Teen trip leads to teaching career for Carlson

For Dr. Veena Carlson, a month-long student exchange trip to Italy as a teenager sparked an interest that eventually launched her career.

Today, Carlson is in her 30th year teaching Italian at Dominican University. However, when she first traveled to Italy in 1983, she didn’t speak a word of Italian.

Carlson grew up in Charlottesville, Virginia, where her parents settled after immigrating to the United States from India in 1965. Although she doesn’t have Italian roots, languages have fascinated her from a young age.

“I was always interested in languages,” Carlson says. “Because my parents were immigrants from India, I grew up in a bilingual household.”

Her introduction to Italy came through Charlottesville’s sister-city relationship with the Tuscan towns of Prato and Poggio a Caiano, formed in 1976. Carlson was one of 20 high school students selected to participate in a brand-new exchange program in 1983 that was launched after previous visits by government official and business leaders.

“None of the Americans spoke any Italian before we left,” Carlson recalls. “There were three American high schools involved, and none of them offered Italian as a subject.”

The students spent a month living with Italian host families and in turn, Charlottesville families hosted students from Italy.

“We lived with Italian families and were taken on trips by the local governments,” Carlson says. “We had the opportunity to learn about Italy and its culture.”

The experience had a lasting impact. More than 40 years later, Carlson is still good friends with some of the Italians she met through the exchange.

After graduating from Charlottesville High School, Carlson attended the University of Virginia, where she majored in Italian and minored in French. She later earned a master’s degree in Italian from the University of Pennsylvania and a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, specializing in Italian Renaissance literature.

When Carlson entered graduate school, she planned to continue studying Italian, although she soon discovered that she enjoyed teaching it as well.

“When I decided to go to grad school, I knew I would be a teaching assistant when I started my master’s,” Carlson explains. “I loved the language and wanted to continue to my Ph.D. and eventually become a university professor.”

Before arriving at Dominican, Carlson taught at DePaul University, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Her teaching philosophy focuses on making the language accessible for students right away.

“My approach to teaching is proficiency based,” she said. “My goal is to have students speaking as soon as possible, so I avoid lectures and try to have students engaged and conversing at every opportunity. I like to use real texts and cultural artifacts to teach students about Italy.”

For Carlson, one of the most rewarding things about teaching is seeing students become aware of how much they have learned.

“The best part of teaching is when students realize that they can speak the language,” Carlson says. “There is a moment when they are surprised at their abilities, and it is a wonderful moment to see and hear.”

Carlson says that those moments continue in advanced courses, when students begin reading Italian literature in its original language.

“With more advanced students it is always exciting to see them understand a poem by Petrarch or a passage by Calvino in Italian,” she explains.

Carlson also enjoys seeing former students continue their study of Italian after graduation. Some have gone on to become teachers themselves and now send students to Dominican’s Italian program.

“It is a real vote of confidence in our program,” she says.

Outside the classroom, Carlson has been heavily involved in curriculum development and faculty governance. She also leads Dominican’s Dual Enrollment Program and an internship partnership with the Italian Trade Agency.

“We are very happy to be partnering with Addison Trail High School for Dual Enrollment,” Carlson says.

Additionally, Carlson continues to create new opportunities for students.

“We developed a short-term study abroad program in Modena in 2025,” Carlson says. “We will be returning in May 2027, and I am very excited to go back and perhaps also travel to some new areas of Italy.”