Professor Renée D’Elia-Zunino, distinguished lecturer in the Italian program, earned her graduate degree in Italian and English Comparative Literature from Università degli Studi di Genova, Italy, in 1997. That winter, she decided to visit her parents, who had recently moved to Knoxville. After a few serendipitous introductions in the Italian Program at the University of Tennessee, D'Elia Zunino received a job offer and returned to Knoxville in 1998. Twenty-three years later, she says she still loves the city and the school where she and her husband both teach.
Since she joined UTK, Professor D’Elia-Zunino says she has adapted her teaching philosophy repeatedly to meet the changing times and changing needs of her students. By adapting her strategies, D’Elia-Zunino strives to allow her learners to be involved, immersed, to work together, to learn how to solve problems, and to negotiate meaning— all vital goals when learning a new language.
