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Michael Vena
Michael Vena received his Ph.D. at Yale. A professor emeritus of Italian Studies from Southern Connecticut State University, he has been interested in modern Italian theater from a...view moreMichael Vena received his Ph.D. at Yale. A professor emeritus of Italian Studies from Southern Connecticut State University, he has been interested in modern Italian theater from a literary standpoint and as a tool in language acquisition, which has lead to published texts, translations and articles on language, literature and theater. His renaissance interests have lead to discover innovations in Alberti’s language, which were incorporated by two etymological dictionaries - Cortelazzo and Zolli in Italy and Pfister in Germany - appeared in various journals as well as in Italian Literature: Roots and Branches (Yale University Press), and in a 1997 concordance from the vernacular production of Leon Battista Alberti , which Vena compiled under the sponsorship of the Italian Academy of Language in Florence (Accademia della Crusca).
Dr. Vena has received a number of state and federal grants including one from the National Endowment for the Humanities and a Fulbright Fellowship. He served as a consultant to the Educational Testing Service in Princeton for teacher certification in Italian, and since 1980 has directed an exchange program with the University of Urbino in Italy. In the summer of 2003, one of the plays edited and translated by Dr. Vena was staged and ran daily for two months at the Tasso Amphitheater in Rome.
He is active in professional organizations, including the American Association of Teachers of Italian, the Renaissance Society of America, and the Modern Language Association .view less