The Italian faculty recently attended and presented at the Modern Language Association's annual conference in New Orleans. The annual MLA conference hosts panels and presentations representing all aspects of English and American literatures as well as all the world literatures and languages taught in the U.S.

Daniela D'Eugenio presented a paper titled "Multiculturalism and Multilingualism in Shakespeare's Plays," which was sponsored by the Medieval and Renaissance Drama Society. Ryan Calabretta-Sajder spoke about "Illness, AIDS, and Affect Theory in Robert Ferro's Novels," which come from a chapter of the book he is finishing about Robert Ferro. His paper was part of an allied organization, the Italian American Studies Association.

Besides his paper, Calabretta-Sajder organized and chaired a mentoring session titled "Navigating the Academy: A Mentoring Session" in which five scholars from various fields (Debra Rae Cohen, Luis Fernando Restrepo, Colleen M. Ryan, Kate Schnur, and William James Spurlin) met in small groups with graduate students as well as contingent and junior faculty. Each facilitator shared pointed information with the interested group. In the end, each mentor was asked to share 1-2 "take away" points with the entire group.

Founded in 1883, the MLA has promoted the teaching, research and advocacy of languages and literatures in the United States. The association has over 20,000 members in 100 countries. Besides hosting the annual convention, it publishes the MLA International Bibliography, the ADE Bulletin, the ALD Bulletin, Profession, and the PMLA, one of the most prestigious journals in the humanities.