranging from the natural sciences and computational sciences to the humanities, the social sciences, and the fine and performing arts. Our students and faculty are engaged internationally at our campus in Rome, Italy, as well as at dozens of university-sponsored study abroad and research sites around the world. Home to the departments that anchor the university’s Core Curriculum, the College seeks to prepare all of Loyola’s students to think critically, to engage the world of the 21st century at ever deepening levels, and to become caring and compassionate individuals. Our faculty, staff, and students view service to others not just as one option among many, but as a constitutive dimension of their very being. In the truest sense of the Jesuit ideal, our graduates strive to be “individuals for others.”
The College of Arts and Sciences at Loyola University Chicago has announced that Dr. Nancy Caronia will start on August 11, 2025, as a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Department of English, as the Paul and Ann Rubino Endowed Professorship of Italian American Studies.
Dr. Caronia earned her PhD in English and cultural studies from the University of Rhode Island in 2015. She is currently a Visiting Scholar at Chatham University and previously served as a Teaching Associate Professor for eight years at West Virginia University. Dr. Caronia studies Italian American and Italian diaspora culture and literature, with an emphasis on women writers of Italian descent, Italian American film, and the representation of Italian Americans in popular culture.
She has published nine scholarly articles and book chapters in the area of Italian American Studies and is the co-editor of a volume, Personal Effects: Essays on Memoir, Teaching and Culture in the Works of Louise DeSalvo, a renowned scholar within the field of Italian American Studies, which was published by Fordham University Press. Five years ago, Dr. Caronia co-founded the Italian Diaspora Archive Research Map (IDARM) Project. Supported by University of Pittsburgh, West Virginia University, and the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh, IDARM has been funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). This project is aimed at making Italian American archival resources more visible and discoverable for researchers of all kinds, including citizen researchers, undergraduate and graduate students, scholars, and library, archive, and museum professionals.
Dr. Caronia’s work is interdisciplinary at its core, spanning studies of culture, history, and literature. She will be teaching a variety of courses on the Italian American experience, including Italian Americans in literature and Italian Americans in film. In addition to her research and teaching, Dr. Caronia will engage with Chicago’s vibrant Italian American community. She will oversee College of Arts and Sciences-funded activities that are designed to promote Italian American Studies, including an annual lecture by a distinguished scholar and undergraduate student-oriented activities, such as the involvement of undergraduate students in the College of Arts and Sciences' Undergraduate Summer Research Experience (USRE) program.
“Dr. Caronia was the unanimous choice of a hiring process that included faculty representatives from eight different academic departments under the leadership of Dr. Catherine Putonti, Associate Dean for Interdisciplinary Initiatives and Academic Innovation,” said Peter J. Schraeder, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Loyola University Chicago. “This search was unique in that it also benefited from the input of Chicago’s Italian American Community, with Vincent Rubino, a member of that group as well as the son of the original donors, Paul and Ann Rubino, who created the Rubino Endowed Professorship of Italian American Studies, participating in the interview process.”
Please join us in welcoming Dr. Caronia as one of the newest members of the College of Arts and Sciences academic family.
About the College of Arts and Sciences
The College of Arts and Sciences is the oldest of Loyola University Chicago’s 13 schools and colleges. More than 150 years since its founding, the College is home to 20 academic departments, 31 interdisciplinary programs, and 7 interdisciplinary centers, more than 450 full-time faculty, and nearly 8,000 students. The 2,000+ classes that we offer each semester span an array of intellectual pursuits, ranging from the natural sciences and computational sciences to the humanities, the social sciences, and the fine and performing arts. Our students and faculty are engaged internationally at our campus in Rome, Italy, as well as at dozens of university-sponsored study abroad and research sites around the world. Home to the departments that anchor the university’s Core Curriculum, the College seeks to prepare all of Loyola’s students to think critically, to engage the world of the 21st century at ever deepening levels, and to become caring and compassionate individuals. Our faculty, staff, and students view service to others not just as one option among many, but as a constitutive dimension of their very being. In the truest sense of the Jesuit ideal, our graduates strive to be “individuals for others.”