Abstract

Salvatore J. LaGumina, Professor Emeritus at Nassau Community College, SUNY, established himself as an early proponent, in the 1960s, of the ethnic factor in American history, while dedicating himself to the objective study of the Italian-American experience. Author of seventeen books, more than a hundred scholarly articles, consultant to educational institutions, a founder of the American Italian Historical Association, he has recorded and analyzed the complex nature of immigration and ethnicity in society. He has been instrumental in guiding a rising intelligentsia to create a systematic program of Italian-American Studies as an academic discipline that is worthy of objective research and constant revision. At its 15th annual national conference at St. John’s University School of Law in October 2007, he received the SCSS lifetime achievement award and the Nassau Community College Center for Catholic Studies Award for his contributions inunderstanding Italian American History and its relationship to Catholicism.