Two professors in the Department of French and Italian have been promoted, demonstrating excellent performance in teaching, service and research.
Dr. Deborah Kaye is promoted from Lecturer to Senior Lecturer.
Dr. Francesco Rabissi is promoted from Assistant Professor to tenured Associate Professor.
Kaye earned her Ph.D. in Modern European History from the University of Arizona and her M.A. in Jewish History from The University of Michigan. Her research interests include nineteenth century Italian liberalism and Jewish corporatism. Research for Dr. Kaye’s dissertation Between Ghetto and State: Religious Policy, Liberal Reform and Jewish Corporate Politics in Piedmont, 1821-1831 was funded by a number of prestigious grants including the Fulbright, Krieble Delmas, Mellon, and Marshall fellowships. Her current book project entitled The Catholic Church and the Emancipation of the Jews in Modern Italy, 1815-1921 draws on her dissertation research to reveal the ways in which the process leading to Jewish emancipation in Italy undermined the Catholic Church’s capacity to compete effectively for its interests.
Rabissi earned his Ph.D. from Yale University and Laurea in Contemporary History from Università degli Studi di Milano. His research focuses on the relationship between Aesthetics and Politics with main interest in the case of Italian Cinema. His current research project analyzes the connection between the oneiric and the representation of history in the Contemporary Italian Film production. His research and teaching interests include Italian Cinema and Literature; Contemporary Italian history, politics and society; World Cinema. He published articles on the cinema of Marco Bellocchio, George Lucas, Jim Jarmusch and Otar Iosseliani.