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Curriculum Vitae

Thomas J Ferraro

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323 Allen Bldg
Box 90015
Durham, NC 27708-0015 		919-684-3718 (office)
(email)
Education

Ph.D.Yale University (Co-Winner, Field Prize for Distinguished Humanities Dissertation)1988
M. Phil.Yale University (with distinction)1983
B.A.Amherst College (summa cum laude; valedictorian)1979
Areas of Research

American Literature and Culture, with special expertise in the novel and in the interplay of religion, ethnicity, and the media arts

Professional Experience / Employment History

Duke University
Professor and Director of Graduate Studies, English Dept., 2005 - 2006
Professor, English Dept., 2005 - present
Associate Professor with tenure, English, 1995-present
Assistant Professor, English, 1988-1995
University of Geneva, Switzerland
Assistant (teaching fellowship), English, 1986-1988
Awards, Honors and Distinctions

  Awards:
  1. American Book Award, 8 2006  
    Before Columbus Foundation
    The award recognizes Feeling Italian: the Art of Ethnicity in America for its "outstanding contribution to American literature." 
  2. H.O.P.E. Award for ExemplaryTeaching, April, 2006  
    Duke University Residential Life
  3. Robert B. Cox Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, May 2001  
    Duke University
  4. Andrew W. Mellon Assistant Professorship, 1991-1992  
    Duke University
  5. Duke Alumni Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching Award Nominee, 1990, 1991, 1994-6, 1998, and others  
  6. USIA Teaching Fellow, 5 1990  
    Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain
  7. Theron Rockwell Field Prize, 5 1989  
    Yale University
    awarded to the outstanding dissertation in "Poetry, Literature, or Religion" by university-wide committee
  8. Garner Fellowship in the Humanities, 1979-1984  
    Yale University
  9. George A. Plimpton Postgraduate Fellowship, 1979  
    Amherst College
    presented to the senior demonstrating the greatest promise for professional scholarship
  10. George Rogers Taylor Prize for Outstanding Senior Thesis, 1979  
    Amherst College
    "The Eye of Eternity Under the Touch of Time: The Life and Vision of Ralph Waldo Emerson"
  11. Marshall Scholarship Finalist, 1979  
  Honors:
  1. Valedictorian, 1979  
    Amherst College
  2. Phi Beta Kappa, 1978  
    Amherst College
    (junior)
  3. The Knox Cup, 1975  
    St. Paul's School, Concord, NH
    (Valedictorian)
  Other:
  1. Sabbatical Research Leave, Fall 1996; Spring 2001  
    Duke University
  2. Junior Faculty Research Leave, Fall 1991  
    Duke University
Publications (listed separately)
Papers Presented
  1. 2007, Mario Puzo Reconsidered: a Roundtable, Annual Meeting of the AIHA, Denver
  2. 2007, On the Virtues of Forgetting: a response to Gorman, Chu, and Besteman, American Studies Association Annual Meeting in Philadelphia
  3. 2006, Sacraments of Genre, American Studies Association, Washington DC
  4. 2006, Love & Death in "The Scarlet Letter": A Response to Robert A. Orsi's "Between Heaven and Earth", American Academy of Religion, Philadelphia PA
  5. 2005, Meeting the Author of "Feeling Italian", Calandra Institute, CUNY; also Coccia Institutute, Montclair State
  6. 2005, "The Future of Catholic Studies", Curran Center, Fordham University
  7. 2004, "Our Lady the Dominatrix of Pop", University of Miami at Ohio
  8. 2003, "Friday Bloody Friday", ASA Annual Meeting, Hartford CT
  9. 2003, "Starbucked," Panel on Performing Ethnicity, MELUS, Boca Raton
  10. 2001, Stella's New York Skyline, Panel on the Multilingual Literatures of the United States, MLA, New Orleans
  11. 2001, "Joseph Stella's Visual Poliphony", American Italian Historical Association Annual Meeting, Las Vegas
  12. 2001, "Cine Cucina:, Panel on Religion and the Arts, ASA, Washington, DC
  13. 2000, Giancarlo and the Border Patrol, ASA 2000 for a panel on "Spike's Italians" with John Gennari, Jennifer Scappettone, Carlo Rotella, and Gerald Early
  14. 1999, Ethnic 1950s (Panel Chair and Respondent), American Studies Association, Montreal
  15. 1998, Urbane Villager, Frank Sinatra: the Conference, Hofstra University, SUNY Stony Brook, Sept. 1997., to be published in Conference Proceedings.
  16. 1997, If Reindeer Know How to Fly, MLA, Washington DC
  17. 1996, A Triptych for the Catholic Atlantic, keynote, Association Francaise d'Etudes Americaines, Lyon, France
  18. 1995, Mariette in Ecstasy: a Transfigurative (Not Reproductive) Female Sexuality?, Facilitator and Presenter, Symposium on Engendering American Catholicism, Cushwa Center, University of Notre Dame
  19. 1995, Doctorow's Book of Daniel: A Passion Play for American Judaism?, Society for the Study of Narrative Literature, Park City, Utah
  20. 1994, Gatsby the Great, Mystic Martyr, European Association for American Studies, Luxembourg
  21. 1993, Who Prays for Don Corleone?, American Studies Association
  22. 1993, Tradition and the Minority Talent, Symposium on Political Correctness and Higher Education, Performing Arts and Forum Series, Appalachian State University
  23. 1992, Italian Americans and the Arts, Respondent, American Italian Historical Association, Washington
  24. 1992, Confessing Modern American Literature, University of Geneva, Switzerland
  25. 1992, Doubly Cursed: Introducing American Ethnic Literature, Commonwealth Center for Cultural Change, University of Virginia
  26. 1991, Revisiting an Italian-American Risorgimento, MLA, San Francisco
  27. 1990, Postmodernism and Ethnic Literature, MELUS, Chicago
  28. 1989, Call it Ethnic Modernism, ASA/CAAS, Toronto
  29. 1987, Reconstructing Ethnic Literature: Werner Sollars' Critique of Pure Pluralism, Swiss Association for North American Studies, Bern, Switzerland
  30. 1985, Ethnic Literature and Literary Evaluation, MLA, Chicago

