WFU names director of women’s and gender studies

Wanda Balzano, director of the women’s and gender studies program.

Wake Forest University has named Wanda Balzano director of the women’s and gender studies program.

“This is a significant and promising moment for the women’s and gender studies program,” said Dean of the College Deborah Best. “I am sure that she (Balzano) will bring vision and enthusiasm to her new position.”

Balzano’s career at Wake Forest began with the 2004 Ð 2005 academic year, during which she was a visiting scholar/assistant professor of women’s and gender studies.

While at Wake Forest, Balzano developed a new women’s and gender studies course titled “Irish Women in Writing and Film,” and received the Panhellenic Council Award for Teaching Excellence.

Prior to coming to Wake Forest, Balzano taught women’s writing, humanities, social sciences, English and Italian at University College, Dublin.

Balzano earned a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts in English from the University of Naples in Italy. She earned a second Master of Arts and a doctorate in Anglo-Irish literature and drama from University College, Dublin.