Dr. Carolyn Peluso Atkins wasnt just being a tourist two years ago when she took in the sights of San Giovanni in Fiore, Italy. She was also going home.

The tiny village was home to her Calabrian grandparents on both sides of her family. San Giovanni was where they were born and where they liveduntil they immigrated to the United States for hope of a better life.

Atkins, an award-winning speech pathology and audiology professor at West Virginia University, will talk about her Italian heritage and the immigrant experience in a lecture Sunday (Feb. 25) at the Erickson Alumni Center.

Understanding my HeritageRenewing the Spirit(or,Capire La Mia Eredita-Rinnovamento dello Spirito) is the title of her talk, which will be at 3:30 p.m. in Durrett Hall.

The Eberly College of Arts and Sciences and the Committee for the Preservation of Italian-American History and Culture are hosting the event. The event is free and a light buffet will follow.

Atkins will talk about the experiences of her grandparents, and the collective experience of all immigrants who lit out for Americas shores in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Shes quick to credit her grandparents. Their example forged in San Giovanni made her a successful educator in America, she said.

Atkins is a Morgantown native who stayed home to attend school. She earned a bachelors degree in speech, two masters degrees and doctorate in curriculum and instruction from WVU .

She teaches in the College of Human Resources and Education and well-known on campus as the creator ofSpeaking to Communities,a public speaking class for student-athletes affectionately known asJock Talk.

In 2005, she was named West Virginia Professor of the Year by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

She has also earned numerous awards from outstanding teaching from the WVU Foundation and the College of Human Resources and Education. The Golden Key International Honor Society has recognized her teaching accomplishments, and she was the 2006 Italian-American Woman of the Year at West Virginias landmark Italian Heritage Festival in Clarksburg.

Sundays event is being supported by the Endowment for the Preservation of Italian-American History and Culture, which celebrates the Italian immigrant experience here. The endowment is managed by the WVU Foundation Inc., a private, nonprofit corporation that generates and provides support for the University.

The endowment is administered through the Office of the Dean in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences. For more information on the endowment and Sundays program, contact Dr. Rudy Almasy, associate dean of College Development, at rudy.almasy@mail.wvu.edu or 304-293-4611.