The Department of French and Italian is excited to welcome several new faces to our team this year. We look forward to working with each of them as they begin their journeys teaching and learning with students, staff, and other Ohio State faculty.
Professor Ryan Joyce will begin as Assistant Professor of French and Francophone Studies specializing in Global French.
Ryan Joyce earned a PhD in French and Francophone Studies at Tulane University and is now an Assistant Professor at Ohio State. He has lived, studied, and worked in New York, New Orleans, Paris, Martinique, and Haiti—experiences that deeply inform both his scholarship and teaching.
His research brings a transnational perspective to French and francophone studies, with a focus on the Atlantic World and wider Western Hemisphere (Haiti, the Caribbean, Louisiana, and Amazonia). He investigates the circulation of cultural production and social movements across borders, the legacies of colonialism, and the ways gender and sexuality are constructed, represented, and lived in the region. His recent work also engages decolonial theory to study how empire, race, and knowledge production intersect, while exploring how art and literature open spaces for epistemic repair, justice, and transformative visions of liberation.
While conducting research and teaching, he has also built community-oriented initiatives. Recently, he has collaborated with the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, an environmental justice non-profit, and CRIS in Columbus. At Ohio State, he launched a decolonial pedagogies working group and organized pedagogical workshops on inclusive teaching strategies. This summer, he created and taught Kickstart Kreyòl, a community-based Haitian Creole course for public school teachers in central Ohio.
This fall he is teaching Introduction to Francophone Literature. He also teaches French language classes and courses on postcolonial thought, Caribbean cultural studies, and the history of Paris.
Dr. Eric Johnson will join us as an Associated Faculty member in Italian.
Eric's journey in academia began at the University of Pittsburgh, where he completed his MA in Italian Language & Literature and wrote his thesis, Utero in affitto, bimbi da asporto e donne in vendita, on the use of imagery, expressions, and metaphors in the family-oriented language of the Italian far-right. After finishing his MA, he headed just up the road to Carnegie Mellon University, where he received his PhD in Applied Linguistics & Second Language Acquisition. While at CMU, Eric developed an interest in digital game-based language learning, and his dissertation presented a qualitative investigation into the emergence of language learning opportunities in a collaborative, digital game-based pedagogical intervention. He has presented his work at conferences of the Northeast Association for Language Learning Technology, as well as the American Association of Applied Linguistics. He has also served as an instructor in the Master's program in Technology-Mediated Language Teaching and Learning at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya. Eric is passionate about leveraging engaging and innovative technologies into language instruction.
Outside of the university setting, Eric spent three years as a member of Duolingo's Italian-English contractor team, he taught Italian language courses of all levels to adults for several years at a private language school in his hometown of Pittsburgh, he spent a year teaching English to adults in Bologna, and, most recently, he worked as an on-site manager for a study abroad program in Rome. In his free time, Eric stays busy with a part-time role as tickle monster for his daughters.
Fatou-Codé Niang will join us as Rennes Lecturer in French.
My name is Fatou-Code , and I'm French and Senegalese. I come from the region of Bretagne where I grew up, but for seven years I lived in Dakar, Senegal . I have a law degree and a master’s 1 in Public Law from the University of Rennes 1. I am at OSU as a French lecturer for this year thanks to an agreement with OSU and my university. I came here to learn more about the US and your system, but also because, in my opinion, it's very important to travel and discover new cultures.
Our incoming cohort of Graduate Teaching Associates includes 3 French and Francophone Studies PhD students and 3 Italian Studies PhD students.
Dario Chimenti - Italian Studies PhD
Born and raised in Rome, Dario Chimenti holds a BA in Political Science and an MA in Media and Journalism from Roma Tre University, where he began investigating fascist propaganda films and radical cinema of the 1960s. After completing an MA in Italian Studies at the University of Pittsburgh and serving as a Visiting Lecturer at Indiana University, at the Ohio State University his research focuses on the intersections of politics, cinema, and literature in modern and contemporary Italy. More specifically, he explores topics such as blue-collar representation in postwar Italian film, Italian animation, and cinematic portrayals of immigration and gender.
In addition to his academic work, Dario Chimenti is committed to the promotion of Italian language and culture through teaching, mentorship, and community engagement.
Solène Cotier - French and Francophone Studies PhD
Solène Cotier is a Ph.D. Student and Graduate Teaching Associate in the Department of French and Italian at The Ohio State University. She graduated from Lyon 3 University with a B.A in French literature before pursuing her studies with a M.A in French at Miami University where she was a Graduate Teaching Assistant. She is particularly interested in feminist theories and gender studies.
