Ethan Knox

Almost five years after graduating from Binghamton University, Rachel Samiani still feels at home—this time, as a teacher.

“I came as a commuter student, and I found my niche here,” Samiani said. “I still feel [the sense of community] walking in these hallways, and we’re not even on the same floor anymore. That inclusive environment is everything, especially in today’s society. I think our students see it and know it and therefore approach us more often. We have all kinds of connections we’ve made with our students. I don’t think you can find it everywhere.”

Now an adjunct lecturer, Samiani has had a long history with the Italian division of the Romance Languages and Literatures Department of Binghamton University. As a student from Endicott, NY, she first majored in Italian and minored in Spanish for her bachelor’s degree. After graduating with honors, she continued on to earn a master’s degree in Italian at Binghamton University.

Her time as a student under mentors like Dana Stewart, an associate professor in Romance Languages, was so welcoming that when she was offered a job in the department, she accepted.

“The feeling of a family within a department was the reason why it was easy for me to say yes to coming back and working,” Samiani said. “It has shaped me into the instructor that I am today, because I carry those experiences with me and remember how important they were as a student. I want to bring that to my class—there was never a lack of passion and excitement in any of the courses that were offered. And I wanted to be sure that I could be a part of that, coming in and offering my own.”

Her classrooms—which cover topics such as introductory level Italian grammar, cultural traditions, Italian music and even travel within the geography of Italy—try to incorporate practical, everyday events into the discussion. While learning how to operate within the language, Samiani also hopes that students will gain perspective of the community around them.

One way in which she hopes to achieve this goal is through the Music Department’s “Language Beyond the Classroom” events, which she helps organize. These events, which are free and available for all to attend, can range from Italian game and movie night to dinners, concerts or “conversation hour,” where students can come to practice speaking.

Often, these events are tied to the local community. For example, Samiani’s father, who sings and plays guitar, was a focus of one such event. Another focused on their process of making authentic Italian gelato, and hosted Antonio’s Bar and Trattoria, a restaurant based out of Endicott.
“It really is for that cultural exposure, since you’re so based in communication and language acquisition [during class]. It’s important to us to always offer more,” Samiani said. “We’re aware of what a special society and community we find ourselves in. Many immigrants came from Italy to the Endicott area years ago. We want to flourish and make that connection stronger.”

Beyond the classrooms and community, Samiani is also an advocate for study abroad programs. She participated in a program as a student, and recently led a group of high school and pre-college students in Florence, Italy.

“I feel that I have an advantage in helping students understand a second language and how to navigate studying and learning it,” Samiani said. “I give real life experiences I went through and what it taught me and how I got through it, so that they feel a bit more prepared for their own experience abroad and they feel as though they have a better understanding of how to respect another culture and learn from it.”

Samiani believes that studying abroad allows students to “bring to the table” what they have learned, even if it’s just the foundation of the language. Becoming immersed in the culture taught her how to better navigate the world, and she hopes that her students have this opportunity as well.

Even students who don’t have the opportunity to study abroad, however, can still use the vibrant department to learn, Samiani said. Although it is “forever changing, growing and progressing,” she believes that the Department’s spirit remains in the connection between the faculty and students, and remains “unchanged.”

“Watching the tenacity of this department, the dedication of the professors to their students. It’s all around you here,” Samiani said. “Everyone in this department is thorough and cheerful and I think they’ve all found a calling working here in education, and especially with these languages, that it’s infectious. It just spreads through the whole department. It makes everybody better at what they do.”