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Maria Esposito Frank Named Winner of Oscar and Shoshana Trachtenberg Award for Sustained Service to the University

May 09, 2022
Submitted By: Office of Marketing and Communication
Photo of Maria Esposito Frank

Maria Esposito Frank, professor of Italian and Renaissance Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences, is the 2022 recipient of the Oscar and Shoshana Trachtenberg Award for Sustained Service to the University.

The award honors a full-time faculty member for sustained and exemplary service to the University. 

Through her untiring mentoring and guidance on behalf of students and faculty alike, Maria Esposito Frank has come to epitomize dedication to improving the intellectual climate at the University of Hartford.

Since arriving at the University in 1996, she has served in many teaching capacities and has regularly participated in numerous clubs and organizations. Her courses throughout the years have included the Italian Renaissance, Literature of Film and Other Cultures, Dante’s Comedy, and Capstones in Modern Languages. Beyond the classroom, Frank chaired the Modern Languages department for 10 years, directed the Italian program for 25 years, served as a reviewer for tenure candidates, and participated on scholarship and award committees.

By working so hard for the University and for faculty members, Maria proves to be the kind of colleague our profession needs,” said Bryan Sinche, chair of the Department of English and Modern Languages, and a professor of English. “Indeed, without people like her, we would not even have a profession.”

Frank, who has overseen many study trips to Italy for students, concentrates her research on late Medieval and early Renaissance studies, women’s studies, theories and practices of translation, and poetry. Her work, which includes two books and almost a dozen articles, has been published in Europe and the United States. She has also translated critical essays from Russian into Italian, and contemporary poems from Italian into English for use by literary and scholarly magazines.

Frank has also helped to promote interfaith dialogue as part of a joint effort between the University and the Hartford Seminary. She strives to advance racial justice as a member of the Martin Luther King Jr. Committee.

Associates and co-workers have noted how Frank’s vigorous devotion to her students, courses, colleagues, and the issues she considers most important help make the University of Hartford a unique and valued institution—a place where inquisitive students and dedicated faculty members can absorb what many truly outstanding artists and scholars have to offer.