Iovino, Serenella

UNC Service

Since I started working at UNC my service has been very intense and productive.
In the Department of Romance Studies, I am the Advisor for Italian Graduate Studies and a member of the Graduate Advisory Committee, Chair of the Faculty Development Committee, and I serve in the Faculty Review Committee, Personnel Committee, Department Recognition and Community Committee, and Mentoring Committee. I also chaired a Search Committee for a Tenure-track Assistant Professor of Italian. I am a member of the Advisory Committee of the Center for European Studies.

Candidate Statement

The most meaningful part of the academic profession is to keep the horizon of the mind open. This means two things: cultivating the highest scholarly standards and ensuring a fair, future-oriented, and intellectually honest evaluation of merits. Sometimes, however, it is hard for cutting-edge scholars to be recognized at the highest levels, especially when they work across disciplines and explore new fields. Things are even harder if they face prejudices because of their gender, race, age, sexual orientation, abilities, or creeds.
Having spent my whole adult life in the academe, I now feel the urge to turn my experience into an active promotion of scholarly quality and justice. This translates into creating concrete bonds of ideas and solidarity across generations, thus contributing to the vitality of educational institutions.