Deborah Idowu - French and Francophone Studies PhD
Deborah's journey with the French language began in junior high school in Nigeria, where she discovered her passion for languages and cultures while many of her peers struggled with uninspiring teaching methods. This early experience sparked her commitment to making French more accessible and engaging for learners. After earning her First Class BA in French from the University of Ibadan, she worked as a French language instructor in Nigeria before pursuing graduate studies in the United States. At the University of Florida, she completed her MA with a perfect 4.0 GPA while teaching beginning French courses and conducting experimental research on how explicit morphological instruction can enhance vocabulary acquisition. Her thesis demonstrated that even brief instruction in word structure patterns significantly improves learners' ability to understand new vocabulary independently. Now pursuing her PhD at Ohio State University, Deborah continues to explore innovative approaches to vocabulary development in second language learning, with plans to integrate technological solutions into her research. Her work has been presented at international conferences in Paris and across the United States, and she remains dedicated to bridging the gap between linguistic research and practical classroom applications that help students develop genuine proficiency in French.
Eraste Kossa - French and Francophone Studies PhD
Originally from Côte d’Ivoire, Eraste Kossa holds an MA in Sociolinguistics from Félix Houphouët-Boigny University in Abidjan and an MA in World Englishes from the Université de Lorraine in France. He recently completed an MA in TESOL at Ball State University and is now pursuing a PhD in French and Francophone Studies at The Ohio State University. His research centers on questions of language, identity, and power in contemporary Francophone and Anglophone contexts, with a particular focus on multilingualism, linguistic justice, and the politics of language education.
Beyond his academic research, Eraste actively promotes inclusive and culturally responsive approaches to language education. As a Graduate Teaching Associate in French at Ohio State, he works to cultivate critical awareness of language, identity, and culture, while engaging students with the richness and diversity of the Francophone world.
Matthew Perkins - Italian Studies PhD
Matthew Perkins earned his B.A. from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in 2023, graduating with a double major in Art History and Italian Studies and receiving special recognition for Excellence in Undergraduate Research. During his undergraduate years, he studied abroad twice in Bologna, Italy, gaining immersive experience in Italian language and culture. Matthew also served as the social media representative for the Italian Department and as president of the Italian Club. He worked as a research assistant to Dr. Annachiara Mariani on the project “The Implication of ‘Straight Washing’ in Leonardo and Other Historical Series Set in the Renaissance.”
He went on to complete an M.A. in History at East Tennessee State University, with a focus on Pre-Modern Europe and 20th-century American Studies. Under the mentorship of Dr. Brian Maxson, he wrote a thesis titled “Performative Masculinity in Ducal Literature in Florence (1520–1580).” In 2024, Matthew received the Sherrod Library Excellence in Research Scholarship for his paper, “AIDS, Art, and Activism: The Contextual Understanding of Gran Fury Through its Visual Media (1981–1996).” During his graduate studies, he also held leadership roles, including Assistant Organizer for the Appalachian Premodernist and Co-Chair of the Annual Graduate Student Research Conference for the 2024–2025 academic year.
Matthew has taught and assisted in courses on Pre-Modern European history, American history, introductory Italian, Italian cinema, and Italian culture at both ETSU and UTK, both in the United States and abroad. He has also taught Italian 314: Highlights of Italian Civilization, Culture, and Identity for three consecutive summers as part of the University of Tennessee’s Summer Abroad program in Bologna, under the supervision of Dr. Annachiara Mariani.
Antonio Pilagatti - Italian Studies PhD
After earning a B.A. in Modern Humanities from the University of Bari (cum laude) and an M.A. in Italian Studies from the University of Bologna (cum laude), Antonio Pilagatti’s research unfolds along two intertwined paths at The Ohio State University.
On one side, he is drawn to literary theory, focusing on what it means to tell a story, what it implies and which disciplines come into play. He is particularly interested in core narrative structures, which he explores through antithetical pairs: novel/short story, realism/fantastic, truth/fiction, space/time. An adage informs his idea of literature: Can we put a dream into words?
On the other side, he investigates Italian literature in its historical and cultural specificity, from the rupture of the 1970s to the most recent trends in contemporary writing. His research focuses on the link between narrative and crisis, and questions whether, in the past decades, Italy has missed the appointment with the "great novel," leaving behind a lost generation of writers overwhelmed by global media and publishing market demands. Leitmotif: Can we put trauma into words?
