Maria Concetta Pastore Passaro is an American translator, language educator, and author. She is the Director of the Italian Resource Center at Central Connecticut State University.
Background
Maria Concetta Pastore Passaro was born on October 2, 1943 in Brienza, Italy; the daughter of Pasqualino Pastore, a tailor, and Carmela (Viscardi) Pastore, a homemaker. She arrived in the United States in 1958 and was naturalized in 1962.
Education
Maria Passaro attended Fordham University and Yale University. She received a Bachelor of Arts from Lehman College in 1974, a Master of Arts from Hunter College in 1980, and a Doctor of Philosophy from Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York. Maria also got a Doctor of Medicine from Albert Einstein School of Medicine of Yeshiva University in 1996.
Maria Passaro began her career at Mamaroneck Schools as a curriculum specialist in 1978. From 1981 to 1988, she served as a lecturer at Fordham University and as an adjunct lecturer at Lehman College. For a year Maria was a teacher of Italian language and culture at public schools in Yonkers. In 1984, she held the position of assistant professor at Central Connecticut State University, becoming an associate professor of Italian language and literature in 1994. Since 2015, Passaro has been the Director of the Italian Resource Center at Central Connecticut State University.
Maria is the author of several short plays and translator of Longfellow's Michael Angelo, Tusiani's Gente Mia and Other Poems, Rind and All, The Fifth Season, Tasso's King Torrismondo (1997), Tasso's Rhymes of Love (2011), and Pagano's Corradino(2014). She authored Representation of Women in Classical, Medieval, and Renaissance Texts (2005), editor and translator of Selected Writings of Girolamo Savonarola: Religion and Politics 1490-1498 (2006), contributed three essays to the Encyclopedia of Italian Literary Studies (2006), and an essay to Guide to the Historical Reception of Augustine (2013).
She has lectured in several universities in the United States and Europe. Her essays, poems, translations, and other works have been published in national and international scholarly journals.
Quotations:
"I enjoy writing and doing research because it helps me to be a better teacher. It inspires me to bring new ideas to the classroom, and my enthusiasm becomes the enthusiasm of my students."
Membership
Maria Passaro is a member of Associazione Internazionale per gli Studi di Lingua e Letteratura Italiana, Modern Language Association of America, American Association for Italian Studies, American Association of Teachers of Italian, and Italian Historical Association.
Interests
Medieval Art, Renaissance
Writers
Dante, Boccaccio, Tasso
Connections
Maria Passaro married Vincent J. Passaro, a safety engineer, on May 16, 1965. The marriage produced two children - Maria Antonietta and Susette Lucia.