Katie Sparrow is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Notre Dame Rome Global Gateway. While in Rome, she co-teaches two courses of the foundational class 鈥淎ll Roads lead to Rome鈥� in the fall 2023, and will teach one on her own in the spring 2024 while continuing to develop her own research.
The "5+1" program is offered by the College of Arts and Letters in partnership with the Rome Global Gateway. It is a 10-month appointment that runs August-May and it allows students to spend their final graduate school years focused on the dissertation. Once it is complete, they can devote a postdoctoral year to professional development that will enhance their competitiveness for jobs both inside and outside the academy.
Sparrow earned her Ph.D. in Italian Studies and M.A. in Romance Languages and Literatures from the University of Notre Dame. She is from London and completed her bachelor鈥檚 degree in French and Italian at the University of Reading in 2015.
鈥淲hen I was studying in Reading, my Professor Paola Nasti, who had been a graduate student at Notre Dame with Professor Zygmunt G. Baranski, recommended his course to me,鈥� explains Sparrow. 鈥淭hat was the moment when I decided to apply to the Master program at the University of Notre Dame and then continued through my PhD.鈥�
Sparrow鈥檚 primary research explores Dante鈥檚 approach to characters and characterization and, in particular, Dante鈥檚 self-characterization in the Vita Nova and Commedia. Her research considers modern narratological theories on character and autobiography in its investigation of narrative, structural, and stylistic methods employed by Dante to construct his overarching, self-representative 鈥淒ante.鈥�
Sparrow this semester is co-teaching the 鈥淎ll Roads lead to Rome鈥� course with Professor Chiara Sbordoni. 鈥淚t is a very intense course from the instructor point of view and I am enjoying it a lot,鈥� comments Sparrow. 鈥淎s soon as I read the description of the course I thought that it was great that students in Rome could learn about the culture and history of the city while being out and about. I find students to be very receptive to this approach. The majority of afternoon classes are composed by engineering and finance students, and they have really cool, interesting insights of the city. As someone who focuses on literature and history, it is very fascinating to see things through the eyes of an engineer's perspective.鈥�
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Originally published by at on October 30, 2023.