She received her Ph.D. In Cinema and Media Studies from UCLA - School of Theater, Film, and Television in 2007. She has recently published an edited anthology, Beyond Monopoly. Globalization and Contemporary Italian Media (2010) and a single-authored volume, Since When is Fran Drescher Jewish? (2011). Her current research interests include discussions of new representations of the South in contemporary Italian cinema and representations of domestic 1970s terrorism.