Reflecting on 2021, and Moving Forward to 2022!

In anticipation of our Spring 2022 programming announcement, we express our immense gratitude to all of you who attended our events either in-person or virtually during 2021! The past two years were challenging, but we are fortunate to have returned to in-person programming this semester, where we launched new initiatives!

We kicked off 2021 with “Italian Americans in the World of Jazz” a joint program with One Day University that featured Anna Celenza of Georgetown University and John Gennari of the University of Vermont. We also awarded scholarships to outstanding Italian majors and minors at MSU for their excellence in their undergraduate studies.

During the Fall 2021 semester, we hosted our first in-person, off-campus event in collaboration with the Montclair Literary Festival, featuring “Sopranos” star and Bruce Springsteen’s E. Street Band guitarist, Stevie Van Zandt.

We then celebrated Italian American Heritage Month with two exciting programs: the launch of our Coccia Lecture Series with Dean Anthony Tamburri of the Calandra Institute on his new book “The Columbus Affair: Imperatives for an Italian/American Agenda” and a talk with children’s author, Dan Yaccarino, in partnership with the Watchung Booksellers on his newest book “The Longest Storm.”

We ended the month with our 14th annual Teaching Italian Symposium, co-hosted with Prof.ssa Enza Antenos, and presented the 2021 Coccia-Inserra Award For Excellence and Innovation in the Teaching of Italian to Antonietta Gliubizzi.

And… we have another exciting year just around the corner! If you’re not subscribed to our newsletter, send us either a DM or an email to coccia-assistant@montclair.edu to get on our list – you won’t want to miss our Spring 2022 events!