Fred Gardaphe:  

Life Fred Gardaphe was born in Chicago to Fred Gardaphe and Anna Rotolo. He was raised in Melrose Park, Illinois, a predominantly Italian American community. His grandparents on his mother’s side emigrated from Bari, Italy. On his father’s side, his grandmother’s family emigrated from Calabria, his grandfather’s family from Canada. He attended Sacred Heart Grammar School, Fenwick Preparatory High School (Oak Park) and Triton College (River Grove) where he earned an Associate of Arts degree in 1973. He earned a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (1976), a Master’s Degree in English at the University of Chicago (1982) and his Ph.D. in Literature at the University of Illinois at Chicago (1993) with an emphasis on cultural criticism and American multicultural literature. In 1982 he was married to Susan Stolder in Castellana Grotte, Puglia, Italy. Their two children are Frederico (19) and Marianna (17). A leading expert in the field of American Studies, Dr. Fred Gardaphe is one of three Professors of Italian American Studies in the world. Dr. Gardaphe directs the American and Italian American Studies Programs at the State University of New York at Stony Brook where he teaches courses in Italian American history and culture, film and literature. His educational background includes teaching high school English and Communication Arts in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, Mason City, Iowa, and at Prologue, an alternative school in Chicago’s Uptown community. From there he took a position in English at Columbia College Chicago where he taught writing, literature, courses in Italian/American film and literature and graduate courses in Educational Studies at from 1978-1998. Professor Gardaphe believes in connecting the streets to his teaching and so serves as Associate Editor of Fra Noi, an Italian American monthly newspaper and as editor of the Series in Italian American Studies at State University of New...Expand for more