The Department of French and Italian strives to give undergraduate and graduate students funding to continue their exploration of French and Italian at home and abroad. From conferences and research to study abroad and travel, FRIT is committed to helping students pursue their interests. We are pleased to congratulate our most recent award recipients:
Undergraduate:
- Fiona Gjermeni - Arthur C. and Laura Bell Jahn Memorial Scholarship to study in Bordeaux, FR through the Fisher Global Consulting Program
- Henry Thompson - William S. and Marguerite C. Price Scholarship to study in Montpellier, FR through the University of Minnesota's L’Université Paul Valéry program
- Jaylin Skaggs - Ornelio and Diamond DiPietro Scholarship to study Montpellier, FR through the University of Minnesota's L’Université Paul Valéry program
- Vaishnavi Eranki - William S. and Marguerite C. Price Scholarship to study in Spain through the Urbanism and Architectural Intervention program
Graduate:
Dario Chimenti - Bulatkin Award
My first international conference was an incredibly rewarding and stimulating experience, both academically and professionally. I truly believe that this opportunity will lead to new collegial connections and collaborations. I am deeply grateful to the Department of French and Italian at The Ohio State University for their continuous support. I encourage fellow PhD students to share their research and participate in conferences: it is an invaluable way to grow as both a scholar and a member of an academic community
Holly Engel - Bulatkin Award
My paper was titled ““Ecoutez, monde blanc, / Mon rugissement de zombie”: Diasporas of Sound in Bertrand Bonello’s Zombi Child ,” and it analyzed how the film’s oscillation between past and present allowed sounds from 1960s Haiti to converge with the sounds of contemporary 2000s France, creating an aural representation of the Haitian diaspora while addressing white cultural appropriation of Black francophone cultures in postcolonial France.
Samanta Buffa - Bulatkin Award
The Bulatkin Travel Award enabled Samanta Buffa to participate in ACTFL 2025 in New Orleans, where she engaged with language instructors and educational technology specialists and delivered two presentations. In the first, co-presented with Professor Kevin Richards, she demonstrated how AI- and VR-enhanced tools can support the design of digital storytelling activities and escape rooms, providing practical guidance for adapting these approaches to specific languages and proficiency levels. In her second presentation, she addressed current challenges and opportunities associated with students’ growing reliance on tools such as Google Translate and ChatGPT, drawing on insights from a writing course she taught at The Ohio State University in Fall 2024. Both sessions invited reflection on how to cultivate ethical and pedagogically sound uses of emerging technologies—positioning them not as shortcuts, but as meaningful supports for language development.
Stefani Scimeca - Bulatkin Award
At UT Austin's French and Italian Annual Symposium, I met with other graduate students of various disciplines to discuss the theme "Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Power." I gained new perspectives on power — both how it manifests and how to resist problematic hegemonies — in fields like information technology as well as in the language learning classroom.