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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
HONORING DOMINIC CANDELORO FOR RECEIVING THE CAVALIERE DELL’ORDINE DELLA STELLA D’ITALIA
WHEREAS, Dominic Candeloro was presented with the Cavaliere dell’Ordine della Stella d’Italia at the Festa della Repubblica celebration hosted by Italian Consul General Adriano Monti; and
WHEREAS, Dominic Candeloro was born in Chicago Heights to Ludovico Candeloro, a veteran of the Italian Army in World War I, and Yolanda (Gianetti) Candeloro; and
WHEREAS, after graduating from Bloom Township High School in 1958, Dominic Candeloro was awarded a full scholarship to Northwestern University; and
WHEREAS, Dominic Candeloro was the first in his extended family to graduate from college and one of the first Italian Americans in Chicago Heights to receive a Ph.D.; and
WHEREAS, in graduate school at the University of Illinois, Dominic Candeloro served as an assistant to famed Italian American Studies Professor Rudolph Vecoli; and
WHEREAS, Dominic Candeloro married Carol Cutlip during his tenure teaching history at The Ohio State University, Lima Campus; and
WHEREAS, when he returned to Illinois in the mid-1970s, Dominic was appointed to teach Italian American Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago; and
WHEREAS, when Dominic Candeloro was awarded a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities for more than $300,000 to document and share the history of Italians in Chicago, it set off a whirlwind of activities for the next three years that included 110 oral history interviews; the collection of thousands of photos, documents, and memorabilia; three national conferences; three exhibitions; and involvement by hundreds of volunteers working out of the university and the Italian Cultural Center to bring the project to fruition. The Italians in Chicago exhibit is now permanently displayed at the Italian Cultural Center; and
WHEREAS, since the 1980s Dominic Candeloro has been involved in the Italian American Studies Association, which led him to a visiting professorship with the Anthropology Department at the University of Rome, an exhibit at the Italian National Archives in Rome, invitations to Italian conferences, and speaking engagements in all parts of Italy; and
WHEREAS, Dominic Candeloro was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship in Italy from 1981-1982 and has written or edited more than a dozen books and thirty academic articles and reviews; and
WHEREAS, in the last few years, Dominic has focused on the Florence Roselli Library and the publication of books by Casa Italia and is now well on his way to raising $500,000 to be matched by Loyola University to create an endowment to support a professorship of Italian American Studies into perpetuity.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Cook County Board of Commissioners does hereby congratulate Dominic Candeloro for being awarded the Cavaliere dell’Ordine della Stella d’Italia; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that a suitable copy of this resolution be prepared and presented to Dominic Candeloro.
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