Theresa P. Ammirati

Theresa Ammirati, Dean of Studies from 2006-2014, retired from Connecticut College in 2014.

The founding director of the Roth Writing Center at Connecticut College, serving from 1980-1995, and former coordinator of special services, Ammirati was appointed Dean of Freshmen in 1995, serving until June, 2005.

She served a year-long term as Interim Dean of the College Community until 2006. She also served as Interim Director of Unity House, the College's multicultural center from November, 2004 to May 2005, and as acting chair of the American Studies program from 2003-04.

Ammirati's courses exemplified the breadth of her knowledge of and skill in teaching writing and literature, her depth of involvement with students who are in need of special services, and her services and support for students from international and multicultural backgrounds.

The courses included: "Writing Seminar in Literature and Culture: Them and Us: Revisiting the American Dream"; Seminar in the Teaching of Writing; "Seminar in Literature and Culture for Non-Native Speakers of English: The Melting Pot Revisited"; and "Intensive Writing Seminar in Literature and Culture: The Sixties-From Selma to Saigon," "Globalization of American Culture"; and "Introduction to American Studies."

Her professional activities include recent publications such as the one she co-authored with Dr. Margaret Sheridan of the Human Development department at Connecticut College: "A Private College Response to the Emerging Majority of Students with Disabilities," published in the Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability, 1991. Also, "Making Do While Doing Well: Scrounging and Foraging for Disabilities Services," in LD Connections, 1992; "Catherine Aird," and "Anne Morice," both entries in a Biographical Dictionary of Great Women Mystery Writers, 1994; and "Who Holds the Pen?--The Writer Naturally," in National Writing Center Newsletter, 1995. She has been a contributing bibliographer to the Conference on College Composition and Communication Annual Bibliography.

She was a frequent presenter at writing conferences and workshops at the college, and in New England and the eastern U.S., and served as a steering committee member and recording secretary for the Northeast Writing Centers Association.

In 2000, she was one of ten people selected as Outstanding First-Year Student Advocate by The National Resource Center for the First Year Experience and Students in Transition.