Elena Past

Elena Past is Professor of Italian in the Department of Classical and Modern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, and Acting Dean of the Irvin D. Reid Honors College at Wayne State University. Her research, situated in the interdisciplinary field of the Environmental Humanities, focuses on Italian cinema and the environmental potentials and impacts of film production. In Detroit, she helps coordinate the annual Italian Film Festival and other cinematic and cultural events. 

Elena serves as a member of Wayne State's President’s Standing Committee on Environmental Initiatives and is a core member of the new Detroit-Windsor United Nations Regional Centre for Expertise (RCE) in Education for Sustainable Development.