Aliza Wong, a historian of modern Italian history, has been appointed the new director of the American Academy in Rome. Wong currently teaches at Texas Tech University in Lubbock and specialises in questions of race, nationalism and identity. Her book Race and Nation in Liberal Italy, 1861-1911: Meriodionalism, Empire, and Diaspora was published in 2006.
Established in 1893 by a small group of architects and sculptors, the academy originally acted as as a centre for the study art in the classical tradition of ancient Rome. The school now serves as a campus for fifteen artists and fifteen scholars a year who are recipients of the Rome Prize. The subjects studied include classical studies, ancient studies, medieval studies, modern Italian studies, architecture, design, historic preservation, art conservation, landscape architecture, musical composition, visual art, and literature.
