Get To Know Us!

GIULIANA MARPLE

President

joined the ICSL as a teacher in 2008. Her enthusiasm for teaching has carried over to her leadership of the club. In describing her goals, she says, “I love to see a piece of my Bel Paese in Salt Lake City, a place where people can get a sense of Italy, read Italian books, watch Italian movies, eat together and share inspiring stories”. Giuliana holds a Master’s in Foreign Language Teaching from the University of Utah where she teaches Italian and Italian Civilization. Her favorite period in Italian history is the “Risorgimento”.

ISABEL ZAVALA

Administrator - ICSL Social Media Coordinator

Ciao! I am Isabel, I am a pre-nursing major at the University of Utah with a minor in nutrition and Italian. I did a study abroad in Italy and fell in love with the culture, the language, and the people.I’m the vice president of the italian club at the U of U and would love to bring that passion for the culture to the university.

SIMON LOGUE

UofU ICSL President

Hi, my name is Simon Logue. I am the President of the Italian Club at the University of Utah. I have a huge passion for Italian Culture and trying to bring Italian culture to the students at the U of U. My family is Italian from the region of Abruzzo. My family has always kept many Italian traditions, for example, every Lenten my family gets together and makes Pizzelle.

CAROLINA GANDOLFO McKENNA

Italian Teacher

Carolina is from Sicily and was raised in Palermo where she studied law. In 2018, she moved to the United States, and in 2021, she earned her Bachelor’s degree in Public Policy and Administration. She minored in European Languages, studying Spanish and French, and she had a cluster in Ancient Languages (Latin and Ancient Greek). She has a passion for linguistics, art, and good food. She enjoys singing (although she is bad at it), going to the beach, visiting museums, cooking, but mostly eating good Italian food. She goes back to Italy every year to visit her family and friends. Forza Italia!!!

GAETANA CUMMAUDO

Italian Teacher

Originally from Catania, Italy, in the beautiful region of Sicily, she has an M.A. in Linguistics and a TESOL Certificate from Brigham Young University, where she also taught Italian for 5 years. She has taught at Salt Lake Community College and currently, she is an adjunct instructor at the University of Utah. She’s had various experiences as a translator, interpreter, and voice recorder. Some of her passions are good food, dance, environment, quotations/proverbs, and transformative conversations. She is a true Italian (especially her accent 🙂), proud of her homeland's flavors, culture, and language. She loves being part of the ICSL team, and always looks forward to the annual Italian Festa, a great opportunity for spreading the Italian language and culture in this beautiful community. One of her favorite quotations is... «One language sets you in a corridor for life. Two languages open every door along the way» (Frank Smith)."

LAURA MARONE

Italian Teacher, Conversation Lab Organizer

Laura is from Napoli, Italy, where she worked as a pastry chef and cake designer in her small catering company. When she moved to the States, she completed her M.A. in Spanish Literature at the University of Utah. She is trilingual and taught Culinary Arts at college level for 9 years and first, second-year and upper level Spanish classes at the at the University of Utah, Salt Lake Community College, Utah Valley University and Westminster College. Currently, she is a full-time Adult Services librarian at the Salt Lake City Library and is teaching online Spanish courses at SLCC. She loves traveling, reading, cooking and photographing landscapes.