The tragic history of Pompeii was the focus of the annual Italian honors celebration in May 2014, as Dr. Lauren Petersen, Associate Professor of Art History, spoke on “Pompeii: Death and Life on the Bay of Naples.” At the event, nine students were inducted into Gamma Kappa Alpha, the national Italian honors society, and many others were awarded prizes for their outstanding scholarship and dedication to their Italian studies. Anna Kelleher and Caitlin Posillico won the Italo-Americans United Robert J. Di Pietro Memorial Award, while Christopher Brown received the top honor of both the award and the accompanying plaque. The Da Vinci Society Award went to Francesca Forgione, Laura Mosco, Alexandra Pumillia, and Catie Wascheck, while the Giuseppe Verdi Lodge Award was given to Christopher Nunn and Alyssa Southard. Chelsea Fabian and Shannon Carty won funds for study abroad from the Delaware Commission on Italian Heritage and Culture, and Jenna Crispo was singled out for her outstanding student teaching with the Robert L. Clerc Educational Promise Award. Caitlin Moon won the Eugenia Slavov Memorial Award for her excellence in studying several languages, while Giulia Arpino won the Robert J. Di Pietro Award which goes to a student in the middle of her career here at UD. Salvatore Loccisano won the Italian Faculty Award of Excellence, which is bestowed upon a promising student who has completed preliminary coursework in Italian.