Joan Cammarata Nominated by Students to Receive Costello Excellence in Teaching Award
Cammarata is a beloved professor in the Modern Languages and Literatures department.
The annual Costello Excellence in Teaching Award was presented to Joan Cammarata, Ph.D., prior to the 17th annual Costello Lecture on September 25.
Cammarata teaches all levels of Spanish in the Modern Languages and Literatures department and gets high praise from her students.
According to one student, “she motivates her students to be prepared and learn material outside of class. Since foreign languages can be tough to grasp, she provides extra resources and opportunities for students to better understand the language.”
Cammarata earned her B.A. from Fordham University and continued to get her M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D., at Columbia University. She teaches Spanish for Communication, Masterworks in Spanish, Cervantes, and the Spanish Golden Age. Specializing in the literature of early modern Spain and its socio-historical context, Cammarata is the author of Mythological Themes in the Works of Garcilaso de la Vega, and her publications contribute to scholarly research on Cervantes and Saint Teresa of Avila.
“Her passion for the Spanish language and her obvious devotion to her students on a daily basis are prime examples of what makes our students' experience in the School of Liberal Arts not just special, but truly memorable,” said Keith Brower, Ph.D., dean of the School of Liberal Arts. “She is beloved by her students, and we are truly blessed to have her at Manhattan.”
After the award presentation, Micah Alpaugh, Ph.D., associate professor of history at the University of Central Missouri, will deliver the Costello Lecture on “French Jacobin Radicalization in International Context from 1789-1794.” Alpaugh is a scholar of nonviolent protest and social movements during the era of the French Revolution, and his book Non-Violence and the French Revolution: Political Demonstrations in Paris, 1787-1795 was published by Cambridge University Press in 2015. Brother Casimir Gabriel Costello, FSC, was a long-time member of Manhattan College’s history department with a special interest in 18th-century France.
The Costello Excellence in Teaching Award is named in memory of Brother Casimir. Thanks to the generosity of Patricia and Jack Stack, the annual award recognizes a faculty member in the School of Liberal Arts who exemplifies the excellence in teaching that characterizes Manhattan College and that is central to its mission and the mission of the Lasallian Christian Brothers. The nomination for the Costello Award is initiated by students, and the award is decided by a faculty committee after a review of the required materials submitted by the nominated professors.