After
twenty-six years of teaching Italian at the University of Arizona,
Professor Ronnie H. Terpening will retire
in May 2008.
Professor Terpening received his PhD from the University of
California, Berkeley in 1978 as a specialist in Italian Renaissance
and Baroque
literature. He spent four years as Assistant Professor of
Italian at Loyola University in Chicago before coming to the
University
of Arizona in 1982.
Professor Terpening has published a number of books on Italian
literature, including: Charon and the Crossing: Ancient,
Medieval, and Renaissance Transformations of a Myth; Lodovico
Dolce, Renaissance Man of Letters; and Anthology of
Italian Literature, volumes I
and II. Recently, Professor Terpening has focused on publishing
fiction, including three well-received suspense novels, League
of Shadows, Tropic of Fear, and Nine Days
in October.
Yet for all his scholarly contributions, Professor Terpening is
probably best remembered as someone who saved the Italian Program
at the University of Arizona. In 1995, due to its low number of
majors, the Italian Program was slated to be closed. Professor
Terpening reworked it into its current two-track major (Italian
and Italian Studies). Thirteen years later the Italian Program
at the University of Arizona is one of the largest in North America.
In the last census performed by the American Association of Teachers
of Italian, it was rated as fifth in the country, and the largest
undergraduate-only Italian Program in the United States.
Please join us in wishing the best to Professor Terpening!
Fabian Alfie
