ANTHONY JULIAN TAMBURRI is Dean of the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute and Distinguished Professor of European Languages and Literatures. He is co-founder and co-director of Bordighera Press, with Fred Gardaphé and Paolo Giordano, which is now an official entity of the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute. Tamburri served as president of the Italian American Studies Association and o fthe American Association of Teachers of Italian.
Concentrating on semiotics, the literature and cinema of Italy and its diaspora, and interpretation theory, he has authored twenty-two books, long and short, in both English and Italian, and more than 140 peer-reviewed essays and book chapters. Some of his books of the past thirty-five years include Of Saltimbanchi and Incendiari: Aldo Palazzeschi and Avant-Gardism in Italy. (1990); To Hyphenate or not to Hyphenate: the Italian/American Writer: Or, An Other American? (1991); A Semiotic of Ethnicity: In (Re)cognition of the Italian/American Writer (1998); Italian/American Short Films & Music Videos: A Semiotic Reading (2002); Una semiotica della ri-lettura: Guido Gozzano, Aldo Palazzeschi, e Italo Calvino (2003); Narrare altrove: diverse segnalature letterarie (2007); Re-reading Italian Americana: Generalities and Specificities on Literature and Criticism (2014); Un biculturalismo negato: La letteratura “italiana” negli Stati Uniti (2018); The Columbus Affair: Imperatives for an Italian/American Agenda (2021); Signing Italian/American Cinema: A More Focused Look (2021); A Politics of [Self-]Omission: The Italian/American Challenge in A Post-George Floyd Age (2022); Expanding Diasporic Identity: A Multi-directional Path to the New Italian Writer (2025); and Knowledge, What Is It Good For? Italian/American Leadership in the Twenty-first Century (2025).
Tamburri has been acknowledged by several organizations over the years for his work; some recognitions include Distinguished Alumnus of the Year. Southern Connecticut State University (2000); Cavaliere dell’Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana (2010); “Frank Stella Person of the Year Award,” ILICA (2010); “The Lehman-LaGuardia Award for Civic Achievement,” OSDIA & B’nai B'rith International (2012); AATI Award for Distinguished Service for Colleges and Universities (2013); The Joseph Coccia Jr. Heritage, Language and Culture Award (2016); Italian American Leadership Award, Italian Charities (2023). In 2025 the A Colorni-Hershman International Institute published a selection of his essays in Italian in its series “Culture Mediterranee,” entitled Gli americani italiani: cultura e società, Nicoletta Stame and Sabrina Vellucci, eds.
When not directing two book series (one in English, “Italian Series” [Fairleigh Dickinson University Press]; the other in Italian, “Americana” [Franco Cesati Editore]), he is executive producer and host of the Calandra Institute’s TV program, Italics.
Tamburri’s degrees are from Southern Connecticut State University (B.S., Italian), Middlebury College (M.A., Italian), and University of California, Berkeley (Ph.D., Italian & Spanish). In addition to teaching at Smith College, Middlebury College, and Auburn University, he spent thirteen years at Purdue University before moving to Florida Atlantic where, from 2000 to 2006, he served as Chair of Languages and Linguistics and, subsequently, Associate Dean for Research, Graduate, and Interdisciplinary Studies, as well as director of the Ph.D. in Comparative Studies.