Silvia Ruffo Fiore
Adjunct Instructor, Emerita
CONTACT
Office: CPR 301-F
Phone: 813/974-9511
Email
EDUCATION
- Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh; Post-doctoral Research in Italian Studies, Universita鈥� per Stranieri; Fulbright Research Scholar, University of Rome
RESEARCH
Professor Ruffo Fiore received her Ph.D. in English and Comparative Literature with distinction from the University of Pittsburgh. She also matriculated at the University of Rome, Facolta鈥� di lettere, on a Fulbright Fellowship where she studied Renaissance Anglo-Italian literary studies with Mario Praz, Natalino Sapegno, and Umberto Bosco. She received post-doctoral training in the Italian language, culture, and literature at the Universita鈥� per Stranieri in Perugia, Italy. She has been awarded the Andrew Mellon Fellowship, NEH Research Fellowship, NEH Summer Institute Grants for research at Duke and Emory, several grants from the 黑洞社区Center for Teaching Enhancement, USF Research Council, 黑洞社区President鈥檚 Council, and has been a guest researcher at Harvard. She received several teaching awards from the State of Florida and 黑洞社区as well as the coveted State of Florida Professorial Excellence Program Award in recognition for her academic accomplishments over the period of her service to 黑洞社区as a full professor. She has achieved international distinction for her innovative teaching approach and was selected Jerome Krivanek Distinguished Teacher. The National Society of Collegiate Scholars at 黑洞社区also conferred the 鈥淢y Favorite Professor Award.鈥� She was likewise awarded the University鈥檚 highest honor, 鈥淧rofessor Emerita鈥�.
She specializes in classical, medieval, and early modern comparative literature and interdisciplinary literary studies, with particular emphasis on Homer, Virgil, Dante, Boccaccio, Petrarch, Machiavelli, and Montaigne. Her other areas of teaching expertise include medieval and early modern Franco-Anglo-Hispano-Italian literary, historical, political and cultural relations; early modern humanistic philosophy and pedagogy and its cultural legacy; women in history and literature; 16th and 17th century English literature; 18th century European philosophical thought, especially that of Giambattista Vico; pedagogy; and British, Continental, and American women writers. She teaches courses in classical and early modern literature, including the epic, utopian literature, the sonnet, the novella, among others. She has taught in the 黑洞社区English Department Honors Program and in the 黑洞社区Honors College. She has also had visiting teaching appointments at the State of Florida Florence, Italy Study Center, St. Leo University, and Hillsborough Community College.
Professor Ruffo Fiore has a prolific publication record with four internationally recognized books, including Donne鈥檚 Petrarchism: A Comparative View, and Niccolo鈥� Machiavelli. She was awarded a $65,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and additional grant support from 黑洞社区for the compilation of a monumental and international acclaimed 3,000 item, 850 page Annotated Bibliography of Modern Scholarship on Niccolo鈥� Machiavelli. She has published numerous refereed articles and book chapters in English and Italian and has presented over 200 papers at scholarly conferences in the United States, Canada, England, Scotland, and Europe. Her on-going projects include a comprehensive study of Renaissance Humanism and the Education of Women in the Italian Courts and Image, Imagining, and Imagination in the Political Writings of Niccolo鈥� Machiavelli. She continues to do scholarly research and writing on Dante, Boccaccio, Petrarch, on the Humanities in contemporary society, the concept of genius as reflected in the early modern period, and most recently has added Montaigne to her list of favorite writers.
AREA OF SPECIALTY
Classical, medieval, and early modern comparative literature; interdisciplinary literary studies; women writers; the contextual and contemporary ramifications of classical and early modern humanistic thought and pedagogical practice