Eleven Italian Studies students honoured for their academic achievements

Eleven students from York’s Italian Studies Program were honoured for their academic achievements at York’s Department of Languages, Literatures & Linguistics awards ceremony held at Founders College on Nov. 22.

Students from various courses and levels in the Italian Studies Program in the Faculty of Arts were awarded for the 2006-2007 academic year.

"We are very proud of our students who chose to study and excel in our course offerings in a variety of areas – language, literature, linguistics and culture, both of Italy and the Italian Canadian experience," said Professor Roberta Sinyor, coordinator of the Italian Studies Program in the Department of Languages, Literatures & Linguistics, Faculty of Arts.

The following seven awards were presented to the students by Italian Studies faculty members:

  • Italian Studies Book Prizes for Elementary Italian – Maddalena Barone and Lucia Greco
  • Italian Studies Book Prizes for Intermediate Italian – Daniele Bozzelli and Eugenia Marino
  • Italian Studies Book Prizes for Introduction to Italian Literature – Ljusi Brace and Caterina Marzulli
  • Italian Studies Book Prize for Aspects of Italian Culture – Christina Santaniello
  • Italian Studies Book Prize for Italian Cinema – Gabriella Marsh
  • Mariano A. Elia Chair in Italian Canadian Studies Book Prize – Jennifer Reynolds
  • Istituto italiano di cultura Prizes for Overall Academic Achievement – Antonio Luberto and Luca Picciani

Above: Award winners, faculty members and the guest speaker pose following the presentation of the awards

Guest speaker Madeline Zito, director of corporate communications for the City of Vaughan, spoke about her personal experiences as an Italian-Canadian and the events which led to her present career.

Right: Guest speaker Madeline Zito

Faculty of Arts Associate Deans Marilyn Lambert-Drache and Gabriella Colussi-Arthur also attended the event and congratulated this year’s winners for their outstanding achievements.

"Our award winners are our greatest ambassadors," Colussi-Arthur said.