Faculty Profile

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Paola Ugolini

Associate Professor
Romance Languages and Literatures / Global Gender and Sexuality Studies
ugolini@buffalo.edu

Education:

  • PhD, Italian Renaissance Studies, New York University, 2011

Professional experience:

  • Associate Professor, Humanities (Italian Studies), University at Buffalo

What mentoring means to me:

As an undergraduate student, I was under the impression that I could only rely on myself to succeed and that academia was a "sink or swim" system. Thankfully, my experience in graduate school was radically different. I was lucky enough to have wonderful mentors who helped me both at the professional and at the personal level. I see mentoring as central to academic life; a process where the mentor and the mentee can both learn from each other and grow together while discussing ideas, projects, and life circumstances. 

Topics I am willing to discuss with students:

Academic Culture

  • Dealing with politics and conflict with faculty or peers.
  • Decoding and demystifying academic culture and norms.
  • Taking a non-traditional path to grad school.
  • Uncertainty about staying in grad school.

Other Topics

  • Being a first generation college student.
  • Being a non-traditional graduate student (coming back to graduate school after many years outside of academia).
  • Balancing teaching and research.
  • Preparing for the academic job market.

Personal Experiences

  • Caregiving for other loved ones.
  • Experiences related to being a woman.
  • Experiences related to class and/or socioeconomic status.
  • Experiences related to racial, ethnic, cultural and/or religious minority status.
  • Financial stress and strain.
  • Non-U.S. citizen or immigrant experiences.