Two College of Education Alumni Honored as Italian-American Women of Excellence

TAMPA (October 3, 2005) - Connie Milito and Carmen Caltagirone were recently selected as the Italian-American Woman of Excellence in the Business/Professional and Education categories respectively. Milito is a graduate of the USF College of Education and former kindergarten teacher. Milito is currently a lobbyist for the Hillsborough County School District. Caltagirone has a 30-year history in Education, graduating from USF with a Master’s in Educational Leadership in 1971. She is currently the principal of Corpus Christi Catholic School.

These prestigious awards are given by the Italian Club Ladies Auxiliary and recognize outstanding achievement by Italian-American women in the categories of Government, Education, Cultural/Arts, and Business/Professional. The awards were presented at a luncheon at the Italian Club on Saturday, October 1 at 11:30 a.m.  Also honored this year were: Assistant State Attorney Pam Bondi (Government), and Maria Caltagirone (Cultural).

Several USF graduates have been honored in the past.  Prior honorees have included Mayor Pam Iorio, Councilwomen Rose Ferlita and Mary Alvarez, Liana Fernandez-Fox, Jeanette LaRussa Fenton and a number of other accomplished women. The Italian Club, or L'Unione Italiana, was founded more than a century ago in Ybor City by Sicilian immigrants.

For more information contact the College of Education's Communications Director.