Tag Archives: Dr. Veena 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 …