The Alberto Institute has created a program for faculty, in all the University's colleges and schools, as well as visiting and adjunct faculty, to affiliate themselves with the Alberto Institute by becoming "Research Associates."
The Alberto Institute will make available to Research Associates, who obtain outside sources of funding for their research, matching funds on a one-to-one basis for each fiscal year up to $1,000 and will contribute with a small publication subvention of $1,000 or $2,000 to book ventures involving reputable presses.
If interested, please complete this form and/or contact Dr. Romani at romaniga@shu.edu.
Participating faculty members
Rev. Thomas Guarino, PhD, Professor of Systematic Theology
The Alberto Research Fellowship aided the completion of a book entitled, Vattimo and Theology (T & T Clark, 2009), a study of, and dialogue with, the postmodern Italian philosopher, Gianni Vattimo. The Fellowship also helped with the completion of an article entitled, “Return of Religion in Europe? The Postmodern Christianity of Gianni Vattimo” which will appear in Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture.
Sandra Lee, PhD, Professor of Professional Psychology and Family Therapy
I have been working on a project to collect family and neighborhood history, and scans of old photographs, from the old Italian neighborhoods of Newark, Belleville, and Nutley, 1880's to 1950's. The first book, Italian Americans of Newark, Belleville, and Nutley (Arcadia Press), was published in 2008 and has been well received. I was honored to be made the Grand Marshall of the Nutley-Belleville Columbus Day Parade (the largest in New Jersey). A second book is underway. In November, 2009, I was privileged to have a gallery exhibit: "From Italy to America: Faces of Italian Immigrants/Italian Americans." The exhibit and reception were sponsored by the Alberto Institute, and by the Italian Consulate in Newark, Andrea Barbaria. The Gallery exhibit was at Gallery One, One Gateway Center in Newark. Currently, I am working on getting the exhibit pictures posted in this web page. I have given many presentations about the research at libraries, UNICO chapters, and other Italian American organizations.
Ines Murzaku, PhD, Associate Professor of Religious Studies
The Survival of Byzantium (working title). The book is scheduled to appear in 2011 with the University of Leuven, Peeters Publishers, Eastern Christian Studies Series. My research has three foci: the history of the Byzantine Church in southern Italy; the Italian-Albanian contribution to the revival and preservation of Italy’s Byzantine heritage; and the roots of the Greek Monastery of Grottaferrata in Calabria, areas that are underrepresented in the field of Byzantine studies. The on-ground intersections and co-existence of two religious traditions, Byzantine and Latin, and the impact of religion in shaping the culture of southern Italy – that is, how religion is understood, observed, handed down, and revamped at the local level – constitute this study’s main questions. The book’s purpose is to explain the process of conservation of the Byzantine tradition when still under the jurisdiction of the Latin Church. With this study I argue that Catholicism is far more than simply the Roman Latin Church and the tradition of the Byzantine Churches of Southern Italy is a vital part of universal Church’s heritage. The book is based on rare archival sources including the Secret Vatican Archive for the Congregation for Oriental Churches, Grottaferrata archives, as well as several local diocesan Calabrian archives.
