Remembering Dina Malgeri
On September 22, 2024, Dina G. Malgeri died peacefully in the North End of Boston. She was the long-term Director of the Malden Public Library, where she worked for 40+ years until her retirement in 2013. Malgeri was also an avid supporter of the Center for Italian Studies.
In 2016, she connected with the Center in her search for ways to memorialize her parents and their Italian cultural heritage and immigration history. She found that the Center’s mission most closely addressed her desire to support a better understanding of Italy and Italian Americans. Malgeri established The Francesco P. and Dina D'Alto Malgeri Endowment in Italian Culture to support programming in literature, the visual arts, and the study of early Italian immigration to the United States.
To learn more about Dina Malgeri's long and storied career and her affinity for libraries and learning, visit the tribute to her in the Boston Globe.
If you would like to make a donation in memory of Dina Malgeri, please consider giving to the Francesco P. and Dina D'Alto Malgeri Endowment in Italian Culture.
Please consider contributing to the Center for Italian Studies.
Founded in 1985, the Center promotes Italian and Italian American heritage and culture through scholarships, workshops, lectures, concerts, and film screenings for the Stony Brook University and surrounding community.
During the past year, the Center implemented CIVIS, a series of workshops and trainings for Italian teachers, featuring experts and artists from Italy. This program placed 300 books into the hands of K–12 students across Long Island and NYC. Your support will enable us to continue our work with local schools, supporting Italian and cultural initiatives in a time of increased budgetary cuts to world language programs.
The Center provides consistent funding and meeting space for the CIAO club, a student-led organization that celebrates the cultural heritage of Italian American students on campus. Ongoing donations also fund fellowships, scholarships, and awards for Italian Studies students, many of whom become teachers. They also keep the fees low for our community Italian language course.
Your generous contributions also support our programming. In November, we hosted an organ concerto in East Setauket, featuring Elisa Teglia, a professor from Trieste Conservatory, who played works by Italian American composer Pietro A. Yon. In April, we will host two biologists and a wildlife photographer from Italy to discuss the conservation of the critically endangered Eurasian brown bears in Abruzzo’s National Parks. We will also sponsor a free performance of Woman Through the Window, a new play by Anthony DiFranco with an all-female cast portraying multi-generational Italian American women.
Your generous support will allow us to continue our mission, expand our initiatives with local students and teachers, develop new and exciting programs, and make a meaningful impact in our community. Thank you for considering a contribution today!