The Global Catalyst Award honors those who enhance intercultural and international awareness of students and the campus community.
Flavia Brizio-Skov
Flavia Brizio-Skov is professor of Italian at the University of Tennessee, where she teaches Italian and cinema. She has written numerous articles that appeared in Italian, American, French, Spanish, and Portuguese journals. She has published a book on Lalla Romano and a critical monograph on Antonio Tabucchi. She has edited a collection of articles entitled Reconstructing Societies in the Aftermath of War: Memory, Identity, and Reconciliation. In 2011, she published Popular Italian Cinema: Culture and Politics in a Postwar Society (I.B.Tauris), and in 2021 Ride the Frontier: Exploring the Myth of the American West on Screen (McFarland & Company)
What does being a Volunteer mean to you? How has UT empowered you to make a difference in a way you might not have imagined elsewhere?
Being a Volunteer means helping the students and one another in the good times as in the not so good times; it means accepting the challenge to excel in our endeavors in spite of the difficulties; it is a desire to make the community and the world a better place via our teaching; it means to be the best person one can be, a model for both our students and the colleagues in the profession; to be a Volunteer embodies the desire of wanting to make a difference in this world, to make it a better place because we are the Torchbearers!
Renée D’Elia-Zunino
Renée D’Elia-Zunino received her education at Università degli Studi di Genova, Italy, and joined UT in 1998. A distinguished lecturer, she teaches a variety of language and cultural classes and is the course manager for beginner and intermediate Italian and the faculty advisor for the UT Italian Club.
What does being a Volunteer mean to you? How has UT empowered you to make a difference in a way you might not have imagined elsewhere?
Being a Volunteer means working together as a community to ensure that every student belongs, matters, and is valued. In my 23-year career here, I have been empowered by the opportunities to evolve as a teacher, a mentor, and a guide. I feel that my wonderful relationship with students and colleagues is very tightly connected to the positive environment in which I work. My program projects energy, trust, and honesty, and it breathes excitement every step of the way. UT’s Volunteer Spirit makes intercultural awareness my priority by ensuring global citizenship as a celebration of life.
Annachiara Mariani
Annachiara Mariani is an assistant professor of Italian and the director of the study program in Bologna. She teaches language, culture, literature, cinema, and television classes. Her research interests include Italian Cinema, National and Transnational Media Studies, and Italian Theatre. She has authored a book on The Theatre of the Grotesque and Pirandello (2013) and edited a book (2021) on Sorrentino’s films and TV series. She has also published numerous articles, essays, and book reviews on Italian theatre, cinema, and on the interrelation between cinema and literature. She is currently working on a book-length project on today’s portrayal of the Italian Renaissance through popular culture.
What does being a Volunteer mean to you? How has UT empowered you to make a difference in a way you might not have imagined elsewhere?
Being a Volunteer means showing concern and care for my students, my colleagues, and my work as a researcher, actively attempting to enhance the quality of life for myself and people around me, striving to foster inclusivity for everyone. Being a Volunteer has empowered me to gain confidence in my potential by giving me the chance to take on new opportunities to research, serve the UT community, and build a real sense of achievement.