Professional Service

  1. Admissions and Financial Aid Committee, 2008 - present
  2. DUS Advisory Committee, 2008 - present
  3. Committee Member (also defacto steering committee, Dec 07), Quality Enhancement Plan for Trinity, Pratt, and Duke, 2007 - present
  4. Arts and Sciences Faculty Research Council, 2004 - present
  5. Editorial Board and Referee, American Literary History, 2002-present
  6. Consultant, Misc, ongoing
  7. Tenure and Promotion Referee, Misc., ongoing
  8. Duke Endowment Fellowship Committee, 2007
  9. Chair's Advisory Committee, 2006 - 2007
  10. CoConvener, Working Group on Early Cinema, 2006 - 2007
  11. Admissions and Financial Aid Committee, 2007-2010
  12. Graduate Advisory Committee (including Grad Admissions), 2007-present
  13. Senior Americanist Hire Tenure Review Committee (David Eng), Fall 2006
  14. Search Committee, American Literature, 2005 - 2006
  15. Director of Graduate Studies, Department of English, 2005 - 2006
  16. Duke Endowment Fellowship Committee, 2006
  17. Director of Graduate Students, 2006
  18. Director of Graduate Studies, Department of English, 2005-2006
  19. Americanist Search Committee, 2005
  20. Member, Graduate Admissions Committee, Spring 2004
  21. Director of Graduate Studies, 2005
  22. Member, Arts & Sciences Research Committee, 2004-07
  23. Member, Asian-Americanist Search Committee, 2003-04
  24. Ad Hoc Committee on the Tenure and Promotion of Maurice Wallace, 2002
  25. Americanist Search Committee, 2001 - 02
  26. Review Panel, National Endowment for the Humanities, Summer Stipend Awards, 2000-01
  27. chair, Academic Priorities Committee (app. by Provost), 1997-2000
  28. chair, Working Group on Drama: Review Teams for Task Force on the Arts Report, Academic Priorities Committee, 1997 - 2000
  29. Undergraduate Placement Committee, English Department, 1989-91, 2000-
  30. Senior Americanist Search Committee, 1998-1999
  31. Senior Americanist Search Committee, 1998 - 99
  32. Acting Co-Editor, American Literature: A Journal of Literary History, Criticism, and Bibliography, 1997-98
  33. Target of Opportunity Hiring Committee, 1997-98
  34. Delegate, Ethnic Studies Division, 1996 - 1998
  35. Evaluator, Misc. Journals, 1996 - 1998
  36. Editorial Board and Referee, MELUS: the Journal of the Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States, 1994 - 1998
  37. Juror, (with Fred Gardaphe and Edvige Giunta), First Annual Gay Talese Prize in Literature ($10,000), Spring 1997
  38. -, Ad-Hoc Renewal Committee, Women's Studies and Public Policy, 1997
  39. (elected), Academic Council, 1995 - 1997
  40. Fellowship Evaluation, Group 3 Preliminary, 1994 - 1997
  41. Chair's Advisory Committee, 1995 - 96; 1997-98
  42. Graduate Admissions, English Department, 1991-93, 1995-96
  43. Medieval Search Committee, 1995 - 96
  44. Consultant on Hiring in Ethnic Literature, Smith College Department of English, 1995
  45. (elected), Arts & Sciences Council, 1993 - 1995
  46. Consulting Scholar, Documentary Film Series on 20th Cent American Authors, 1994
  47. Faculty-Mentor, Dana Foundation Fellowships for Prospective Doctoral Students, 1993 - 1994
  48. Scholar-Consultant, National Humanities Center Seminar in Race and Ethnicity, 1993 - 1994
  49. (elected), Advisory Committee, 1993- 94; 1999-01
  50. Panelist, Round Table on Graduate Education in American Studies, April, 1994
  51. Faculty Advisor, Workshop in Comparative InterAmerican Studies, Duke-UNC Graduate Programs, 1992-93
  52. -, Advisory Committee, 1992-93
  53. Graduate Placement Committee, English Department, 1988-91, 1992-93, 2004
  54. Outside Examiner, Senior Honors Program, English and Religion, 1992
  55. Panel Chair, Multiculturalism, Trinity College Board of Visitors, 1991
  56. Consultant and Guest Lecturer, Diversity Media, 1990-91
  57. Chair, Senior Honors Committee, English Department, 1989-91
  58. Curriculum Review Committee, English Department, 1989-90
Last modified: 2008/01/03