Elgin K. Eckert is Academic Director and Professor of Italian Literature, History, and Media Studies at the Umbra Institute.
She got her undergraduate degree at CUNY-Brooklyn College and has been at the Umbra Institute since 2010. Her research
interests include cultural memory in Italian literature and the representations of organized crime in film and on the small
screen. She has authored numerous peer-reviewed articles on those subjects and is co-editor of the book Representing
Italian Food (Bloomsbury, 2016).

Elisa Ascione is the Coordinator of the Food & Sustainability Studies Program at the Umbra Institute. Elisa teaches the
courses “Sustainable Food Production in Italy: Local Traditions and Global Transformations”, “The Anthropology of Food
and Eating: Understanding Self and Others”, and “The History and Culture of Food in Italy”. She has received a BA in
Cultural Anthropology and an MA in Refugee Studies from the University of East London, UK, and a Ph.D. in
Anthropology and Ethnology from Università degli Studi di Perugia. Elisa has conducted research and published on the
intersection of migration, class and gender in employment in Italy, and on food and cultural heritage.

Renilda Zajmi is the Coordinator for Student Health and Well-Being at the Umbra Institute, where she has been working since 2005 in various positions.

Housing Coordinator

Registrar, Associate Director of Community Engagement

Manuel Barbato has worked since 2018 at the Umbra Institute, where he serves as an Assistant for Community Engagement and for the Food & Sustainability Studies Program. In addition to working with Umbra Institute faculty and staff, he is involved in the management and development of all projects run in cooperation with the Perugian community.

Student Services Co-coordinator

Stefano Console is the Social Media Coordinator and a Student Services Assistant and has been working at Umbra since 2018. He has lived and worked abroad (Belgium, Republic of Korea, Germany) for nine years, and gained experience in international institutions and NGOs. He is a certified sommelier since 2015.

Arianna Bastianini was born and raised in Assisi, a small but enchanting town not far from Perugia. Always been passionate about foreign languages, cultures, and reading, she has been at the Umbra Institute since 2017. As a Student Services Assistant, she takes care of student life, daily logistics, and support.

Jacopo Bernardini is the Academic Programs Assistant at the Umbra Institute, where he has worked since October 2018. Previously, he worked for six years as a Postdoctoral Researcher of Sociology and Methodology of Social Research at the Faculty of Political Science of the University of Perugia. He has published several academic articles and books on Age and Life Cycle, Transition to Adulthood, Generational Conflicts, and the Information Age.

U.S. University Relations, Associate Director for the Food & Sustainability Studies Program

U.S. University Relations & Marketing Development

Eleonora Branchesi started working at Umbra as a Student Service Assistant in the fall of 2019. She is currently pursuing a
master’s degree in Foreign Languages at the University of Perugia, Department of English Linguistics and Literature. She
studied abroad in Tübingen (Germany) and Seattle (USA).

Arcadia University Program Manager

Arcadia University Program Manager

[email protected]