Federica Santini Named Interim Chair, Department of World Languages and Cultures

KENNESAW, Ga. (May 16, 2022) — Beginning August 1, 2022, Federica Santini will take the position of interim chair of the Department of World Languages and Cultures (WLC). Most recently, Santini was the Coordinator of Gender and Women's Studies and Professor of Italian and Interdisciplinary Studies. In her new role, she will focus on supporting department’s faculty in implementing projects and exploring new ways, including curricular innovation and interdisciplinary work, to guide the WLC students in their exploration of world languages and cultures. 

“While my own training and interests are in literature and women’s writing, I am grateful to be part of a diverse department, which includes a global team of experts in language learning, cinema and theatre, cultural studies, translation studies, literature, and linguistics among others,” Santini said. “This very difference in interests and background is, I believe, what sets us apart as a department and makes us strong.”  

Understanding world languages and culture is more important than ever. Global connectivity has made the world smaller, and mobile populations have made our communities more diverse. The ability to communicate clearly, understand thoroughly, and engage effectively with international communities are marketable skills in most professional and academic arenas. “While leading the department over the next year, I am excited to watch her continue to support our R2 mission particularly with respect to her scholarly interests in the areas of modern and contemporary Italian poetry, 20th- and 21st-century women’s writing, and translation studies,” said Dean Katie Kaukinen. “I am confident she will find new and exciting ways to cultivate interdisciplinary research at the student and the faculty levels and will activate student awareness and understanding of global perspectives, which will better prepare them for their chosen careers” the dean added.

Santini’s work has appeared in numerous journals, including Autografo, Rivista di Studi italiani, L’illuminista, il verri, L’Ulisse, and Italian Culture, among others, as well as in many edited volumes. As a translator, she has published translations of US poets for Mondadori and Nino Aragno, as well as translations of Italian poets for the University of Toronto Press. Her poetry chapbook, Unearthed, was published in 2021 by Kelsay Books. She received a fellowship for the Desert Nights, Rising Stars Writers’ Conference (Arizona State University, 2021), a Best of the Net nomination (2021), and a nomination for the GAYA awards (2022).

Federica Santini is a Professor of Italian and Interdisciplinary Studies. She holds a Ph.D. in Italian literature from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and an M.A. in Modern Literatures from the University of Siena, Italy. In the Department of WLC, she was Coordinator of Italian Studies from 2007 to 2019. Most recently, she has served as Interim Associate Chair for the Interdisciplinary Studies Department (Fall 2022) and Program Coordinator for GWST (2020-present).